I'm looking forward to updates!
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I just pulled the trigger on an Unlimited pre in cobalt blue from Aric. I have one of his earlier pre's,its roughly the 3.5? maybe. I picked it up on the used market a couple of years ago. Great sounding unit,with a very lush,3D sound. Plenty of gain when I match my Nola Boxer 2's with my First Watt F5. The main reason for the upgrade was the addition of the useable second pair of outputs.
He is great to deal with,and responds very quick to any inquiries. He notified me that it should be built inside of two weeks.
I am very much looking forward to getting this in my system. Updates to follow. |
I am very much looking forward to getting my ears on this pre! |
Thanks Aric. I certainly am looking forward to your Unlimited. This will be the first brand new piece of gear I have purchased since 1982!! Everything currently in my system I have picked up on the used market. |
Aric! I am so glad to hear that! I'm very excited!!! How long for break in?
Thanks again Aric!
Ray |
What I meant was,will I need any additional break in? Or will my ears need to be burned in? Lol! |
I corresponded with Aric yesterday. He was able to send me a pic of my new baby! As he stated earlier in this thread,he'll get it out Thursday.
Aric is definitely a class act,and takes time out to help his clients. He always responds very quickly. That is a HUGE plus in my book! |
Thanks for the heads up kalali. That is funny you mentioned tubes. That is one of the questions I asked him yesterday. He gave me some good recommendations. I have some 12ax7,and some t7's I'll try. I hope to have the pre at the beginning of next week. I'm out of work for another 2+weeks,so that will give me plenty of time to play!!
As far as internal mods,I will probably wait until upgradus gets the best of me! |
Well, I finally have the Unlimited in my possession. Aric shipped it out last Thursday as he said he would,and according to tracking I was to have it on Sat. the 26th. The USPS had different plans. After having taking a tour around the upstate NY area,it's here!
This will be brief,as I only have about 45 minutes of saddle time with it. After first connecting it in my system,one channel wasn't working. I started to panic a bit. I had just removed my Promitheus Audio TVC passive, and everything had been working. I started to check wiring,and low and behold,an interconnect had gone bad. Unbelievable! I switched the defective cables out and Shazam,two channel music! The first thing that was quite obvious,is it appears my listening room just grew larger. Wider and deeper than I have ever experienced before. So far,I'm so excited,I can hardly contain myself. Tomorrow I will have a few hours to really sit and do some listening at a bit more spirited volume. With that being said,more to follow.......... |
Thanks 1gertrude,I had a little issue yesterday with a sub cable that wasn't making nice in the sandbox. Now that this is taken care of,some quick impressions.
Here's a quick rundown of my gear. Right now I'm running a pair of Hornshoppe Great Horned Heils, a First Watt F5. Streaming Spotify through a Bluesound Node. CD's are handled by an inexpensive but trusty Onkyo C-7030. Vinyl is spun on a Pro-Ject RPM 9.1,with a Pro-Ject Tube box II,a Denon 301mkII. Lower frequencies are handled by 2 HSU stf-1'sup front,and a HSU vtf2-mk3.Connecting this all together are,Anticables,Analysis Plus,Audioquest,Dyson Audio,Kimber,and Signal Audio. And last but not least,the new kid in town,The Unlimited pre. At the end of the weekend,I will try to swap in my Nola Boxer 2's. My listening room is a small 9x13x8,with a bit of acoustic treatments.
The pre I was running before the Unlimited,is a Promitheus Audio TVC. This is a very competent pre. I really love the F5 with the Nola's,but the F5 is not big in the gain department. The first thing that I found to be highly useful with the Unlimited,is the adjustable gain. This little feature lets me to match this pre perfectly to whatever configuration I happened to be running. I forgot to mention earlier when listing my gear,was a pair of Monarchy Audio SM70-mkII's.(these are much higher gain than the F5)
Another thing that grabbed me immediately,was the increased width,and depth of the soundstage.Wow!! My tiny room suddenly grew tremendously. The separation of instruments is incredible. Having used a passive for about 3 years,I found it to be very detailed in my system. Not bright,but detailed. Aric's pre gives me the detail that I love,but adds more body to everything I listen to.
This ,I assume,is that tube"magic". I find this very addictive!
If this is Aric's entry level pre,I can't imagine what his "Motherload" sounds like. It has to be stunning! That's all I have right now. I'll report back after I have some more saddle time in,and work the Nola's into the mix.
Ray |
I've had the Unlimited plugged into my system for about 2 1/2 months. I've logged about 300 hrs so far. Every time I fire my rig up,it brings a huge smile to my face. It's sooo non fatiguing,and sooo delightful to listen to. I've read about upgrades,however I just can't wrap my head around this thing sounding any better!
This is one of the best audio purchases I have ever made. |
I misspoke about delivery of the tubes. I should have them by 12/10. I'm really looking forward to this experiment. |
I have a question for you folks that are running The Unlimited. What regulator,rectifier tubes are you using,and how do they sound? I've had my Unlimited for about a year and a half,and absolutely love it!
I would like to keep some extra tubes on hand,and curious what others are using.
Thanks,
Ray |
Thanks for the response tubepower. The Unlimited uses a 5AR4 rectifier. I'm wondering if that variation will yield similar results as the Sylvania 5U4?? |
Hi Aric. Thanks so much for the response and recommendations. It's awesome to have the manufacturer so easily accessible. What sonic differences can I expect by swapping in a 5U4GB? |
Aric,thanks again! I just ordered a Sylvania 5U4GB and a GE 0C3. Both should be here by Tuesday. |
Well my Sylvania 5U4GB and GE OC3 showed up and are installed and running. The first thing I noticed was I had to turn the gain down. I'm letting things settle in a bit. There seems to be a little more holography happening. I really didn't think that was possible.
tubepower,thanks for the recommendation,and Aric,thanks for the guidance in making this happen! I'll post some more impressions as I get more time with this combination. |
Thanks Aric. I'm enjoying this combo so much, I just ordered another Sylvania 5U4GB,and OC3. First thoughts on the tube changes are larger soundstage,taller and wider,also,I find music has more "texture". So far, this is the best tweek I've experienced with my current system. Highly recommended! |
I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I feel the tube change brought my system up a notch. Right now I'm running the Unlimited with a First Watt F5,Graham Chartwell LS3/5's,Bluesound Node 2,through a Topping D50. The Topping is my first foray into external DAC's.
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As far as the change in gain,I’m going to attribute that to human error. I had to pull my pre out of the rack to switch tubes. I could have very easily twisted the gain control unplugging connect wires. That seems more likely the more I think about it.
kalali,great to hear you have had similar results! |
Thanks for the input kalali. To me,and I know others, this hobby has me sometimes chasing the dragon. Currently I'm running the tubes Aric ships the pre with. No complaints at all. I was thinking of trying some vintage RCA cleartops. I guess I'm just thinking of changing for the sake of change. I think I need to seek help! :) |
Ok,I am truely enjoying this new tube set up. Next question,what 12a_7 are you guys running,and what are your impressions?
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@aricaudio,thanks for the recommendation on the signal tubes. I just popped in a pair of new Mullard 12ax7's. I find them to tighten up the bass a bit,and bring the mids just a smidge forward. So far they seem to work nicely. Always trying to kick it up a notch!
@jgoldrick,thanks for your recommendation as well. Funny how different things work for different ears. I will definitely look into a pair of the Sylvania's. I swear,this hobby is a sickness. ;) |
grey9hound and kalali ,thanks for the links. Very helpful. |
So I've been playing a little with signal tubes,I just received a matched pair of Amperex Holland Rogers 12ax7's. These are wonderful tubes. Great tone,added 3D soundstage. They add more magic. I have also rolled in a pair of Sylvania red label 12at7's,and a pair of Sylvania JAN green label 12at7's. I think they all have similar tone,but the Amperex's are king of the soundstage. The red label Sylvania's come in second,and the green labels a very close 3rd.(very close) When first plugging in my Unlimited,I was very skeptical about how the sound could be improved upon. This is simply a steal,and very receptive to tube rolling. Maybe sometime in the future I'll try the cap upgrade??? |
