Has anybody heard the new Audio Research LS 27?

Jafox:

"Come on, after all these years, are line stage circuit topologies or PS designs really changing all that much?"

NO

"The great designers have pretty much already muscled through all the permutations here."

TRUE

It is certainly the case that if they don't come out with new products they won't get reviewed and they might even fall of recommended component lists because they haven't been reviewed in so long. This is especially a problem when a ten or twenty year old design is every bit as good as anything made today. There may be some improvement in passive parts over time, maybe, perhaps, but I suspect the basic designs for amps and preamps have been part of the electrical engineer's "recipe" book for quite a while now.

No question they make excellent line stages, they have been for a long time. An interesting A/B would be the all balanced LS5 versus anything before or after, I think it would hold up pretty well in comparisons (sound-wise, maybe not functionality and ergonomics)

you can add Atma-sphere, Vandersteen, Music Reference, and Merlin as other companies that start with a solid basic design from day one and evolve over time, fine-tuning to a well sorted product with the need to reinvent a product line on a road map schedule like Intel; it is curious that some of my favorite products are companies with this product approach - I did not look for it, but it just happened to be that this happens to be the type of product I like, and tend to keep:)

6550c, perhaps the point I was trying to make:)

I guess the question is whether in fact the many models and revisions of
those products over the years were in fact the result of continuous
improvement of preamplifier performance, or in fact the result of
calculated product marketing strategies geared to driving demand. Both
are legitimate and a business is certainly entitled to do whatever it needs
to do to drive sales and stay in business (and providing good products and
customer service is an essential part of that, and ARC certainly does make
good products and at the pinnacle of customer care). However, I feel that
the principal circuit topologies needed for building a good sounding active
line stage with gain have been around a long time and very little has really
changed in that regard, other than some better parts with tighter
tolerances (perhaps). So yes, ARC makes very fine products - they always
have. But I don't believe the "improvements" overtime is to the
degree which all the models, revisions, latest and greatest announcements
might suggest. That is I think it is every bit as much driven
marketing/advertising principles as it is by technical ones. That doesn't
mean there is any reason not to own an ARC preamp, they are very fine
indeed.

It does seem automotive technology has changed dramatically over the past 40 years, not so with linestage circuit designs. For those with money to spare, getting the lastest ARC then flipping it 3 years later for the latest ARC is fine -why not, does no harm and they are excellent linestages. But if money was an issue and you wanted to have a wonderful linestage you could easily buy a 20 year-old ARC preamp and be very much in the company of what any ARC preamp has to offer - a good sounding linestage - there simply has not been that much improvement or new knowledge of how to design a linestage - better part always helped, then and now.

I agree with what you say, to me it is a bit of the hyped up nature of things in this hobby, you would think this stuff sounds more real than real by now:) I think most of us can also agree that ARC has been making wonder tube preamps for a long time - they undoubtedly know what they are doing, whether they are you cup of tea or not the obvioulsy have made many listeners happy with their efforts.

No manufacturer that designed a great circuit the 1965, from a 1940s recipe would still be in business selling the same thing - even it was as good as it gets. While immature technologies evolve quickly, a preamp circuit is not one of them. Better parts with better tolerances and indeed improvements, especially if reliability goes along with it, but preamps, if they are to evolve at al, in terms of sound quality, will do so very, very slowly - digital? well that is another story, we may see significant improvements there. We seem to be wired for the new, and the marketers know that, soap or stereo, and nothing wrong with the fun in all that, but great preamp design was figured out a long time ago IME. New functions geared to dealing with new technologies, well that is a legitimate upgrade to older models that did not contemplate changing sources and connectivity requirements.