What does it take to get a kit

Most of our kits are specifically designed for first timers. We believe very strongly that knowledge is power, and you just might find that building your own kit takes your appreciation of audio to new levels. Give us a call if you need a little consultation on the question "to build or not to build". If you are certain you want someone else to have all the fun, John Tucker of Exemplar Audio is our factory authorized technician for built up kits. You order the kit, and we ship it to John to construct. Contact John for a quote.

This is a difficulty of buying kits, no doubt. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons we cannot accept for return any kit upon which construction has begun. But we also keep our prices so low that the risk is minimal, and we try to give you lots of references about the sonics of the kits to read before you buy, so you have a good idea of what you're getting. What we have come up with in terms of guarantee is this-

We guarantee the individual parts used, and we offer to get completely assembled kits running for anyone who has difficulty, for free. We do allow returns, but on unbuilt Foreplay, Paramour and Straight 8kits only, and only if returned within fourteen days of receipt. Absolutely no returns are honored for Parabee and Paraglow kits, as these are custom made to order.

Can I come hear your equipment?

Right now we have Parabees, Paraglows, Straight 8s, Foreplay, Entwined interconnect cables and Paramour amp and Conjoined speaker cable prototypes online. To make an appointment give us a call, 360-697-1936 M-F 9-5 PT. Please give us a couple of days advance notice.We are very happy to connect your own gear in to our system to see how they work together, so bring your favorite speaker, preamp, CD player, etc.

To make it easier for you to get answers to your questions we have several resources.

For the Foreplay kit our good bud Quest has put up a very informative construction website that gives a perspective on assembly which complements the instruction manual, with lots of photos and tips. We hope to have a similar site for the Paramour kit soon.

Another superb resource is the bottlehead forum. Here you can ask all sorts of questions, from very basic to highly technical, and usually get an answer from fellow builders in a few hours. A lot of knowledgeable folks hang out there, Doc B., Bottlehead's R&D consultant Paul Joppa, master builder Quest, and many other very experienced participants. But these guys aren't snobs, they all remember what it was like to be a newbie, and they treat beginner's questions with respect and enthusiasm. Kinda like having your own personal R&D dept. online!

And of course if you have specific questions about the assembly and operation of a particular kit, you can call us from 9-5 M-F PT.

You will need a 35W or higher wattage soldering iron ( a temperature adjustable solder station is a wonderful luxury if it fits in your budget), wire (it's included in some kits), solder, a screwdriver, needlenose pliers, wire cutters (diagonal pliers), a wire stripper, and a volt-ohm meter. All of these items are easily purchased at Radio Shack or from electronic suppliers like Mouser and MCM. The inexpensive solder pot offered by MCM electronics is a real time saver when working with the varnish coated magnet wire.

You will also want some paint, sandpaper, wood finish, etc., to apply a nice finish to your kit. More info on finishes

A standard 60/40 type electronic rosin core solder is just fine. Cardas Quad Eutectic is a very nice premium solder that flows at lower temperatures.

In a word, impedance. Tube rectifiers have a much higher impedance than the fast recovery, soft start solid state rectifiers we use, and low impedance in the power supply is an important ingredient in getting tight, articulate bass and punchy dynamics. We set out from the start with the mission of getting great bass from our products because single ended amps have had a bad reputation for "mushy, wimpy bass". The advantages of smooth high frequency sound that tube rectifiers held over the noisy old SS rectifiers of the past is not an issue now that fast/soft rectifiers and our reverse recovery spike filter are available. The filter is included in the more costly kits, and instructions are available to DIY one for the less expensive kits.

Shouldn’t I just order all the upgrades for a kit and install them as I build it?

Sure, if you want to. We love to make a big sale all at once, and that way you'll be sure to have the upgrade kit in hand when you are ready for the upgrade. But, we still suggest you build the kit in stock form first, listen to it, and then add the upgrade kit. Part of the point of our kits is education. By building the kit stock and adding the upgrade later you will learn the sonic advantages of the upgrade, and may find a use for this knowledge in the future, when deciding to go on and modify your other equipment. The basic form of some kits, like Foreplay and Paramour, are a bit easier to accomplish than the upgrades. The skills you acquire from building the basic kits will go a long way to help you meet the incremental challenge to your skills offered by the upgrade kits. See skill levels for an idea of the relative ease of construction

You will need some sort of volume control if one isn’t built into your CD player. You could install a 100K potentiometer in the amp somewhere, which would replace the 100K grid resistor across the RCA input jack, or you could build a "passive preamp", which is just a pot and some input and output jacks, in a separate box. But- has your CD player been designed with this in mind? Some CD players have a pretty beefy output circuit with a 2 volt or better swing, which will happily drive long cables and not-so-sensitive amp inputs. Others have sub 2 volt output drive, are intended for use with an active preamp of some sort, and won’t really drive an amp to it’s full output. We don’t make CD players and we don’t know every model available, so we’ll say "go ahead and try it". If you don't like it, we suggest using a Foreplay between your CD player and amps.

I was using a QED passive volume control for the longest time, while I debated the active preamp thing. Cost was a major factor as good commercial preamps that don't set you back sonically will definitely set you back financially. I decided on the Foreplay and simply would not go back. The Foreplay is a rare animal (low cost and great sound) and was just the ticket.

Not to totally trash the passive - it is dead quiet and does vocals really well but there is something missing over the Foreplay. Better bass and a smile on my face. I know that passives have to be done correctly - and maybe I wasn't there yet, but good low capacitance cables alone would buy 5 Foreplays with upgrades. When my Foreplay was dead stock, I preferred it. With the upgrades, it simply gets better. The Foreplay is, I think, 1/3 the costs of the Creek - sounds like a fun experiment.

What I can say with surety is that I have place my Foreplay into 3 different digital systems from midfi to megabuck and the sound has improved all 3 times.

Before I got my Foreplay I was playing my ceedee directly into my power amp and I thought that placing another component into the chain would muddy the waters. But oh no, the life was put back in the music.

I think the Foreplay makes the ceedee sound more like records playing in the best sense of that idea.

The Foreplay uses cathode follower output with an output impedance of about 1300 ohms, and it will swing a whopping 8volts RMS output. It’ll drive just about any amp you can imagine.

Well, personally we like to A/B between channels, but that is only part of the reason for dual mono pots. In a kit the price of Foreplay, we are limited in our choice of quality potentiometers. Inexpensive stereo potentiometers are notorious for mistracking at lower settings, so we use separate controls to allow fine adjustment of channel balance. A nice improvement can be heard by installing the Sweet Whispers steeped attenuator upgrade - better resolution, more open sound. These can be constructed in either dual mono or stereo configuration ( which will leave an extra hole in your Foreplay chassis).

As a general rule of thumb, if you use our preamp, amps and speakers, use the 0 to -30dB setup. If you use really high efficiency speakers, 99dB+, or sensitive solid state amps, use the -20dB to -50dB setup. If you are at all in doubt, use the -20 to -50dB setup.

You can plug them in, and they will work, but the bias and current settings have been optimized for the 12AU7 family of tubes. Also, the gain with those other tubes will tend to get out of hand. A better approach to tube rolling would be to try different brands and equivalents in the 12AU7 family. We’ve had good luck with Amperex, Mullard and Telefunken 12AU7s, RCA5963s and Phillips/Sylvania 5814s. Most 12AU7s are inexpensive, get a bunch of different ones and try them out.

The Anticipation C4S upgrade is a great way to improve bass speed, overall dynamics, and image focus. Other good upgrades include upgrading the output coupling caps, which are 2mfd @ 200V, (we like Auricap, Hovland and Cornell-Dubilier oil and poly motor start caps) and installing the Sweet Whispers stepped attenuators. Folks ask if they should try quality pots like Alps or Noble. Our experience indicates that these pots don’t offer enough improvement in sonics over the stock pots to warrant the change, while 100Kohm stepped or ladder attenuators make an obvious improvement in clarity. The 1999 VALVE CD ROM also has an article on several Do It Yourself upgrades to Foreplay, including the oft mentioned reverse recovery spike filter (snubber) and the braided power cord. Recommended reading. Future issues of VALVE will no doubt offer even more upgrade ideas.

Sure, you can build all of our amp kits on the same chassis plate. We can sell you the parts you would need and the manual for the amp that you want to upgrade to, and you have to figure out how to strip the existing parts off so you can build the new amp. There are couple of things to keep in mind. One is that all of the upgraded kits use the MagneQuest PGP 8.1 power transformers. If you buy the Paramour with the stock power transformers, you will need to upgrade them to the PGPs. Another thing to keep in mind is that you could upgrade to TFA-204 output transformers. The TFA-204, while not parafeed, is a high quality MagneQuest transformer that will improve the sound of the basic Paramour. TFA-204s are $240 the pair. Their installation will require a little bit of reworking of the existing circuit.

The total costs to upgrade from a stock Paramour kit to the other kit levels would be roughly as follows-

While the upgrade to the inexpensive parallel feed componentry is a definite improvement over the stock kit, the upgrade to MagneQuest TFA-204s will give an even smoother, grain free presentation with the same 3.5 watts power output.The superior design and construction of the MagneQuest products is quite audible, whether of conventional air gapped design or for parallel feed.

Well, which is better, a 12 cylinder Mercedes sedan, or a 6 cylinder BMW convertible? The Parabee has the advantage in power, bass punch and Wow! factor, and yet it is still very refined. The Paraglow has the advantage in speed, resolution, and extension, while still being articulate in the bottom and capable of surprising punch for a low powered amp.

If you have very sensitive 8 or 16 ohm speakers, say 99dB or better, or you listen to a lot of vocals jazz, chamber music, etc. Paraglow is unbeatable. If you like to rock or listen to dynamic orchestral pieces, particularly on medium efficiency speakers (say 93dB to 99 db), then Parabee is the best choice.

Doc's personal solution is to biamp, with Parabee on the midwoofers, and Paraglow on the tweeters. Pretty hard to beat.

Why does the Paraglow only put out 2.75 watts? Aren't 2A3 amps rated for 3.5W?

The reason is twofold. First, there is no accepted standard for the ratings used by various SE amp manufacturers. One competitor of ours sold a non-2A3 amp rated for 5 watts. By our methods it measured 1 watt. So if one manufacturer states 8 watts peak for his 2A3 amp, and another says 3.5Watts RMS at 5%THD, chances are they really measure about the same. Also, Paraglow is direct coupled, and while this topology actually gives a sense of improved dynamics and speed, the ultimate peak power of this type of circuit will always be a bit lower than a conventional RC coupled version of the same circuit. That small cost in power output is a worthwhile sacrifice for better resolution, speed, and clarity in our opinion. Regardless, it's pretty hard to hear a difference between a 2.75W amp and a 3.5W amp, and most folks guess that the Paraglow puts out more power than the specs would suggest, once they hear it.

Any 2A3 you use will sound good in any of our 2A3 amps. Our favorite is the TJ meshplate 2.%V 300B, which is a 2A3 replacement. We can order these for you. If you are on a budget, the Valve Art biplate 2A3s we supply in the kits are very nice, as are old stock biplates like RCA and Tung-Sol.

In a word, IRON. The Parabee kit contains $900 worth of inductors alone. The all Permalloy output transformer is part of the secret of the Parabee's phenomenal performance. This amp is our most powerful and punchy, and it's also extremely quiet. One of Docs favorites, along with the Paraglow.

The Western Electric 300B is really great. And really expensive! For our money the TJ mesh plate 300B is the best sounding 300B made, and we can order them for you.

That amp used a surplus transformer that is no longer available, so we won't be making it anymore. But the Paramour is the same price, and it sounds better.

The 6DN7s were developed originally for television use and are therefore quite durable. They last a long time. Antique Electronic Supply is a good source for replacement tubes:

OK, this is a little complicated, because we try to offer choices for every budget. First of all, if you have the very early S.E.X. kits, with power transformers that have no 2.5V secondaries, we strongly urge you to replace them with the MagneQuest PGP 8.1 power transformers. This will give you the freedom to install any future upgrades we make available. We will sell the PGP 8.1s to any original owner of the early S.E.X. kit at our cost. Call us for more details.

OK, the easiest, least expensive approach is to upgrade your S.E.X. kit to ParaS.E.X. This $50 kit installs a low cost output transformer and coupling capacitor in parallel feed output configuration, and also includes a few other improvements wehave developed over the years. The result is an increase in power to 5 watts output, and improved high frequencyresponse (flat to 20 kHz). With this mod the S.E.X. kit can run speakers with a sensitivity of 90 dB.

Past issues of VALVE have shown a few different homebrew mod ideas, from C4S constant current source mods to 300B conversions. We love to see this type of eXperimentation, it’s what the X in S.E.X. is all about. We’ve even heard of folks putting in Black Gate filter caps, and Jensen oil coupling caps, silver wire, etc., etc.,into the stock amp circuit, but this seems to us to be putting the cart before the horse.

All of our amps are designed to work well with the Straight 8s. If you want the maximum punch and dynamics from a single amp, Parabee is the way to go. If you seek the ultimate in refinement, resolution, and top end air, try a Paraglow with TJ meshplate 2A3s. And if you want to get the most SE bang for the buck, go with Paramour.

Doc's recipe for the ultimate Straight 8 presentation is to use the Parabee on the mid woofer array and a Paraglow on the tweeter.

What kind of speaker efficiencies do you recommend for the different amps?

For 300Bs you want about 93 dB sensitivity minimum, for 2A3s you want about 96 dB minimum sensitivity, for 45s you want at least 99dB sensitivity. These are rules of thumb that will let you enjoy the dynamic contrasts that single ended amps can deliver. But if you think a 45 sounds good with 86 db speakers, go for it. The Straight 8s are designed to work with all of our amplifier designs, except that the 45 based custom order eXcite parafeed amp may run out of steam on loud passages.

We've been really surprised at the excellent performance of the Pioneer DV 525 DVD player as a transport. Whups our old CD-63SE. Seems very good as a stand alone player as well. And you can watch movies too! At about $250, this one is a no brainer for a budget unit

We don't have a budget favorite right now, but the Origin Live kits look interesting.

Our favorite brews come from H.C Berger Brewing Co. The Bombay Express Ale is incredible. Our favorite easy to find beer is the original Pilsner, Urquell.

We do, it's called the eXcite and it's available on a custom order basis. The kit is $1075, and you must supply your own 45 tubes. We do not have 45s. Period.

It's on the list, with prototypes in operation. It's called Seduction. Hopefully it will be on the market in fall of 2002. If you're dying to build something, try the Groove Thang, found in the VALVE CD ROM archives.

John Tucker of Exemplar Audio makes a mind blowing custom linestage called the EA-1. It uses a single 5670 tube, with C4S active loads, MagneQuest Permalloy parafeed line output transformers, a proprietary hybrid shunt regulator, a MagneQuest power transformer on a separate power supply chassis, and stepped attenuators. Puts out 80 microvolts of noise. It has kicked butt on every line stage it’s met, even $10,000 ones. We hope someday to put out a kit based on this idea, maybe in 2003. If you're dying to build one, build the Soul Sister, to be found in the VALVE CD ROM archives.It uses a similar topology.