@soix room is like a rectangle, about 18x11 with a dormered area where I sit on one of the long walls, system sits opposite on the other long wall. 9 foot ceilings, it’s an upstairs office area. Amp is the Sugden FBA-800 Sapphire amp, pure Class A. Speakers are a transmission line type (JM Reynaud) so placement from the wall isn’t as important but they sit about 3 feet off the walls. I also have the AGD preamp here, which is warmer less transparent but really wonderful otherwise. Soundstage depth on the AGD is actually much better, and there have been points where I am hearing things behind my head with that preamp. The ARC has yet to do that and I can’t see it doing that, doesn’t have a holographic character, more of a transparent neutral character.
@ghdprentice thanks for the validation because I can’t afford the Ref6SE right now so this seems like it might be a good landing point. I have a couple others I want to hear as well, but this preamp ranks up there at the top for sure...Might be lacking a smidge of emotion, but I need to run more time and tracks through it. It’s a transparency king for sure.