Audio Research REF-Phono 2SE Mint / Silver / Free Tubes & Shipping

I am the co-owner of Ultra Fidelis, a high-end audio and home theater boutique in
Milwaukee Wisconsin, and we are an authorized Audio Research dealer. I am offering
for sale, my personally-owned Audio Research Reference-Phono 2SE vacuum tube phono preamplifier. The Ref-Phono 2SE has a natural/silver face plate, knobs and handles, with a
black acrylic cover. The serial number is 51404802 and, since the original set
of tubes have nearly 3,000 hours on them, I am also including, at no
additional charge, a complete set of Audio Research factory matched replacement
tubes (one 6550 and five 6H30’s). This is an additional $440 value and
effectively offers the “best of both worlds”: a completely broken-in pristine phono
preamplifier, without the customary 600 hours of waiting for all the electronics to
come around, but with a full back-up set of new factory tubes. The original set
still has a lot of life left in them, so you can make the choice to run them
until they begin deteriorating, or just drop in the fresh set immediately. Both
sets are packed inside the unit and shown in the photograph with the top
removed just prior to packing.

The “SE” version of the original Reference-Phono 2 was a dramatic upgrade
and included many of the technical improvements that trickled-down from
the $24K two-piece “Anniversary” pre-amp. It won raves reviews from all corners
of the audiophile press. Here’s the bottom line from Jonathan Valin’s
Stereophile review after he upgraded from the original REF-Phono 2: The difference
in sonics actually goes beyond the massively beefed-up power supply, which now
has twice the energy storage of the original Ref Phono 2. The thing isn’t just faster
(although it is faster), harder-hitting (although it is harder-hitting), or
more extended in the bass and treble (although it is these things, too), with
excellent bass-range grip and explosive impact on big transients—the benefits
you might expect from a stiffer power supply. It is also markedly lower in
noise and grain, higher in resolution (and the Ref Phono 2 was no slouch in the
detail department), richer and more natural in tone color, more tightly defined
in imaging, and more immersive when it comes to ambience retrieval. It is, in
short, less tube-like (in the “coloration” sense), more neutral, less
there-in-its-own-right than any previous ARC phono stage I’ve heard. This phono
stage has the uncanny ability to reproduce voices and instruments as if they
are embedded within an acoustic space that is audibly different than that of
your listening room. These instruments and voices don't sound, as they so often
do with less high-resolution gear, as if they are standing in front of an
acoustical space that stretches out behind them, like actors filmed in front of
a projected backdrop in a 40s film. They are, instead, reproduced within the space,
like actors filmed in a location shot. The ambience is integral; it surrounds them,
permeates their very timbres, locates them and their voices, in three dimensions,
in a space and time that sounds dramatically different than the space and time
of your listening room. In order to reproduce the very air of a hall or club in this
utterly realistic immersive way, a component must be capable of extraordinary resolution, as well as very very low noise. "That pretty much mirrors how I have felt about this phono stage too…..but now I’m breaking-in a new Ref-Phono 3 and it’s got a pretty high bar to get over. "

I am the original, and only, owner of this piece. As mentioned above, it is fully
broken-in and will include a full unused factory-matched tube set with zero
hours. I live in a smoke-free, child-free, and pet-free home and this unit is
in pristine condition; there are no scuffs, scratches, blemishes, or
imperfections of any kind; if it came in a sealed box, you'd think it was
straight from the factory.

Shipping to any buyer in the Continental United States will be provided at my
expense, fully insured, via UPS Ground on the next business day after payment,
and tracking information will also be provided via e-mail. I’m sorry, but I do not
ship outside the Continental United States and I will not discuss voltage
conversions for use in other countries; please buy locally from authorized
Audio Research dealers.

Payment may be made via PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, cashier’s check, or wire
transfer but I will only ship to the address associated with the payment
account... no exceptions unless we knew each other in high school. There are
additional fees for PayPal or credit card use and no sales tax will be charged.

Full specs are availalbe on the Audio Research website. You can check out our
business at www.ultrafi.com and please look at our flawless feedback here on
Audiogon if you have any concerns....our reputation and our business are a whole
lot more important than any sale, so we always under promise and over deliver.

Thanks for looking and please either e-mail ([email protected]), or give me a
call on my cell (414-630-1131) if I can answer any questions.


-Scott Wilson
Ultra Fidelis - A Better Audio & Home Theater Experience