ARC LS-5MKIII or ARC LS-25MKII

Gee wiz John..give a guy a break. I was only adding my $.02 fwiw to be of help.I didn't know the "ARC audio geru" was watching!! Yikes!....LOL...kidding JA! Hope your well John!

Anyway..I think my "envy" is really only enthusiasium for a perspective buyer of some very nice equipment and knowing the joy that ARC offerings bring to a system. I deeply respect your comments and advice because you have had the opportunity to "in home" many fine components over the years. But, please dont worry about me, I am very happy now that I've made some changes in amps and speakers and my modded LS 15 with the NOS tubes, and run balanced sounds very, very, good. Perhaps the stock unit is not quite as musical and liquid..I would agree. But many stock units can be brought to life with the right massaging. Yes.. the LS5Mk3 is better( now only marginally though if at all in my case) I heard so much improvement over stock that I swore they tore out and replaced everything!...but, at the time, my situation was not right to go out and get the LS5 and change all my gear, and connects to true balanced designs.

Csaba..you can trust the post made here regarding the comments of the LS5...All this hoopla should give you proof how good the LS5Mk3 really is..Listen to Jafox, as he has spent extensive time and man hours comparing various pieces, many of the ARC components he has personally owned. His ears can be trusted
Best-
Ken

Best!,
Ken

Yes, I also support JA's opinions.

Thanks again for the LS5, John.

Thanks all of you for the valuable comments, now I know which way to go... :>)

regards
Csaba

Yes- the way to go: LS5 mk3 or LS25 mk1.

Ken Ken Ken...Kehut, you're so funny. I'm warning you, if you take an LS5 home, you're gonna smile....until you have to have to pay for it....but you will keep it!

Bluefin: Yes, absolutely system synergy is important here. I think of the LS5 as a front row presentation whereas the 31SE is more middle of the theatre. It's really all what you like and how it balances with other components. Just be careful with Cardas Golden Cross here: it is addicting at first, but it can be too much of a good thing quickly and much detail is lost.

At the time I changed from LS5 III to 31SE, I had the BAT 10 phono, ARC CL150s and Counterpoint NPS400 driving Talon Khorus and/or Maggie 3.5s. The LS5 was not a very good match with the CL150s as the combination made the presentation a bit too forward. The VT130 is much better balanced than the CL150s in this regard. The NPS400 has even great tonal balance than the VT130 but it gives up some of that awesome harmonic richness of the VT130. It really is about fine tuning the system and not too focused on any one link for long.

Comparing the 31SE to the LS5 III at home and at a dealer, in both cases, the 31SE had so much more extension in the lowest octave. And there was an incredible coherency across the entire band with the 31SE.

When I went to the BAT dealer, he demoed a jazz track where we could hear a string bassist slowly going up and down the register...with the 31SE you could hear a few extra notes at the bottom vs with the LS5 III. I was greatly impressed by this. He did another demo of an old jazz track where you could hear tape hiss as background noise. With the 31SE, that band of hiss went fully across the speakers which made it easier to tune out. With the LS5 III, the hiss was very much more localized at the speakers and at a higher level which made it not so easy to tune out. Coherency, smoothness and naturalness are words that come to mind with the 31SE. As for ambience, bloom, 3D, decay, etc., all the great strengths of the LS5, the 31SE sacrificed none of these in either of the 2 systems. I never felt like I was listening to a solid state preamp like the LS2, 15, 22, etc., make me feel.

It's so cool to hear how everyone here is so happy with the sound of their systems.

John