Guidocorona: I can certainly relate to the issue of you wanting reliability but this comes with a lot of product lines these days so I would not worry too much here. You have listed a number of very highly rated models. I have not heard any of them but I have got to believe they are all magnitudes beyond the LS2 in pure musicality.
Rather than focus so much on what is too dark, too soft, etc., focus on the musicality. I am not going to comment on the LS2 as I have bashed this enough here already. But simply put, you have lived a long time with a product that has a very subtractive nature in many ways. Give some of these products more time. Maybe they are too soft or dark only because the LS2 is overly bright and fatiguing relative to many other pieces? It is almost like you need to "recalibrate" your ears and take notice of the multitude of refinements of these other products and not pay so much attention to simply the tonality.
There are layers and layers of harmonic overtones, decays, portrayal of space, etc., etc., that you have simply been missing all these years. The LS5, BAT 31SE and now Callisto have done this like few other products I have heard. I have to believe the 51SE, VAC and VTL have similar qualities.
As I have changed to the BAT and then Aesthetix products, I find it impossible to return to ARC products because for me now, they are simply too fatiguing. There's just too much of a "in your face" presentation with these products. And this is coming from an owner of many ARC products over the course of 15 years. Maybe the Ref3 is a different animal.
One very important note here. When you bring home a product like the ones you mentioned, you MUST also borrow a top-notch XLR cable from this to the amps. This is THE most critical cable in a system with such a line stage. I have found it to either make or break the magical qualities in the music that I have worked so hard to achieve myself.
John
Rather than focus so much on what is too dark, too soft, etc., focus on the musicality. I am not going to comment on the LS2 as I have bashed this enough here already. But simply put, you have lived a long time with a product that has a very subtractive nature in many ways. Give some of these products more time. Maybe they are too soft or dark only because the LS2 is overly bright and fatiguing relative to many other pieces? It is almost like you need to "recalibrate" your ears and take notice of the multitude of refinements of these other products and not pay so much attention to simply the tonality.
There are layers and layers of harmonic overtones, decays, portrayal of space, etc., etc., that you have simply been missing all these years. The LS5, BAT 31SE and now Callisto have done this like few other products I have heard. I have to believe the 51SE, VAC and VTL have similar qualities.
As I have changed to the BAT and then Aesthetix products, I find it impossible to return to ARC products because for me now, they are simply too fatiguing. There's just too much of a "in your face" presentation with these products. And this is coming from an owner of many ARC products over the course of 15 years. Maybe the Ref3 is a different animal.
One very important note here. When you bring home a product like the ones you mentioned, you MUST also borrow a top-notch XLR cable from this to the amps. This is THE most critical cable in a system with such a line stage. I have found it to either make or break the magical qualities in the music that I have worked so hard to achieve myself.
John