Aric Audio Systems Unlimited Preamp

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!  :)

Does anybody have an Unlimited or the Transcend 6sn7 preamp with remote? Looking at Aric’s website I don’t see a remote option until you get to the Special 6sn7 level. Just wondering if it’s even an option for remote volume on the “lower” tier preamps. There’s certainly not a shortage of praise for Aric’s amps from what I can see.

Hello! I wanted to chime in regarding the remote. I do offer a remote control option on all of my preamp models. It is based on an ALPS blue velvet pot with a motor behind it, controlled by Phillips microprocessor which are mounted on a small PCB. It is a $165 option. On the Transcend 6SN7 Line-stage it is a $185 option- as I also need to add a separate 12 volt power supply to power the remote processor board (the 6SN7 operates on 6.3 volt heaters so I need another power source). The remote controller itself is a simply 2 button remote controlling Vol Up and Vol Down. You are more than welcome to ask here, and also feel free to contact me if you have any other tech or build questions! Best regards, Aric

@rocray - I definitely second what Kalali posted regarding the equipment on either side of the stream having a large bearing on what tubes may sound best in the Unlimited. I want to also suggest the Gold Lion 12AU7, and 12AX7 (I haven't tried the GL 12AT7, and am not sure if they make one.....they must though?). The Gold Lions I've tried so far have had very good definition to them- without leaning towards too much emphasis on one frequency or another. I found they have a very balanced presentation, however each does provide just a little "coloration" which I find to sound very complimentary so long as the rest of the system is fairly balanced/neutral. I hope this helps! Aric 

Rocray,

I have some Sylvania JAN 5751's that sound very nice in the unlimited.  The 5751 bring out the mid-range and the bass a little bit more and are supposed to have less gain.  They're very nice.

 I also have some Mullard 12a x7s. For all they're hyped up to be I didn't exactly find them all that great.  Maybe I just need more time with them.

@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. ;)

Look here and scroll all the way down.
I found this chart to be pretty darned accurate . Maybe it will help some of you here .
This is for NOS tubes not new stock. 
https://tubeworld.com/12ax7.htm

Here are a couple of comparisons/reviews for the new stock 12AX7 tubes:

https://www.thetubestore.com/12ax7-tube-reviews
https://www.tubesandmore.com/tech-corner/12ax7-comparison-current-made-tubes

grey9hound and kalali ,thanks for the links. Very helpful.

By the way, I must mention that the quality of the phono stage in the Unlimited is also pretty decent. Anyone considering using a turntable may want to opt for low(er) noise (and/or lower gain) tubes depending on the cartridge used.The linestage is dead silent regardless of the tube choices once the gain is optimized based to the amplifier input voltage sensitivity and the speakers’ efficiency.

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???

I just had one of Aric's earlier preamps rebuilt & upgraded, & am thrilled with the results. Aric worked with me at every step of the process, to make sure I got what I was looking for (a tube preamp w/o a lot of trim), & that it was within my budget. He & his shop are located in MA, & I found his communications with me, via email, to be clear & quick. You don't often find a vendor of this level of gear who is willing to work one-on-one with his customers, and trust me, Aric didn't get rich from the work he did for me: it was a labor of love, as it were. For anyone in the market for mid-priced tube gear that performs at true hi-fi levels, built by someone who really cares about your happiness with his work, check Aric Audio out.

By the way, I'm using cryo-treated Gold Lion 12ax7's at the moment. I also like NOS Amperex Bugle Boy 12ax7s in this preamp, as well.

Just wanted to jump in, I took the plunge last week and ordered an Unlimited phono stage after reading a million reviews for other hybrid preamps and stumbling across this thread.  Aric was great to talk to and helped me understand a few fundamental differences between this and some of his other gear as I'm still relatively new to all this.  Very excited to get my hands on this to see how it performs!

Right now I'm running a Music Hall MMF-7.1 with the factory Mojo cartirdge (Ortofon 540 Mk. II), feeding a Marantz NR1200 2 channel receiver.  Speakers are Definitive Technology Demand D9's and a Definitive Technology ProSub 400.  The phono stage on the Marantz is fine, but I've been looking into a separate phono stage for a while now.  Also, due to furniture constraints, the distance from the turntable to the receiver isn't ideal.  I'm running a 10 foot cable from the TT into the Marantz, so there should be some improvement by keeping the Unlimited next to the TT and then sending the Unlimited signal to the Marantz instead.  A big part of the enjoyment of this hobby for me is all of the experimentation and tweaking that goes into it!

Hi All! I just wanted to share the link to the review of my newest Push-Pull mono-blocks here in case anyone was interested. Note that I also have these up for sale on Audiogon currently at a substantial discount over the MSRP! Thanks for taking a look and best regards! Aric

http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/aric-audio-super-kt-pushpull-monoblock-amplifiers/

Congratulations on the excellent review!

@xenophon thank you!!

I have a custom Unlimited Line Stage being delivered tomorrow.  It uses 6SN7s instead of the 12BH7s.  It is upgraded using Miflex copper-foil, paper in oil coupling capacitors and a dual choke design power supply with all film capacitors.
I am very excited to get my first tube linestage/pre and will post photos when it arrives.
Aric was absolutely terrific to work with and was very patient with my many questions.

Congratulations! I think it's safe to say that you are going to love it. I've had one of Aric's Special Line Stage's (using 6SN7s) for a couple of years now. It is an exquisite piece of equipment and compliments his Alpha 300B very nicely. It might even turn out to be a day better than Christmas for you.

 I purchased the Special 6SN7 preamp from Aric January 2020. Love this pre! I have been talking with Aric about purchasing the Transcend PP amplifier. Still deciding how I want the amp to be configured. 

Here's the new Line Stage:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SkKiW8IHPJNnNIuG8OyzXoVU-lSa2YFc/view?usp=sharing

Up and running and sounding good.  I will run it for 50 - 100 hours  on the tubes supplied by Aric before rolling in some NOS 6SN7s that I have.

Congratulations, the preamp looks great. I still have my Unlimited that I purchased after starting this thread. Its gone through several incremental upgrades including top grade Audyn coupling capacitors, Mills resistors, ALPS volume/gain control, and better tubes and despite its deceivingly simple chassis it's one of the best sounding preamps I have rotated through my system, mainly brought over by friends for comparison. I did all the upgrades myself so it has also served me well as a great way to get into DIY. I think the new Unlimited II already has lots of upgrades over the original Unlimited. I was lucky to find one of Aric's older SE KT88 amplifiers in the same exact chassis as the Unlimited - hammered silver, for sale a year or so ago and the pairing/synergy is fantastic driving Omega Super Alnico Monitors. Aric's products punch way above their asking prices and having the ability to ask him to customize the units is just icing on the cake. 

I will have to agree with other posters here regarding the Aric Audio preamps. I have a Special 6SN7 line stage (for 6 mos. now) which has been upgraded to 85-90% of the Motherload II preamp, and it is pure music in my system. Great soundstage, midrange, speed, quietness / blackness, etc. You name it, it has it.

I agree with many posters here that the 6SN7 family of tubes (I use the 6f9g) are a superb tube to use in a linestage. This preamp bettered my previous tubed preamps that were using 6922 or 12au7 tubes. The Aric takes very well to tube rolling, and you can really "flavor" it to your preferences.

Anyone looking for a decently priced preamp should give the under-appreciated Aric Audio preamps a listen. And Aric is great to talk and work with too!

@teajay, still waiting for your review of the Motherload II to show up on Stereotimes!

Hey 1markr,

I just submitted my review on the ML MK-II to my editor at Stereo Times. Hope, it will be published in the next couple of weeks.

It's a great preamplifier. I purchased the demo piece.