There has been some speculation about whether or not there is any difference between the 9.5 and the 10.5HP engines.
I just checked the Ariens site The 926's are as follows:
1. The DLE's come with either a Tecumseh OHV or a B&S Intek Snow OHV or Tecumseh engines;
2. The LE comes with either a Tecumeh L-Head or and B&S OHV
The 1128's either DLE or LE all come with either a Tecumseh OHV or a B&S OHV
I also notice that for the 926's the Tecumseh is listed as 9.25HP while the B&S is 9.5HP
Personally I doubt if the extra bit of horsepower would make much if any difference. However if Ariens wants to send me samples of all four machine configurations for hands on testing I would be more than happy to report back to the forum with my results. I promise not the charge them too much for the testing service.
Last year I replaced an old blown Tecumseh 10.5HP L head engine with a new 11HP B&S Snow Intek OHV engine. I also changed the traction pulley ratio slightly. There is a noticable difference in the way the blower moves snow. I suspect that it has more to do with a new OHV engine as compared to an old L-Head than anything to do with the 0.5HP increase.