Audio advice and discussions with audiophiles and professionals. Free discussion forums, open to all and frequented by industry experts. Ask questions and get advice on stereos, speakers, hi-end amplifiers, pre-amps, home theater, tube hi-fi, turntables, vinyl, tweaks, music, films, video, DVDs and more.
Hi Everyone, After a bunch of soul searching I am working on an integrated preamplifier. It will be a sort of synthesis of the Forewatt Line Stage Preamp and the Groove phono preamp. All tubes. It will be offered in various configurations and most likely will be user upgradable between them. Two main variations are one with full remote control and one with manual controls only. I expect to have a prototype for listening at LSAF. The Forewatt will continue to be available separately as will the Groove (scheduled for release this summer). In another area a retro variation of the Oddblocks is nearing release (all octal tubes. BTW my reference set are all octal.
Oh, man, Bruce. That sounds good! I'm interested in this one very much. Please keep us posted with your project. I'd love to see a mock up, or if your prototypes looks like finished products, even better to see the proto. This one just sounds very appealing to me. I have a Cary preamp that I'm itching to swap out and replace with yours. Any plans to do an integreated amp? One like that but maybe with outputs for speakers? Or is it better to keep the preamp and the outputs separate, maybe for power supply, heat or space reasons?
Hi Wayne, An integrated stereo preamp-amp would weigh in at around 100 pounds. It would need wheels. I can envision a low power one with say EL84s or perhaps EL34s though. The prototype is using a remote control assembly other than yours initially as it makes the build a lot easier and there are fewer interface issues. That can can change as really once the design is in place any type of control can be used. I do have a working prototype of a passive remote with your chip set. Not quite perfect as I still have not found a display I like. Right now it is using a 3.5 digit 2volt digital panel meter. I feed it from one of the extra digipots that in turn is fed a 1.0 volt reference. That way I get readings for volume level in % from 0 to 100. Not real elegant but sufficient for testing purposes. The display is rather stable, but once in a while it will flip in the final digit if the actual level is in between the two.