@brewerslaw - I would suggest you contact Aric directly and ask him about what his preamps can handle; he's a great fellow to communicate with by email or phone.
AricAudio's new Jackpot 5751 tube-rectified truly balanced preamplifier
AricAudio has just come out with its brand new preamplifier design called the Jackpot. It only uses one 5751, you can roll any version of 12AU7s, 12aX7s, or 12AT7s, as the signal tube and one 12AU7 as a buffer tube. It is tube rectified and is truly balanced from input to output, and it sells for $5600. I put the Jackpot on the 2025 "Most Wanted Components" list for Stereo Times and bought the review demo. It is a phenomenal musical line-stage and a tube rollers delight. Because you do not have to have a matched pair of signal tubes, it uses both plates of one, and there is only one buffer tube you can experiment with many different combinations to get exactly what sonic signature you want to match your personal taste. I finally ended up with using a NOS Mazda 1950’s silver plate triple mica (signal tube) and a NOS Bugle Boy 1950’s long plate (buffer tube) to get exactly what I wanted in my system! Last year I reviewed two other great preamplifiers that were at least double the price, but the Jackpot was at least their equal and exceeded them in purity of tonality and spatial qualities. My full review will come out in the next couple of months. You can go to AricAudio’s website for more details.
- ...
- 53 posts total
@brewerslaw My preamplifiers can safely handle a 5 volt RMS Input from the source without coming anywhere near clipping. The balanced ML XL can handle 12 volts RMS without exceeding 1% distortion at the inputs. Please feel free to reach out to me through my website if you have any questions!
Best regards, Aric
|
@brewerslaw personally, I would love to hear Kores or Epikore 11s driven by Gato monoblocks (PWR-222) and an Aric Motherlode XL preamp. (Of course one could spend a lot more money on other amps and pre-amps, but I would be happy starting there, assuming somehow the speakers were already purchased.) As massive as those speakers are, i think they are in the 88-89 dB sensitivity range with minimum impedance in the not too difficult ~3.75 ohms range, which is a bit easier than the ~3.49 ohms published for your current Persona 3Fs, and I suspect that the PWR-222/Motherlode XL combination would also tame the beryllium drivers of the Personas sufficiently until you get the DALIs. |
@kirkwallace Thanks much for the suggestion. I’ve now read/watched everything the internet has to offer on the Gato monoblocks (and Gato as a company), which isn’t a whole lot, but they certainly seem to fit the bill. As a bonus, the wife really likes their aesthetics so it won’t be a hard sell on that front. At this point, if I go with the Aric preamp, the Gato may be the front-runner. |
Love it, @brewerslaw . best of luck to you. The Gato people are great to work with. I’ve got the PWR-222s powering Joseph Audio Perspective 2 Graphenes via a Spatial Lab Raven (with VT 231JAN Hytrons instead of the 6SN& LinLais) in my dining room and it’s really lovely. If my DALI Epicon 6s weren’t so happy with the Jeff Rowland set up i have in the living room, I’d try the Gato’s in there. And one day, i really hope to get the Motherlode XL! |
- 53 posts total