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.
Aric Audio Systems Unlimited Preamp
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?
Showing 26 responses by kalali
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. I'll report back. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
If you're a little handy with a soldering gun and can pay attention to details, you can do most of the upgrades yourself. I replaced the stock capacitors in my Unlimited with the top line Audyn just recently and I'm very impressed with the results. The best part was Aric himself actually told me exactly what to use. Same with tube selections. He's truly a class act guy and a passionate audiophile and I'm so glad to see he's getting a lot of business from the folks here. |
Rereading my own earlier comments about upgrades, I just want to add that my intent was not to advocate folks jumping in and start taking things apart and doing their own mods. There are significant voltages in play and mistakes can have some serious consequences. If have never done this sort of work before, you should not take any chances and just send the piece back to Aric and have him do it the right way. |
That sounds like a wonderful piece of audiophile gear. Love to hear more about the specs. Knowing Aric's attention to details and his choice of excellent components, I have no doubt it'll be a great success. Even his lower end Unlimited preamplifier that I have is excellent and sounds better and better the more I use it. |
Great review. Sounds like an awesome piece of audio gear. Regarding the Motherlode preamp, given its “cost no object” design premise, my only suggestion is if a more sophisticated source selector option could be explored. I don’t know how much it may add to the cost or the design complexity but something like a relay actuated input selector would definitely make this preamp a world class contender. |
You’ll love your new preamp. After you use it for a while, ask him about the tube upgrades that he recommends and later consider have him do other internal upgrades, capacitors, etc., to take the preamp to a higher level. I’ve done both and I can tell you it will compete against preamps that are priced several times more. Keep us posted. |
Congratulations. It should get better as the capacitors (and the tubes) break in. Coincidentally, there is a thread discussing the differences in the sound quality between using a passive (or direct connection) vs. an active preamp and your experience mirrors mine when I put the tube preamp in the audio chain. Keep us posted as you put more audio miles on the unit. |
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? |
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. |
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". |
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... |
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. |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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. |