We are thrilled to announce the launch of our newest kit: the Paradyne 805A Monoblocks.
Doc B, Paul Joppa, and Paul Birkeland have been working on this design for quite a while and I'm so excited for you all to hear it. Before I post the marketing copy, I wanted to tell you all the things I love about this amplifier (these amplifiers?):
- When Lindsey, Jean, Eric, and I visited Dan and Eileen in Seattle, Dan sat us down in his listening room at Bottleheadquarters to show off some equipment. At first Dan played Talking Heads through a set of Pipettes hooked up, I believe, to a Kaiju. Sounded great! But then he played Talking Heads through the Jagers hooked up to the prototype for this kit. Jaws dropped. I looked at Jean and knew in the moment we'd either have to buy the company or leave her in Seattle.
- This is the first amplifier Eric and I played any part in customizing. See those base-mounted meters? Those were originally panel-mounted, digital meters until I visited Gig Harbor Audio (if you're in the area, stop by, those guys are great) with PB while we were shooting the SEX 4 manual. One of the guys there, George, said offhandedly (about some other amp) that real amps needed analog gauges. Against PB's and Dan's advice because the bases are a massive pain in the ass for us to produce, we decided to go for it. Act quickly - if this sucks enough we might tuck our tails between our legs and go back to the previous design (I'm kidding, PB, I realize you'd kill me.)
- We're launching with two cool mods available - one ships with the base kit.
- First is an illuminated meter kit to replace the stock, unlit ones with some backlit ones. We've got them in green, blue, and orange. The meter kit includes a manual and some wire, but you can (and should!) explore other meter options if you'd prefer another style. PB helpfully wrote up some instructions so you can roll your own.
- Next is a mod that PB installed for Doc B that changes the sound signature juuuust a bit. He's included instructions for that mod as well, but we figured - what the hell, let's throw the components in the box (in a separate bag from the stock kit). As always, build the kit stock first to make sure it works.
- They look cool as hell. Look at those things! We had to hire professional photographers for these.
And to you, our dear friends and Bottleheads: you guys are gonna love these. Go buy a pair (each kit contains a pair). They're $250 off for a few weeks. Or you can buy a combo that includes a BeePre2.
Cheers,
Jameson
Thirty-five watts of single-ended authority. Our finest design yet.
Fifteen years of development have gone into this design, and you can tell.Built around the legendary 805A transmitting tube, Paradyne is the most powerful amplifier kit we have ever offered. At 35 watts per channel, delivered through a true single-ended monoblock topology, it produces twice the power of a Kaiju run as monoblocks, and almost four times the output of a single Kaiju amplifier.
This is a big step forward for our kits.
Single-ended amplifiers are prized for immediacy, tone density, and realism but they are rarely associated with real power. Paradyne was created to challenge that assumption.
Paradyne was designed by the holy trinity of legendary audio gurus Paul Birkeland, Paul Joppa, and Dan Schmalle. By combining the brute force of the 805A with a carefully considered driver and output stage using 7L7 and 6BL7 tubes, Paradyne delivers headroom, control, and scale that redefine what a single-ended amplifier can do with a wide range of loudspeakers. The result is an amplifier that retains the harmonic richness Bottlehead is known for while driving speakers that would have been unthinkable with earlier designs.
Iron Maidens
Paradyne includes all-new, Bottlehead-designed iron. That means you're getting a cutting edge power transformer, our beefiest output transformer, and a new and improved plate choke. This new suite of iron provides performance gains over previous designs, and allows for switching output impedances by moving one ring terminal instead of re-wiring the secondary.Purpose-Built Monoblocks
Each Paradyne kit includes a pair of monoblocks, because this amplifier was never meant to be compromised by a shared power supply or layout constraints. Separating the layout into two chassis allowed us to provide:- Dedicated power and output stages per channel
- Shorter signal paths
- Greater channel separation
- Absolute focus on performance
- Easier user serviceability
These amps ship in two separate, well packed, insured boxes to ensure we can protect the components (and because they're heavy). Once shipped you'll get separate tracking codes for each box.
