Should I consider the newer Audio Research pre & power amps, when I play records not CD's

Thank you Frank for the thoughts. The first ARC amp I listened to was a  76/SP3 40 years ago and have wanted ARC ever since. I how have the money to get a few things on my Bucket list, but was amazed at how far out of touch I am. I restore old 1940's jukeboxes (state of the art in 1940) and all have tube amps, that have to have all the caps replaced and new tubes. The cartridge is like a nail (yes, a nail) and has to be upgraded. I don't think the 60 is enough power for me. I put the Ref 75 at the least I could use. If I upgrade my speakers, I could just get another one and biamp.    I would like to get a Ref 150 but the price is a little more than i want to put out.  After reading reviews on the Ref 2 and 3 and the recommendation from Lostbears I am going one of them.

Get an ARC pre-amp and a good SS amp (maybe the widely hailed Benchmark?).

I just bought a used ARC LS25 MkII and use it with a 20+ year old Sunfire amp on maggies.

I am just stuck on tubes. I love the warmness they offer. Yes a pain but I feel they are worth it. I love Magnepans an had a pair of the ARC Magneplanar Tympani's back in the 70 and loved them. They took up the hole room. They have come a long way over the years. 

Don’t underestimate the Classic 60. It punches way above it’s weight class. One of the reasons is that it use 4 6550 tubes per channel instead of 2. It is a magical sounding amp. It is not as detailed as later amps like the VT100. But it has a presence, a rightness that none of the VT100 models have. It is only the recent Ref series amps that really surpass the Classic and V series amps in a big way.

But because of it’s age you would need it gone through. At least the 4 large caps would need to be replaced. It is also not the easiest amp to bias. Then there is also the problem that a lot of modern cables won’t fit on the speaker strips. If you were to go that way I would strongly suggest the very late version that had balanced inputs or a V series amp. The V series is very similar to the Classic series but is balanced and came with KT90 tubes. 

I have found that over the years system synergy has a huge impact on your sound.  Make sure to take a holistic approach to your system, not just a "that's the best component". Unfortunately, only by a lot of work can you start to dial-in the synergy unless you copy completely a system that you have heard and liked.  I have had approximately 20 preamps (both tube and SS including an ARC SP-6b and an SP-10) and 30 amps (both Tube and SS including two D-115 mkii's and a VT200).  I listen to vinyl almost exclusively. I LOVE the flexibility of tube gear.  To warm, roll-in a brighter tube, to bright, get a warmer one).  Since you are focusing on vinyl, I would seriously consider the classic tube phono amps of the 80's. ARC SP-10 and SP-11 mentioned earlier as well as any CAT or Counterpoint. The phono stages were awesome and most can be had fairly inexpensively- by far the best price/performance. In my current set-up, I am taking the phono stage of a CAT out through the tape outputs to the line stage of a Doge 8.  Simply magnificent, much better than the CAT or Doge alone and better than the recent gear I have heard (although most listening sessions also introduce other variables (components) that I don't have a gauge on, so hard to make an educated assessment.  Also critically important are the tube choices for each- 60's Amperex 6922's for the phono input and 60's GE 12AT7's for the line stage.  But the bottom is, after a LOT of searching I am now happy with my system.   I have been focused on tube amplification for the last couple of decades and until recently my favorite has been my ARC D-115 with winged C power and the same 60's 6922 Amperex's. But I have now moved to a low power SET tube amp driving my M/T 8ohm loads and an ARC SS 100.2 driving the 4 ohm bass enclosure. Cost on all this was pretty reasonable (as if any of this is reasonable) of about $4k for used CAT and new Doge preamps with NOS tubes and $4k for the new SET and used SS amps.  Whatever you choose, enjoy the music.