Twenty years ago at CES, Ralph Karsten asked me what pre-amp I was using with his Atma-Sphere M-60's and old Quad speakers. When I told him an ARC LS-2B MkII, he said "My MP-3 is a lot more transparent". Now, you can say he would of course say that, and you may or may not agree with his assessment. If the MP-3 WAS more transparent than the LS-2B MKII, when was ARC able to surpass the MP-3 with a new pre-amp, and at what price? You would of course be correct in saying that this argument relies on the MP-3 in fact being more transparent than the LS-2B MKII, but for the sake of argument let's do so for the moment.
So, that was twenty years ago. Let's look at the difference between what owning an ARC pre-amp (twenty years ago an LS-2B MKII) and owning an Atma-Sphere pre-amp (MP-3) has involved. The MP-3 is now in Mk.3.3 designation, ARC being not the only company offering improvements to it's products over time. Ralph, however, has incorporated his improvements into the MP-3 as retrofits, not requiring the owner to sell his old pre-amp to get the new. How much has an ARC pre-amp owner had to spend, in comparison to the owner of an MP-3, to keep the sound quality of his pre-amp at a level comparable to the sound of the also improved MP-3? The LS-2B MKII owner may have gone the LS-15, then LS-16, then LS-25, then LS-26 route (ignoring for now the Reference level pre-amps), each time having to sell the old for the new, losing money each time. How much has the ARC owner spent to get from the LS-2B MKII to the LS-26? And after all that money spent, how does the LS-26 sound compared to the LS-2B MKII? ARC would have you believe that each and every new model has made the old sound now mediocre in comparison. After all the model changes, perfection should be just as close as the next new model! How does that LS-26 compare to the MP-3 Mk.3.3? And how much has the owner of the original MP-3 spent for all it's upgrades, to bring it to the current Mk.3.3 status? The answer is certainly far less than the ARC owner has spent to get from the LS-2B MKII to the LS-26. If the same reasoning is used including the Reference 1 & 2 pre-amps (which would require one to feel the MP-3 Mk.3.3 is their equal), this conclusion is even more true.
ARC owners tend to compare new, improved ARC products only to other ARC products, being ARC loyalists. Robert Levi has listened to the ARC Reference 3 side-by-side with the EAR 868, preferring the EAR. Again, you may or may not agree with his assessment. The 868 has not been changed in at least ten years, and is available used for around $3,000-$3,500. An ARC Reference 3 owner may have bought and sold any combination of LS-15, 16, 17, 25, 26, Ref 1, and/or Ref 2 to finally arrive with his current pre-amp, spending far more than $3,500 (or about twice that if an 868 is bought new) to do so. Is the price it costs to move up the ARC pre-amp line justified by the SQ one ends up with after that amount is spent? Or would a pre-amp shopper be better off going straight for a, say, EAR 868? Hey, I'm just askin'!
