Arthur_Noguerola%es.uucp@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (03/22/90)
ARC - I recently sold my used ARC SP3a after 10 years of absolutely flawless service excepting tubes. I purchased an SP9 after listening to ARC SP9 (3 different),SP6,SP8,SP10,Classe DR5, VTL Maximimal and Ultimate, CJ PV5 and PV9, Motif, Quicksilver and probably others. My most valuable lesson in listening over the past years helped in my eventual choice of preamp. That is that all equipment needs warm up time to sound best. I tried to borrow only units which were already broken in. I think this essential. I also used each preamp in multiple configurations: normal, hot rod, with and without step-ups (external or internal). No matter how 'impressed' I was with a given manufacturer's unit I kept coming back to the SP9 (with CJ a close second). Yes the others sounded great or clean or fast or dynamic but it was the ARCs that sounded musical. Their whole line reflects steady forward progress in preamp design. With music as the end goal. Don't be fooled by intial wow-zowie results. Listen for awhile in a relaxed manner. After a time are you still drawn in by the pyrotechnics or do you find yourself go back to the shelves to get yet another record and then another. Or has your attention wandered? Do you feel the urge to move onto another preamp? Breakin tiem for my SP9 has been about 3 months!!! and yes it was not subtle. Leave your equipment on!!!! I think you will have good luckwith your SP10 purchase and you will find that ARC is dedicated to their customers (even those of used units). Belles: I have a Belles 450 and a close friend has 250. We both have the same likes and dislikes in regards to these amps and to the manufacturer. Sonically it took both amps probably 2 months to breakin. Before that they did sound a little thin. But once broken in they are wonderful and tubey in sonic nature. They are simply designed and built. The 450 uses NO internal wiring except a jumper. All very high quiality parts. The only PC board has all connections direct to it. The inputs are Tiffany I believe and are soldered. The outputs are the klinker here. Belles uses standard (read cheesy) output posts. On BOTH mine and my friends amps they came loose in to manners: 1 - the cap portion loosened on the metal screw portion, 2 - the connector itself loosened from the chassis. This caused us both much grief. A call to Mr. Belles got a nasty tempered man (supposedly having a bad day) who offered to replace the posts with same for labor charges only. Of course we had to pay shipping!!!. Mind you the amps were only 3 - 4 months old and still under warranty. My solution? Enid Lumley to the rescue - Edison Price binding posts. 15 minutes later all was well and sound was clearer,more detailed and more current throughput. So real nice amp design and sound but no kudos for the customer service column. General: How many of you have experienced to breaking in of equipment? Including cables. With preamps I was able to notice almost across the board that intially soundstage and imaging was not quite right but most units settled (ie stoppped wavering) after the 1st hour. But that most only settled after 3 hours. This makes short term loans hard on decision making. Especially when the unit you buy will continue to change over the first few months. I found the Classe DR5 to be cold and thin and it wouldnt change (although the soundstage did settle). TAS did mention that it needed to warm up for 100hours before intial listening. I find cables to be similar. I am not the only one of my listening friends to experience these occurences. Any thoughts on this topic. Since I am new to this forum I would also like to inquire about possible sale or purchase of used equipment and more specifically records. Is that possible throught this forum? If you are interested in such please contact me via e-mail if this forum is not the proper venue. [Private sales I don't mind... let's not run a business, though. -tjk]