Audio Research Pre-Amp advice


Hi, what would be a good used Audio Research pre-amp that has a remote, that is overall very musical. My budget is under 6K? I really don't want any Ref. pre's because too many tubes. Also something not too old, I do not want to have to bring in for service. I welcome and appreciate any advice. Thank you!

romad

I have an SP20 that’s really quite nice.
Sounds great, comes with a very good

phono section and high quality headphone 

amp as well. I think they can be found for 

around $4,500. Highly recommend looking 

at the SP20.

I would be scared to death to buy a used piece of tube equipment. It's very very difficult to get it serviced and then once they have it and because talent to deal with tube gear is very very limited you may wait months to get it back.  Not sure about the health of audio research financially. I looked at the reference 10 but that was very expensive but I liked the separate power box.  But they do use lots of tubes and they run the tubes very hard from what I hear. Not the best piece of equipment for a home theatre integration which is what I wanted. Although, I just use the AV processor during the day for listening on a centre channel with surrounds and bypass need to turn on the tube pre-amplifier I have until at night so Tube use may not be as bad as I originally thought it might be. Plus I invested in nos tubes with the hope that they will last forever. For example jj tubes Will likely go bad very quickly and then they begin to crackle and then you gotta figure out which one is bad so transitioning to NOS tubes may be good for audio research gear although I don't know.

If it all possible especially for preamplifier I would stretch to buy something new. Especially tube gear. McIntosh solid state is a good used but tubes again I would lean toward buying new if it all possible saving a few thousand dollars in the longer run may not be a worthwhile thing to do and will always weigh upon your soul.

I bought a tube amplifier new and thankfully the dealer was incredibly accommodative because it had issues that were resolved and I'm not sure used gear would've afforded the same level of service. Although the dealer was very good so if you're gonna buy something used go through a dealer. 

I had a LS28 for about a year. Fantastic preamp. Upgraded to a Ref6.  Substantial improvement.  At your budget I would go for the LS28SE or Ref5SE.  The Refs are just better and for a reason.  

Romad,

There is a used LS28 SE up for sale right now here on Audiogon for $6,500, but willing to accept offers. It was upgraded to the SE version by the factory less than a year ago, and has a new compliment of tubes and upgraded caps. Condition 9 out of 10, seller has a 100% satisfaction rate.....seems like a really good deal, and probably will not last very long

I was using my MSB DAC direct to the amp without a separate preamp.  My local dealer loaned me an ARC LS28SE to try.  It was only marginally better than the DAC direct, not even close to worth the money for it.  But I could hear some potential.  So I put in an ARC REF6.  That was a substantial improvement over the LS28SE and it is happily in my system.  Stretch your budget a little and go for the REF6 over the LS28SE.  They can be had on occasion for $7K or so.