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Audio Research REF 3

Dear all ARC REF 3 owners,
I just bought an REF 3 preamp which has replaced my LS25MKII preamp. To be honest i'm little disappointed by the result so far, but i guess tubes have to be replaced. My concern is especially on the sound image which is not precise as my LS25MKII image was.
The number of hours of used displayed by the my REF 3 is 1670 but i realized that hours counter increased only for full hours of used, so i can estimate the number of hours of the tubes inside my REF 3 to be the double i guess.
My question is the following
What do you recommend for tubes replacement and source for the replacement of REF 3 tubes.
I used sovtek, EH gold, and 6H30-DR on my LS25MKII and i was pleased with all those tubes even if i didn't find the DR much better than the 2 other brands.
Thanks in advance
ARCL60
arcl60
dave_b's avatar
dave_b
3,159 posts
 
I've owned the LS16, LS25, ref 2 and Ref 3...the LS 25 was more musical than any of the other offerings. The 6H50 tube was the last nail in the coffin for ARC...might as well be solid state (not very good SS either). That said, the Ref3 can sound amazing with fresh tubes, a great power cord and musical ancillary equipment.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,602 posts
 
Yeah, something must be wrong. I moved to the Ref3 from the Ref2 mk2 and the difference was astounding. As Guidocorona said above, get some new tubes before you rush to judgement.

The Ref3 is a monster.

Be sure and report back to us your findings after re-tubing and burn-in.
jwm
918 posts
 
Mitch what is the difference in sound between the Mark 2 and the Ref 3. If the sound becomes leaner, more dynamic and quieter, I am not interested. The mark 2 is lean enough.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Yes, Ref 3 is much more dynamic and quieter than LS25 Mk2. The old ARC silver-gray sheen is gone completely. The sound is very focused, has loads more authority, and harmonic complexity than LS25 Mk.2. . . . but it is not at all leaner. On the other hand, Ref 3 is in general not an idiosyncratically 'tuby' sounding linestage. . . it is rather linear instead, at least for a tubed device. If anyone were interested in giving their Ref 3 a golden glow, try to put a new production Tungsol 6550 in the power supply. I personally prefer the linearity of the factory supplied SED Winged 6550C. G.
arcl60 OP
24 posts
 
Dear all,
Many thanks for your answers
I bought My REF 3 used, and it runs 6L6GC tube in power supply (my REF 3 is from 2005). I will order a new full set of tubes and try new tubes, i will also do the upgrade with 6550c tube and the 4 bypass caps asap. I've opened my REF 3 yesterday and tubes look original ones (the 6L6GC is on bad condition and it's difficult to read what is written on the tube), i guess my REF 3 tubes has more hours than what the counter is saying. I saw also that resetting the hours counter is very easy, so it has been maybe done by a previous owner. For the counter hours, i did some short listening sessions (less than 1 hour each) and i have been surprised to see the counter staying at the same number of hours and only increased for full hours listening (i need to say that my system is physically unplugged from power voltage when it is not used)
Best Regards
Laurent
PS : Is TheTubeStore a good source for REF 3 tubes, as long as ARC doesn't want to ship item in France, and i will not travel to the US before Sep08 the sooner
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