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
ckoffend
684 posts
 
The whole break-in, burn-in period is a matter of confussion for me. It is not that I don't believe that it can logically make sense, but I also do believe it is partially the listener being broken into the sound of the new equipment. More to the point is how can one listen to a higher end piece of equipment at most dealers and declare such a piece so superior. In way too many cases, dealers have equipment for demonstration that is no where close to the completed break-in period - either manufacturer recommended or real.

I base this on the fact that I have purchased several pieces of demo equipment from dealers (all across the country). In virtually every case, the dealer reported and my personal contacting of the manufacturer of the piece with serial number in hand confirmed that each piece ranged in actual age of between 4 - 10 months. In every single case, the selling dealer warned me that the piece had very limited hours and would need virtually the entire break-in period. This means that they were trying to sell rather expensive equipment based on auditions of "not ready for prime time" components based on the recommended break-in periods.

Why wouldn't the manufacturer require dealers to properly break-in their equipment prior to issuing customer auditions - after all listening to a component when it is not broken in should result in a poor audition and turn customers away from the product.
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ckoffend
684 posts
 
Tvad, I can appreciate what you are stating and it does make sense. While this may certainly be the case, I have also purchased items directly off the floor in person after listening. So yes, probably in some cases, but not all. Regardless, it still seems to me that there are dealers that are demonstrating equipment that certainly is not broken in.
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guidocorona OP
4,298 posts
 
Valid point CKoffend. . . the Capri/Ref 3 audition referred/linked above was conducted on my own system. Ref 3 has approx 2400 hrs of operation on it. The Capri was probably not completely broken in with only a few hundred hrs. Yet, preliminary observations were just slightly outside typical expectations of audiophilic orthodoxy.

Concerning auditioning on imperfectly broken in equipment in general, this is a rather weighty topic, which deserve its own dedicated and likely popular discussion thread. . . and you Ckoffend may want to start it ASAP, while leaving this one to the tedium of its admittedly narrowly scoped minutiae.
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