Audio Research REF 3

Mitch what is the difference in sound between the Mark 2 and the Ref 3. If the sound becomes leaner, more dynamic and quieter, I am not interested. The mark 2 is lean enough.

Yes, Ref 3 is much more dynamic and quieter than LS25 Mk2. The old ARC silver-gray sheen is gone completely. The sound is very focused, has loads more authority, and harmonic complexity than LS25 Mk.2. . . . but it is not at all leaner. On the other hand, Ref 3 is in general not an idiosyncratically 'tuby' sounding linestage. . . it is rather linear instead, at least for a tubed device. If anyone were interested in giving their Ref 3 a golden glow, try to put a new production Tungsol 6550 in the power supply. I personally prefer the linearity of the factory supplied SED Winged 6550C. G.

Dear all,
Many thanks for your answers
I bought My REF 3 used, and it runs 6L6GC tube in power supply (my REF 3 is from 2005). I will order a new full set of tubes and try new tubes, i will also do the upgrade with 6550c tube and the 4 bypass caps asap. I've opened my REF 3 yesterday and tubes look original ones (the 6L6GC is on bad condition and it's difficult to read what is written on the tube), i guess my REF 3 tubes has more hours than what the counter is saying. I saw also that resetting the hours counter is very easy, so it has been maybe done by a previous owner. For the counter hours, i did some short listening sessions (less than 1 hour each) and i have been surprised to see the counter staying at the same number of hours and only increased for full hours listening (i need to say that my system is physically unplugged from power voltage when it is not used)
Best Regards
Laurent
PS : Is TheTubeStore a good source for REF 3 tubes, as long as ARC doesn't want to ship item in France, and i will not travel to the US before Sep08 the sooner

Jwm,.......the Ref3 is not leaner. Guidocorona's explanation says it all.

The Ref2 Mk2 is a great preamp by any standard, and the Ref3 totally eclipsed it.

Hello ARCL60 , I 'm also a proud owner of the REF3 , I left the 6550C original supplied , but replaced the normal tubes by the DR version . I liked this roll out . The tubes were bought at the Tubestore , fast delivery , had no problem .Do you do the upgrade of the 4 bypasscaps your self ? In the Netherlands the importer refuses to do the upgrade for me , so I like to do it myself , but dont know
the value of the caps , and the place in the machine .Perhaps you have the schematics ?
Greetings Hans