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Thread: FIREBOTTLE Phono Preamp

  1. #21
    Join Date: Apr 2013

    Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU

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    I'm Richard.

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    I have a moving coil one warming up nicely as we speak. Nobody tell anyone I have a valve amp in my system...

  2. #22
    Join Date: Jan 2008

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    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Aye, we'll make you a bottle-boy, yet!

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  3. #23
    Join Date: Apr 2013

    Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU

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    I'm Richard.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    What?

    Okay okay, I appreciate this is taking a long time but conditions need to be right for a good evaluation and I like to listen to what I feel like rather than necessarily playing stuff to test out kit.

    I'm a bit stuck with making any direct comparisons as the last stand alone phonostage I owned was a Project way back when and my system, except speakers was totally different.

    Here is where I am up to -

    Positives - this doesn't sound like a stereotypical valve unit as top end is extended and clean. Neither does it sound clinical like a stereotypical solid state phono. There is definitely a hint of valve in the sound, call it euphony or sonority or whatever. Bass is not lean or weak neither is it overly warm or bloated, there does appear to be a small degree of mid bass punch that drives the beat along, this I like although I would not describe it as being entirely neutral it is the sort of balance that most people will want. I have to say I was impressed with the overall SQ from the first bar of the first record I played and that impression has stayed with me through multiple sessions, playing all sorts of material. One thing I like to look out for when demoing kit is what I describe as 'niggely' traits - that is a trait that whilst it may not initially be obvious, over time you get to notice and then you can't help noticing it from then on in. Once this happens you cannot live with that bit of kit any more. So far I have failed to identify any niggely traits with this phono stage. It makes vinyl very listenable but not because it makes the sound bland or over-smooth.

    Negatives - I have started to think that this stage plus my Nagaoka MP50 is perhaps a bit too much of a good thing. Certainly the sound is rosier than a couple of far more expensive TT set ups I have heard recently, although it is significantly easier, and I have to say more pleasurable to listen to. I can imagine this stage being almost perfect with a more neutral cart like an Audio Technica for example. So I am at the moment still in two minds.
    Martin

    I don't know the MP50. What are its traits? What are you getting too much of?

    Thanks

    Richard

  4. #24
    Join Date: Oct 2011

    Location: Charente, France

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    I'm Nodrog.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Oldpinkman View Post
    Martin

    I don't know the MP50. What are its traits? What are you getting too much of?

    Thanks

    Richard
    I seem to remember that it was a bit 'warm' when I had mine but that was in direct comparison to the Technics. I have played my 205 through a Firebottle (I think it was a previous prototype, not the production version) and it is all plain neutral to my ears. I agree with all the positives that Martin described.

  5. #25
    Join Date: Apr 2013

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    I tell you Gordon - that Alans a brave chap. If Arthur or Owen found out what he just did, the screams could be heard in your garden...

  6. #26
    Join Date: Oct 2011

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    Quote Originally Posted by Oldpinkman View Post
    I tell you Gordon - that Alans a brave chap. If Arthur or Owen found out what he just did, the screams could be heard in your garden...
    Yikes, what did he just did??

  7. #27
    Join Date: Apr 2013

    Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU

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    You'll have to ask Alan

    Strong men could weep...

    Paid off though

  8. #28
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: Galashiels

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    I'm inthescottishmafia.

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    So what do you think of the stage Richard?
    “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel. I have always needed fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio”

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  9. #29
    Join Date: Oct 2012

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    I'm Alan.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon Steadman View Post
    Yikes, what did he just do??
    I hope you're all sitting down, Oldpinkman has done a modification to a valve amplifier

    I asked Richard if he would make a small modification to the Firebottle MC, it has both lowered the noise and increased the gain on the MC input.
    The power pack I have sent with it does not really have low enough noise to be used on MC although it is absolutely fine for MM use.

    I'll let Richard tell you how he has found it to be.

    Cheers, Alan
    I love Hendrix for so many reasons. He was so much more than just a blues guitarist - he played damn well any kind of guitar he wanted. In fact I'm not sure if he even played the guitar - he played music. - Stevie Ray Vaughan

  10. #30
    Join Date: Apr 2013

    Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU

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    Ali

    I've been feeding back to Alan. This was a first MC version he asked me to trial, and we have been learning as we go. We have fixed a couple of issues, and I'm pretty sure its "right" now. It is beautifully made, and I think extraordinary value at the price I believe he is building them for, but as I said to him, I am a bit out of touch and naieve. In my day, everyone had records, so all amplifiers had phono stages, and plenty had MC stages. The whole concept of a phono stage is a bit alien to me. It is hard for me to comment at the moment, without commenting in the context of the Pip which is the only other source I have. But the Pip, whilst obsolete now, was one of the most significant phono stages commercially produced. For all the comment on this forum about it being bettered, and it probably has been, it was a few leagues above "normal" and therefore where the Firebottle would fit in. I plan to try to get my hands on a Quad 44, Audiolab 8000 or similar for a more sensible comparison.

    All that sounds like an excuse for damning with faint praise - but its really just a reality check. There are doubtless many fine amplifiers and stages out there I have never heard, but my home reference is still the very finest I have heard, and by quite a margin.

    So - I roped in the Mrs and stepson as well, who auditioned sort of blind. In reality Sue pretty quickly worked out which was which because Firebottle was noisy to start with. We have fixed that now, and whilst its now not quite as quiet as Pip - at any sensible volume in any sensible auditioning environment, it is silent. But it wasn't - and so blew its cover on the blind auditions I was trying for. Both amps are quite distinctive, and Mrs S can pick em in a bar, and knows what she likes.

    As I said to Alan, had i been in the situation I thought I was going to be in, of needing to find a new phono preamp, I am pretty sure if I had auditioned I would have bought the Firebottle. I am working from memory of the Quad 44, and I am bound to offend a few of its friends again saying this, but whilst neutral, and polite, and vice free, I'm sure I heard one yawn. You are never going to say that about the Firebottle. Whilst it has a slightly delicate even distant quality, it is ringing clear and articulate, and has a rich bass I would pretty much swear is missing from the Quad (or audiolab). It certainly presents detail well, and can distinguish the instruments being played, and is vice free.

    As a "normal" device - rather than the sort of esoteric wealthy mans indulgence being discussed on another thread at the moment - as "real" hifi - it's as good as I can conceive of it getting. I'm a very lucky boy. I have better. But if I didn't, this would be likely to come home with me.

    Last edited by Oldpinkman; 22-10-2013 at 17:38. Reason: yawn not snore!

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