In an indecently short time after the
Anniversary finished its run, Audio Research has again re-defined the modern
preamplifier. Valves will never seem the same again…
Having reviewed Audio Research’s Reference Anniversary
preamplifier, and had my REF5 updated to SE status, I thought I’d savored all
there was to desire from an all-valve control unit. How wrong I was: the
sorcerers at Audio Research have improved on their best in such an
embarrassingly short time that I cannot even muster a suitable analogy. Not
from F1, not from computing, nada. The evidence is immediate, and disturbing.
To salve the sensitivities of those who
purchased an Anniversary, who might be feeling that horrible sensation
associated with being an early adopter, note that the price of the new
reference 10 line-stage preamplifier is $6000 more than an Anniversary (and
more than double that of a ’5SE). To ensure that there’s no bitterness against
Audio Research for those who they ‘should have waited’, the Anniversary has: 1)
unimpeachable collector’s status due to inherent rarity that the REF10 will
never possess; and 2) is ‘old school’ in that it features physical controls.
Audio
Research REF10
Touchy feely
It’s the latter which might have Anniversary
owners singing with relief. Comparing the overhead shots of their innards
reveals more similarities than differences. It even seems as if the REF10’s
touchscreen panel is its raison d’être. So let me get this out of the way,
rather than let it taint what might be my most effusive review in 25 years:
gimme two knobs and a row of buttons every time, but don’t let the panel put
you off the move from Anniversary to REF10.
A two-chassis line stage, the REF10 owes
much to its limited edition predecessor, but it has been refined rather than
radically overhauled. Beyond the touchscreen interface, it presents no
surprises to ARC fans. The rear-panel layout, the warm up period, the basic
styling – all familiar stuff.
Because the Anniversary was a roaring success
double the company’s original projections and was the first two-chassis Audio
Research preamp in some years, the company realized in some years, the company
realized that demand for a preamp with outboard power supply existed from a
vocal slice of the market. Audio Research, however, remembered those who
invested in the Anniversary and its limited edition status, stating that
continuing to produce it ‘would not have been fair to original owners’.
Instead, a new model that respected the Anniversary’s unique status was needed.
In keeping with the company’s preferred
methodology, the REF 10 employs a fully discrete signal path, zero feedback and
Class-A circuit. The refinements reflect what the company has discovered in the
two-and-a-half years since the Anniversary entered production: new wiring
connectors, critically-selected components, and a new generation of proprietary
custom-made capacitors.
Tidy
internals, with center filled by eight 6H30 valves – four per channel. Both
units come with a see-through perforated acrylic lid, so all of this is visible
to the curious
Sticking to its guns
While the massive display is a culture
shock – I will, to the grave, picture rotaries, buttons and handles when I hear
the words ‘audio’ and ‘research’ in tandem – the REF10 retains the
Anniversary’s layout and design, and a transporter perspective is need to
isolate the detail changes in the aesthetics. Display or not, you will
immediately recognize the manufacturer of the REF10, the company sticking to
its guns about not alienating existing owners, from (product) generation to
generation.
Aside from the large volume rotary which
works with left-right jerk motions rather than rotating fully, and buttons for
on/off and mute, all controls are handled by a remote and the aforementioned
touch panel. The remote commands the usual operations including source
selection, levels, balanced or single-ended inputs and other basic need.
Everything eth remote does can be selected from the touch panel, along with a
host of customizing options and access to a valve usage counter. This keeps
track of the total time unit has been in operation, indicating what life your
tubes may have left. It can be reset after valves are replaced.
Audio Research’s literature states that,
‘Our logo is above the knob on the right, making this the first asymmetrical
Audio Research preamplifier ever’. That, in my non-asymmetrical world view, is
hardly a virtue. I won’t even wear watches with asymmetrical dials. But I feel
compelled to point it out, because ARC did.
There’s an upside, though: you don’t even
need to look at the owner’s manual to discover all the display can do, if
you’ve ever used a phone, camera, computer or even microwave oven with a
touchscreen. The literature is not exaggerating when it describes the operation
as ‘intuitive’ and ‘straightforward’. Just about every main function is
displayed, and you simply touch the screen to change something.
Driven by a PC…
That multicolored 7in TFT display is no
mere decorative item but an interactive touchscreen controller sourced from
Comfile Technology – a ‘panel PC’. This particular module sports an ARM9
32bit/266MHz processor with 64MB flash memory, running a Windows CE Pro 5.0
operating system. The screen supports 260 thousand colors and offers an 800x480
pixel resolution, so there’s plenty of mileage here for ARC to provide a
kaleidoscopic menu should it choose to do so in the future. The rear of the
panel PC sports Type A and B USB connections, unused here, together with two
RS232 ports and it’s one of these that provides the interface with ARC’s
on-board volume control and navigation buttons. The chunky IR controller also
communicates with the PC through the same interface. Frankly with such
interactive technology now so readily available, the only surprise is that so
few companies have jumped on board.
Panoply of options
Where it gets modern and clever is in the
panoply of options via the settings menu. You can name every input, and even
change the colors of the typeface and the background. Each input can be
adjusted to provide volume matching regardless of the sources, something I
found useful when switching from the output of my Mac to a Sony Blu-ray player,
the difference being levels that blast you unawares. The REF10 took care of
that discrepancy with ease.
The
preamp’s fascia is dominated by the touchscreen panel, on/off is via a small
button while the second button is the mute. The power supply (bottom) has no
controls at all
This display is not a gimmick, but a
tangible indicator of the way Audio Research sees the future. CEO Terry Dorn
told HFN that ‘with the recent expansion of our engineering staff, Audio
Research is actively exploring new interface technologies for future products.
The touchscreen display used in the new REF10 is simply one approach that will
likely find its way into other future products.
‘Not every model in our range calls for a
touch-capable interface, but we are ready to implement this technology wherever
appropriate. We are also actively exploring alternative display devices and
control interfaces that can make our products more flexible or feature-rich for
the owner, while remaining simple to use’. The latter remains very important to
Dorn, who regards it as one of Audio Research’s core strengths.
