Has anyone heard the Ref 3?

I find it amusing that Judy426 is accusing someone of "posting absolutes". This is an individual that consistently has made sweeping derogatory statements about virtually all Audio Research products.

Gmorris

You have one hell of a good looking system

Like you I use the Walker SST and now the Extreme SST and amazed at the sonic change in my system. Sorry to be off topic.

Oneobgyn, your poor experience with the L2 was unfortunately my fault. One of the XLRs I brought over and had been using turned out to be faulty causing a significant compromise to the sound. When we listened to your Ref 3, Vahallas were used bypassing this problem. Consequently, I dont think your experience with the L2 was accurate.

A few weeks ago, I had a Ref 3 to compare in my system and to me, the L2 was superior. The Lamm was more natural and transparent with a lower noise floor. I felt like it was more pure while the Ref 3 had a slight agenda. The differences were not drastic, as expected with components at this level, but evident under critical listening.

Well Ethan we should try the demo again because I would still have to disagree. I am uncertain what you mean that the Ref 3 "has a slight agenda"

Hi Oneobgyn, I would be glad to bring over the L2 again. To fair, we should probably use the same cables on both pres this time. By "slight agenda," I meant I noticed some coloration that accounted for the difference.