Listening to the LS28se right now in my own system on demo. It's very good, truthful, transparent, somewhat textured, tighter bass with tilt more towards the upper to mid frequencies, but not bright or harsh. Possibly walking the line of dry to a slim degree, with a decent width of soundstage, depth isn't great but not worse than any other solid state pre I've heard.
Overall great pre, with tight bass that really let's you hear the character of your amp and source. |
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@jc51373 Thanks for that very insightful and honest summary. I get most of it, but I have to say I was surprised that soundstage depth wasn’t great and on par with SS preamps. That’d be a major disappointment to me and an area where I thought ARC gear (and tubes in general) was strong. What’s your other equipment, what are your room dimensions, and how far are your speakers from the back wall? Also, and importantly, what pre are you comparing it to? Just trying to get a handle on this because it’s a bit disappointing as it is. |
I own a Reference 6SE and have listened to the LS28SE. A friend of mine bought one as well, so I have listened to them in more than one setting.
It is an outstanding preamp and very similar to the Reference 6SE. Same sound qualities, detailed, musical, great midrange bloom. The Reference is just a little bit better, bit lower noise floor, a bit more dynamic… cut from the same cloth. It is a question of finances. If you have a choice and can afford the extra money, get the REF 6SE or REF 10. If not, the LS28SE is outstanding.
The LS28SE throws a great wide and deep soundstage. But I have not had one in my system to directly compare with the REF. I detected no hardening of the high frequencies in the LS. |
@soix room is like a rectangle, about 18x11 with a dormered area where I sit on one of the long walls, system sits opposite on the other long wall. 9 foot ceilings, it’s an upstairs office area. Amp is the Sugden FBA-800 Sapphire amp, pure Class A. Speakers are a transmission line type (JM Reynaud) so placement from the wall isn’t as important but they sit about 3 feet off the walls. I also have the AGD preamp here, which is warmer less transparent but really wonderful otherwise. Soundstage depth on the AGD is actually much better, and there have been points where I am hearing things behind my head with that preamp. The ARC has yet to do that and I can’t see it doing that, doesn’t have a holographic character, more of a transparent neutral character.
@ghdprentice thanks for the validation because I can’t afford the Ref6SE right now so this seems like it might be a good landing point. I have a couple others I want to hear as well, but this preamp ranks up there at the top for sure...Might be lacking a smidge of emotion, but I need to run more time and tracks through it. It’s a transparency king for sure. |
