Anyone with Aric Audio experience?

I know Aric. We've never met, but I feel like I know Aric. More importantly, I feel like Aric knows me -- his communication and customer service skills are on par with what comes off his bench. Across the last decade, I have purchased the following equipment from Aric Audio: Preamps (4) -- A pair of mirror image Linestage Preamps called The Twins, a Transcend Preamp, a C3M Linestage, and a Super 6SN7 Linestage; Amps (3) -- Transcend Push-Pull Mono Blocks, a Super KT 88 120 SE, and a Custom 300B PSET; Loudspeakers (2) -- a pair of Dynaltos, and a pair of Animus Loudspeakers. In every case the build quality has been excellent and the performance level, well, all punch well above their weight making them a steal at the prices he charges. He's a one man show so everything you see, he's crafted, built, soldered or stained it, and it didn't come off his bench until it had a dead black, ear-to-the-speaker background. When the SS vs tubes debate surfaces, relative to "serious listening", I just smile, but don't care to comment. I hope his business plan returns him to the familiar waters of building loudspeakers too, because both pairs that I bought from him further promote the idea that if it says "Aric Audio" on it, you're going to be very happy with it. He has my highest endorsement.

My experiences with Aric have all been wonderful, both the man and the equipment. My Motherload pre amp is spectacular. I recently compared it to a 6h30 pre and a Benchmark, in both cases the Aric had very similar level of detail retrieval, but brought an organic smoothness the others lacked. ( the 6h30 had a little tighter, more pronounced bass, but lacked the midrange and treble finesse)

I bought Aric’s kt88 SE used and as a low powered amp it is the most used between First Watt f3, f8.

i would not hesitate to buy anything from Aric!

All great feedback and thanks to all that chimed in. @jazzbobob  I read you review before you posted here as that amp and the Super KT SE is on my list of choices, Aric is steering me toward the Super KT SE which can get me 20WPC UL with KT150's but that Transcend Push Pull seems like a safer choice to me since I only have one chance to get it right.  iwonder how different they are? I also keep thinking that my VAC has more power for the time I feel I need it but I'd hate to be disappointed too. I do enjoy the dynamics I am getting now.

First, I would like to say Thank You to everyone who posted and I’m very glad to hear the positive comments, and thankful for the opportunity to stay busy building these products.

Regarding amp selection, I generally like to use the speaker’s sensitivity, impedance, and distance from the speaker that the end user will sit as well as the average peak decibels that the client listens at to gauge what amplifier choices will work. If there’s at least 6 db of headroom over the peak listening levels (which equates to double the power to both speakers), then I consider this a safe margin.

That said, at listening levels under 90 db at 3 meters from the OP's Legacy speakers, the Super KT SE is more than adequate as it can provide peaks of up to 100 db from them. The Transcend push pull absolutely would work as well and have headroom to spare for even louder listening levels. It also sounds stellar- more similar to the Super KT SE than different really, however with single-ended you get just a touch more inner detail and realism- and I do mean a touch, but it’s still there. I did also design the Transcend Push Pull to have more of a "single-ended" signature to the sound, while gaining more power than a typical SET, so if there are any doubts that the 20 watts using KT150s will be adequate, then the Transcend Push Pull would have an extra margin of power and very similar sonics. It’s that trade off between slightly better sonics vs slightly more power which is the major difference between SE and Push Pull in my experience.

Best regards, Aric

I owned the Super KT SE amp a few years ago. Like all of Arics offerings, it sounds much more powerful than its rated output. I used it with EL34s most of the time and those 12 watts were plenty with a pair of Cornwall IVs.