2. amps-preamps
  3. 997903136

Preamp upgrade ARC LS5, SF Line 3, others?

I'm looking to upgrade my preamp. I have Audio Research LS2 MKII and ARC D200 power amp. The LS 2 can be a little bright on the top end and thinon the low end. I have heard the LS5 and was blown away auditioning it in my home, but have a number of components that are single ended. I've always liked ARC products, but they seem low on features.

I've read reviews on the Sonic Frontiers Line 3 and am encouraged by it. SOmeone I spoke to said the Line 3 was dramatically better than the ARC LS5. Any SF Line 3 owners would like to leave comments on this. Any other preamps one should look into?

thanks

tom
128x128audiotomb
sm121055
36 posts
 
I relatively new one on the market is the AE-3 DJH edition from AES. It's a significant upgrade from the standard AE-3. It's retails for $1200. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of places to purchase it from. You can get it from either Upscale Audio or direct from AES. I picked mine up from Kevin at Upscale Audio.

You can check it out at www.superamp.com under the preamp section.

Steve
jaica
81 posts
 
I liked the Hovland HP-100. Some people find it thin on the bottom end, I did not. The preamp is sensitive to impedance missmatch. You need an amp with an input impedance of 30kohms or above.

Good luck
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Tom; I own the SF Line 2, and auditioned the Line 3 in home for 5 days. These are both very neutral sounding pre-amps, ie they do not have a "tubey" euphonic sound at all. But they are very smooth, and soundstage and holographics, especially with the Line 3, are excellent.

Both the SF pre-amps are loaded with features like Headphone out, an SSP out, Remote, 4 always on outputs for bi-amping, and many others. I have not heard the LS5 but can highly recommend the Line 2 or 3. Happy Hunting. Craig.
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