Ref 6 Has Arrived

mep

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Dec 4, 2013
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UPS just dropped off my Ref 6. This is the first time I have ever purchased an ARC product that it didn't come in their famous white box. Stay tuned...

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Mine came as well. Looking forward to burning it in. Also got my Air Tight ATM3011R monos and my Isotek EVO3 Super Titan. So will probably just be confused as to what component is having what effect!
 
Mine came as well. Looking forward to burning it in. Also got my Air Tight ATM3011R monos and my Isotek EVO3 Super Titan. So will probably just be confused as to what component is having what effect!

When did yours arrive?
 
The white box is inside the outer brown shipping box.
 
Nice Mark.....looking forward to your listening notes as you get along with break in of the new unit.
 
Even just some pictures of the side of the chassis would be better than nothing!!!!!
 
Congrats Mark! You're going to love it. Pics please.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I will have pics for you guys tomorrow!
 
Here are some pics. The first few were taken with my Nikon D5100 and then the battery went dead. The rest were with my iPhone and one pic is shaky.

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I'm just going to say a few things here since I will be reviewing the Ref 6 and I have only listened to it for a few hours and it's far from broken in. First of all, even though the gain specs between the Ref 5SE and Ref 6 are identical, the Ref 6 seems like it has much more gain. The Ref 6 has a new volume pot which is smooth and continuous instead of the click, click, click that you have with the Ref 5SE in manual mode (not using the remote). The volume levels displayed on their respective screens can't be calibrated relative to one another because the same volume number displayed on the Ref 6 will be much louder than the same number on the Ref 5SE if that makes sense to you.

We all know that sometimes first impressions can be wrong and sometimes just because something stands out as being better means it might wear on your nerves over time as you become accustomed to what is going on. So here are some beans that I'm going to spill right here and now:

The Ref 6 compared to the Ref 5SE sounds much more powerful. If we put it in gearhead terms, it would be like going from a 327 ci Chevy engine to a 454 ci Chevy LS-6. If somebody would have blindfolded me last night and swapped out the Ref 5SE for the REF 6 but told me they replaced my Ref 75 with a big badass pair of monoblock amps, I would have believed them. It was like I didn't buy a new preamp, but rather I bought a whole new system. I simply wasn't prepared for that sort of difference. And trust me, I'm not trying to exaggerate one bit. And when I looked at the meters on the Ref 75 to see if they were still loafing, they were.

This should be a fun ride.
 
Excellent beans Mark. Totally agree with all points. I think you are going to have a great time listening to this preamp.
 
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