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Audio Research Reference Phono 10 Phono Preamplifier

Audio Research Reference Phono 10 Phono Preamplifier

You will only need to listen to a note or two of any well-recorded LP to hear the differences between ARC’s new $30k (yep, you’re reading that right) Reference Phono 10 preamplifier and other tube phonostages, including my previous reference, the ARC Reference Phono 2 SE. Take, for example, the opening bars of “Par les rues et par les chemins,” the first movement of Debussy’s Iberia on Acoustic Sounds’ marvelous new reissue of RCA LSC-2222 with Reiner and the CSO.

Iberia begins with a forte that is a literal burst of musical color and excitement—as if the entire orchestral has been struck like a tambourine. After this initial tutti a series of eighth-note triplets played staccato on oboes, bassoons, English horn, and castanets leads to a crescendo of downward-gliding triplets on French horn before a sinuous Spanish melody sounded on clarinet—the first melody in the piece—winds its way into the foreground, making a sharp contrast with the stabs of color that precede it. Though we can’t know it yet, the contrast between abrupt bursts of instrumental color and courtly melody will be repeated again and again throughout the piece, as if, for Debussy, this mix of earthiness and elegance sums up the Spain of his imagination.

My point is this: Without a performance that is also by turns (and often at once) suitably earthy and elegant, and a stereo system that reproduces in full the colors, rhythms, and dynamics that express this musical contrast, you will lose the essence of “Par les rues”—and with it Debussy’s magical conjuration of those sun-drenched Spanish streets.

ARC’s new phonostage does this absolutely essential trick better than any other tube phono preamp I’ve yet heard. Nothing else I’m familiar with in glass audio will reproduce that initial tutti with such lifelike speed and power; nothing else I’m familiar with in glass audio will reproduce the staccato march of triplets that follows it with the same blur-free rhythmic precision; and nothing else I’m familiar with in glass audio will reproduce the reedy timbre of the clarinets as if you were there, in Chicago Symphony Hall, hearing them play.

The way the Reference 10 Phono preamp (and its companion piece, the Reference 10 Line Stage preamp) reproduces tone colors really does put it in a class of its own. Compared to other phonostages, even other great phonostages, the Reference Phono 10 simply sounds so unmistakably right that it gives you a little “shock of recognition,” a little shiver down the spine, to hear how it brings something like Iberia and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to life.

Of course, this uncanny “truth of timbre” is not new with Audio Research electronics. The Reference Phono 10’s predecessor, the Reference Phono 2 SE, was scarcely a slouch in this regard. And the Ref 10 uses exactly the same circuit found in the 2 SE.

What the 10 can do and the 2 SE couldn’t is carry this truth of timbre out of the midband and farther into the treble, power range, and bass octaves. It can also throw a holographic soundstage such as I’ve never heard before from a phonostage (be it the 2 SE or any other)—genuine sonic 3-D, both in the imaging of instruments on the stage and of the stage itself. Perhaps most importantly, what the 10 can do that the 2 SE couldn’t is reproduce dynamics, particularly large-scale dynamics, with much of the life-like speed and impact that heretofore were the exclusive purview of great solid-state. The contrast, for instance, between the forte of the opening tutti and the mezzofortes of the triplets and of that sinuous clarinet melody—the power and the glory, as it were, of the opening bars of Iberia—would be somewhat flattened by the 2 SE, which simply doesn’t have the attack, sustain, and sheer authority of the Reference Phono 10.

 

What has changed, you might well ask between the Reference Phono 2 SE and the Reference Phono 10 to make it so much more colorful, dimensional, and powerful—while also asking, as I did, what has changed enough to make the Reference Phono 10 cost more than twice what the Reference Phono 2 SE costs?

Well, the answers to these questions will be obvious as soon as you see the unit(s). Although ARC has ocasionally marketed two-chassis full-function preamps and linestages in the past, the Reference Phono 10 marks the first time in the company’s long history that it has offered a two-box phonostage—one chassis for the power supply, the other for the preamplification circuitry.

As is also the case with the two-box $30k Reference 10 Line Stage, the Reference Phono 10 is a completely dual-mono pre-amplifier with totally independent signal paths from its power supplies through its preamplification stages. Of course, the single-chassis Reference Phono 2 SE is also a dual-mono design with (as noted) exactly the same, zero-feedback, Class A, 6H30P dual-triode-based circuit as the Ref Phono 10. The chief difference is that the added real estate of the Reference Phono 10’s second chassis has allowed ARC to beef up the power supplies themselves with separate high and low-voltage transformers for each channel and what ARC claims is enough energy-storage capacity to fuel “a serious amplifier” (better than twice the capacitance of the Reference Phono 2 SE). The added capacitance is said to improve “dynamic headroom,” and, brother, does it ever—not only with large-scale orchestral pieces like Iberia but with every kind of music.

As I said in my first sentence, just put on any well-recorded LP—say Acoustic Sounds’ marvelous two-disc, 45rpm reissue of The Doors’ L.A. Woman (remastered by Doug Sax, no less)—and thrill to the Ref Phono 10’s newfound density of tone color, which gives the bass range, the power range, and the midrange the black marble solidity and three-dimensional substantiality—the wall of sound—that you only hear when listening to rock live (preferably in a small club with good monitors, good acoustics, a mixer who knows what he’s doing, and a really tight four-or five-piece band). Not only does the Ref Phono 10 add lifelike tonal weight and body to kickdrum, bass, and keyboard on a song like “L.A. Woman”; it also does wonders for Jim Morrison’s voice (“I did a little down about an hour ago”), which through the Ref Phono 10 sounds fuller and more immediate (which it should, BTW, since he reputedly recorded this vocal in the studio bathroom precisely in order to get a fuller sound) than it does through the lighter-weight Reference 2 SE or solid-state.

However…as great as this injection of tonal weight, color, and body is, what happens to dynamics is just as sensational. To put this plainly, you’re going to be lifted out of your chair when you hear and feel the impact of John Densmore’s rimshots, the tires-on-the-freeway throb of Jerry Scheff’s sensational Fender bass, and the almost-Morrison-like abandon of that glorious Robby Krieger guitar solo at the climax of “L.A. Woman” (after Mr. Mojo rises), which never, ever, fails to cause my mojo to rise, raising goosebumps on my arms and sending chills down my spine. What a great friggin’ song! As good as rock gets, IMO. And though I’ve heard it ten thousand times, it’s never thrilled me more on LP than it has through this Reference Phono 10 phonostage.

I could go on citing musical examples ad infinitum—from the way the Reference Phono 10 showcases the constant dynamic and rhythmic variety of Webern’s intensely expressive Five Movements for String Quartet to the sheer driving power it brings to the rhythm section of Janis Joplin’s band on “Try” from Kozmic Blues, which (here) really does have the sock-in-the-chest weight and power of a real-life rhythm section.

Suffice it to say that in every sonic regard—from timbre, to dynamics, to image focus, to dimensionality, to soundstage width and breadth, to perceived realism—this is the best ARC phonostage yet. And not by a little bit.

So it’s analog perfection, right? Well, not quite.

 

First, there is the little matter of break-in. I’ve never had components in my system that took as long as the ARC Reference Phono 10 and its companion piece, the Reference 10 Line Stage, did to settle down. The giant Teflon caps in both units take forever to start sounding their best—and by forever I mean several hundred hours of play. In the nonce, the Reference Phono 10 goes through so many permutations of fair, middling, and downright bad sonics that it would try the patience of Job. (Indeed, God should’ve given Job a Reference Phono 10 to break in instead of slaying his kine.)

Yes, the preamp finally gets all the way there. And, yes, I guess it’s worth the wait—if you want the best tube phonostage money can buy. But, trust me, for weeks after you purchase it you will rue the day you bought the Reference Phono 10 (and the Reference 10 Line Stage).

Second, there is the quandary of the Reference Phono 10’s input stage. As with all of its Reference phonostages, ARC offers two phono inputs, the gain of each of which is user-selectable (via ARC’s new touchscreen or its dandy remote control). With the input set to the low-gain setting (ideal for moving-magnet and high-output moving-coil cartridges), the entire phonostage is driven from input to output by eight 6H30 tubes (four per channel). For low-output moving coils, however, you must use the high-gain setting, which augments those 6H30s with select low-noise FETs in the input stage.

As has been the case in the past, there is rather a large gap between ARC’s low-and high-gain settings (51dB and 74dB) in the preferred balanced mode. Personally I’d like ARC to add a third, in-between setting of about 60-64dB gain to accommodate cartridges like my reference Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement, whose output voltage of 0.9mV is simply too low for the “low-gain” setting and too high for the “high-gain” one. Since there isn’t a “middle-ground” setting, listeners like me are forced to use the high-gain setting, which not only measurably increases harmonic distortion but also increases the potential for overloading those input-stage FETs on hard transients or big dynamic peaks (and though they don’t clip often, when they do you’ll know it because, unlike tubes, FETs do not clip “gracefully”). Using the high-gain setting also compels listeners like me to run the volume control of a linestage preamplifier in the 10-to-12 o’clock range (or the 25–45 range on the ARC Reference 10 Line Stage’s numerical readout).

Third, as incredibly lifelike as it now sounds in the bass and mid-range—and as substantially improved as it is in speed and dynamic authority (and this is the biggest improvement in dynamics and transient response I’ve yet heard from any ARC phonostage)—the Reference Phono 10 still isn’t quite the equal of a great transistor phonostage in bass grip and definition or in overall speed of attack. The Reference Phono 10 simply can’t do the Fender bass line of Lou Reed’s “White Heat, White Light” with the same unwavering control and focus of, oh, the Soulution 520’s built-in phonostage. Nor can the Reference Phono 10 reproduce transients, such as those Bartók pizzicatos in George Crumb’s Four Nocturnes, with the scary-real pistol-shot report of the Soulution preamp. I don’t want to belabor this point, as the Reference Phono 10 is much better in the bass and in dynamic range than any tube phonostage I’ve heard—and better in many ways (for which, see below) than the Soulution 520 or other first-rate solid-state phonostages. But, for the record, this slight difference in bass definition and transient speed is audible.

Fourth, for all its virtues the Reference Phono 10 is not as overtly detailed as a great solid-state unit. That’s because solid-state pre-amps, with their superior speed and lower noise, make transient details seem to “pop,” like fireworks against a night sky, where tube preamps with their superior steady-state tone seem to fold those same details into a more organic, three-dimensional whole.

Though both presentations can sound equally realistic, the fact is that switching from a great solid-state preamp to something like the Reference Phono 10 isn’t only a matter of hearing “this” or “that” more or less clearly; it is also a paradigm shift—from a sharper-focused, more analytical view of the music and the music-makers to a rounder, more holistic one. All I know is that when I first listened to the ARC Reference 10 duo, after months of using first-class solid-state, my jaw (and that of my friend Andre Jennings) dropped. Things suddenly sounded so right in timbre and so 3-D in imaging, it was astonishing. It was only later that I began to think about what may have been lost in face of all that had been gained.

The bottom line here is somewhat more complicated than usual. Though the ARC Reference Phono 10 unquestionably gets my highest recommendation and has become my new tube reference, it may not appeal to every kind of listener the way it does to me. Some may be frustrated by the break-in time it requires; some may be put off by its cost; some may prefer the naked clarity, superior speed, and tighter grip of transistors (even though the Reference Phono 10 comes closer to transistor-like clarity, speed, and grip than any tube phonostage I’ve auditioned).

This much I can say with confidence: If truth of timbre, bass and power-range weight and color, dynamic authority, and 3-D imaging on a vast 3-D soundstage are your foremost sonic priorities (and, on much music, I think the ARC’s three-dimensional, holistic presentation comes a bit closer to what I hear in life than solid-state’s somewhat flatter, more analytical one), then the Reference Phono 10 will be your preamp of choice. (And if you can’t afford it, there is always the superb Reference Phono 2 SE to fall back on.)

SPECS & PRICING

Frequency response: +/-.2dB of RIAA, 10Hz to 60kHz; 3dB points below 0.3Hz and above 300kHz
Distortion: Less than .002% at 1.0V RMS output (1kHz)
Gain: Selectable 51dB (Low), 74dB (High) at 1kHz (balanced)
Input impedance: 47k ohms and 100pF (unbalanced).
Selectable loads: 47k, 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50 ohms, and Custom
Phono equalization: (Selectable) RIAA, Columbia, Decca
Output impedance: 200 ohms unbalanced, 400 ohms balanced
Recommended load: 50k—100k ohms and 100pF (10k ohms minimum and 2000pF maximum)
Maximum input: 250mV RMS at 1kHz (680 mV RMS at 10kHz)
Tube complement: Eight 6H30P dual triodes, plus two each 6550C and 6H30P in power supply
Dimensions: 19″ x 7″ x 14″
Price: $30,000

Audio Research Corporation
3900 Annapolis Lane North
Plymouth, MN 55447
(763) 577-9700
audioresearch.com

JV’s Reference System

Loudspeakers: Raidho C 4.1, Raidho C 1.1, Raidho D 1, Estelon X Diamond, MartinLogan CLX , Magnepan 1.7, Magnepan 3.7, Magnepan 20.7
Linestage preamps: Soulution 520, Constellation Virgo, Audio Research Reference 10, Siltech SAGA System C1
Phonostage preamps: Audio Research Corporation Reference Phono 10, Innovative Cohesion Engineering Raptor, Soulution 520, Constellation Perseus
Power amplifiers: Soulution 501, Siltech SAGA System V1/P1, Constellation Centaur, Audio Research Reference 250, Lamm ML2.2
Analog source: Walker Audio Proscenium Black Diamond Mk V record player, AMG Viella 12
Phono cartridges: Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement, Ortofon MC A90, Ortofon MC Anna, Benz LP S-MR
Digital source: Berkeley Alpha DAC 2
Cable and interconnect: Synergistic Research Galileo and Galileo LE, Crystal Cable Absolute Dream
Power Cords: Synergistic Research Galileo LE, Crystal Cable Absolute Dream
Power Conditioner: Synergistics Research Galileo LE, Technical Brain
Accessories: Synergistic ART system, Shakti Hallographs (6), A/V Room Services Metu panels and traps, ASC Tube Traps, Critical Mass MAXXU M equipment and amp stands, Symposium Isis and Ultra equipment platforms, Symposium Rollerblocks and Fat Padz, Walker Prologue Reference equipment and amp stands, Walker Valid Points and Resonance Control discs, Clearaudio Double Matrix SE record cleaner, HiFi-Tuning silver/gold fuses

Tags: AUDIO RESEARCH

Jonathan Valin

By Jonathan Valin

I’ve been a creative writer for most of life. Throughout the 80s and 90s, I wrote eleven novels and many stories—some of which were nominated for (and won) prizes, one of which was made into a not-very-good movie by Paramount, and all of which are still available hardbound and via download on Amazon. At the same time I taught creative writing at a couple of universities and worked brief stints in Hollywood. It looked as if teaching and writing more novels, stories, reviews, and scripts was going to be my life. Then HP called me up out of the blue, and everything changed. I’ve told this story several times, but it’s worth repeating because the second half of my life hinged on it. I’d been an audiophile since I was in my mid-teens, and did all the things a young audiophile did back then, buying what I could afford (mainly on the used market), hanging with audiophile friends almost exclusively, and poring over J. Gordon Holt’s Stereophile and Harry Pearson’s Absolute Sound. Come the early 90s, I took a year and a half off from writing my next novel and, music lover that I was, researched and wrote a book (now out of print) about my favorite classical records on the RCA label. Somehow Harry found out about that book (The RCA Bible), got my phone number (which was unlisted, so to this day I don’t know how he unearthed it), and called. Since I’d been reading him since I was a kid, I was shocked. “I feel like I’m talking to God,” I told him. “No,” said he, in that deep rumbling voice of his, “God is talking to you.” I laughed, of course. But in a way it worked out to be true, since from almost that moment forward I’ve devoted my life to writing about audio and music—first for Harry at TAS, then for Fi (the magazine I founded alongside Wayne Garcia), and in the new millennium at TAS again, when HP hired me back after Fi folded. It’s been an odd and, for the most part, serendipitous career, in which things have simply come my way, like Harry’s phone call, without me planning for them. For better and worse I’ve just gone with them on instinct and my talent to spin words, which is as close to being musical as I come.

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