Firebottle PS1 (MM/MC) P.S name subject to change !

[Bigman80]

lol GGGG....Granville! Classic.

[Bigman80]

https://youtu.be/QnbJM-bZnKw

A little insight into the FB-OTP capability

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[Floyddroid]

https://youtu.be/QnbJM-bZnKw

A little insight into the FB-OTP capability

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I have no doubt whatsoever that this unit sounds great. However, i have to scratch my head at listening to it blaymire via YouTube through my laptop, tablet or phone. The only real way to appreciate it is via real ancillary equipment in a real environment?

[Bigman80]

I have no doubt whatsoever that this unit sounds great. However, i have to scratch my head at listening to it blaymire via YouTube through my laptop, tablet or phone. The only real way to appreciate it is via real ancillary equipment in a real environment?

You're right Steve but I've been messaged by a few people who are interested in this unit from as far a field as Australia! No realistic way of them hearing it in an ideal environment when the only build unit is mine and 5 others in construction. Seemed like a decent idea to just give them an insight into it. I think it sounds pretty good through my phone + earphones but nothing compared to live.

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[Bigbird]

Received mine today. Will give it a blast tomorrow as its late now.

[Bigman80]

Received mine today. Will give it a blast tomorrow as its late now.

Outstanding. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. 😀

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[Bigbird]

Right ,now iv had a little bit more time to have a listen I can let you know my initial thoughts
Apologies to Alan for taking so long but I've been in the middle of a house move so my times been taken up packing ,unpacking and building bloody flatpack furniture ...
Ive actually seen these little units on amazon going dirt cheap so when i saw it i thought shit, what have i done, but on pulling it from the box it felt sturdy and much heavier than expected (much heavier than the graham slee id just sold on) so i knew al must have worked some magic on the doner unit wth better quality parts .
First spin was Pink floyds 'division bell'.. i always go to floyd or dire straits to test equipment as the sound quality is spot on so i get a good gauge.
Right away it sounds open and airy and my worries about trading in my slee for a box half the price drift away.
i moved onto massive attacks mezzanine... theres a percussion instrument on the beginning of the first track that me and my missus always noticed on the slee as it sounds like someone is tapping a piece of wood next to our ears when we listened, this was slightly more in the background to what i remembered with the slee as it wasn't so prominent ....still there but not quite as snappy.
When the track kicked in it was clear that the OTP had bags of bass, something i always thought the slee was slightly lacking. it was deep and crisp and very exiting... iv had to put the bungs back in the speakers incase the neighbour gives me a bollocking in my first week haha.
Next up was Little milton ,grits aint groceries lp! the soundstage really came through on this. we both agreed that it sounded like he was sat playing at the end of the room or in a smoky bar somewhere .it sounded really live. the guitar was sleazy and snarling and the vocals had a touch of echo like it was recorded in a large room.
In comparison to the rega brio stage i was back to using whilst i waited for this to arrive,well,it blows it out of the water...or 'out the park' i should say!
much better in every single way and the brio stage is highly regarded for an integrated.
As for the graham slee i sold to make way for this purchase..it was a much closer call! very similar in many ways..good soundstage ,great detail and clarity.... the OTP has it on the bass front for sure and is slightly more open, the slee just nicked it for separation but its very close?? but without them side by side its hard to say as i was only going from memory.
Overall this is a fantastic piece of kit... at 200 quid(half the price of the slee) its an absolute bargain...it offers everything it had and a little bit more.
I listened to a few phonos in the sub 300 bracket(rega,project,cambridge) before i went for the slee and this beats all 3 for my tastes.
i rekon you'd be hard pushed to find a better phono anywhere at that price point...its that good!!
How it compares to the mid range and higher end phonos i don't know as my system is in the 'budget' bracket so its all iv known...hopefuly somebody else can shed some light on that??
With the extra money i had left over from the sale of the slee iv bought a sound smith cart of another forum member,so when its strapped on i shall let you know of any further improvements ... for the meantime Well done Alan and thanks for an absolute bargain buy!

[Bigman80]

Right ,now iv had a little bit more time to have a listen I can let you know my initial thoughts
Apologies to Alan for taking so long but I've been in the middle of a house move so my times been taken up packing ,unpacking and building bloody flatpack furniture ...
Ive actually seen these little units on amazon going dirt cheap so when i saw it i thought shit, what have i done, but on pulling it from the box it felt sturdy and much heavier than expected (much heavier than the graham slee id just sold on) so i knew al must have worked some magic on the doner unit wth better quality parts .
First spin was Pink floyds 'division bell'.. i always go to floyd or dire straits to test equipment as the sound quality is spot on so i get a good gauge.
Right away it sounds open and airy and my worries about trading in my slee for a box half the price drift away.
i moved onto massive attacks mezzanine... theres a percussion instrument on the beginning of the first track that me and my missus always noticed on the slee as it sounds like someone is tapping a piece of wood next to our ears when we listened, this was slightly more in the background to what i remembered with the slee as it wasn't so prominent ....still there but not quite as snappy.
When the track kicked in it was clear that the OTP had bags of bass, something i always thought the slee was slightly lacking. it was deep and crisp and very exiting... iv had to put the bungs back in the speakers incase the neighbour gives me a bollocking in my first week haha.
Next up was Little milton ,grits aint groceries lp! the soundstage really came through on this. we both agreed that it sounded like he was sat playing at the end of the room or in a smoky bar somewhere .it sounded really live. the guitar was sleazy and snarling and the vocals had a touch of echo like it was recorded in a large room.
In comparison to the rega brio stage i was back to using whilst i waited for this to arrive,well,it blows it out of the water...or 'out the park' i should say!
much better in every single way and the brio stage is highly regarded for an integrated.
As for the graham slee i sold to make way for this purchase..it was a much closer call! very similar in many ways..good soundstage ,great detail and clarity.... the OTP has it on the bass front for sure and is slightly more open, the slee just nicked it for separation but its very close?? but without them side by side its hard to say as i was only going from memory.
Overall this is a fantastic piece of kit... at 200 quid(half the price of the slee) its an absolute bargain...it offers everything it had and a little bit more.
I listened to a few phonos in the sub 300 bracket(rega,project,cambridge) before i went for the slee and this beats all 3 for my tastes.
i rekon you'd be hard pushed to find a better phono anywhere at that price point...its that good!!
How it compares to the mid range and higher end phonos i don't know as my system is in the 'budget' bracket so its all iv known...hopefuly somebody else can shed some light on that??
With the extra money i had left over from the sale of the slee iv bought a sound smith cart of another forum member,so when its strapped on i shall let you know of any further improvements ... for the meantime Well done Alan and thanks for an absolute bargain buy!

Great write-up. I will be interested to see how you feel when you've got the soundsmith hooked up. I think it'll blow your mind.

It really is a great piece of kit and yes, I was worried that even though I was selling my Sony gear (700ES amp &555ES cdp) to buy a better amp, I was worried I wasn't going to be improving on the phono stage of the Sony. I shouldn't have worried because the FB-OTP blew it to smithereens. The FB- OTP is a quality item and build quality is excellent too, so good ive ordered the same metal chassis to make a pre amp out of.

The FB-OTP is going up against a Tron Convergence (£1000) and a Firebottle Vivant (£1200) in a couple of weeks time. Now THATS a test lol


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[Bigbird]

Thats gonna be an interesting little shootout mate,the tron is highly regarded as is the vivant. cant wait to read the results. i recon it will hold its own up to a point.
love to hear it up against the arkless aswell. they are supposed to be very good for the price aswell(the best apparently)???

it pains me not to be able to get this cart mounted. I've had it sitting in the box for weeks but I'm waiting on a VTA spacer for under my tonearm as the soundsmith is 3.5 taller than the rega exact. a bit to high to get away with if you ask me ...the cart would be to 'arse down' at that height so I'm waiting patiently for it to arrive so i can get the best out of it from the off. my bloody brother was supposed to send it a couple of weeks back but went on a stag do and forgot so its held things up a bit.

[Bigman80]

Thats a pisser about the shim. It'll be worth it though.

I asked Jez Arkless if I could have the Arkless loaner unit for that exact reason. A shootout that would encompass a lot of the options readily available on AOS.

Unfortunately, he refused to let me have it. His feeling were that I would deliberately "down play" his units performance to boost the sales of Alans FB products (an opinion. Unfounded) . I was very disappointed because I knew the value of having his unit involved. It would have been beneficial to anyone who may have been considering buying a phono stage. Whether its the best, I dont know because i haven't heard it or been able to compare it and I wont be hearing it anytime soon.

Im excited about hearing the Tron. I know they have a great rep and they look great too. Ive already asked alan if he plans to keep it long term as id be interested in it based on the looks alone haha


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