2. amps-preamps
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VAC Ren II, VAC Phi, or ARC Ref 3?

Finally, the two cold solder joints in one of my Rowland 7M amplifiers have been fixed. Just a simple 2 minutes soldering job at home, thanks to a kind live phone consult by Jeff himself. Now the system is back purring like a kitten.
Great say you, but. . . the problem is that now I have fallen totally prey to Upgraditis Furiosa, the most pernicious and 'wife threatening' form of Audiophilia Nervosa.
I listen mostly to classical--lots of chamber, vocal, Early Music, Baroque, Romantic, some large orchestra, lots of cello and other strings--on a system that I have lovingly put together over the last 20 years: EAD T1000, AT&T glass C-core glass wire, EAD D7000 Mk. 3, AudioQuest Quartz RCA, Audio Research LS2B, Gutwire XLR, Jeff Rowland 7M monoblocks, Cardas Golden Ref PCs on 7M, Cardas Golden Ref speakerwires, MagnePan 3A speakers.
The sound is sweet, lush, with a large if slightly unfocused soundstage, sometimes slightly veiled, somewhat soft at the bottom, can sound glorious in the midrange, good if not spectacular at the top. Much better at small ensembles than at full orchestra, where the sound stage can collapse and full strings and brass often display signs of brittleness and two-dimensionality. But, so much for self-criticism. Now what to do?
I intend to migrate towards a fully balanced system, with redbook and SACD capability and a tube linestage. I will start upgrading at the source and linestage points. The source will be an Esoteric X-01 or an upcoming APL NWO-1. But in this thread I'd like to discuss options for a new linestage. My requirements are an open and detailed, sweet sound, accurate with minimal coloration, with very good but not necessarily overwhelming macro-dynamics, an excellent three-dimensional and accurate soundstage, superior microdynamics and subtle nuance. The linestage must sound great out of the box--after breakin of course: not only after going through many cycles of NOS tubes musical chairs. All of this from a company with a stellar track record and reputation in quality, dependability and pre/post sale support. I listened to the VTL 7.5 and found it to be too soft. The BAT VK51SE sounded too dark. Then I listened at length to the VAC Ren II, which seems to embody all of my requirements. I have not heard the VAC Phi as yet, but it is in the running by inference. Nor I have listened to the ARC Ref 3, although I intend to: Ref 3 is in the running by reputation.
Suggestions? Opinions? It's your turn guys and girls!
guidocorona
bpwalsh
1,207 posts
 
In my experience it is common for a component to sound pretty good out of the box for the first few hours and then sound bad for quite a while, gradually improving until broken in. Guidocorona's experience demonstrates that, and I don't think it should reflect badly upon the manufacturer, because components are voiced to sound as expected once broken in. It isn't the manufacturer's responsibility to break in the components, which can take weeks. That said, if a customer of mine asks me to break in something he purchases I'll be glad to do it if I can, although I suspect I'm a very small minority of dealers who will.
Brian
oneobgyn
410 posts
 
"In my experience it is common for a component to sound pretty good out of the box for the first few hours and then sound bad for quite a while, gradually improving until broken in. Guidocorona's experience demonstrates that, and I don't think it should reflect badly upon the manufacturer, because components are voiced to sound as expected once broken in"

Precisely my point. Every Audio Research component that I have ever owned sounded great out of the box and then sounded muddied for the next 100 or so hours when the magic occurred.
guidocorona OP
4,298 posts
 
Thank you Brian, you a re clearly a very thoughtful dealer. If I asked my dealer to break in my Ref 3, I am positive he would have done it as well. However I prefer to perform the complete break in myself and hear my system progressively blooming. It is purely a matter of personal preference. . . a little like purchasing bulbs instead of fully bloomed tulips. I guess I am not much into instant gratification. After all, I have been in the market for a new linestage for 5 years until I found what I truly liked. Then I still waited several months before passing an order to purchase. . what's a few weeks of break in for me, compared to all of that?
guidocorona OP
4,298 posts
 
My Ref 3 has now racked up approximately 380 hours and is sounding absolutely glorious. Interestingly enough, the sound stage did not come completely into its amazing own until past 360 hours of operation, which means just about one week ago. Prior to that, the device continued to smooth up, open up and become more detailed until approx 340 hours, at which time it decided to become rather unpleasantly edgy on a numbr of redbook CDs. Almost suddenly, past 365 hrs the problem abated, the odd etch in the higher mid treble vanished in about 5 hours of operation, and the stage and imaging bloomed rapidly into a giant, deep and transparent state. Go figure! I am not sure if the unit is completely broken in as yet. I will keep everyone posted on any further changes.

In the meantime, Marc Mickelson has posted a good if slightly technically dated two-part review of the ref 3 on SoundStage. He inaccurately lists one of the tubes in the Ref 3's power supply as the 6L6GC of the first production run, instead of the current 6550C. Please see:
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/arc_reference3/
and
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/arc_reference3/index2.html
Makes me wonder if he reviewed a pre or post rolling update unit. Does anyone know?
guidocorona OP
4,298 posts
 
As the subscribers to this thread may have read my ramblings about my X-01--albeit willy nilly--and some of my favorite power chords, I thought you'd be interested in a listening comparison of the Shunyata Anaconda Helix VX and Anaconda Helix Alpha power chords on Babybear's X-01 Limited connected to his fab system. I'll see you all on "A Tale Of . . . Two Anacondas" at:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fcabl&1146623467&openfrom&1&4#1
where you will have the unadulterated displeasure of following all my latest rants. Guido
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