Had this ARC Reference 5 for about 6 weeks now so thought I’d give a brief heads up for anybody with the vaguest interest, which may be few. This replaces a Karan KA-L pre, which is damn good for the money in my view, although a little dark / rich / plummy at times I thought.
Of course this is valved so there are disadvantages compared with solid state ie replacements after a period which ARC suggest at 4000 hrs or so. Handily there’s a counter which can be called up in the display. I’ve clocked up 120 hrs so far and it needs around 600 to break in they say. This isn’t codswallop cos things got decidedly better after 110 hours, like a bit of a leap really rather than a slow progression. Don’t know why.Also the mains lead out of the box showed a clean pair of heels to my usual fancy cable I used with the Karan.
This is a big bugger, industrial would be a good description and won’t win any prizes for casing quality but it’s functional and heavy. When Mr. Dealer installed the valves that come packed separately, the large horizontal circuit board on which they sit flexed a fair bit and I thought oo’err but alls well. Have to be carefull when changing.
It’s on Stillpoints as it sounds better to me that way on a Finite Elemente rack.
Switch on is a pain as the default is volume to zero (103 max) with mute engaged which is good for the speakers but requires un-muting and resetting volume each time. I can live with that. The display which is large enough to be read from orbit can be cancelled but haven’t noticed any difference in audio quality on or off.
Ok I like the sound of it plenty, obviously, with a big soundstage and lots of air and space – just the things that float my boat but I would say that of course. Seems to gel well with the power amp and copes fine with the low output of 1 volt from the cdp. The volume is normally between 65-75 to give some idea. Can just hear a slight hiss with ones lug hole next to the speaker otherwise nowt. Pity there are so many unused sockets on the back but at least it’s versatile. VFM ? No idea, but I haven’t heard better and one can pay a lot more for sure.
I got mine at quite a good price compared to our local dealer, although I bought online and didn’t do a preview. But saving was huge. They have stock arrivals quite often, I bought mine here at martinandersonuk.com. They do offer some second hand equipment too. I’ll go for a used one next time I upgrade smth in my system.
