[Niteshade]

The newly designed Beacon Two


A higher resolution photo is located on the web site: https://sites.google.com/site/niteshadeaudio/Home/preamplifiers

[Niteshade]

Sorry for the delays folks- trying to make some deadlines. I will post the routing information and hopefully ship it out by Friday. Some wire is supposed to get here as well for the LH-1's. Hopefully it arrives soon!

[Ericus Rex]

Looks incredible!  Can't wait to hear it!

[Niteshade]

Here is how I have it set up.

1] Mariusz- NY
2] Ericus Rex- MA
3] Etcarroll- PA
4] Dangerbird- GA
5] Maxcast- MI
6] Jake J- WA

Friends coming over to listen? Great! Let me know if you need it at a specific time. If someone wants to purchase the preamp and/or cables, that's fine. I'll make another and continue the tour.

Want to jump in on the tour? You can as it's going on.

A pair of 4ft LH-1's are being made to send along with the preamp. 

The tour will start Monday since I got my cable materials late and will be making them this weekend.

[Niteshade]

Mariusz,

It's going your way! Should be there Wednesday.

[Niteshade]

Would everybody be all right with a one week review period or would 1.5 weeks be better?

[Mariusz]

Mariusz,

It's going your way! Should be there Wednesday.

Thanks Blair
Looking forward to it.

Best
Mariusz

[Mariusz]

Would everybody be all right with a one week review period or would 1.5 weeks be better?

I would say 1.5 week due to shipping lag.


Mariusz

[Niteshade]

OK- 1.5 weeks it is. At least if someone gets busy it will allow more time.

[Niteshade]

We have another person added to the list: Mytubes211. On the list above, the number would be 1.5 since they're in NJ.

[Mariusz]

Richie is my good buddy from work. We pretty much have the same taste in gear (SD/horns, SET amps, simple - but overbuild PS )
Less delivery hands touch it, the better. 

Speaking of which- 3h in front of my house and no UPS truck in sight 

Mariusz

[Niteshade]

Looks like you got it an hour ago. 

That driver must have had a rough day!

[Mariusz]

Looks like you got it an hour ago. 

That driver must have had a rough day!

Well, finally it is in my hands!
Great packing Blair.
Looks like it could survive a 2nd floor drop with ease.
Finish (metallic red) is really nice - my cuppa for sure.
Wood sides are a nice touch as well as the new logo.
 

Due to late evening family arrangements I did not have any time to listen to Beacon preamp however,  my interest in your preamp is grand.
It should be fun shooting it against my own preamp which is 6J5GT base (almost identical to 6SN7) and tube rectification (5V4).

Pics will follow.

Not sure what I am going to use for evaluation but lets settle on 15" Audio Nirvana full range drivers
in open baffle.  300B PSE mono blocks and  Decware SV83M monos. Digital - RWA DAC. Source _ iPod/itransporter. Medium size room.


Thanks
for this opportunity Blair

Mariusz

[mytubes211]

We have another person added to the list: Mytubes211. On the list above, the number would be 1.5 since they're in NJ.

Thank You Blair for including me on this tour. 
Looking forward to it. 

Ritchie

[Niteshade]

Let's get things rolling! 

Please post your initial listening impressions, anything do do with breaking it in (this is a brand new build) and some photos would be great.


The more that's posted, the more interesting it will be!

[Mariusz]

Alright,
here is my initial report:

Out of the box, Beacon Two sounds pretty good. 
It certainly needs more play time to hit that sweet spot but it isn't bad at all. Actually, you do not hear much of that usual annoying behavior associated with most new, out of the box gear.
Preamp feels well made with cool but noteworthy little accents like new Niteshade logo or wood side panels.  Wiring and layout appears to be clean and efficient.(keep in mind that I'm no expert in that department)
Any complaints as far as the build quality is concern??
Not really but I would made one or two requests if Beacon two became permanent resident of my listening room. 
One - volume pot replacement (it's possible to over-rotate the volume knob. For example: if you turn it all the way down to "0" which is... say 7 o'clock, you might accidentally put too much force and turn it all the way to 4 o'clock. It won't happens ones you become aware of it though)
Two - smaller enclosure (this might be strictly my preference with this particular preamp. Not only would it all fit in much smaller enclosure but it would  feel more balanced)
But those two points shouldn't be thought as shortcomings. It has probably nothing to do with how this preamp sounds.  Since there is so little to complain about Niteshade's Beacon Two preamp and if I had to try to find a reason not to buy the tour unit, those 2 tiny issues would be "it" .... and I'm sticking to it. 

It might also be worth mentioning that you need two outlet spaces to accommodate Beacon Two. Regular AC and another outlet to plug AC to DC external power supply. It's certainly part of Blair's design but it might present some inconvenience for those with limited number of outlets.

To be continue.......

[Mariusz]

SYSTEM USED FOR EVALUATION:
Speakers: OB Audio Nirvana 15 full range drivers
Digital:  Virtue Audio Piano1 CD player
Preamp: Niteshade Beacon 2 and custom build preamp used for comparison
Amp: Decware SV83M SET Monoblock tube amplifiers
AC management: Majik Buss








Lucky likes it


NITESHADE BEACON 2 PREAMP GALLERY - CLICK HERE

Setup in medium size room on the short wall (that arrangement sounded best).
Window behind speakers was partially covered with GIK treatments.
Material used for evaluation varied from Jazz, vocals, small band, demo CDs from Usher, Chesky, NYAR etc.

[Mariusz]

Reserved: sound/conclusion

[Niteshade]

I'm glad you're having fun with it!

The big chassis: It's nearly 19 inches across with wood sides and 17 inches across in basic steel. A large chassis was chosen for one reason: It actually helps improve the sound because the wiring can be better planned. There are no birds nests. Wires will intersect at busy points, yet the majority of the circuitry has its own real-estate. I feel this important enough to spend extra money on a large enclosure.

Smaller enclosures: Yes! It is doable. We have a streamlined edition that has few compromises. Our new preamp line has next to no wild AC running through the chassis, reducing or eliminating potential ground loop issues (floating AC ground current). One of the things I hope people notice is how quiet the Beacon Two is.

Note: A pair of LH-1 4ft interconnects are included on the tour!

Special Note: Thanks in advance for constructive criticism!    It's important to me to find ways of improving our products.

[Mariusz]

Hi Blair

First of all - it might seems unorthodox or just wrong to start evaluation from pointing out design details which we would like to change. But that is how I usually evaluate gear or speakers.
However, anyone reading my initial impression must noticed that there are no real issues besides those 2 quirky requests.
The hardest criticism is already done and there is really nothing else that I could find to cry about- and believe me, I looked and listen hard..... very hard.

Now, regarding the enclosure size and your explanation for it. Blair, your pointing out the importance & attention to wiring/layout makes
perfect sense. Actually, (quick look at the guts) I believe that it was brought up in my previous post.

I did not want to mention it till the final part of my evaluation but YES!!!! Beacon Two is indeed VERY QUIET.  (it was also first thing I said in my PM to you few days ago)

Mariusz