Audio Research Preamps, what are your experiences?

Blue Shadow

Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
I lusted for an Audio Research SP-3 since I picked up a flyer for the unit when it was available new in one form or another. It went through a few changes producing 5 different versions over the decades, the last the SP-3C the rebuilt unit from sending one into Audio Research for a complete restoration. The different versions can be investigated at the arcdb.ws site: http://arcdb.ws/SP3/SP3.html

I picked one up in about 1981 for a fair price and enjoyed it for a few years until the volume control kept losing a channel. I ordered the replacement pot from ARC and was completely successful in replacing the two capacitors that came with the stepped Alps volume control and unsuccessful in properly wiring the volume control since I knew nothing about how stuff worked and the instructions from ARC were not informative enough for me back then.

Years later, ruffscruff (R.I.P.) on the asylum had a website that praised the unit and had pictures of his 3 and 3C which allowed me to see how to properly wire the volume control. The unit was back in service and sounded great. I've used it off and on over the years but usually use my brother's Audio Research SP-9 II. Additionally, Tom Clone, you remember him, he would come over listen to the gear I have and then go buy something very similar. This led him to acquire an SP-3A-1 and an SP-9 III that has some aftermarket upgrades. Bot better models that what I had and they did sound a bit better. Nothing earthshaking, though. Since then I have recapped and refreshed his SP-3 and have a thread on that on AK.

When we did a listening session of preamps, an interesting thing was the difference they all exhibited, Crown DL-2 so clean sounding and some other non-ARC preamps and how the ARC preamps had the same Family sound. The two closest in sound of the few we tried.

The SP-3A that I have has the full bloom sound of a tube unit. Using good tubes on the first position in the phono stage and first position in the line stage is recommended and I'm now more able to do that than in the past when I had a new set of Sylvanias in it from the local parts supply house. Can't find that anymore. Anyway, when comparing the -3 to the -9 II it was apparent they were from the same company. The 3 had more tube sound with a bit higher noise as expected from the eight 12AX7 tubes. The 9 MkII, a hybrid preamp uses one tube in phono and one in line both being 6922/6DJ8 and other than cleaner it is missing some of that tube richness I enjoy in my system. That bloom goes well with the cleanliness of the ss power amp and this is how I generally like to use tubes, in the preamp where tube replacement is infrequent vs. in the power amp where the output tubes wear out more quickly and cost a lot more (for regular prices, not vintage NOS tubes).

It was surprising how close the -3 and -9 II were and I would be happy with either of them. The -3 is near original with a few RCA jacks replaced but not a wholesale replacement of caps and carbon comp resistors. Maybe some changes there will help the unit. I know that replacing the coupling caps, two pair in the -3, one in the tone engaged output and one in the tone defeat output can make nice improvements. We put Clarity MR caps in Tom's tone bypassed output. He now wants them installed in the tone engaged outputs.

The tone controls of the -3 are very nice. I especially like the sonic improvement of using just a touch of the loudness, adjustable like on a Yamaha and others, the slight amount being a small bump top and bottom and probably correct for normal listening.

Since I like the Luxman LRS gear, I found my first piece of it at a great price, the 5F70 tone control unit. I've recently been swapping gear, I have put the SP-9 in the system and have the tone control unit engaged since the -9 does not have tone controls. A bit of bass boost and a touch of high end makes the system sound a good bit better using the Dahlquist DQ-10s, sans sub at this time. More changes to come but I'm liking what I'm hearing.

Anyone else able to talk about the sound of the Audio Research preamps? I know Jim (ehoove) has a nice description of the benefits of going to a successively newer decade of ARC preamps, he stated he has had three over the years. The ones I discussed are a few generations and dozens of changes to the models between them as well as a failed attempt to move to SS from tube with the SP-4/5 debacle.
 
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My first ARC pre was an LS-3 without bal output or remote. It was connected to a gen1 Emotiva xpa-2 pwr amp for a short period of time as the Emotiva showed it's shortcomings right away. The next amp was a ARC D400mkII which is still in summer rotation for my current set up. I contacted Audio Research about bal output upgrade and was told they no longer do either upgrades for the LS-3 but still repair them. For a SS pre I was quite happy with the build quality and as for sound it's a very quiet unit with great instrument placement/separation, what a sleeper unit. It also doesn't come off sounding like a SS pre but more smoother sounding like a tube unit. Cambridge Audio azur 640p is what was used for the phono stage, it was okay but certainly not to ARC level of performance and rather limited in sound quality. I had that unit in place for a couple of years until an ARC SP-15 showed up for sale. My kid absconded the LS-3 to replace a Carver C-1 pre he was using in his system, his phono stage is a Jolida JD9 with RCA command 5751 tubes, quite impressive sounding unit. I'm sure I'll probably never see that LS-3 again.

The SP-15 is a hybrid unit with a tubed phono stage, again doesn't have a clinically accurate SS sound. It is dead quiet and has surprized the hell out of a few people after a needle set down on an album lead-in and nothing is heard until the song begins at a moderately comfortable listening level.
Normal reaction is priceless. :biggrin:
Instrument placement/space, soundstage, imaging and all that aural delightfulness is awesome. The signal then gets delivered to a pair of ARC vm220 monoblocks then onto some magnepan 1.6s.

The unit came with a set of weak sovtek tubes in the phono stage which were replaced with a set of 1963 (?) Bugle Boy tubes, certainly improved the vinyl listening experience. Unfortunately I live VERY close to an AM (sports talk) radio station and experience RF issuses. I was looking into replacing the SP-15 with an LS-27 tube pre but based on my RF problems not sure if that's a wise idea, however, I would like to hear one some day hooked up to my ARC tube monoblocks just to hear an entirely tubed pre-amp and amped ARC system. I can't afford the Reference equipment so this has to do for my needs, besides, I waited a long time to get where my equipment is now.

I'm certain there are many other pre/pwr amps available that are better but I'm quite happy with my Minnesota made products. ARC is a 20 min. drive from my house and Magnepan is less than 4 miles.

Oh and BTW, the last 4 letters in Minnesota are... wait for it...

SOTA.

I know, I crack me up! :rflmao:
 
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Had a SP6-C but all the caps went bad and they were supposedly only available from ARC, so I took a loss on it as they wanted $55.00 for each of the 5 capacitors, Ebay 'd it.
 
I sold my ARC LS15 Preamplifier (4 6922 tubes) to move to a LS16MkII (2 6H30 Tubes) which is the current tube used by ARC. The differences to me were greater dynamics, quieter background and a wider deeper sound stage. The top end has greater speed and spatial detail, and the bass has more definition and more low end control. I have owned 3 ARC Preamplifiers and have enjoyed each of them. The fact that they offer 2 sets of balanced outputs is a huge bonus since I use two crossovers with balanced inputs 26ft from the preamplifier in my main rig.
Regards,
Jim
 
I was using a SP-9MKIII worked great and sounds excellent, till I got my C2700
 
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I've been looking into buying a new pre and have been looking at the ARC's. There are a hundred different models. It seems like every week they come out with new model. Been doing my homework on them before pulling trigger.
 
I've been looking into buying a new pre and have been looking at the ARC's. There are a hundred different models. It seems like every week they come out with new model. Been doing my homework on them before pulling trigger.
Well if you are looking for a new Audo Research preamp, that seems true, new one on a regular basis. Different model lines, too.

When the SP-9 was current there was also the 2x priced SP-14 and the 2x priced again SP-15 with two chassis. Each better than the last. The article that waxed poetic about the nine did even moreso for the 14 and damn near ran out of superlatives when they had to write a few more paragraphs on the 15.

The SP-9 is the most common ARC preamp out there and had only 3 iterations with the III being too expensive to change to from a I that it makes sense to sell the I and buy the III if that is what one wants. Each iteration was a nice improvement.
 
I currently have an SP-6, and thoroughly enjoy it. Phono section is excellent! It needed some work a couple years ago, but it's 40 years old. I'm certain I could move up from it, but I'm not in any hurry to do so.

The only other ARC pre I've spent any amount of time with was an SP-11, and that entire system sounded out of this world good.
 
Just bought my first ARC. The LS16 MKII. In excellent condition with original box, remote and manual. Should have it the beginning of the week. It has great reviews so hope it works for me. :dunno:
 
Just bought my first ARC. The LS16 MKII. In excellent condition with original box, remote and manual. Should have it the beginning of the week. It has great reviews so hope it works for me. :dunno:
Looking forward to your comments about its sound vs. what you are using right now. Post back and maybe do a separate thead to discuss the sound of the current preamp and maybe that one can discuss that brand.
 
Long term fan here. It was 1974 when I heard a revelatory system for me consisting of Magnepan Tympani IIIs tri-amped with Audio Research SP-3a, two D-76s an EC-3 crossover with Crown DC300A on woofers. That system was so far and away better than anything else I had previously heard. I was using an H-K Citation 11 at the time and was able to borrow the SP-3 over a weekend to hear in my system. I can still recall how more natural sounding the shakers that open Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” sounded.

My friend HP introduced me to the SP-6B following the early debacle with SS. I purchased one myself in ‘81 but was a C model by that time. Suffered an early cap failure due to supplier and was promptly updated by ARC to C-1 status with a slightly different arrangement. I paired that with a Threshold Stasis driving Acoustats until ‘98 when I replaced it with a used SP-9 MKII. It was a better match in terms of gain since I was using a mid output Shinon Red MC cartridge at the time and offered more transparency and was quieter. It’s only failing was that of tonal balance - was a bit thin in the lower midranage. About a year later, I send it to the factory for the MKIII update. That improved transparency further, gave it more dynamic punch and filled out the lower midrange.

In 2001, I bought a Gamut CD-1 following an audition at Sea Cliff. I soon learned that it had oodles of gain and really didn’t need an active. I built a couple different attenuators boxes and found they increased image width. A quick look at the measurements in Stereophile reveal why - channel separation was fine for cartridges, but compromised digital sources.

In 2014, I replaced it with an SP20 that I use today. It carries on with the highish gain-two stage design philosophy that works well with MC cartridges obviating the need for a SUT. What it brings to the table is wider soundstage, greater still transparency and improved dynamics at the low end of the spectrum. Mine is used in balanced operation for which it was optimized. It is dead quiet on the lowest level passages. I really enjoy having a full function remote including phono loading.

I’ve found my life partner in a wonderful sounding one box preamp. Have about 1800 hours on the 6H30s. This I know because another useful feature is a tube hour meter. :)
 
We had an ARC dealer in town. And a few of the pre-amps ended up in. our shop. They did have capacitor issues and seemed overly complicated for what the did. They did have a different sound at the time than the SS stuff and Mac wasn't back into tubes as I remember. I had a C-29 at the time and I thought it easily equaled or out performed the ARC's from that period. ARC amps could be spectacular, though they didn't hold up well, and had HF oscillations which if pushed to hard could definitely color the sound and wipe out fragile Klipsch tweeters with a D 75. as I remember. I buy equipment for the long hall and as I have said else where the last thing I want to do is maintain my own Equipment. Thats why I got away from Mcintosh tube stuff though I loved my 275's and wish I had bought 4 3500's. So the last thing I would do is invest in ARC. And with their prices dipping my toe into the ARC pool would be a big investment. I bitched about having my Crowns rebuilt every ten years. I can just imagine owning ARC. Some of the rich Mexican ARC owners who had to put up with voltages from 90 volts to 130 volts were always having their units in the shop. They all new how to replace their tubes and some had voltage regulators. But the amps could not handle the stress and strain like the Mac SS amps we installed in Churches, night clubs and discos. I still think ARC is over priced. If I wanted something other than Mac tubes I would probably go with a 7C and Model 9's even though they are both more forward sounding than Mac or ARC. Marantz worked great with Ar and KLH speakers at the time. Not so much with JBL and EV. Nostalgia can play real games with your hearing.
 
So far I have used 3 different ARC preamps. 2 different LS-7's and a LS-22. Originally I had an LS-7 pre and a D-115 mk II power amp. I'd consider the LS-7 and entry level preamp, though it still has great quality and sound. I upgraded to an LS-22 and honestly it was one of the best sounding preamps I have ever used. Pretty much the best actually. Ultra smooth. Clean and clear. Detailed. Warm without being hazy. Just all around impressive. I really miss that unit. I sold both of them out of necessity at the time. Not much later I got a CL-60 and another LS-7. I kept them both for 18 years, until last year. Never ever had a problem with any of them. Rolled some tubes just for my personal experience, but none of them had any issues for the entire time. 18 years straight? I'd say thats a pretty good track record. The amount of equipment that came and went in the 10 years prior to that was staggering. I'd buy something.. try it out for a while and then on to another piece. Out of everything I tried I always came back to ARC.. Amazing level of quality. Always detailed and clean. Thats just what my ears and gut tell me, so I listen.
Last year I wanted the D-115 II and LS-22 sound back. I got the D-115, but got wrapped up in other things before I could find a nice LS-22. And even then I wonder if I should just bite the bullet and get a SP-10? Its hard to say. Theres a big difference in price, and the SP-10 is old enough to possibly need some attention. So more to consider on that.. but I can completely recommend ARC preamps.
If you buy new be ready to spend some serious coin. Used is still pretty rich all things considered. Age and condition play a big part in price just like all equipment.
 
Age and condition play a big part in price just like all equipment.
Just avoid the early SS models SP-4 and SP-5. Those were the models that Bill Johnson said nearly put them out of business.

Fortunately, he went back to the drawing board and released the wonderful (return to tube) SP-6 series. :)
 
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Sound great, but as with any ARC piece hard and expensive to maintain. You'll have to buy special hand selected tubes and components from only ARC if you want to maintain the sound when issues arise.
 
Sound great, but as with any ARC piece hard and expensive to maintain.
Utter BS. I've owned three models since 1981. None have fallen into that category. Unlike sister products in the WOM group, all components remain hand built using discrete components. You won't find $.50 op amps anywhere in the circuit path.

SP-6C suffered an early capacitor failure due to supplier. It was replaced under warranty and was trouble free afterwards for the next fifteen years.

SP-9MKIII suffered a generic IC timer failure in the power up mute circuit over a period of eighteen years. Inexpensive service.

SP20 since 2014 - no problems.

You'll have to buy special hand selected tubes and components from only ARC if you want to maintain the sound when issues arise.
Matching tubes is not rocket science. You can purchase the same brand tubes ARC uses from multiple vendors. The 6H30 tube has but one Russian sourced supplier.
 
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Sound great, but as with any ARC piece hard and expensive to maintain. You'll have to buy special hand selected tubes and components from only ARC if you want to maintain the sound when issues arise.

I don't believe this at all. My SP-6 needed some work a couple years ago. The diodes in the power supply went out, and it needed new tubes. 6 @ 12ax7, which are available from numerous vendors quite inexpensively. As far as I could tell, this was the first time it had been worked on excepting tube replacement since it was new - nearly 40 years. I'm the second owner.
 
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