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Floyddroid
02-04-2015, 21:51
One of the highlights of the recent meet at Scalford was meeting Mr Firebottle himself and taking delivery of my newly built FIREBOTTLE 2 valve phono stage. Ali Tate is totally to blame. If he hadn't brought his two box FIREBOTTLE along to the last NEBO meeting i would have been content enough with my VTL but once i heardAli's the seed was sewn.

I contacted Alan and he built me a FIREBOTTLE 2 tailored to my requirements which wasn't a million miles away from Ali's. I will post my findings in the next few days though early signs are favourable. Watch this space.

FIREBOTTLE 2, Small but perfectly formed.........
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n621/Progmeister/Firebottle2.jpg (http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/Progmeister/media/Firebottle2.jpg.html)

rossman
03-04-2015, 07:51
Well if the weather in the North East stays like it is at the moment you should have plenty of opportunity for listening over Easter ;)

Looking forward to your thoughts on the Firebottle 2

Tarzan
03-04-2015, 07:55
Yes indeed, you have had the Firebottle a day and no report- this is outrageous.:)

Floyddroid
03-04-2015, 08:15
The demon work!!!!! Horrible. I have actually had it since Scalford last Sunday. I managed to get it connected on Thursday evening after work and liked what i heard. I spent some time yesterday listening to it but the ext few days it will get hammered.
Yes indeed, you have had the Firebottle a day and no report- this is outrageous.:)

Floyddroid
03-04-2015, 08:16
And i have no doubt it will Paul.
Well if the weather in the North East stays like it is at the moment you should have plenty of opportunity for listening over Easter ;)

Looking forward to your thoughts on the Firebottle 2

Firebottle
03-04-2015, 10:23
Hi Steve,

If you want to see the valves in action the covers are only really for protection, you can leave them off.

:cool: Alan

Jimbo
03-04-2015, 10:31
Hi Alan,

Looking forward to hearing this myself. Did you find separating the PSU made a considerable difference and if so which areas of the firebottle's performance improved?

Firebottle
03-04-2015, 11:07
Hi James,

Separating the PSU didn't make a lot of difference to my ears, but having a quieter electrical environment for the pre circuitry has to be beneficial for the micro-details.
The two enclosures are compact so just from a physical perspective the PSU had to be in another box.

The construction of the pre is different to previous with short signal paths and very few connecting wires in the signal path.
The biggest difference is gained from using quality coupling capacitors, so any anti-foo readers stop now. Mundorf caps are fitted and they do make a big difference.

:cool: Alan

PS I did get a large raise in the noise floor when I inadvertently shorted the heater ground to the HT ground. Got me worried until I realised what I had done.

Mike g
05-04-2015, 11:17
Alan - are you going to be building more of these? And if so any idea of price...

Firebottle
05-04-2015, 13:02
Mike - yes I am, I'm more than pleased with the performance as it matches the fully balanced two box unit that I made for Ali Tait.

The asking price is £750.

Cheers, Alan

Floyddroid
05-04-2015, 22:38
Well, as promised here are my findings with regard to the Firebottle 2 phono stage. Please go to the link below.

http://progmeister.com/firebottle-phono-stage

struth
05-04-2015, 22:43
Well, as promised here are my findings with regard to the Firebottle 2 phono stage. Please go to the link below.

http://progmeister.com/firebottle-phono-stage

Just timing out on me Steve...

walpurgis
05-04-2015, 23:13
Same.

RichB
06-04-2015, 00:13
Great write up as ever Steve.

Pleased you're enjoying it.

Firebottle
06-04-2015, 08:09
You like it then Steve :thumbsup: Glad to hear it's hitting the spot.

Would be good to know if there is any more break in over the next few weeks,

:) Alan

Floyddroid
06-04-2015, 08:45
Just clicked on it and it's working fine. Try it again later. It may be that the rest of the world is on the net, failing that just go to my website below and have a shuffty..

Just timing out on me Steve...

Floyddroid
06-04-2015, 08:48
Will do Alan.
You like it then Steve :thumbsup: Glad to hear it's hitting the spot.

Would be good to know if there is any more break in over the next few weeks,

:) Alan

DSJR
06-04-2015, 10:58
Couldn't get the link on IE11 (spit) but got it eventually with Chrome.

struth
06-04-2015, 11:07
Just clicked on it and it's working fine. Try it again later. It may be that the rest of the world is on the net, failing that just go to my website below and have a shuffty..

Working today...cheers.

337alant
06-04-2015, 20:33
Nice write up Steve, I like to get a listen to the Fire bottle 2 if you decide to keep it ?
I'm also interested in the Denon 103 :eyebrows:

Alan

Ali Tait
06-04-2015, 20:50
Glad you're enjoying it Steve, it's a cracking bit of kit.

Andrei
06-04-2015, 21:08
Well, as promised here are my findings with regard to the Firebottle 2 phono stage. Please go to the link below.

http://progmeister.com/firebottle-phono-stage

Enjoyed reading that.