Audio Research, ARC Reference 5 - Just Pure Music, Amazing!

Rumor has it that in the mid-1990s, when William Z Johnson set out to design the original Reference 1 preamplifier, his jumping-off point was the SP10. What's not a rumor is that the Reference 1 carried on the tradition and lineage of those classic preamps. It was fully tube driven, it was the best preamp that ARC could build with the technology available at the time, and, like its predecessors, the Ref 1 redefined what was possible in a tube preamp—and, to some ears, what was possible in a preamp of any type. It thus became an instant classic. Time and technology marched on, and the Ref 1 was replaced by the References 2, 3, and 5, each one in turn carrying on the lineage and setting a new standard of performance. 

The Ref 5 uses R-core for the audio circuits, a toroidal for the display, relays, and microprocessor controls—are mounted on the sides of the chassis, above the board, to reduce vibration in the audio circuits. The audio circuitry's power supply is a hybrid-regulated design employing both FETs and a 6H30 dual-triode tube controlling a 6550 pentode tube. The audio circuit itself is "as simple and good as we could make it," according to ARC's David Gordon: a single gain stage with a cathode follower tube in a zero-feedback, fully balanced, pure class-A triode layout. There are six tubes: four 6H30s in the analog stage, and the 6550 and 6H30 in the power supply.

The Ref 5s cosmetics and layout are handsome in Audio Research's traditional fashion, and it's the same goodly size and weight at 5: 19" wide by 7" high by 15.5" deep, and weighing 30 lbs. The chassis is of heavy aluminum, with a thick, elegantly machined aluminum front plate and two rack-mount handles. A cover of perforated aluminum is also available, but ARC recommends the polycarbonate, perhaps because of lower chassis resonances. The Ref 5 is available in natural aluminum or black.

The Reference 5 is a delight to use. All of its controls were intuitive and positive, and the single-ended and balanced connectors were all nicely solid.  We used the Ref 5 with both single-ended and balanced sources, and though we experimented with both types of outputs, we found that I marginally preferred the sound with the Ref 5's balanced outputs driving out in-house amps. In any configuration and throughout our listening, the ARC was completely quiet.

Performance
The Audio Research Reference 5's lineage and $12,995 price led me to expect a lot from it, and it didn't disappoint. I can sum up my impressions of it in one word: "Wow!"

The Ref 5 is no shrinking violet of a preamp. It was big, bold, brash, and brassy, in exactly the way live music is big, bold, brash, and brassy. Regardless of the genre or scale of the music, the Ref 5 brought about a fundamental, not-subtle jump in my system's performance. It was like hearing a good direct-to-disc record for the first time, or maybe an analog master tape. It wasn't just a question of being a little bit better, or better in one or two ways—it was a broad-brush, wholesale improvement, like going from two dimensions to three, or from black-and-white to color. It was almost the sort of fundamental change in the fabric of the music that (dare I say it) separates live music from recorded. This isn't to say that my system magically became the real thing with the Ref 5 SE installed, but it was definitely a step closer.

The ARC's reproduction of timbres was uncanny; it seemed to be painting the music with a tonal palette both bolder and more nuanced than I'd heard before. Tonal colors were richer and denser, harmonic structures more complex. With the Ref 5, instruments sounded more like themselves, more alive. Violas were more distinct from cellos and violins, and each woodwind retained more of its inherent characteristics, whether it was the woody, airy tone of a clarinet or the reedier buzz of an oboe. The rich way the Ref 5 portrays instruments also made it easier to discern individual musicians in a chorus or orchestra, the differences in timbre and texture enhancing the image specificity to create a nearly holographic effect... and  we could go on forever but while were writing this, it's been purchased, lol!!

Not even gonna add pics... hopefully we'll get another one and this ad will be useful.

- BGR, HHA