Conrad Johnson ACT2 against Audio Research Ref 3

Perhaps once my Ref 3 has settled down and is fully broken in, I may contact the local CJ dealer in Austin, and see if he can arrange for a demo at my place for me and my fellow Austin audiofools.

A wonderful proposal and I envy the opportunity to be part of that listening session. Of course you are most invited to share observations with us, ideally referenced to specific musical passages so we can play along at home. But all that is down the road. Best wishes as you break-in and enjoy you new linestage.

I wonder if this thread has helped Ginas??

Rgurney, yes the ARC REF 3 sounds extremely different if you defeat the balanced circuit while running true XLR ICs. The sound turned all together noisy, hazy, uninvolving and thin. . . all of a sudden it reminded me of my good old LS2B. When the 'accident' took place at Aris Audio in Salt Lake City last October we were running AQ Sky XLR from a Teac X-01 to the Ref 3, and AQ XLR Chita to a Theta Dreadnaught. A single keystroke on the remote returned the ref 3 to its former glory.

Downunder, the VTL 7.5 did not send me in ectstasy either. Very sweet and 'romantic', but transients were a touch too slow. To give you an idea, all grand pianos sounded like old German Bluthners, or as if grandma had thrown her heaviest quilted blanked on top of the closed lid of her prized 7ft Steinway Hamburg. . . and yes, I have played on a Bluthner several times and do not like the brand. Violins sounded also much tamer than in real life. Once again they sounded 'Bluthnerized' .

JTimothya, I will definitely post detailed listening comments when I have the opportunity to compare the ACT 2 with the REF 3, with detailed references to musical passages and performance issues, in the same slightly anally retentive style that I have already used in my analysis of the ref 3 vs VAC Ren Signature II on my thread at:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1123254379&openmine&Guidocorona&4&5&st0
starting approx the 17th of August 2005. If I recall correctly it was approx post No. 50 or so.

I haven't found that there is a "significant" difference in the Ref 3 in balanced v.s.
single ended mode. What Guidocorona said was that he had the wrong setting for the type of I.C. that he was using. You don't set it for S.E. and then use balanced cables or set it for balanced and then use single ended cables.

Agaffer, quite possibly. If I have the opportunity to test the X-01 to Ref 3 connection with one set of single ended Sky ICs and compare the result with the same balanced IC, I shall do so. Until such time, I will have to go with what my ears have told me this far.

"What Guidocorona said was that he had the wrong setting for the type of I.C. that he was using. You don't set it for S.E. and then use balanced cables or set it for balanced and then use single ended cables."

Guido as much as I am a believer in the Ref 3, Agaffer is right on and absolutely correct in his observation. There should be absolutely no difference in SE vs XLR balanced output on the Ref 3 other than approximately 6 Db of gain