Home Made B1 Buffer Preamp
zingo
Posts: 11,258
I built this B1 for myself because I thought I was going to add another source to my system, but that fell through, so I no longer need this preamp. It has Dayton Audio internals and an 18v wall-wort power supply. It is housed it in a plain black box as I didn't want it to stand out, and has rubber feet for some isolation. This unit does not provide any gain, but provides a buffered, quiet, source selection and volume control.
"Don't let its modest appearance fool you: this is one fantastically effective buffer stage. And it's not about to leave my reference system any time soon. I'm still laughing out loud over this one a DIY product that succeeds wildly in bringing the listener a significant step closer to the source. In hindsight, that should not be surprising as the B1 buffer stage eliminates unnecessary gain stages between the source and power amp. A powerful demonstration of the "simpler is better" principle, or more accurately, less gain - less sonic pain." - Enjoy The Music.com
Specifications
Type: Stereo preamplifier
Inputs: Two stereo inputs via gold-plated RCA jacks
Output: One stereo pair via gold-plated RCA jacks
$220 shipped and Paypal'ed
"Don't let its modest appearance fool you: this is one fantastically effective buffer stage. And it's not about to leave my reference system any time soon. I'm still laughing out loud over this one a DIY product that succeeds wildly in bringing the listener a significant step closer to the source. In hindsight, that should not be surprising as the B1 buffer stage eliminates unnecessary gain stages between the source and power amp. A powerful demonstration of the "simpler is better" principle, or more accurately, less gain - less sonic pain." - Enjoy The Music.com
Specifications
Type: Stereo preamplifier
Inputs: Two stereo inputs via gold-plated RCA jacks
Output: One stereo pair via gold-plated RCA jacks
$220 shipped and Paypal'ed
Post edited by zingo on
Comments
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Don't let the utilitarian appearance fool you guys. This is a Nelson Pass design, you may know him from such companies as Adcom and Pass Labs. Read about his design philosophy at his site http://passlabs.com/ or in many of heiney9's posts.
I've got one of these in my system now. My first passive pre, it just gets out of the way and lets the music happen. You won't miss the gain of a typical preamp, I've had mine running with different sources hooked to different amps and have never run out of steam.
C'mon, step out of the box and give it a whirl. Can't beat the price.Wristwatch--->Crisco -
At this point, I was really curious to find out just how competitive the B1 was with the best line preamplifier currently known to me — the Concert Fidelity CF-080. Note that the CF-080 does employ a tube based gain stage. Specifically, a single 12AU7 per channel. And I do use the best sounding 12AU7 out there for this application — the Mullard CV4003 with box anode construction. Now, some of you may object to the notion of comparing a modest DIY design to an $18,000 ultra high-end design. It sounds crazy, but I needed to know. Well, there were differences. The CF-080 possessed more palpable image outlines and rendered harmonic textures a bit more richly. The B1, on the other hand, showed a tad more immediacy and better defined bass lines. In the end, I felt that most of these differences were simply explainable on the basis of tube versus transistor sound. - Enjoy The Music.com
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What did you use for the wall-wart power supply?
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It's a 18 VDC 600mA adapter. It actually measured out at 20v powered up, but it works great.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=120-1165%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&FTR=&CFID=5188212&CFTOKEN=14903773 -
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Price lowered to $175 shipped. No interest so far, or should I blame the economy for this one too?
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Your image of the B1 is gone."He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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I would also trade for a stereo chip amp if someone is interested.
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I have a DIY Heathkit amp 60/per channel will this be all I need for my turntable and DVD player? I use the DVDfor SACD/DVD-A I am trying to get to nirvana.2 CHANNEL:cool:
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Vifa DIY 3 ways Sound is incredible. :biggrin: -
The B1 is a nice little preamp that would work great for your DVD player, but it does not have a phono section, so you would need to add one in between it and your turntable. If you would like more pictures, just let me know.
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B1 still available?
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