[poseidonsvoice]

Nice! Thanks for the update! I've always liked Bottlehead designs; my first build was a foreplay several moons ago.

Best,
Anand.

[Jon L]

Inside.

Jupiter copper foil for coupling and Jantzen for parallel feed is very nice

Bottlehead says speakers <96dB sensitive should be fine with AC heaters, but I guess not?

[mkrawcz]

Jupiter copper foil for coupling and Jantzen for parallel feed is very nice

Bottlehead says speakers <96dB sensitive should be fine with AC heaters, but I guess not?

It’s not bad with 91db speakers. Have to get very close to hear it. I do have a separate issue with a loud mechanical transformer buzz that I will try to remedy with a DC filter. If that doesn’t work, I will need to replace it.

[poseidonsvoice]

Bottlehead Paradyne 805 monoblock kit! Wow!

https://bottlehead.com/collections/power-amplifiers/products/bottlehead-paradyne-805a-monoblock-amplifier-kit

And they are slowly releasing some legacy circuits too which is very cool of them.

Best,
Anand.

[mkrawcz]

Bottlehead Paradyne 805 monoblock kit! Wow!

https://bottlehead.com/collections/power-amplifiers/products/bottlehead-paradyne-805a-monoblock-amplifier-kit

And they are slowly releasing some legacy circuits too which is very cool of them.

Best,
Anand.

Those are some serious amplifiers. That may be a next year project.

[Glady86]

Those are some serious amplifiers. That may be a next year project.

I owned a pair of 805 a few years ago. They also acted as space heaters. I Would switch to SS amps in the summer.

[mkrawcz]

So I added the DC filament heater upgrade to the Kaiju 300b and also added Duelund JDM tinned copper bypass caps to the 10uf Jantzen superior Zcaps. Now that I have over 100 hrs through this amp, it’s the best amp I ever had. It’s perfect.

[poseidonsvoice]

Thanks for the update - makes me a bit more interested in the Paradyne since it has more power.

Best,
Anand.

[goggle1824]

Kaiju can also be run as monoblocks! BUt, yes, I also get the space and cost and heat thing. 😬😅

[Jon L]

I owned a pair of 805 a few years ago. They also acted as space heaters. I Would switch to SS amps in the summer.

Wow, $5300-$5500 for Bottlehead KIT!  I own Bottlehead amps but they are shooting for the stars 

[Jon L]

So I added the DC filament heater upgrade to the Kaiju 300b and also added Duelund JDM tinned copper bypass caps to the 10uf Jantzen superior Zcaps. Now that I have over 100 hrs through this amp, it’s the best amp I ever had. It’s perfect.

So the folkfore about how DC heaters sound less "musical" than AC heaters is nah..?

[mkrawcz]

So the folkfore about how DC heaters sound less "musical" than AC heaters is nah..?

Hard to say without listening back to back. One thing for certain is the speaker hum is gone.

[Glady86]

Anyone try one of those Chinese clone amps? The  Transaudio D9pro looks interesting, it uses a design originally used in a high end Dartzeel amp, lots of positive reviews.

[Glady86]

I hookup up the Odyssey Extreme monos I owned for years. Now I’m not sure if tubes are any better or just different, there’s a reason I had different tube amps come and go, but always kept the Odyssey amps. No worries of running out of headroom with these beasts.

Also could be the Symphonic Line Die Erleuchtung tube preamp I use is basically designed to mate well with  the amps. And I did a lot of changes with speaker set up and room treatments since I last played the Odyssey amps.

[mkrawcz]

Each type of amp has trade offs vs the other no matter what. Which is why I tend to go back and forth depending on the speaker and what music I’m listening to.

[Glady86]

I guess it’s nice to have a few different types of amps to rotate every now and then. Still considering trying one of these Chinese knockoffs, though the ones I was looking at, D5 or D9 pro on the add says not for use with tube preamp? I don’t understand why though.

[mkrawcz]

D5 or D9 pro on the add says not for use with tube preamp? I don’t understand why though.

I don’t know the specs, but it’s most likely the input impedance of the amps. Tube preamps have a very high output impedance generally.

[mkrawcz]

Looking at the specs for your preamp, 100ohm output impedance is very low for a tube preamp. The D9 pro input is 22kohm. So it’s within the rule of 10s, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

[Glady86]

Looking at the specs for your preamp, 100ohm output impedance is very low for a tube preamp. The D9 pro input is 22kohm. So it’s within the rule of 10s, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

Thanks, have you ever tried any of these SS amps from China? I was also looking at this one.

 BREEZE 2024 Latest A100 HOOD1969 HIFI Gold Sealed Class A Amplifier, Pure Class A Gallbladder, King of Vocal Sound Quality. 15 watts class A, about $400 including shipping from China. Wonder which would be a better match for the NX OTICA?

[mkrawcz]

I have the Brzhifi Hood 1969 gold and the A1S clones. Both really good class an amps for the price. The Hood is very similar to my Pass Sony VFET but not quite the same level of clarity. But for the price, it’s still really good. It has a surprisingly focused center image and real good clarity. I think if it was built from scratch without the Chinese counterfeit parts, the clarity would improve a lot.