ARC Reference se

Yes,I know what you mean.I went from the ls 15 to the ref 5 se and,I like what Im hearing.Its thinned out some of my music,but the good recordings are really good.

Using it as part of a home theatre set up, I had chalked up over 1400 hours. Swapped to the tubes out for a Cryo-ed matched set and have to say it sounds pretty damn good now. Properly run in, it takes over 500 hours IMHO.

Hey mate,I was wondering if different tubes,could improve things.

I went from REF 3 to REF 3 SE by adding the extra cap.board.
I know in the REF 5 SE also the outputcaps are changed , but as I don 't have these output caps anymore I was quickly ready.Did not swap the internal wiring.You all know the improvement by the extra cap.bank.

Misternice, yes tubes can change the character of a preamp.

But the 6H30s used by ARC isn't particularly common. There are only 2 brands still being manufactured and I understand they are built in the same factory. I got a set of matched/cryoed 6H30s from cryoset.

There are some highly sought after 6H30DR NOS from the 80s which are very pricey. I gather from feedback that they sound the best but they are about 10x more than the current production 6H30s. And there are a lot of fakes around so be careful where you get them from.