Seriously? Why Buy ARC Ref 6SE? seems Benchmark LA4 is a better choice.


And costs only a few grand vs soooo much more for a ref 6se preamp.  Benchmark LA4 Does HT bypass very easily.  
I am at a profound loss.  what the heck is going on inside the Ref 6se box.  What the heck does it all do? 
6se is very pretty but Benchmark LA4 also looks nice. And the McIntosh c1100 preamp is also very pretty.  Frankly, what justifies buying a preamp at such a high price?? It is supposed to be a neutral pass thru of a signal.
emergingsoul
@emergingsoul You sound like someone that needs to have a listen to the Luxman c900u preamp and m900u amp stack. Only tubey sound I loved and it is SS, great stuff. I would not mind putting the HPA4 or LA4 with the Luxman m900u amp but I will try a CODA #8 first for 1/3 the cost. I actually was emailing CODA today about getting a customized version of the #8, which I will do.

A side note about cars, I had BMW M3 (E46) for 19 years (only owner). I sold it a few weeks ago and bought some speakers with the proceeds. I advertised it on Facebook and had over 150 offers to buy in 1 hour, I was shocked. I had a guy come to my door 10 minutes after the ad was placed and gave me cash on the spot. He had seem my car on the driveway once and was able to figure out that it was my ad. I did not put my address on the ad. It really showed me the power of Facebook.
You guys are too much, sometimes this forum reads like outtakes from Grumpy Old Men. 
Is it a 'neutral pass thru' of the signal or not.
This is the first question.  It needs answering before all the others.
Because if it is, then we don't need pre-amps.
Or all the discussion about them.