Bottlehead Fantasy Products/Wish List

[Dr. Toobz]

Just curious: if Bottlehead would make your dream kit, what would it look like? For example, a tube-buffered DSD dac? An all-tube analog tuner? Or, an 833 SET? I thought it would be fun to hear what other people secretly wish BH would offer as the next "official" kit (even if we know there is no possibility!). 

My wish isn't all that crazy: I would readily pony up for a Stereomour-type integrated amp kit that used 300B tubes for 8W output, single ended, with choked DC filaments, a shorting headphone jack, active plate loads, three inputs, a stepped attenuator volume control, and selectable impedance OPT's. Sort of like a SEX amp, expect with 8W output of DHT goodness.

 

[xcortes]

OTL SET preamp and OTL SET amps. 1000mW is enough for the latter. Of course with SR and active loading. I love my Paramounts. There's no better amps in the world. But I'd love to try OTLs ala Doc and PJ.

 

[wylymon]

I would love to see an active crossover for Klipsch Heritage speakers.

 

[Doc B]

OTL SET preamp and OTL SET amps. 1000mW is enough for the latter. Of course with SR and active loading. I love my Paramounts. There's no better amps in the world. But I'd love to try OTLs ala Doc and PJ.

Ah yes, this one interests me. The elusive element is a modern speaker with an 800 ohm voice coil. Anybody have a pair of Philips 9710AMs?

 

[intojazz]

The active crossover is a great idea! How about a music server?
Doesn't need to be too complicated and would be a good precursor to the BH DAC.

 

[Wanderer]

I would love to see an active crossover for Klipsch Heritage speakers.

Yes, active crossover! Somebody was talking using Quickie as a base for an active crossover.   

 

[Doc B]

We will be redesigning the active crossovers in the Bottlehead system soon, and perhaps a kit will spin off as a result.

 

[keto]

Here's a pair of those Phillips... http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hug/messages/15/158003.html Of course you could always just add 10:1 step-down errrr.... transformer .

Here are a pair of top plates from FPE for an active 12AU7-based XO experimental platform. Stereo input, up to 4 pairs of outputs, 2 octal VR's and a PGP8.1. The PGP has a 6.3V@2mA heater secondary, so in practice, it should be good for up to 6 12AU7's with AC heaters or 3 with DC heaters. Hoping to get away with AC, of course. Anyone want a copy, I'll send a file.

 

[Paul Joppa]

Here's a pair of those Phillips...

Only the -AM version is 800 ohms. They were mostly 8 ohm, with a few 400 and 800 ohm versions. They also came with or without the whizzer, so quite a variety of "Philips 9710" models.

 

[Laudanum]

Crack build went well, it's quiet and sounds great.  Seduction build went well and it's quiet and sounds great.

FPIII build is going well so far.  My wish list, only one thing  ...  please let it be quiet   ... if so, Im sure it will sound great.

 

[Wanderer]

How about speakers again?

I do realize the issue with a speaker being developed then the drivers going out of production or changing specs. That is very frustrating I am sure.

We are talking "Fantasy" however.   

 

[Doc B]

How about speakers again?

How about plasma headphones? They could come with a bottle of sunscreen for your ears and one of those fan hats to blow away the ozone. ;^)>

I would like to do a from the ground up speaker development, see my comments about 800 ohm drivers above. We will need some serious investors to support all of the R&D you guys are asking us to do!

 

[Noskipallwd]

How about a true tube DAC, not only use tubes in the output stage but replace the microprocessor/s with tubes as well. You could call it the EniDAC, probably cost half our national debt and might fit in a room the size of an average basement. Seriously, I would like to see a 300B based headphone/integrated amp kit. Something similar to the Cary amp or the Chinese version Grant Fidelity sells.

Shawn P.

 

[Grainger49]

Early tubed computers took up a whole building and didn't have the processing power of a PC today.  I'm not sure this could fit into the Bottlehead base.  Not even a really, really big one.  (carrying the joke a little further)

How about a true tube DAC, not only use tubes in the output stage but replace the microprocessor/s with tubes as well. You could call it the EniDAC, probably cost half our national debt and might fit in a room the size of an average basement.    .  .  . 

 

[Doc B]

John Swenson and I talked through what would be involved in an all tube DAC, with me being the lunatic and John being the voice of reason. The biggest issue was the amount of power required for all the heaters and heat produced. I think I figured we could fit it on a couple of large relay racks. All those flip flops would take a lotta tubes, and then you would have to hire those ladies in June Cleaver dresses to change out the tubes.

Here's a conceptual image of the power supply

 

[JC]

LOL!  Reminds me of the line in "Apollo 13", when the Jim Lovell character is conducting a tour of civilians, and talks about a future with computers that will fit into a single room...

 

[Grainger49]

Sooooo, what is wrong with a women in tight skirts, heels and pearls vacuuming?  Is that an option for the kit????

 

[[email protected]]

Are the pearls necessary?

My wish would be to bring back a speaker kit.  Maybe a La Scala type with 100+ efficiency or a full-range, single-driver bass reflex (or horn).  A metronome-like design would be simple to glue together, but maybe awkward to ship.  I bet you could get the forum community to help with the design (I would do what I could) and Bottlehead could do the packaging.  I think a lot of people could manage the glue up, sanding, and finishing but probably lack the table saws and hole-cutting gear to do the other work.  It could be the Linux of the speaker world.  Community designed and tweaked but centrally distributed.

Also, you could bring back the Bottlehead model.  I'm not saying that's what sold me on buying my first kit but then, it sure didn't stop me.

 

[Thoburn]

This would be a quite a departure from Bottlehead products, but I would like to see an amp with the same sort of input selection and volumn control as the Stereomour, but with an output of around 60 watts that could handle speakers such as the Vandersteen Quatro. Probably a KT88 based. Point to point with high end components such as all nickel output tranies and obbigato or simular upgraded caps. High end resistors and volumn control. Everything top shelf. Hey, it is just my fantasy amp, so be kind.

 

[HF9]

This would be a quite a departure from Bottlehead products, but I would like to see an amp with the same sort of input selection and volumn control as the Stereomour, but with an output of around 60 watts that could handle speakers such as the Vandersteen Quatro. Probably a KT88 based. Point to point with high end components such as all nickel output tranies and obbigato or simular upgraded caps. High end resistors and volumn control. Everything top shelf. Hey, it is just my fantasy amp, so be kind.

It would be great to see Bottlehead offer a nice high quality push-pull integrated. There's a bit of competition from the Dynaco kits and Audio Note, but I think a unique offering would be well received.