Audio Research REF 6 Preamp

How many hours do you have sofar?

I had a Ref5se before, and it did not act up during break-in - no other changes to my system since..
 
Hi Guys,

As a dealer of ARC I can tell you that so far my last 6 REF6 sold has been sounding wonderful from start and all of my clients said the same thing from the first minute of starting up the unit the sound is superb.

I believe in the burn in time
But not in the up and down
Sound until the 600hrs

But that's me, I respect each of your experiences




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I have purchased new Audiodharma Cable Cocke r. In the meantime I`m asking myself if the result will blown me away with the speaker-Capacitor burn-in , maybe I should also burn the capacitors of my new Preamplifier the Audio Research Reference 6 ? Thake them out and burn properly on the Cable Cocker ;-) Just a thought, the unit sounds great imho. I like soldering and make some test ;-) Does anybody know somebody done that ?
 
I would not recommend taking apart your Ref 6 to burn in caps, etc.

Just play it with music and enjoy it. One day you will realize how great it is and say, holy cow! and you will be happy.
 
How is it that some people have schizophrenic ARC Ref 6's and others (like me) have those that sound consistently good???


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Hi Andy,

You raise an excellent point. Some owners, like yourself, love the Ref 6's sound from day one. Other owners need to go fully through the break in process before they find audio nirvana. I would encourage those owners to withhold judgement until the Ref 6 has at least 600 hours on it.

I have loved the sound of my Ref 10 since day one. But I've been told that I will keep hearing improvement until about 600 hours. I'm currently at 250 hours and I'm still hearing consistent improvement in terms of smoothness, refinement and dimension.

Best,
Ken
 
From another member i got this tip:

if you want to burn-in them just get some wires with alligator clips. If the preamplier is turned - off, the capacitors are in a medium -impedance state as the cathode resistor is around 10 kohm and the other wire of the capacitor is grounded by the mute relay.

That would be the best solution. I`m +/- 100% sure that I will not harm my beloved preamplifier ? I was also thinking about this, and even take out the valves out to be sure I don't damage anything.. Can another forum member approve this approach?
 
From another member i got this tip:

if you want to burn-in them just get some wires with alligator clips. If the preamplier is turned - off, the capacitors are in a medium -impedance state as the cathode resistor is around 10 kohm and the other wire of the capacitor is grounded by the mute relay.

That would be the best solution. I`m +/- 100% sure that I will not harm my beloved preamplifier ? I was also thinking about this, and even take out the valves out to be sure I don't damage anything.. Can another forum member approve this approach?

I think it is a bad idea. I would hope that you can just enjoy the great preamp. If not, maybe move on to something else.
 
From another member i got this tip:

if you want to burn-in them just get some wires with alligator clips. If the preamplier is turned - off, the capacitors are in a medium -impedance state as the cathode resistor is around 10 kohm and the other wire of the capacitor is grounded by the mute relay.

That would be the best solution. I`m +/- 100% sure that I will not harm my beloved preamplifier ? I was also thinking about this, and even take out the valves out to be sure I don't damage anything.. Can another forum member approve this approach?

Reckless. You can't be serious.

Call or write ARC directly and ask them how to do the modifications & connections.
 
Hi Andy,

You raise an excellent point. Some owners, like yourself, love the Ref 6's sound from day one. Other owners need to go fully through the break in process before they find audio nirvana. I would encourage those owners to withhold judgement until the Ref 6 has at least 600 hours on it.

I have loved the sound of my Ref 10 since day one. But I've been told that I will keep hearing improvement until about 600 hours. I'm currently at 250 hours and I'm still hearing consistent improvement in terms of smoothness, refinement and dimension.

Best,
Ken

Hi Ken,

Glad your experience with the Ref 10 is similar to mine. I do believe with use these components benefit from burn in and settle down to their in age character but the difference is subtle. Sounded great from day one and only better now. The Ref 6 now has a place in my reference system.

Best always...


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Hello ,

I’m a proud owner of Audio Research Reference 6 Preamplifier. I want to combine this unit with SS Amplifier the Vitus Audio SM-011. The only question I have will it electric drive the SS- monoblocs via the XLR connection?
The Sterophile test of my Reference 6 says in the measurement: The balanced output clipped at 2.7V into 600 ohms; like the Ref 5, the Ref 6 should not be used with power amplifiers having an input impedance of less than 10k ohms.
Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/...preamplifier-measurements#IucRsXSulREJtzz2.99

The XLR impedance of the SS Amplifier the Vitus Audio SM-011 is 10KΩ 10KΩ
Read more at: http://www.vitusaudio.com/files/4405/upload/brochure 2016 v1 28-10-2016.pdf


And here the predecessor SM-010 was even tested with the Reference 5 Preamplifier with good results.
http://www.tonepublications.com/review/heavy-metal/
 
Thanks Mike for the quick response. I think I will go “blind” for the SM-011 after you and many more people who have advised me this brand in Class-A amplifiers. I hope this will be major step up from my XA-160.5
 
Thanks Mike for the quick response. I think I will go “blind” for the SM-011 after you and many more people who have advised me this brand in Class-A amplifiers. I hope this will be major step up from my XA-160.5

I don't think you will be disappointed.
 
I have purchased new Audiodharma Cable Cocke r. In the meantime I`m asking myself if the result will blown me away with the speaker-Capacitor burn-in , maybe I should also burn the capacitors of my new Preamplifier the Audio Research Reference 6 ? Thake them out and burn properly on the Cable Cocker ;-) Just a thought, the unit sounds great imho. I like soldering and make some test ;-) Does anybody know somebody done that ?

This is a joke right? Unless you hold IPC solder certifications and have a really good soldering station which includes a desoldering tool, you stand a good chance of causing damage to the circuit board. You will most certainly void your warranty and your value on the used market if you disclose your shenanigans (which would also prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are a crazy audiophile) would drop faster than a used prophylactic.
 
This is a joke right? Unless you hold IPC solder certifications and have a really good soldering station which includes a desoldering tool, you stand a good chance of causing damage to the circuit board. You will most certainly void your warranty and your value on the used market if you disclose your shenanigans (which would also prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are a crazy audiophile) would drop faster than a used prophylactic.

Hi Mep.

I was jest asking myself and also here if anyone has tried this. The outcome by cocking Duelund capacitors after one year of use was beyond my belief! I'm just thinking about speed up this process in Reference 6 and even my thinking is that good capacitors can never been broken in without this peace of treatment! Really! Voodoo equipment!
I will after this reactions not do this to Ref 6.
 
After chasing and thinking of swapping my long time companion in form of ModWright LS36.5DM with REF5SE and unsuccessful chase for it across Europe I've stumbled on almost new REF6 which I could not resist to, so as of today I finally have an ARC preamp from REF series. Previously I had LS2B and LS16mkII so this should be, from my point of view, a big come back:yahoo1: to the ARC family. Unfortunately I'll have to wait for a few weeks to plug it in due to planned trips, but the longer you wait for something to happen the sweater it gets when you get it :exciting:.
 
After chasing and thinking of swapping my long time companion in form of ModWright LS36.5DM with REF5SE and unsuccessful chase for it across Europe I've stumbled on almost new REF6 which I could not resist to, so as of today I finally have an ARC preamp from REF series. Previously I had LS2B and LS16mkII so this should be, from my point of view, a big come back:yahoo1: to the ARC family. Unfortunately I'll have to wait for a few weeks to plug it in due to planned trips, but the longer you wait for something to happen the sweater it gets when you get it :exciting:.

Congrats!! Great preamp. [emoji106][emoji106]
 
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