Anyone heard the new ARC LS17SE?

My unit is in for upgrade currently with ARC and should be complete on Monday. I will post photos and my preliminary thoughts/review once it returns. The cost is $795 and externally includes a new updated faceplate (says LS17SE of course) and includes the new round silver metal buttons. Internally the four coupling caps are replaced with the new proprietary Teflon coupling caps used in the recent LS27 and Ref 5 SE pre and Ref 2 SE phono models. Upgrades are done by appointment. After long consideration, I opted for this option over upgrading to the new LS27 or a used Ref 3 (as I couldn't find any that were reasonably priced or one owner with low enough hours IMHO). My LS17 only has about 200 hours on the clock, so rather than sell it and take a loss, I found the Signature Edition upgrade to be likely the most cost effective option in pairing with my new Ref 110 amp.

Hi Bavarian05 -
Curious, why were you looking to sell the LS17 after only 200 hours of listening? That just seems awful quick to want to get rid of the unit, unless you were not totally satisfied with the sonics.

does anyone know if the LS-26 is open for the same upgrade?

Hi Lougiants,
Sorry, I should have been more clear. The only reason I was considering an upgrade was to do justice to my recently purchased new ARC Ref 110 with KT-120's. I was not unhappy with the LS17 or its performance. I compared the LS17SE to the Ref 3 and while the size of the soundstage is definitely more spacious with the Ref 3, I found the sound to be very similiar in tonal quality. The ARC tagline of being cut from the same cloth is certainly true in my opinion. For me, taking into account the cost and the smaller size of my listening room, the SE upgrade seemed to make the most sense for me. Would I have liked a Ref 3? No question, as I would like to have had the balance control and tube hour counter, etc. but I couldn't justify the difference in cost for an older, used Ref 3 vs an upgraded relatively new LS17.

Hi Rgd,
According to my coversations with ARC, they are only offering the SE upgrades to the LS17 linestage, the Ref 2 phonostage and the Ref 5 linestage only. The retail pricing will remain at $3995 for the LS17SE and the others have increased to $12,995. The SE models will all be standard models going forward. My understanding is that the Ref 2 and Ref 5 will include power supply upgrades along with the coupling cap upgrade, while the LS17 upgrade is only the new coupling caps. Hope this helps clarify.