Aric Audio 300B SET Monoblocks

Hey mac48025,

Congrats!  Aric builds beautiful sounding equipment and I know you and he went " full monty" on your pair of amps.  

Thanks for putting this up Tom! Also thanks for the kind words @teajay ! I’m stoked that Tom is enjoying these monoblocks as much as I was for the several days I had them running. I have never heard that kind of speed, purity and control over the bass as well as extended highs from a 300B. This is really a combination of all of the upgrades we decided upon, but the weight of this voicing is due to the C3M driver. The C3M is an extremely linear tube, and has the current and voltage needed to over-come the 300B’s Miller Factor and also to push it’s grid when the grid becomes positive (both of these things are what are typically associated with the common "rolled off" highs or "wooly bass" people here from most 300B amps). The 300B and most DHT’s are all capable of extended frequency response on both extremes- provided the driver can avoid slewing. On the tech side of things, some of the other upgrades not mentioned in the original post include (but are not limited to): A full film capacitor power supply. Hexfred diodes in a hybrid rectifier circuit (what this does is runs a tube rectifier in parallel with the ultra-fast diodes so that there are no switching pauses in the rectification and virtually no voltage drop (common with tube rectifiers)). A low impedance power supply using a very low DCR choke for fast rise/decay times and no over-hang or bloat. Schottky diodes for the well-filtered 300B DC filament supply employing a choke. Tube damper plates which de-couple the C3M’s socket from the chassis. All film-capacitors used for cathode bypass. In fact there are no electrolytic capacitors in the signal path in any way, shape or form. This includes the power supply as the power supply IS directly in the signal path. Also, this amp is DEAD QUIET- meaning no tube rush, buzz, hum, etc. is present even with your ears right up to the speakers. With these "all out mods" and the 4 chassis design we employed (with umbilical cables), the price is $11,900 for this build (tubes included).

Hi Tom,
Congratulations  on acquiring the custom built 4 chassis SET mono blocks. I'm glad to read that you're so happy with them. I have no doubts that these are outstanding in their sound quality.  An all out design/effort from Aric Audio . Terrific upgrade choices/decisions by you.and Aric.
Charles 

Tom they sound like amazing amps and I am sure they sound fantastic. And congrats to Aric on a great build with premium parts! I am sure they sound amazing and you will enjoy them for many years to come.

@mac48025  Tom, congratulations on your very special custom build 300B 4-chassis SET amplifier.

It's wonderful learning more about the efforts that Aric of @aricaudio went to, to satisfy your commission, and the sublime results being delivered!

What a 'bargain' given Aric's pricing!!!

And they look terrific in the wood trim you chose.

Thanks teajay, it was your review of the Transcend Amp that steered me toward Aric in the first place....so I have you to thank for that.

Thanks Charles, I look forward to having you over to hear Arics’ creation. 

These SE’s are my “forever” amps, jond. I can’t imagine what I’d have to spend to get appreciable better sound. More than I can afford, that’s for sure! 

Thanks David, you just reminded me that I need to update my Virtual System page here with new pics of these babies. 

My only complaint right now is that I don’t have the time right now that I’d like to listen to these amps. They have less than 40 hours on them and are getting better every day. 

Thanks for the kudos on the amps all- it was definitely a long-term collaboration between Tom and I, and as much as I anticipated positive results- what we received, are more than stellar! @mac48025 - Either the C3M or the EL84 driver (which is very much built like the C3M as they are both Pentodes) are my new drivers of choice for the 300B. In top flight builds I will be using the C3M. In more "cost-effective" builds I will go to the EL84. My own personal 300B SET's are getting the mod to the C3M as soon as my tubes arrive from Italy! 

I'll bet they sound incredible!I'm a fan of Aric's products too,being a very happy owner of one of his amps.Enjoy!

Congratulations to Aric Audio for the stellar review of the Alpha 300B by Dwayne Carter / Enjoy The Music:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0619/Aric_Audio_Alpha_300B_Push_Pull_Amplifier_Review.htm

@david_ten Thank you! That was the TBT featured article from ETM from 2018. The editor contacting me to let me know they were featuring it on the home page- sweet! I also want 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. Thanks for taking a look and best regards! Aric

http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/aric-audio-super-kt-pushpull-monoblock-amplifiers/

Thanks for clarifying, Aric.

What follows is not 300B...  but it may give someone interested in Aric Audio amps a feel for Aric's work.

Mike Wright / Stereotimes:

http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/aric-audio-super-kt-pushpull-monoblock-amplifiers/

Aric congratulations on two excellent reviews and thanks for the clarification I was wondering why an older review was on the ETM site as a world premiere.

Dwayne Carter gave you a great review but reading it he'd never used a tube amp before and seemed a bit mystified by them. I wish it had been someone more experienced to really delve into your amp and have some relevant comparative perspective.

And what's with Mike Wright making an issue of not knowing what brand of connectors you're using? They look well made and obviously sounded good!

You  seem to be on a roll building great amps that get great reviews and happy customers keep it up!

@jond Thank you! Best wishes, Aric