ARC LS1, LS2, LS3 , or LS7, which to buy?

Viridian, I have used an LS2B from 1992 to Jan 2006. Into an Aragon 4004 Mk. 2 via RCA until 1998, then into Rowland 7M monoblocks via XLR. LS2B has always performed flawlessly without a single glitch. Lots of gain. . . Could only turn the volume up max 2/5 of the way. Great soundstage; slightly warm sounding; very pleasing, perhaps without the super detail and extremely extended top you can expect in the newest designs. it contains a single 6922 tube. I never experimented with premium or NOS tubes, but only used stock tubes supplied by ARC. I suspect that a good Amperex 7308 or perhaps a 6H23 would do wonders for this unit. I still own mine. One of these days I'll do some experiments with fancy tubes. Sorry I do not have any info about the other fine ARC models in your wishlist.

I have great respect for Guido on this site, but my experience with the LS2 was opposite to his comments here. It's going to take a lot more than a special tube from Jupiter to bring the LS2 into greatness....or even musical enjoyment for me. When I heard the LS3, it did not fare any better.

Once ARC started its trend into the analytical zone with the introduction of the SP-11, it only got progressively worse with the SP-15, LS1, then LS2 and LS3. Only with the introduction of the LS5 did that magical ARC sound of the SP-10 and before return.

Interestingly enough, the LS7 has a little bit of this classic ARC sound but with more of a budget-based system in mind. This would easily get my vote. And perhaps with some DIY efforts to upgrade to the latest Dynamicaps, which are $10-20 each, you might take this unit to a most exciting level.

Forget about the 'B' suffixes on older balanced ARC line stages. The LS5 was the first unit to be truly balanced. The LS2B and LS3B had XLR connections but these units went through additional circuit stages to do the conversions to/from balanced. I never understood the benefits of this as such extra stages can only be a detriment to the signal.

John