Aric Audio Systems Unlimited Preamp
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! |
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. |
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! 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 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. |
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/ |
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! |
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. |
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??? |
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. |
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 |
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 |
@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. ;) |
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. |
@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 |
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 |
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. |
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! :) |
In my experience, the "flavor" that different signal tubes add/subtract to/from the music and whether or not you ultimately prefer the sound, will depend on the gear upstream and downstream from the Unlimited, maybe even the cables. I have tried JJ, Tung Sol Gold Pin, Mullard new stock, vintage Mullard, and vintage Telefunken signal tubes. When I had my SS DAC and Vincent hybrid amp driving Vandersteen 2Ci speakers, I thought the two vintage brands sounded slightly more musical. But now with a tube DAC and an SE tube amp and single driver speakers, same cables and same room, I have settled on the new stock Mullards and sometimes I swap in the new stock Tung Sol Gold Pins. I feel these tubes are a bit more neutral and better complement the rest of my system. The vintage tubes seem to add a tad too much emphasis on the midrange which I don't really need given the character of the speakers and the rest of the tubes in the signal chain. I am not talking night and day here and the experience could vary quite a bit by the type of music and the recording. The best bet is to just try different pairs and see which ones sound better to your ears in your system/room. Vintage tubes can get very pricey but new stock tubes are fairly reasonably priced and I honestly do not think the sound difference justifies the cost difference, at least in my experience. Hope this helped. |
Aric, thanks for the explanation. Makes sense. I did a bit of a binge listening last night mostly familiar tracks and am now appreciating the change even more. The Omega single drivers can get a bit "too upfront" in the midrange particularly at louder volumes. With these (tube) changes the overall sound appears to be more even and balanced. The net impact is a more realistic soundstage without any negative affect on the texture or imaging, etc. Not sure how else to describe the affect. Very interesting. |
Hey guys, It's very cool to hear on the tube tweak upgrade! I will be letting others know about it as another option to tailor the musical presentation towards a slightly less "upfront" character (perhaps to help mellow an overly sibilant or bright amplifier?). @rocray - Thanks for posting your impressions! @kalali - Thank you as well, and on the quicker igniting of the regulators- this is due to the 5U4GB being a "directly heated" rectifier- meaning that it conducts as soon as it is powered up. Alternatively, the 5AR4 is an "indirectly heated" rectifier and it takes 10-11 seconds before its heater comes up to temp, which then allows the cathode to conduct. It's often used as a "turn-on delay" or soft-start, but is not needed in the Unlimited. Best regards, Aric |
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! |
Just wanted to give a quick update with my experience switching to the 5U4GB/OC3/OD3 tube arrangement for those who might be interested. The first obvious change was the regulator tubes lit up much more quickly when compared to the stock 5AR4/OD3/OD3 set up. Not sure if its a "soft start" change or not but it used to take roughly 10 seconds or so for the regulator tubes to glow but now they light right up upon turn on. Didn't notice a change in the gain level but I agree with Aric's characterization that the soundstage is now a bit more "fleshed out" and the overall sound is more pleasant. A very well worth experiment, cheap and simple. Thanks rocray and Aric for all your input and guidance. This little preamp keeps getting better and better... |
rocray, thanks for the feedback. I think I'll try this combo as well just to see what difference it makes in my system. My Unlimited is paired with an older version of Aric's SE KT88 amplifier and upstream I have a LamizatOr Amber tube DAC. Lots of tubes to play with...all played through a pair of Omega Super Alnico Monitors. Glad to hear you're enjoying your "tweak". |
@rocray hey, thanks for the follow up post, that's awesome! Offhand, I can understand the soundstage possibly "fleshing out" more using the 5U4GB, for whatever reason it seems to have a more organic presentation than the 5AR4. The gain shouldn't have really changed at all however in theory, so that is a little bit baffling to me, but perhaps there's some other synergy that is occuring here between the preamp and amp due to this change? At any rate this is all good news and I'm glad to hear that you're digging it! Best wishes, Aric |
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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. Let's see how this works out in rocray's system, depending on his upstream/downstream components but in my current system which includes mostly tube electronics both upstream and downstream of the preamp, a more "laid back" presentation may not be as desirable. An all solid state system may benefit more from this change, albeit it'll probably be a very subtle change. |
@kalali I would not recommend a pair of OC3s as the regulators as they'll drop too much voltage which will cause the dropper resistor to absorb too much current and run very hot (hotter than it's rated). Using the 5U4GB I would recommend the OC3 and OD3 which will provide a much more ideal voltage to other components in the preamp. It will drop very little voltage, and provides a slightly more laid back presentation :-) Aric |
I’m also very curious to hear how the 5U4GB and 0C3/0D3 combo will sound as compared to the 5AR4 and 0D3/0D3 arrangement. Please report back. I’m currently running a Tung-Sol 5AR4 (vs. the stock Sovtek) and a pair of NOS GE 0D3s. Couldn’t really tell much of a difference is sound quality. I just thought the GE tubes' Coke bottle shape looked a bit cooler. For me, trying different brand(s) of the driver tubes by far made the most difference in the sound signature of the preamp. Aric, out of curiosity, what would be the effect of running a pair of 0C3s with the 5U4GB? |
You're very welcome Ray, and much appreciated on the kind words! When switching over to the 5U4GB, the presentation will be slightly more laid back due to the higher internal resistance of the 5U4GB versus the 5AR4, but you may find this is a good thing! The reason why an OC3 and OD3 regulator may need to be subbed when switching to the 5U4GB is there is an additional 20 volt drop in the power supply output when using the 5U4GB, and depending on your wall voltage, may be just enough of a drop for the dual OD3's to not stay lit reliably. In that case, when you go to the OC3 and OD3 pair, the B+ voltage will be dropped to around 275 volts instead of 300 volts which is still right in the range for the Unlimited to operate and sound its best :-) |
Hey guys! @rocray , the 5U4GB (not 5U4 or 5U4G) can safely be used in the Unlimited as the first filter cap it requires can be no larger than 40uf, whereas the 5U4 is much lower (the Unlimited uses 33 uf). Using it will lower the B+ voltage just a bit, so just make sure the regulators light consistently. If you find they are going out, then use one OC3 and one OD3 when the 5U4GB is in place. I agree with Tube Power on his choice for a favorite 5U4GB. For 5AR4s I’ve only ever used new production- either the Sovtek, Tung Sol or Mullard reissues all sound really good! Best, Aric |
Hi Ray, I'm using a NOS Sylvania 5U4GB (Black Plates) which I have come to believe is a wonderful discovery as it transforms the whole presentation into something nearly magic. I don't know why. As far as the regulators go, truthfully, I haven't noticed a marked difference between any of the types I have tried. The rectifier tube seems to influence the delivery far more than do the regulators. My opinion only. |
