They have a tube model called Unlimited that appears to be a decent value for < $800. It is tube rectified and with pair of tube voltage regulators and 12AX7 driver tubes. It even has a phono stage. Anyone is familiar with this preamp?
Thought I'd contribute my experiences with Aric Audio.
I had Aric build me his Transcend KT 120 amp with Pure Copper caps and it was fantastic sounding. What an amazing value at only $2600 as it sounded better in my system than amps costing twice as much.
I was was so happy with the amp I decided to go all out and have Aric build me a no holds barred 300B SET amp. As good as the Transcend amp is his 300B took my system to a whole new level. Powerful, dynamic, gorgeous midrange, amazing tone with a large, 3-D soundstage. Music just oozes with realism through this amp. Aric hit a home run here!
I see a good deal of action on the Tekton DI thread about Aric's amplifiers and makes me glad to see folks continue to support these small one-man operations. Just wanted to share some feedback after having used my Unlimited preamp for over a month or so and tubes have settled a bit. It sounds wonderful and seems to get better and better as it breaks in. The top end detail and midrange are incredibly engaging, especially on smaller bands with few instruments and vocals, like folk or jazz. I have already bought a set of tubes he recommended as upgrades including the rectifier, regulators, and signals, and will pop those in but want to first get used to the sound the way its now to have a good baseline. I'm also exchanging emails with Aric to see if I could make it even better by using better Audyn caps like the Plus or Pure Copper. He said he's experimenting this himself and will share the outcome. In some cases, upgrading the cap even within the brand may require using a different value to improve the sound. A nice benefit of point to point wiring that even could allow a novice like me to tinker. Anyway, its such a treat to be able to communicate so easily with someone who made your gear and get guidance on how to make it better. I have no doubt his amplifiers are just as good.
The phono stage is pretty decent too at the price point. The biggest strengths of this preamp, in my opinion, is the midrange presence, dynamics and clarity.
audiogabby, nice to hear input from an owner who's owned other tube preamps. This is my first and I'm really enjoying the different presentations of my favorite music tracks I hear from this preamp when compared to the SS units I've owned in the past. I'm guessing the third 12ax7 in yours is for the phono stage since on the new ones he's using a solid stage front end feeding into one the two 12ax7 line stage tubes. I haven't tried that input yet since I have a completely separate but much older vinyl rig.
Hi. I bought the Unlimited after listening to their little brother which I bought in the local Craigslist. The Unlimited is an excellent preamplifier. In my system it replaced a EE Minimax. I agree with Kalali 100%, I think he nailed his assessment of the Unlimited. In addition, Aric is a great guy to work with. In my case he added an extra set of input jacks for a modest price. I've owned a series of high end preamps and sound wise the Unlimited beat them all. One thing I noticed is that the new Unlimited only has two 12ax7 while mine has three. I'm not sure why that is but i'm very happy with my purchase. It would cost two to three times what I paid to get better sound. This is a highly recommended piece of equipment if you are in a budget.
The preamp sounds good with both the Vincent/Vandersteen and Mac MC2200/ Martin Logan systems but the lushness and warmth is more pronounced with the Vincent/Vandersteen combo partly because the room setup is very different as well Mac is inherently warmer by itself. Freya seems like a great piece too and in some respects appears even more modern with more features.
Very nice to read that you really like your new Aric audio preamp. Is it sounding good with both of your pwr amps and do you feel like the preamp is a good value for the sound vs. the cost.
My gut feeling tells me you got a much better preamp than a Freya and I hope you really enjoy it.
Forget to add that the bass is also noticeably better. Can’t say if its tighter but its more apparent specially at lower volumes. Somewhere I read this might be attributed to the nature of the 5AR4 rectifier tube but I have no prior tube preamp experience to know one way or the other. And the preamp is truly quiet, not even the slightest noise, hiss, nothing, even with my ears right next to the tweeter.
Received the Unlimited preamp a couple of days ago and been playing it since. Really love the sound it makes. Its got that so called mid-range bloom and lush sound that folks have been taking about and associated with tube preamp. The detail is comparable with my other preamp - NAD C165bee, but the soundstage depth and the airiness around the vocals and instruments is noticeably more apparent. Listening to Madeleine Peyroux earlier and the presence is eerily real. The construction is fairly industrial and nothing special but reasonably well made. I guess this is as close one can get to an all tube preamp since even the power supply is tube rectified along with voltage regulator tubes. There's a knob in the back to control the output gain which is a nice touch and allows for matching the gain with the input sensitivity of the pairing amplifier. All in all very happy with the purchase and the timing since he raised the price by almost 35% just last week - $725 to $975. I've had a number of email exchanges with Aric asking for tube recommendations and he responded within a few hours with great suggestions. I'm sure you'll be happy with your amp. He seems to be a real nice guy to work with.
Kenny, I didn’t get the remote option since I hardly ever use the remote on my current (SS) preamp. As a complete tube newbie I'm curious about his design and the tubes he uses in power/voltage supply and all the reasonably priced
12AX7 tube
options available for future tweaking. By the way, thanks for sharing the review link. I’m not expecting anything fancy as long as it has a nice warm sound.
Good to read that you like that JJ tube they sure look very robust and well built and not outrageously expensive.Are you using the 91a clone in a tri amp system.
kalali,
Wow that sounds awesome and I'll beat it will help both of your amps sound good.That middle priced unlimited is probably the best value in Aric's lineup in preamps.Did you get the remote option version. You will probably get yours before mine so you will have to let us know how it works out for you.
I Thank You for finding this gentleman and hopefully by word of mouth in the Audiogon community we will keep him busy.
Kenny, that sounds like a great amp. I also decided to go with his Unlimited preamp. I traded off expediency (read impatience) for the color choice; gloss black vs. hammered silver, and should hopefully receive it in around a week or so. I'm hoping it will play well with my Vincent SP-331 or MC2200. Thanks for the encouragement.
For the price point I would checkout Spearit Audio online based in MA. They are dealers in Conrad Johnson which are outstanding tube and SS products. The SPEARING owners is retiring and they have a lot of new and used gear for sale at good prices. A Classic tube preamp should be accessible. Great sound. Only issue for me is no remote.
Aric and I worked out the details of a custom SE 2a3 tube amp that will use a oversized pwr supply and Electra Print 15watt outputs so I will be able to get 8 to 10 watts using the new production JJ 2a3-40 tube and also use regular 2a3 tubes at the normal 3.5 watts. The JJ tube is capable of dissapating 40 watts and a normal 2a3 dissipates 25 watts.
There is some older reviews of the JJ tube if you google for them.
We came up with price slightly below $1800.00 with shipping and no tubes.Should be a very good sounding amp especially for the price.
I bought from audiogon the consonance cyber30 which is a 2a3 Intergrated headphone and speaker amp and I have found that I really like the sound,It's been quite a few yrs that I have had a 2a3 amp. I'm using the cyber with my DI's and also using my MZ2S preamp to drive it,I have found that is more than enough pwr for 90% of the music I listen to,I did rewire the cyber and I took the volume control and headphone switch out of the signal path and I'm using all Nos tubes.
I will have to wire volume control back in because ultimately I bought the cyber for my granddaughter and will be a Christmas present for her along with some decent headphones.
I agree with you I prefer the one man operations also.
Aric answered my email lightning fast and said he could custom build me a 2a3 set starting at $1300.00, I will have to figure out exactly what I want and get back with him.
Kenny, you're right, the Limitless looks like a top shelf preamp, just a bit too expensive for me. I found Aric by accident while looking for moderately priced tube preamps in the $800-$1000 range. Mapletree Audio is another outfit that I'm considering when (not if) I'm ready to pull the trigger. I also must confess I have a soft spot for these one man outfits. Rather give them my money if I can afford their products.
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