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Advicd Needed on Change from Levinson to Audio Research

Maybe it's just an itch, but I gotta scratch it.

When I was a bit younger, I dreamed of owning Levinson and Audio Research gear. I could never justify the expense. Now I can enjoy their vintage gear!

I have sampled tube components in the past (CJ MV75), but never have made my mind up fully about whether I prefer the tube sound or the SS sound. I gave up on the CJ amp because of the daily tweaks I needed to do to the bias current.

I listen mainly to classical (opera and romantic) and rock (60s - 80s), and a bit of Jazz and Blues.

I presently run the Levinson #38s pre and #27 power amps and have for the five years. My speakers are Revel f208 running full range. I normally listen at about 85-90dB SPL. This measures about 1-3 watts at the speaker inputs in my listening position. I am very happy with the sound. I am currently favoring playing LPs using a Benz LP-S, Micro Seiki MA-505L and Technics SL-1200G. I have a fairly up to date Virtual System posted here on Audiogon.

Would a bit of AR tube sound be even better? Gotta listen for myself obviously.

So, I now have an Audio Research SP-6B coming to me in a few weeks from AR after restoration (eBay purchase). I am considering getting an AR Reference 75 power amp, which appears to be a great tube power amp but a bit pricey. But I could stretch if needed.

I would like to receive comments/suggestions/criticisms about my endeavor.

Should I wait until I have an impression of the SP-6B with the #27 prior to the decision about the Ref 75? Or just get the Ref 75 now? Or???

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

 

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xkevemaher
jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,278 posts
 

I'd look for a D75/76 amp instead. That would match better with the SP6B. I have a SP6/D75 pair and am pleased with the sound quality.

kevemaher's avatar
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kevemaher OP
108 posts
 

Thanks for the info. I've looked at the D-76. It looks really complicated and expensive to maintain. I can't imagine the trouble involved in biasing all those tubes.

What exactly will prevent me from obtaining the best performance from the sp6/Reference 75 combo?

I understand unbalanced vs balanced. I regularly make my own single ended to balanced cables, both male and female. I also have a transformer for one line.

The remaining parts of my system are balanced. All I would need is to make conversion cables for one SP-6 input (line level, the phono is already unbalanced) and the SP6 output. After that, I'm all balanced.

I don't consider the unbal/bal issue a problem. Juat recently I had a Paragon System E tube preamplifier (ca 1977, so contemporary with the SP6) as my preamp. I connected as I described above. It worked well. Dead quiet at normal listening level. No ground loops.

What am I missing?

 

pwerahera
128 posts
 

I have Mark Levinson 23.5 connected to Thiel 3.6 speakers. My current preamp is Cary Audio SLP03. I am very pleased with this combination. My phono preamp is Audio Research PH5 and I also have Audio Research DAC #3. These are all tube gear. So I don’t see how you can go wrong replacing your SS preamp with a tube preamp.

I am not familiar with AR SP-6B, but I suggest you find a tube preamp with balanced XLR output since you have > 8ft cables running from your preamp to the amp (from your system photos). I also had a VTL 2.5 preamp before Cary and that also worked very well. Hope this helps.

kevemaher's avatar
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kevemaher OP
108 posts
 

@pwerahera 

Hey, thanks for the encouragement.

I really want to try the SP6. Although it is not balanced, I will use an RCA->XLR cable to the first downstream component.The rest of the cabling is XLR,  including the line level to the power amp. Those cables you saw are XLR. I have no noise issues and no IR drop because of the long 12 gaoge speaker cables.

I have built and tested my RCA->Male XLR cable. There is inaudible noise (-100dB) from power related noise, ground loops, or pick up. I use a spectrum analyzer to detect these issues. Doesn't seem to be an issue, but I will definitely test again after everything is hooked up, since my test bench is not in the system.

I will have the  SSP6 back from AR in about 6 weeks or less. Can't wait.

jafant's avatar
jafant
20,001 posts
 

pwerahera

Good to read that you are still enjoying a classic Cary/ML and Thiel combination.

 

Happy Listening!

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