ARC REF 10 (Audio Research Reference 10) (mini) Review

dlb2 said:
Congrats Bob. You'll have to unbox it and drool over it now, just none on the tubes! How long will the carpet and paint take to complete? You could have gotten a deal on a REF10 that was for sale on A'gon but I think we all know where it is now, right Mike? :)
Click to expand...

Yes, it found a home close to me! :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Awesome combo. They're a keeper. And by that I mean both the new gear and your wife. If you're like me, you want everyhting just right when you un-box your new babies and introduce them to their new home. It will be worth the wait. If your condition lasts longer than the 500 hours of break-in then you should seek medical attention immediately. Enjoy and keep us posted.

Ray
 
I have just taken delivery of my new REF10 and right out of the box with a mighty 5 hours on the clock I am pleasantly surprised and delighted with how well the unit is performing, However! I am a little concerned that I seem to be getting patchy light bleed through on the screen, together with a rather washed out background (Black looking distinctly Blue/Black) and the same with text (Green looking distinctly Lime Green as apposed to the usual ARC Deep Jade green, similar in nature to a monitor or TV with the contrast turned way up, playing with the display intensity setting merely dimming the effect rather than correcting it.

Whilst I recognise that the REF10 screen sports a different tech to the usual ARC displays my particular control screen does appear to be a little unusual!

I would be most grateful for any feedback from fellow REF10 owners on this anomaly, perhaps even an image or two of their own screens, ideally traditional Green on Black, notwithstanding the difficulties inherent in taking images of this type of subject.

Jasper.
 
You can change the background and text colors. Change it to black background, white text, problem solved.

Congrats on a world class preamp. I had one for almost a year. Loved it. Great great tonality.
 
Thank you Mike, I have had a play around with the colour palette and the image intensity settings, I shall post an image or two ASAP.
 
I have not experienced any bleed or patchiness with the touch screen on my Ref 10. It's about 10 months old. No palette issues whatsoever. I have it set to the "blue" colour but have tried other colours. I fear you may have a defect in the screen assembly. Sorry to hear but it should be a kick fix for the delear to order and install a new one. Hope you are enjoying the preamp as much as I have. Its incredible!
 
Not entirely unexpectedly, I expearience my first sonic 'Snake' as apposed to 'Ladder' with the REF10 yesterday afternoon around the 20 hour mark, the previous afternoon and on the same suite of tracks the REF10 was performing very nicely, only to sound 'relatively' hard and a little compressed the following afternoon , like GroundHog day with my previous REF5SE.

22 hours and counting!!!
 
Harlequin said:
Not entirely unexpectedly, I expearience my first sonic 'Snake' as apposed to 'Ladder' with the REF10 yesterday afternoon around the 20 hour mark, the previous afternoon and on the same suite of tracks the REF10 was performing very nicely, only to sound 'relatively' hard and a little compressed the following afternoon , like GroundHog day with my previous REF5SE.

22 hours and counting!!!
Click to expand...

Stay the course...you'll be rewarded.
 
Ha! Indeed. It's a steep hill to climb, but well worth the journey. I found with mine that around 300 hours (maybe a little less), things really bloomed. A lot fewer bad days after that point if I recall.
 
Harlequin said:
Not entirely unexpectedly, I expearience my first sonic 'Snake' as apposed to 'Ladder' with the REF10 yesterday afternoon around the 20 hour mark, the previous afternoon and on the same suite of tracks the REF10 was performing very nicely, only to sound 'relatively' hard and a little compressed the following afternoon , like GroundHog day with my previous REF5SE.

22 hours and counting!!!
Click to expand...

As one who has been through break in of the Ref10 preamp twice and Ref10 phono as well, I would suggest you find a way to expedite the break-in.
You are missing out until you hit 500 hours. It's not going to be very pleasant for the next 200 hours or so. Seems a waste to spend all that listening time not enjoying the very best the ARC can produce. Just my opinion but then again I'm extremely impatient. I said I was going to listen straight through the break in period and take the long way around but it only lasted to about 50 hours.
 
Frank....I tend to leave the system running gas mark 2 on CD shuffle for a few hours Per session before checking for any progress (or otherwise) with a few test tracks.

I have resorted to a couple of measures that are making the task a little easier on the ear Viz. Shun Mook GDR's and a FOO rail fuse, that said one can easily perceive the massive Diamond contained within the unpolished stone.
 
ARC is serious when its says that the Ref 10 takes 600 hours to fully flesh-out the complete goodness of the preamp. Mine took 650 to hit its stride. As Mike says its worth the wait. Yes; lots of sonic snakes along the way.

I very recently bought the Octave MRE 220 mono's and the pairing with the ARC Ref 10 is breathtaking. Fortunatley, the Ocatve 220's only take about 80 hours to peak.

Did you get your screen issues resolved?

Ray
 
Pending supplying Kal with a clearer set of shots Ray, It doesn't look like the most arduous task to swop out should it come to that.

As one fellow commented elsewhere,
"Why aren't ARC using an OLED screen. You will get the blackest black's ever."

My own response,
"No doubt penciled in as part of the REF10 SE upgrade package"


37 and counting
 
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