Has anyone heard the Ref 3?

Gunther, the term 'ruthless' is probabably ruthlesly accurate when speaking about the Ref 3. The creature reveals so much information that shortcomings up and down the chain may become more apparent. By the way, was the Ref 3 fully broken in? If it were not, that may have accounted for some residual grit.

Yes, that sounds like a better description - ruthlessly accurate. The tubes had just over 400 hours on them, so I assume it's well into the break-in period.

I read in another thread here last night that there's an upgrade to the LS25 due soon (LS26) that takes a lot of cues from the Ref3 in terms of sonic quality.

Gunther, your info about an upcoming LS26 jives with what I heard. LS-26 is likely to be based on Ref 3. I haven't seen anything on the ARC external database, though.

Kinsekd,

Yes - I've heard both the Ref 2 and the Ref 3 in the system
of Audiogon member "oneobgyn":

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1049587927&read&3&4&

I believe "OB" thinks the Ref 2 --> Ref 3 was a very worthwhile
upgrade. From his response of 8/20/05 to Guido:

"To sum up in a nut shell and to avoid flowery and prosaic
paragraghs, what I have noticed with the upgrade on the
Ref 3 is a better, tighter and more articulate bass and a
smoother more enjoyable high frequency. It is however the
change in the bottom end that was the most apparent
(switching to the 6550C output tube). Adding the four bypass
caps produced a more subtle change in the upper range.

As much as I liked the ARC Ref 2 Mk ll which I previously
owned the newer ARC Ref 3 eclipses it by a huge margin. I
knew that you would like it as well. Remember that these
changes are merely rolling line changes and if ordered now,
will come with the upgrades."

I believe "OB" is quite happy with the ARC Ref 3. You can
ask him for more details in the discussion area of his
system page. He is most helpful in all things audio.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

I would agree the Ref 3 is significant upgrade to the Ref 2. The Ref 3 is less colored, more transparent and gets out of the way of music more. Owners of the Ref 3 can get another improvement by replacing the stock Svetlana 6550c tube with a NOS Genalex KT88. The difference in terms of tonality, involvement, and imaging were substantial in my system.