Aric Audio

[Gerall]

I just ordered an Aric Audio 3.6 tube preamp. Anyone have any experience with it. It is replacing my Adcom345, which I think needs some help.

[Gerall]

Got the Aric preamp with supplied 12at7 JAN's. After burn in my ears told me there wasn't much improvement, if any, over my Adcom 345. I ordered a matched, balanced pair of
12AU7 RCA Cleartop (side getter) tubes, and the system came to life. Great airy highs, warm midrange, and tight conrolled bass.The soundstage became more superior, and the quiet passages were silent. I only have a dozen hours on them, so expect even more improvement after burn in. So at the end of the day for a 300 dollar preamp, and 50 dollar pair of tubes it turned out to be the best investment I could have made for a tube preamp.

[Feanor]

Got the Aric preamp with supplied 12at7 JAN's. After burn in my ears told me there wasn't much improvement, if any, over my Adcom 345. I ordered a matched, balanced pair of
12AU7 RCA Cleartop (side getter) tubes, and the system came to life. Great airy highs, warm midrange, and tight conrolled bass.The soundstage became more superior, and the quiet passages were silent. I only have a dozen hours on them, so expect even more improvement after burn in. So at the end of the day for a 300 dollar preamp, and 50 dollar pair of tubes it turned out to be the best investment I could have made for a tube preamp.

Glad to hear you're pleased with the Aric, Gerall. I'll admit this is the first time I've ever heard of Aric. It looks very interesting at only $300.

I agree the tube rolling can make a significant difference. In my case, with my Sonic Frontiers LINE 1 preamp, going from the stock Sovtek 6299's to vintage Amperex USA white label 'PQ's delivered a sweeter, slightly warmer sound with a greater sense of depth and soundstage.

[Ramatam]

New here, have an Aric 3.6 on the way and was interested to know where the RCA cleartop side getter's were purchased? Were they standard or balanced triode tested?
Think I'll invest in a pair.

thanks KP

[Gerall]

I bought the matched and balanced tubes here:http://www.audiotubes.com/ Brent has a trusted audiophile tube seller, with an excellent reputation for providing exactly what you are buying, with no surprises or gotchyas. The tubes that came with the preamp werent balanced and the left channel was about 25 percent lower than the right, even after burning in. I also tried a set of Sovtek 12ax7's but that tube has high mu and distorts way too much. They were out of my gutiar amp so I fugure I would try them. I found that the 12au7s with low mu are way quieter than the 12ax or 12at's. Be wary of ebay purchases unless the seller has a lot of great feedback. Its easy to state that tubes are balanced when in fact they are not.

[Gerall]

New here, have an Aric 3.6 on the way and was interested to know where the RCA cleartop side getter's were purchased? Were they standard or balanced triode tested?
Think I'll invest in a pair.

thanks KP

A few things you will want to do when you get the preamp. First use an allan wrench to take the top tube guard ring off. They are nearly impossible to get out of there with all the rings on. Once you find tubes you are keeping, then put the top ring back on.

Second one thing I do not like, and have contacted Aric, is the blue led power indicator. I like to listen to good tunes in the dark. The diode is so bright you need to wear suncreen and sunglasses when dark listening. I will either change out the damping resistor, or just go and get a LED cap and attach it over the blue one.

Lastly it takes a bit of monkeying around to match the output of the preamp to your amp input. Following the instructions is OK, but you will want to do some tweaking until everything sounds best.

Enjoy

[Ramatam]

Thanks for all of the helpful info.
I got the preamp last night and let it warm up for about 30 minutes. Then I tweaked it a bit and started to listen to it. After an hr. or so, things really opened up and started sound really good. I was hearing detail I never heard before with my solid sate preamp. But then something strange happened. I started hearing distortion from guitar in a John Scofield CD ("A Go-go"). At first I thought that the distortion from his amp was being reproduced but I heard it in other recordings. It's like the sound started gradually going downhill with a distortion reminiscent of what you hear when you switch off a power amp while it's playing. Right before the capacitors drain out the sound gets real crackly and hashy.
In all fairness, I noticed that the power switch on my power amp (B&K EX-442) was flickering so I might have coincidentally developed a power switch problem there and that might be causing the distortion. So I'll have to get that checked out.
In the meantime I'll check into the tubes ...thanks for the link.

One quick Q about the trim pot for pre output matching. Am I doing it right, ....set volume low, roll the trim pot and the output gets louder to the point of break up then back off? I'm having so much distortion it's hard to tell....

Lastly I agree with you re: the LED, got my sunglasses on as well. I just stuck a small piece of photgrapher's tape on it as a quick fix but would like to know what you decide on.

Thanks again for the help.
K

[Gerall]

The setup system seems to be quite system dependent. I found the same thing using 1/4 volume and adjusting to distortion level. I left my preamp turned on in mute postion for 3 days before the tubes really settled in. The best sound I got was when I set the volume to about the 2 oclock position, then trimmed up until I hit the hightest volume that I listen to. I found that with using the 1/4 volume and trim to distortion I hit the loudest I ever need at about 11 oclock position. I also made sure I used a good quality commercial cd rather than a burnt one. Burnt CD's from MP3's are quite unpredictable in quality and can sound awful. Depending on your system the supplied JAN 12at7's may or may not be the ones that sound best. I tried the supplied JAN's, Sovteks, TungSols, and finally RCA 12au7 low mu cleartops. In my system the RCA's outperformed all the others by a long shot. Aric also indicated customers had great results with JJ 12au7s.
Tweak on and let me know how things go.

[Gerall]

How did you make out with your preamp. Mine just gets better the longer I burn in the tubes. I have left the preamp on for 4 days, and the tubes really opened up.

[Ramatam]

Got a matched pair of RCA 12au7 Side getters from Brent and I also hear quite an improvement over the 12at7's.
I haven't been able to tweek so much as I live in a small apt now...ah, divorce! But I'll crank it sometime when I know everyone's gone.
Thanks for th einput on my questions

K

[mapball]

How did you make out with your preamp. Mine just gets better the longer I burn in the tubes. I have left the preamp on for 4 days, and the tubes really opened up.

Hello,

Was wondering how everyone was still doing with their Aric Audio 3.6? I received mine on Friday and have been listening to it all weekend, experimenting. My initial impressions are very good. What it has done for the sound of my system is add a touch of that warmth Ive been longing for and eliminate the harshness on the end of certain notes that one might associate with digital gear. I was surprised at the increased level of detail both highs and lows. The clarity has improved without adding anything edgy. I am pleased with the unit thus far but these are probably the same testimony to any good tube gear.

The unit itself is a clean simple design. Attractive in my eyes. Everything seems to serve a purpose. It is absolutely quite in operation and not finnicky like ive read from others. (perhaps older design? this is 3.6) Supplied with my unit were a pair of RCA 12au7's supposedly made for radio shack. (It says Realistic Lifetime USA) I have no other tubes to compare with. This has been my first experiment with tubes in home audio gear and thus far is prooving to be a worthy investment. I would love to hear longterm impressions of those who have owned an Aric Audio preamp.

Thanks,
Mark

BTW, Im running it into an Adcom GFA-555 into modified DCM Time Window 1a's. Source is a squeezebox streaming WAV lossless.

[mapball]

Just wanted to follow up that I am still using the aric audio and its working great. My source is now mainly a dvd963sa for SACD. based on the advice above I did try a pair of RCA 12au7 cleartop side getters and I have been comparing with my regular 12au7 and I would have to say that the cleartops provide a more atmospheric sound. There is also better seperation in instruments, smoother vocals, and more texture in instruments like a tenor sax. Its a noticable difference. I still like my plain 12au7, they sound clean, still better than solid state IMHO, but the cleartops are the way to go if you want the sound to float out of your speakers.

On a daily basis I have compared my seperate setup, adcom/aricaudio with my kr9400. Ive tried many combinations with different speakers and cd players. My overall feeling is that for jazz and acoustic music, and involved listening the adcom/aricaudio through my timewindows is the way to go. I can sit for hours into the very late night, listening to my collection. Its easy to hear the differences in the recording techniques and best of all the actual accoustic environment in which it was recorded comes to life in my room. The realism of being on stage with jazz musicians was never realized on this higher level with my kr9400. That being said, I expected to always prefer my tube setup, but there are instances where I do prefer the sound of the KR9400. The KR has a bit more bass and sparkle in the treble. I once felt it was nuetral until I heard the adcom, and it surely colors the sound but not in a bad way and is quite forward sounding in comparison. This is not always bad and is actually quite a good fit with listening to pop music. I like soul music and even the neo soul stuff sounds quite good on my KR. New music does not always sound great on my adcom/aricaudio setup because that setup is too revealing, exposing the cookie cutter production. Pop music simply doesnt sound good through a well balanced revealing setup. It doesnt mean its bad music, its just focused on the highlights of sound. Bass, treble, clarity, volume. where as Jazz is wonderful for dynamic range, texture and interplay of musicians and the balance amongst them. a more organic approach. The KR is a great bang for the buck when compared with its pioneer, marantz, sansui counterparts and Im surprised I still have a place for it in my heart being the critic and purist that I am.

To wrap up these meandering thoughts I want to say that the aric audio has been an excellent gateway into tube gear and is highly recommended for jazz aficionados and aspiring audiophiles! ha!

[dhodapp]

Dude, dudes Telefunkin smooth plates will blow you away with a sound stage that is unbelivable.

[Poultrygeist]

Amperex orange globes kick ass in my Aric Audio 3.7.

[Poultrygeist]

The Aric gives some nice gain to the flea powered MiniWatt.

[mapball]

I just randomly came across this thread while surfing and its funny to see my old posts. I just wanted to say that im listening to Ronnie Earl and Fathead Newman right now thru my Aric Audio 3.6 as im typing this. Yes im still very happy with this lil preamp. As happy as the day I bought it. Ive never had a problem with it. Ive contacted him several times since then to get a newer version of his sticker and some general audio questions and he always answers promptly and he gave me the sticker for free. Im glad to see that Aric is still in business and is getting more coin for these pups..good for him.

Ive used this preamp now in so many different setups. One thing i must say is that despite its simplicity it is extremely versatile. Multiple ins and outs are perfect for speaker and cd player shootouts. Also, the output trim works extremely well for mating to different power amps and speakers. Because of its size, it's also real easy to take with you on the road. It's been with me on every craigslist audio purchase ive made.

This thing is as good as it gets and ive since compared it with some nice (although solid state) rotel, nad, and adcom preamps and none of them can touch the aric audio for its warmth and detail. Someting about the way it handles soft delicate passeges just kills me. Its a kick ass preamp for jazz and accoustic music. I dont want to sound like im kissing aric's ass so i will say that the blue light is WAY too frickin bright!! Aric, please do something about that!! lol

[Poultrygeist]

I didn't care much for the huge Aric logo on mine and pealed it off the day it arrived. I too love it's versatility and where else might you find a tube preamp with three inputs and two outputs at this price? I do wish the PS was internal with a IEC connector but it would no doubt cost a lot more. I still enjoy mine daily driving a Sure TK2050 power amp. Took mapball's advise and rolled in the cleartops for a little more sparkle.