If anyone's got a hankerin' to sling some solder

mhardy6647

Doc Bottlehead & company have the "Reduction" phono preamp kit on sale for $299.

-- not that I've ever heard nor seen one --

http://bottlehead.com/?product=reduction-phono-preamplifier-kit




DSC_2913 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

mrbiron

Dang!
The integration upgrade is cheap with the bundle deal. Otherwise, it's too rich for my blood.

mhardy6647

Yeah, you need another one

halo

@mhardy6647 - I've never successfully soldered anything before but this deal is too good to pass up. Do I need the additional integration upgrade?

mhardy6647

I am a Bottlehead fanboy -- but one of their strategies is the "Nail Broth"* approach

"Yeah, the stock, bare-bones version is good. But if you add THIS, it's so much better. And then add THIS, too -- better still! And just spend a little more and add THIS, and it's jaw-dropping"... and the $299 bargain costs $1000

So -- I'd say "no". But, bear in mind, I am a cheap son of a -- gun.

Soldering is easy. Wear pants when you do it; that molten solder is hot

---

The fable is known as "Nail Broth" or "Stone Soup".
I grew up with Danny Kaye's version, which is wonderful and charming.

https://youtu.be/PmaMh-bMUrc

mrbiron

halo wrote: »

@mhardy6647 - I've never successfully soldered anything before but this deal is too good to pass up. Do I need the additional integration upgrade?

For $50, i say why not. (i wish i could buy it for $50 but stand alone pricing is still $179)
The upgrade, if you look around the webs, is highly regarded. Then you have the opportunity to listen to it before and after for better appreciation.

As for the soldering, i didn't know my _ss from my elbow and i've done a couple of different projects in the past 2-3 years.

Jump in, the water is yellow-ish but fine!

mhardy6647

I can vouch for the quality of mrbiron's output, kit-building-wise. He may not remember what his kits look like, 'cause they always seem to end up here!

As to the upgrade, if it's $50 and it's reputed to be worth it (even at three-plus times that cost) -- who am I to judge?

mhardy6647

Heh, since I have:

1) a camera
2) the motive
3) the time

here's a peek up the skirt, so to speak, of mrbiron's Bottlehead Reduction.
Looks lovely to me. Sounds good, too.

DSC_7142 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

mrbiron

Huh.....i always thought it was a boy.
Guess that's why they call it a "Reduction" HEYO!

I'll be here all afternoon...

Unknown

This content has been removed.

mhardy6647

Yep2 wrote: »

Soldering in shorts improves your skill quicker.

Reminds me of a sign at the Simon Pearce glassworks across the river from us in VT.
They have a list of FAQs on the wall of their facility (where you can watch glassblowers at work, in real time). One of the FAQs says (more or less)

Q: Do any of the glassblowers ever burn themselves?
A: Only once.

PS Simon Pearce makes beautiful glassware, by hand. The factory/store is well worth a visit if you find yourself up in this neck o' the woods.

http://www.simonpearce.com/

They also have a wonderful Continental restaurant located in Queechee, VT. The table overlooking the watercourse for the mill is on the list of "most romantic restaurant tables" in America.

http://www.simonpearce.com/our-restaurant



The guy who built our house has his office a couple of doors down from the restaurant.

Simon Pearce's restaurant is very lucky that the place wasn't totally wiped out by Tropical Storm Irene, which wreaked havoc on VT in general and Queechee in particular. They did suffer considerable damage.
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/94579/months-after-flooding-simon-pearce-resumes-operati/

halo

mrbiron wrote: »

Jump in, the water is yellow-ish but fine!

On your advice, which has been stellar thus far, I'm looking forward to it.

Gatecrasher

mhardy6647 wrote: »

DSC_2913 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

My Dad had that same Eico amp. It was a kit (like a Heathkit) that he built in the late 50's/early 60's. He also built his own bass-reflex speaker cabinets using University drivers. Needless to say, the sound was phenomenal and he used it all the way into the late 70's.

I remember as a kid in the 70's my friends and their older brothers used to be amazed at how good my Dad's system sounded.

I would imagine that your new phono preamp gets pretty hot sitting on top of the Eico though?

mhardy6647

The amp (that one's an ST-40) is just acting as a stand -- no way can a component be sit atop the amp when the amp's in use. Tons of heat bubbles up from the power supply and that quad of 7591s

By the way, EICO made a pair of cosmetically very similar push-pull 7591 amps: the ST-40 and the slightly more powerful (much more powerful, if you believe EICO) ST-70 -- not to be confused with another product called an ST-70, of course!.

They were pretty good amplifiers with very good output iron (as always, for EICO). They have a couple of well-documented, and surmountable, design flaws: plenty of on-line info in rehabbing them for the 21st Century.

Gotta catch 'em all!

DSC_0198 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

EDIT: ST-70 on the left, ST-40 on the right.
They use the same output tubes, but otherwise differ significantly both in preamp design and power amplifier topology (bias configuration). More than that, I cannot say without looking stuff up.