2. amps-preamps
  3. 189829-67960

Should I upgrade my preamp?

There are no decent Audio stores close to my home anymore. I used to travel 50 miles to Paragon Sound in Toledo, Ohio. I could select a piece of equipment new (floor model) or used and bring it home to plug into my system and try it before I’d buy.  So, my question the group is, I’m thinking of up grading my preamp. I have always felt the preamp was the heart and soul of a system and the greatest change would come from changing the preamp. I’ve been watching used ARC preamps on eBay.  Would an ARC LS28 be to much of a stretch for my current system?  In the past I’ve enjoyed swapping out the single 6922 tube in the preamp and the change was always noticeable.  Currently I’m running a Dutch Amperex 7308 and my favorite so far. From top to bottom a very musical tube. What are your thoughts? 

 

Current system:

Denon DSD 1500 CD player

Audio Research LS2B MkII

Audio Research  PH3SE

Aragon 8008BB

 

Vpi Aries gen1 turntable

Vpi Line Conditioner

Graham 2.2 tonearm

Benz Micro Ruby ZH

 

Thiel 3.6 speakers

dgb553

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
7,541 posts
 

@mrdecibel 

My experience with high end audio has been that each significant upgrade I have made of high end main stream audio components has resulted in a great improvement on my system. I agree that it is very helpful to know what sonic characteristics you value. But, you need an experience base to really understand what the choices are. In the case of a preamp and what we know about the poster, I think the ARC is a very safe bet for this person. Now if it was speakers or an amp, much more information would be required. 
 

I agree that we have different values… and that is fine. 

ghdprentice
7,541 posts
 

I am not of the camp that you must understand what is missing from your current system. When you perform a significant upgrade with high quality components, you find out what you were missing. When you are talking about components like ARC you can be certain of great results. The upgrade to an LS28 would be a great upgrade. I completely agree that the preamp is the heart snd soul and this is a great preamp. In addition it sets you up to hear marked improvements when you choose to upgrade any other of your components.

 

I have owned many versions of ARC preamps and phono stages. They are wonderful. They only stumbled a bit on the REF 1 and REF 2 preamps.

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