LS 5 mk 3 one of the all time great pre from ARC a true classic believed to be the first REF. Pre they made. I always wanted one and would buy the right one in a heart beat and would also upgrade the caps. Extremely rare to fine one for sale showing how treasured they are.
Recapping an ARC LS-5 mkiii
So I have done an exhaustive Internet search on this, and have some answers (but not all).
Every piece of audio gear I have from the 80's and 90's has had some sort of issue and needed mods and/or repairs. Some of this wasn't audible, but showed up when the equipment was put on a test bench.
Every piece of classic/vintage equipment I have (Aragon, Sonic Frontiers, Audio Research) has been updated except for my LS-5 mkiii preamp. With ARC gear, I know lots of people tend to think of them like classic cars and look down anything ARC didn't do originally.
At the same time, I know ARC offers a Stealth Cap upgrade (roughly $800 IIRC) and I also know Steven Huntley at GNSC used to modify ARC gear (including the LS-5), but I can't really find anything out there on what that process involved.
I am interested in getting the Stealth Caps done, however, outside of that, I don't want to change the sound signature too dramatically (like shoehorning an LS V8 motor into a Mazda RX-7). I'm sure there are some gains to be made (Rel Caps to Infinicaps?), but want to make sure I do things the right way.
BTW, the preamp sounds good (to me), but as I've learned, that doesn't always mean it would test completely within spec.
Thanks in advance.