ARC Ref3 or McIntosh C2300/2500

A number of years ago, I switched from Mac C1000 3 piece (tube,ss, ps) pre to Ref 5 and felt the Ref 5 crushed it. This caused me to unload my Mac amp for an ARC amp which was of equal or greater importance to the overall gains in my SQ. The only area where Mac combo was better than the ARC combo was on impact in the very low end. But, the bass on the Mac was also somewhat diffuse and not nearly as tight and well defined as the ARC. All in all---no contest. Not the exact comparison you seek but I think instructive of the house sound of each. Ref 3 will be more refined than LS26 and tube magic will be there in the midrange, but more transparent than Mac.
Hate to tell you cause I know your amp well, but I highly recommend going all ARC or all Mac. For a time, I had ARC Ref 5 and Mac amp which I thought was the worst of both worlds. An all Mac system gives you smooth, rounded, burnished and pleasing but not very transparent sound. Never bad, never great. An all ARC system brings huge soundstage, great color texture and bloom. Rarely bad (recording has to be awful) but often sublime.
I'm not surprised by your VTL / Mac experience as VTL is closer to Mac sound so this would not produce the worst of both worlds. Any chance you can try an ARC amp in your system to see what I mean?
By the way, all of my experimenting with ARC and Mac (also VTL, BAT and Lamm) came when I had Watt Puppy 7s.

Vdosc-

having heard all pre-amps plus the ARC Ref5 SE models in your query, I can very strongly suggest (w/o hesitation) the ARC Ref 5SE. This is the one you want! Save your time and money on the rest. Oddly enough I felt the Ref5 SE sounded best when mated w/ a Bryston power amp on Wilson loudspeakers. Keep me posted & Happy Listening!

This is all great information! If I could afford to, I would have two or three different pre-amps (or complete systems) here at one time to really compare.
Although I would never get anything else done ;) I don't have any good dealers near me that cary either brand much less both to try and compare, so I must buy to try. Also I still have my older ARC VT100MKII power amp, which is not bad at all, however I like the Mac 402 better with the Wilson WP6. It may not sound as "warm" in the mids as the ARC but It has gobs of clean power , which translate to better attack, tighter bass, also there seems to be better imaging, and decay on instruments and reverb, etc. I have not had a ARC REF amp in my system yet, and I am sure it would be great, but they are at this time not in the budget. Also I really like the look of the Mac!

I should ad that I am trying to keep my budget around $5K for this ,
hence my interest in REF 3 and or McIntosh C2500 range.
Thank you

You should be able to find a decent used REF3 for $5k. For that money, I don't think much comes close. This really is a very good pre-amp. Just make sure there is still life on the tubes. The REF 3 has a tube life counter that will tell you.

enjoy