Hello Sir,l also ran a ARC 5se preamp for about 3 years or so.Power was from a set of REF 210 monos.Although I was happy with the sound,I was also tired of the heat,power consumption and tube replacement,I listen as much as I can.What the answer for me was,and the most balanced sounding stereo I have ever heard anywhere,home or store,was the Berning ZOTL pre 1 with Quadrature Z monos.Although you can't buy new,still around in the used market frequently.These drive Focal Scala Utopia V2 III with astonishing performance with both digital and analog.I did mis the ARC's hint of darkness at the very beginning,but the true tonality that the Berning's brought is truly addictive.I hope you find what your looking for before you go broke,Like me. And PS,if you don't have any yet-try Stillpoints,worth every penny or ok,every hundred dollar bill. Good luck John
Considering going back to Solid State
I have had and Audio Research REF5se now for a few years and love it. Let me be clear, I love the sound and am not wanting to trade back to SS for anything it does wrong. But I am wanting to simplify and get away from tubes and the heat and concern for hours, etc.
So I am seeking advice in the 10-15K range on solid state pre-amps that would be comparable in performance to what I now have. Considering the Ayre 5 series, SimAudio Moon, McIntosh as a few considerations. Which brings me to you, any experience that you have had making a similar comparison would be helpful.
The rest of the 2 channel side is a Mc402 Amp and Revel speakers, how ever in the next month I plan to either buy the Sopra 2's or the Sonus Olympica Nova III, all cardas wiring in case this helps.
Thank You in advance
Theo