ARC SP 10....how good is it really????

I sold my SP10mk2 last year after owning it for over 10 years. I really enjoyed it. The very positive qualities you've heard about it are true, but so are the negatives. In stock condition, it lacks the clarity and frequency extremes of many current production preamps. I understand if you upgrade the parts (Great Northern Sound) it can compete with the best of today. I considered doing that. But you will pay a lot to do this and it would be difficult to recover the cost of upgrade if you sell it. I replaced it with a used Supratek Syrah which also has many fine qualites, plus the clarity and better frequency extremes.

I've owned the Cat Ultimate, Jadis DPMC, SP11, SP10 and now the Herron line stage and phone stage. I've listed these in the order of my preference. The main weakness of the SP10 is that to use the line stage, you have to take it out of by-pass mode which engages all of the front panel clap trap. The phono stage is still very competive with todays offerings while through the line stage, it lacks transparency and is somewhat grainy. The 10 is also demanding of tubes in four locations. It prefers noise free NOS in these locations. I debated (with myself) for a long time as to send the 10 to GNS or find a modern alternative. If it's any consequence, I do regret having to sell the 10 to help pay for the Herrons. That said, the Herron's are lovely and will enjoy them for years to come.

I owned a SP10, and it can not compare to MFA Luminescence or any of the Sonic Frontier Line series preamps or the older SFL-2.

And don't buy a tube preamp that needs a transformer or oil in paper caps to couple it's poorly designed output stage.

If you're a vinyl person and don't want to spend $10K, forget the tubes and look for a used Rowland preamp & phono stage. Then you can just listen to the music.

FWIW, I have SP10II and IMHO it's phono stage and mid-range bloom is worth the asking price. When I want to get better resolution or bottom end I just use a different line stage (an EAR 834L). I find that most modern full featured pre-amps to be somewhat clinical for my taste.