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Pics of Foreplay Preamp

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Hi,

Finished a BottledHead Foreplay preamp and used all the standard kit parts for the inside ,(not outside). It sounds ok, as I think the tubes that came with it are not top notch. I have ordered some mullard 12au7's to try out. I imagine there is some break in period, but I do not know much about that.
 

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Re: How's it sound?

Ryder said:


that is luke warm if you ask me.
what are you comparing it to?
You are running it with your JElabs 300bs if I remember right?


I did have the CDP hooked directly to the JE amps and after adding the preamp, the music seemed to loose some detail and focus. It is sounding a little better right now and I hope it will age well.
 
diyAudio Senior Member
Joined 2002
PREAMPS.

Hi Paul,

First of all congrats on another marvelous piece of art....you have once again created one of those DIY jobs that don't look at all DIY.

Adding another stage into the chain is likely to have a detrimental effect on the sound,no matter how good it is....

Have you looked at phase inversal by the preamp?

That may well be the culpritt of what you observe.

Cheers,;)
 
To all who have responded, Thank you!

Adding another stage into the chain is likely to have a detrimental effect on the sound,no matter how good it is....

HI Frank,

This did cross my mind, adding more resitors, caps, ect to the signal.

Did you add the optional CCS to your Foreplay? I understand this makes a huge difference -- as it does on most CF stages.

Hi Dave,

Not yet, I do have this 'upgrade' , but did not install it yet. I want to listen to the preamp for a while, then add this. To see if I can hear a difference.

By the way, my next project is speakers, DIY of course. Would you have any recommendations for me to look at?
 
diyAudio Senior Member
Joined 2002
DIY MASTERPIECES.

Hi Paul,

If you allow me....

Not yet, I do have this 'upgrade' , but did not install it yet. I want to listen to the preamp for a while, then add this. To see if I can hear a difference.

You're in for a pleasant surprise there...you're adhering to a wise policy though,better get acquainted with the circuit first.

As for speakers,well that is of course Daves' department...I'd be looking at a FR 94dB+ or similar arrangement.

Happy building,;)
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
maybeim said:
By the way, my next project is speakers, DIY of course. Would you have any recommendations for me to look at?

What kind of amps are those that we see the edges of?

There are many potential speaker projects... what kinds of things have you had your eye one?

I'll ask some more questions as we go along (and probably split this off to the Loudspeaker forum once we have a couple posts happenin')

dave
 
Hi Paul
Lovely job on the pre-amp, and the amps. Your earlier thread on the power amp construction inspired me to start chassis building, but that's another story.
I have played a little with different 12au7, although in my case they are drivers for 300B not preamp. I found that the late production Mullard (70s & 80s) were a bit ordinary, although perfectly good.
Early Mullards are better, but the best I have tried were Amperex Bugle Boys.
 
The changes that the C4S's bring to the Foreplay are not subtle. Some, who get used to the rather lush character of the stock unit have a hard time getting used to the changes - but most are running it into SS amps.

Paul Joppa calculated the operating points for a number of different tubes with that circuit at the following post...

http://www.AudioAsylum.com/forums/bottlehead/messages/21342.html

You'll need a beefier tranny for most(or a separate filament tranny).

Auricaps for the output caps also offer alotta bang for the buck.
 
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