ARC Ref 3: Tung-Sol 6550 in power supply?

Now returning in earnest to the main topic [grins!]. . . The 6550C Black Sable will make for an interesting experiment with my Ref 3 the coming Fall, when my music loft becomes once again 'tube friendly'. If it sounds even more linear and extended than the standard tube, I may very well like it. Conversely, if it sounded warmer to me, I probably won't.

Well I cannot say that I have heard the latest Shunyata Anaconda Helix Alpha p/c with my ARC Ref 3, I have heard many cords, including the older series Anaconda Matrix Alpha and Vx, as well as the Nordost Valhalla (amongst many others). I still feel that my favorite, in my system, to my ears is the Stealth Preamp Dream, FWIW.

Cheers,
John

Up date on 6550 Tungsram after almost 100 hrs. I believe a conclusion is not easy to be made. As I posted on the other thread VTL 6.5 vs Ref. 3, the only negative on the ref.3 is that sometimes it is tiring for eccessive details. I finally would not go back to the original 6550C Winged. There is more sense of pace listening to music now. I had to tweak the speaker position a bit since the speakers can now be more apart witout loosing focus. The only doubt still remaining is on the bass that is not as tight as before. I gained in extension but missing some control. This will require probably a tweak on the Preamp foot. By the way, for Ref. 3 owners, I strongly suggest to try something different from the original foot. I found excellent results with Soundcare. Simply Do not expect to replace without some adjustment to accomodate/leverage the differences. If you need more detail go for the Original Winged C, If you need more wormth the tungsol is an excellent help.I will keep you posted on the evolution, but either way the preamp sounds glorious.

Marco, what Tungsol variant are you using? New production or NOS? Guido

Marco

From your post it seems to me that you are hearing something different rather than something better. The loss of bass with your tube IMO is one of the reasons ARC goes with their provided 6550C and then for you to have to adjust speaker position suggests to me that whatever difference you heard was not related to the 6550 Tungsram but rather speaker realignment. It makes no sense to me that by changing a tube you have to change speaker position and the feet on the Ref3 for better listening pleasure. I might suggest to you to put the original 6550C back in, keep the speakers where you now have them and keep the tweak on the preamp feet and I would bet your bass is again back to where you like it and overall the sound is better. By inference therefore the speaker repositioning and tweak is what changed, nothing more.