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I want to publicly extend my biggest thanks to Wayne. He was generous enough to offer up for sale his Seduction kit to me here last week so I can move on to making some noise with the table. Soon as I decide what I want to do with the top plate I can start going. Someone suggested going to NAPA or someplace and getting a can of auto touchup spraypaint/primer/clearcoat. Lots of color selections and relatively inexpensive. I can't afford to have it anodized, chromed, or professionally painted. Anyway---THANKS WAYNE!!!! Shane
Well, the kit had the C4S and PT-1 trafo, so it had everything and I didn't pay more than I would've to order one from Bottlehead. So I got a good deal as I didn't have to wait 6-8 weeks for one.
No, he made me an excellent deal which I will keep in confidence between Wayne and myself. Wayne has always treated me very fairly and honestly which has earned my respect.
Oh I see sorry for the confusion; your post said you didn't pay more than you would have if you ordered it from Bottlehead so it sounded like you paid the full price. The price is usually listed when someone sells something so i assumed it wasn't a problem to name it. BTW is it assembled?
No, it is not assembled. Everything was still factory packed in the unopened box from Bottlehead. Let's me work on my p2p with a known entity before I tackle a scratch build which is good.
Well I assembled mine pretty quickly. I also did the Anticipation and the C4s and I am no technition. You just follow the instruction work slowly and double check every move with the photos. That should work fine as mine fired up on the first shot and never failed. It is a very good sounding pre-amp and unless you are shooting for the sky in terms of quality; 3/4k$ units won't disgrace the Seduction. One thing; is Bottlehead going to honor the warranty if you buy second hand?
No, BH will not honor the warranty since I was not the original purchaser as well as their warranty only goes 90 days now I believe. There is so much support on the BH forum though, that I can't imagine not being able to figure out a problem. I'm looking forward to starting on it after I get back from Sturgis, but I really need to decide what I'm going to do with the top plate (if anything) and get it painted before I go so it has time to cure. Like I said, someone mentioned getting auto touchup spray paint as a cheaper, tough finish. Your thoughts?
The Auto touch-up paint is what I used. I sprayed it after a thorough cleaning with alchohol and a chamois cloth. First I primed it then did three coats of the touch up paint in a nice beige color that matches the ashwood case really nicely. The paint has held up well three yrs so far. Other than that I did the tweaks on the Bottlehead site and it just plays along with any problems so far. In a nod to Wayne it does have a slight noticeable hum; although when I sit twelve feet back I can'tr hear it at my listening level. I would build it soon in case there is a problem. You never know if a trans might be bad; it happens. And the boards can have a problem although it is very rare.
Well, I'll try to find some paint here in town this week. I probably won't add the C4S boards until I have the unit working stock. I'll go ahead and build them, but wait till the Seduction is working fine and I get a feel for it's sound. Remember that I'm running a POS TT to start with so I'm not expecting much. In fact, I just hooked the TT up for the first time a couple of minutes ago and am running it through my old Kenwood integrated. It doesn't sound half bad (good as my 1st generation CDP I run through that amp). My aunt said the stylus on the TT probably only had a couple dozen albums played on it before it was packed away. She got it right as CDP's came out and immediately switched. I'm gonna go ahead and replace it though.
O'Kay but I will say that once it is built it becomes more difficult to add and change things. Not that it can't be done safely but It is little more involved. This phono stage needs a good cart up front; it rises to the level of the input and will sound very much better the better stuff you use. If I may I think for the cheaper carts; AT is the best bet. 60$ ought to get you there.
After talking with the BH guys it looks like it would be an easy swap out. Just a couple of resistors basically to remove in order to install the C4S board. Thanks for the cart suggestion. The TT I have takes the damn P-mounts so I'm limited there to just a few brands. It has an AT model AT112EP on there now.
I have a local coater and you do, too. Check the yellow pages. Mine quoted $35 for a 10x17 plate, black, both sides.Toughest finish you can get.
I'll check into it. I figure it's probably cost $25 just to paint the top plate with auto touch up paint.
P-mounts... there are some good possibilities here. I like Shures, and have an older Radio Shack/Shure RXT6. This is RS's version of the Shure M111E. This was one step down from the V15 series and an excellent cartidge. It uses the N111E (and some others) stylus that has the "dynamic stabilizer" (brush). Ed Saunders has a used RXT6 and used M105E (same) with new replacement stylii right now, he has one of each. You can also look for a MP94E, which is the P mount version of the M94E. It is out of production, but not long. You may still find them occasionally. And there is the lowly M92E. You could save the stylus that comes with it as a backup and sub a better one such as the M97xE, which fits and works. Ed Saunders will have some N111E replacements ($50)in a few days, complete with brush stabilizer, and has some N97EJ replacements now ($30). Other sylii that work in the Shure M92e, M94E, M105E, M111E, M111HE, and RS RXT5, RXT6 are: N92E, N94E, N97ED, N97EJ, N105E, N111E, N97xE. So there is a range of stylii you can use. So, you can find a N92E as low as $25, and plug in the N111E, N97ED, or N97xE, which you can buy for about $50.