ARC PH-8

And how do you feel about the PH-8 now that several months have passed?

Just bought a refurbished PH-8 from ARC. The hour counter reports over 800 hours on the tubes, so I assume the unit has reached and passed the break-in point. I admit that the unit has been on for only 30 minutes, but here's my thoughts about the PH-8 compared to the PH-7.

Regretably, I do not share Oregonpapa's initial reaction. Don't misunderstand me -- the PH-8 is a fine sounding phono pre. But is it in a different league than the PH-7 (w/power supply upgrade)?? I'm not there. Is it hands down better?? I'm not there either. Maybe my PH-8 needs to warm up a little more. As I said, I think it's already broken in. We'll see.

If you check my System description, you'll see I'm all ARC, and recent gear at that. So I don't think my equipment is the bottleneck.

I'll report back in a little while about whether the performance changes. But right now, the PH-7 (w/ power supply upgrade) is absolutely no slacker, not by a long shot!! My advice is you won't go wrong with the PH-7: it's a fine performer.

I felt the same way about the Ref 5 compared to the Ref 3, but nobody likes a buzz killer. I actually have some misgivings about the new ARC gear in terms of really offering significant sonic improvements over their immediate predecessors. Have to say I also have come to believe that my Magnepan 3.7s aren't really that much better than my 3.6s were. These observations typically don't gibe w/ the tenor of forum conversation however.