ARC ref 5SE current or past owners

Thanks
I will be able to audition. I'm hesitant as for the impedance matching with my amp in balanced.
Do you use it balanced or single ended ?

My Ref 5 SE is hooked up to my ARC Ref 150 SE via balanced I/Cs. No other choice really.

I pulled this off the ARCDB website re Ref 5 SE impedance matching:

"600 ohms Balanced, 300 ohms SE main (2), **20K ohms minimum load and 2000pF maximum capacitance.** Outputs (3): 2 main, 1 tape (XLR and RCA connectors)." (**emphasis added)

So yeah, watch your amp's input impedance. If less than 20K ohms, it will affect the SQ of the Ref 5 SE. This is especially important if you use the Ref 5 SE as a source for a subwoofer. You have to consider the combined input impedances of both devices.

Btw, don't mix and match output taps, i.e., XLR and SE. ARC advised me NOT to asymmetrically load the Ref 5 SE. If you may have this issue, call ARC. There are solutions, e.g., use of an impedance buffer.

I have the name of a guy who can custom make such a device. I know ... because I used one for my rig a while back. :)

love my REF 5 SE
replaced a MAC SS
can not comment on yours or the alternate as have not heard
home auditions in your system near priceless
i had at home Aesthetix, MAC, Ayre, CJ and a few others. System synergy ruled day for me anyway.
IMO ref will benefit some w tube rolling and isolation like HRS Nimbus
BTW get the metal ARC remote and check plexi cover for cracks.

Hi again
I had the Ref5SE for home audition for the past 2 days.
As anticipated I had impedance matching problems with my Audionet MAX amps. In XLR - total mess but in RCA it worked fine when the volume was at 50 and up. It sounded then much better than my current pre but I won't take it because of these synergy problems. My lesson was however that i have much to upgrade in the preamp department. As previously said I might eventually buy blindly the matched Audionet preamp but until then I will try to audition some more. Any recs ?

Icorem,

Just checked the Audionet website. The problem *IS* your amp's input impedance:

RCA: 37 kOhm, 100 pF
XLR: 3 kOhm, 100 pF

No wonder you had a different result when using the RCA and XLR inputs. The XLRs are *WAY* below what ARC recommends (20K ohms)... as I posted above. It does not surprise me that you had a better result with the RCA jacks.

I'm not sure that it is significant that your rig didn't open up until you dialed the Ref 5 SE up to 50. Right now, my Ref 5 SE is dialed up to 75. It goes to the sensitivity of the amp (or in my case, my DEQX PreMATE).

The real question is whether you liked the sound with the Ref 5 SE hooked up to your awesome looking amp (via the RCA jacks). If not ... keep looking.

Cheers,

BIF