We'll I gotta say what a JOY it was to listen to the AR Reference-5
.Very nice for sure.
After warming her up for a few hrs,I put on some music,I should say what I was running with the Ref-5
The supply from the wall was twoX240v Balanced Torus(s) 20a(components),60a for the amps.
Amplifiers were the Bryston 28B-SST2s,CDP(BCD-1)and all cabling was XLRs-balanced.
Lots of supeb music with the 5,one thing I noticed right away was how the bottomend(hope I use the right words)was that kick drums had a very nice billowy soft attack,it was big,soft,but you could also hear the tone of the drum,plus the attack of the beater on the head(Nice surprize).
I found the she's dead quiet.Some music with the strings in the back ground gave me the impression
of how an eerie fog hangs a few feet above a meadow in the country just at daybreak
,that was real nice too.kind of driftin in mid air those strings were.
Some latin instruments would also hang out in the forest too and communicate back and forth.
The Audio Research REF-5 is a Superb preamp and she seems to work in harmony with the 28s.
The Bryston 26 is also a Superb preamp,as after I reconnected her up,she woke me up to remind me
just how good she is.She's a quiet one also,once you wake her up though,she's a very much full of life if you will.
Listening to the bottomend also is SUPERB,some will say lean,That lean I would call control+punchy.
I also love a more controlled punchy kick,not that the ref-5 didn't have control,just different.
I must say after I reconnected the BP-26 just how SUPERB she is.I was wondering after all the listening with the Ref-5 and then going back to the BP-26,what would I hear,would it be a major
difference.It is a major difference,but the difference is how each of them portray the music.
One is softer,laid back in a splendid way for sure,and the other is,hmmm what are words lively, punchy,instruments very distinct,with the space also.
I could live with either preamp,they both are up there emotionally for me for MUSIC.
I am very content with the Bryston BP-26,I also could be content with the AR Ref-5.
I'm selfish,I want both as they both offer tremendous musicality to the music and to me.
They are both up there and the differences are is that they just present the music differently.
If I had 14,000 to spare I'd pick her up and then i'd have both as they are both a joy to listen too.
Like some folk I know 2,3-4 rooms with different speakers and gear.That has to be nice:
one to lay back in,one to rock out in,one for island hopping,and another for nightlife.
Anyway that's the way I heard it and it was FUN,emotional and all the good things that come from music.
Jeez, now I got to get up early and take her back to the city, 3hrs.i'll drop her off,say my goodbyes
for now and head to the nearest TIM HORTON"s for a EEEEXTRA LARGE DOUBLE DOUBLE
..
OOPS,speakers were Revel 50as.
