CHANGING FROM AUDIO RESEARCH TO AUDIO NOTE SYSTEM 

Great advise from you all! Thanks!
@ghasley , you said it all about the REF5SE. It is indeed a great and special,preamp! One of the things I feel about this business is that I am exchanging a very special preamp for an inferior one, although great sounding. A little bit the same about the Sophia’s, being changed for very plain AN E model, because a level 4 model more than doubles the price. it is a great idea the ref80 issue. I will give it a try.

At the end, it is a question of liking the sound of AN and I do a lot. The JADIS with the O96 really impressed me. I felt music and emotion in their presentation. I coul hear the effort made by a singer to pass the emotion. Believe me, it was unforgettable. I could go for this combo, JADIS with Devore. But I think it will be too much for my living room. I posted a picture on my profile with the system in the room. A corner placement would be great for the room. The Devore will be bad for the room.

I also must say that the AN system didn’t impress me as much as the Devore/ Jadis. But I liked it a lot. Where I starting from scratch and if money wasn’t an issue, I would buy and live happily with the AN system for the rest of my life (if one can say that for sure).

@pfmaudio I agree with you and you are thinking about the right things. One thing you might consider, pick up the phone and call Mr. Devore. Tell him what you heard when you first heard his speakers, tell him about your room and your desires for placement. I have seen photos where John built front ported O96's for a customer. Heck, that may be all you need to get the sound you are after is to have a pair of O96's built that way.

My personal opinion is that if you are looking past the AN-E spe he then you should consider the higher models in the context of an all Audio Note system. Its the AN specific synergies where you milk the last bit of elegance from the system. I am far from an Audio Note expert as I determined real quick that it can be painful as you move up the Audio Note food chain. If it were my money, and it clearly isn't, I would upgrade to a ref80s and have some O96's built with front ports. You could stick with your existing Transparent cabling, experience some amazing dynamics tonal color and texture and sink in and enjoy your music. Besides, the O96's are absolutely built to an heirloom standard, they are beautiful in room and are terribly easy to live with. While O96's may not be everyone's cup of tea, what speaker is? One of the things I really appreciate about the O96's and Devore Fidelity in general, you will see them driven by inexpensive tube integrateds, class A solid state, SET's, lower power amps, higher power amps and they appear to check off boxes for those buyers. They really are versatile. With that said, you might find the transparency and texture that ARC delivers would mesh nicely with AN-E's and they might sound amazing in your room. Hopefully you have great dealers who will find a way for you to see which direction works best for you.

Best of luck...

@ghasley

pick up the phone and call Mr. Devore. Tell him what you heard when you first heard his speakers, tell him about your room and your desires for placement. I have seen photos where John built front ported O96’s for a customer. Heck, that may be all you need to get the sound you are after is to have a pair of O96’s built that way

This is an excellent suggestion! Front ported O-96 speakers that will quite likely work with corner placement as @pfmaudio needs for his room. Get the Jadis 300b amplifiers to drive them and keep the ARC REF 5SE preamplifier. I can imagine this combination sounding splendid. Other combinations recommended here are also terrific options.

@ghasley

Your comments on this thread are very informative and interesting. Hi pfmaudio, Jadis amplifiers are beautiful looking and sounding. I’m sure they worked magic with their 300b implementation. I have zero doubt that the ARC REF 150 SE and Wilson pairing is very nice. But Jadis300b/O-96 I believe would be "special "😊👍

Charles

That’s a big change.  I’d be sure about it somehow before committing fully.  Can you keep the old stuff until the new stuff passes the grade?

The AN E's are a copy of the Snell Type E. I have a pair. I don't believe the hype that the AN E's are so great! Certainly not worth the high price! I'll take the 096's any day of the week!