we'd like to share a little story about a new Bottlehead who jumped in with both feet...

Bad Bottlehead anyone?

Posted by MCFive (A) on August 19, 2008 at 12:03:42 to the TubeDIY Asylum

I'm about to place an order with Bottlehead to get their preamp, phono stage, and 300b mono blocks.

IS THERE ANYONE WHO CAN TELL ME SOMETHING BAD ABOUT THEM? I can't seem to find anything other than good word.

I'm fairly poor, so I need to spend wisely, this will be a lot of money for me. I can only afford to pull the trigger once, so I need to get the most bang for the buck.

I'm good with a soldering iron, so the build should be OK, I'm concerned about the parts quality, and the finished product, and most important the sound?

AND IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING NEGATIVE PLEASE TELL, I NEED TO FIND THESE THINGS OUT BEFORE I SPEND MY HARD EARNED CASH!

Feel free to post anything good about them too.

Thanks.

Their above and beyond attitude has resulted in me making quite a few repeat purchases.
Dan and Eileen really are a class act.


FP2 Prepamp x 2
Paramours
Straight 8 speakers

Paraglows

Parabees

FP3 Preamp

Paramounts x2

S.E.X amp

The Doc doesn't look good wearing only a tape reel .
Other than that I think you will struggle to find anybody that has too much negative to say. A lot of people here got their start with the Docs products.

The kits are well designed, knowing that all skill levels will be involved, and the designs are well worked out with regards to sound quality. Excellent manuals too.

richard

I've only purchased the pre-amp kit, foreplay. It was an easy to build project, gave great sound and the support was excellent. It was also the project that got me into building my own stuff. I would recommend Bottlehead to anyone.

Myles

...(there MUST be something, I'm sure. But I can't think of a darn thing right now that didn't go well!).

The people are nice to work with, the product is outstanding for the money, the sound is spectacular, the community forum is excellent. It brought me a whole new world of audio at a price that was more than fair.

Prior to my first B'head project (FP II) I had literally never used a soldering iron or considered a schematic. After assembly but before plugging it in, I ran a 25' extension cord from my new ForePlay to another room where I plugged it in, wondering if it would blow that side of the house out. I really didn't expect it to work. No problems. Music like I'd never heard before. A marvelous experience. I regret to say that only lack of time has prevented me from building further B'head projects. I plan for that to change soon.

Good luck!

They are just not expensive enough for the level of performance they give. Lets face it, in today's world expensive is generally taken as "High End" and budget prices are akin to flawed performance. Dan's products smoke a lot of high end stuff costing big$$. Think about it, parafeed outputs, shunt regulation and active plate loads- what level of high end has that level of performance.
You got it, only major expensive stuff with fancy nameplates and boutique cabinet work.
Heck our gain their loss :)
Bob
www.PlateauLight.com

Oh yeah! They price their kits so attractively for the quality they profess to offer; so you order one.

When you get it you can't help but be impressed by the quality of the instructions. And when you run into problems the people on that forum are just so damn friendly and helpful that you just know something is up. That Grainger fellow has to be a paid stooge!

The you finish the kit and give it a listen; and damn, it sounds great.

What you don't figure out right away is that you are HOOKED! You're going to order another, and another...

Take it from someone who's not only built everything they have have to offer, but has multiples of some. If my wife, who was able to resist the Schmalle charm longer than me, wasn't as sucked in by their amps as I was I'd be divorced!

Luckily, there are willing relatives (kids, nephews, nieces) who are willing to help you with the excess amps that soon accumulate; so the finished kits are a bit easier to unload than the garden zucchini.

Enjoy!

I don't think I can add much to the accolades that have already been heaped here, but I will anyway.

I've bought a whole system from Bottlehead - phono stage, pre, amps, and speakers - and the whole experience has been nothing short of great. I have even gotten a headphone amp, more amps, interconnects, and a variety of mod parts and such, and I have never had anything less than a positive, if not outstanding experience.

Doc, the Queen, PJ, and their growing gang (PB and Ed, et al), are all a very nice, very helpful, exceptionally customer oriented, and just plain great bunch of people.

You can spend more and get less, but why?

I put in my order for Paramount's with a Seduction and Foreplay III. I'm soon to be a Bottlehead myself.

So if anybody needs me I'll be setting up post at my mail box waiting.

I got the same setup you ordered and have been listening to it for the last 3 months or so. I built the foreplay first, then the seduction, then the paramounts.(built as they arrived)

When you get that last kit built and you are running complete self built amplification there is a satisfaction that is hard to describe. It isn't "LIFE CHANGING" or other overstated non-sense, but it is very special!

Good luck,

Rob

PS- The waiting is the hardest part!

I did the same and haven't looked back. I love the set up and look forward to listening every day.

Now just about to build my own speakers, Fostex based back loaded horns. And after that a DIY turntable. Also want to try a non-oversampling DAC. And on and on and on........

and the impressions of a another recent convert -

Yesterday, thanks to a speedy and generous response to the request I posted on this board the day before, I finally got to see and listen to Bottlehead amps and preamps for the first time. And frankly, I am absolutely pissed at myself for not going the Bottlehead route sooner! I have been lurking around this site and board and covetously eyeing the merchandise since 2000 without pulling the trigger. I mourn for all the hours I spent listening to music on gear that costs twice as much and sounds half as good.

I am stoked to finally join the ranks of the dues paying Bottleheads. This afternoon I put in my order for the Foreplay/Seduction package to make sure I beat the price increase. But I didn't only listen to the FP and Seduction on Monday. I also got my first tastes of both SET and single driver sound courtesy of a pair of 300Bs paired with a DIY Fostex driver/folded horn combo. Possessed by the memory of the 300B sound, I sprung to action at 11:55 pm as if moved by an unseen hand towards the computer. Since buying the 300Bs and the preamps on the same day would've also bought me a return to bachelor status, I ordered a SEX amp instead. 

Over the years, I have heard a lot about the advantages to owning Bottlehead products--the satisfying feeling of "I built it" that adds a little extra cheer to every listening session, the flexibility for mods and upgrades, the cameraderie and vast knowledge repository of the Bottlehead community, the unbelievably low prices, the killer aesthetics, personal service and expertise of Doc and Paul, etc. I thought this endless stream of advantages and perks was the core strength of the brand. But these are just the fringe benefits! As great as they are, the sound is even better!

I doff my cap and salute everyone who has any part in making these products a reality--especially at prices low enough to allow pretty much everyone to sample at least some aspect of the Bottlehead sound.

And a Texas-sized thank you to my new pal dogwan, one hell of a standup guy. On less than one day notice, he canceled his evening's plans and shared his listening room and Bottlehead experience so that some schmo could save a few bucks, even despite this schmo showing up three hours later than scheduled. He should get a sales commission or maybe a medal for meritorious Bottlehead advocacy under fire

Thanks to everyone who offered their help with such a short notice request. It speaks volumes about the quality of these products when their owners are so eager to spread the word. After what is certain to be a difficult and interminable wait, hopefully I will be able to return the favor. If everyone who appreciated quality music reproduction got to actually hear these amps, we would probably be able to buy them for about a hundred bucks thanks to the enormous volume discounts from parts and transformer vendors.

Cheers!

Dan
 

Bottlehead at VSAC 2008

"I think the only room that I went nuts over was the Bottlehead room, which had a beautifully reconditioned Technics 1500 tape deck feeding Bottlehead amps and crossovers driving direct radiator speakers arranged in a line source.  I think the amps were 300B. (yup, they were stock Paramounts, Pete) The midrange driver was a good sounding but fairly inefficient 4 ohm 5 inch unit driven by four power amps in series, each with the output transformer connected to drive one ohm.  One power amp per woofer.  One power amp per tweeter.  Electronic plus passive crossover.  Four six inch ported woofers per side. Each speaker module used a small and narrow Parts Express cabinet laid on its side, driver centered. Cabinets were stacked.  Four woofer cabinets, one midrange cabinet, one tweeter cabinet.  Felt applied to front of cabinets. Woofer modules vented.  It was pretty wonderful.  Huge sound with a lot of nuance, air, inner detail, soundstage, and imaging. Bill (Van Winkle) and I were gaga over this system."

Pete Riggle, Pete Riggle Audio

"The Doc schooled us all in setting up a room once again. All I could say is wow.... how the hell he got all of that designed and assembled in a couple weeks is beyond me. Sound? Damn impressive and one you won't fully appreciate unless you have done something like this before."

Kevin Haskins, DIY Cable

"Well, certainly the Bottlehead room with the Wall O' Amps was a standout. I don't know why Doc's solderin' arm wasn't in a sling."

Dave Cope, Triode & Co.

Bottlehead At CES 2007 - Best of Show

"Folks, I've heard some mighty fine stereo systems over the years...But fed by the (Tape Project/Bottlehead) Technics tape deck and those Japanese oddball electronics from BA Labo, the Magico Model 6s reached a level of realism from full orchestra to solo voice that I've simply never heard matched."

-  Jonathan Valin, Best of Show CES 2007,The Absolute Sound, April/May 2007

Bottlehead Amp Building Class, 2006

Bottlehead at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2004 - Best Sound of Show

"If we were going by the usual "Best Sound of Show" standards and concentrated purely on the sound rather than attributes like impact, displacement, soundstaging, scale and weight which require free-air in-room speakers, Doc B. would have won, hands-down and with no possible disagreements." Srajan Ebaen, Sixmoons.com

"Doc B. showed off his new foray into the world of serious headphone listening with a prototype amplifier being fed by a Nagra tape unit. Really cool, but not for the faint of heart. The presentation left little to find fault with—the music was just there!" Dave and Carol Clark, Positive Feedback Online

Bottlehead at VSAC 2003 - Best Sound in the Show

"Best Sound in the Show" Dave Glackin, Positive Feedback Online

"Doc B.'s room (Bottlehead/MagneQuest/Progressive Engineering/Paul Stubblebine Mastering) was in an awful lot of ways the best of the show....The Doc has got some exceptional SET designs going these days… gorgeous to see, wonderful to hear. Quite a lot of work went into his setup, it's clear." David Robinson, Positive Feedback Online

"And finally, we come to the Bottlehead room. I don't care what they said at the Digital Shoot-off, the best source at the show was (the) Ampex 350 tubed, open reel tape deck." Rod Morris, Audio Asylum