Quickie Finished

[BNAL]

I just finished my Quickie built with PJCCS. The only voltage check that does not match the PJCCS manual is A6/B6 of 19-21 VDC. I'm getting just over 28 VDC, which is about the voltage in the Quickie manual and PJCCS diagram indicates, so I think I'm good to go.

I put the Quickie in the system and very plesently surprised at how well it sounds with no break-in. It is stock with the exception of the eBay DACT stepped attenuator I installed. I really like this attenuator over pots and some of the other eBay offerings.

I was planning to use the Quickie in the system I have at work, may reconsider based on initial impressions. I will leave it in my system for a little to get a feel for the sound and make a decision on if it stays at home or goes to work.

 

[BNAL]

I've had the Quickie in my systems for a few days now and love how good it sounds, in my system. I don't feel like I'm missing anything in the music, in fact it adds a little weight and dynamics to the sound that I did not know I was missing, without sounding bloated. I had a well regarded buffer doing preamp duty, but having compared the two I like the Quickie better.

I have not listened to an Extended Foreplay III in a longtime, but from my memory of how the Foreplay sounded the Quickie is more to my liking.

So, to my complete surprise the Quickie is not going into my work system as I had planned.

As the Quickie sites it is stock with the exception of the volume pot I replaced with an eBay 100k DACT attenuator. The only other part I may replace is the 2.2uF capacitor, since there is nothing else in the signal path. Also, I my look at doing something like Paul (AKA paulw) did with his Quickie to get rid of the microphonics. http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=9010.0

 

[BNAL]

I thought I would add a couple of pictures showing the transparent top plate.

 

[mcandmar]

Love the clear chassis plate.  The quickie is one of my favorites, makes a cracking little headphone amp too

 

[JamieMcC]

Nice I like the transparent top  8)

 

[aragorn723]

cool looking Quickie!  One thing I did to mine that you might consider is changing the 150uf caps to Blackgates (got them from Partsconnexion).  After making that change, it opened up the treble a lot.  What are you using for an amp?

Dave

 

[BNAL]

Dave,

At the moment I'm using a Folsom TDA7297 amp with the Quickie. I may take it to work and use it with my Decware ZKIT1.

The Quickie still need time to break in, so I don't want to make any final decision about where to use it until I feel it is finally broken in.

I'm supposed that the electrolytic made that much of a difference. I would not have thought that. Are you using a 150uF cap or another value? I looked and PC no longer has 150uF caps available.

I was thinking I would upgrade the coupling cap with something like the Sonicap or some other reasonably priced film cap. The other change I may make is to isolate the tubes so there is no micophonics when changing the volume or changing inputs. The only other thing is that my amps sensitivity is on the higher side so I can only use the lower end of the volume control. I'm still able to adjust volume to my liking, so I'm not planning to pad the input. I don't want to add any additional components in the signal path if I can help it.

That's it for now. Just going to keep using this great sounding preamp. It makes me wonder how much better the Smash kit is.

Brad

 

[aragorn723]

Dave,

At the moment I'm using a Folsom TDA7297 amp with the Quickie. I may take it to work and use it with my Decware ZKIT1.

The Quickie still need time to break in, so I don't want to make any final decision about where to use it until I feel it is finally broken in.

I'm supposed that the electrolytic made that much of a difference. I would not have thought that. Are you using a 150uF cap or another value? I looked and PC no longer has 150uF caps available.

I was thinking I would upgrade the coupling cap with something like the Sonicap or some other reasonably priced film cap. The other change I may make is to isolate the tubes so there is no micophonics when changing the volume or changing inputs. The only other thing is that my amps sensitivity is on the higher side so I can only use the lower end of the volume control. I'm still able to adjust volume to my liking, so I'm not planning to pad the input. I don't want to add any additional components in the signal path if I can help it.

That's it for now. Just going to keep using this great sounding preamp. It makes me wonder how much better the Smash kit is.

Brad

Hi Brad,

Black gates are no longer in production, so if you happen to find some, snatch them up!  They are considered by some to be the finest caps in the world.  Just checked my Quickie-the Blackgates are 220uf.  I don't recall why someone suggested changing them, but it definitely made an audible difference (before that I was a little bit frustrated with the Quickie's treble).  Every time I put the Quickie back in my system, it makes a really impressive difference. 

What are you planning to do with isolating the tubes? 

As far as the Smash, i've heard that it makes the instruments sound a lot more realistic, but has a lot more gain too.  If you have a sensitive power amp (got the same problem), it might make the volume control problem a bit worse. 

Sometimes I want to change my amp to a Stereomour or Kaiju to get better sound and permanently fix the volume control problem (without padding the input), but would probably have to go to the Smash as a preamp to get the extra gain to get enough volume with 91db speakers.  If your stereo sounds good as it is, then stick with it i guess (till the upgrade bug hits lol) 8) 



Dave

 

[BNAL]

Dave,

I will look through the forum and see if there is information about changing the value on the 150uF cap.

As far as reducing microphonics I know that the volume control and input selector switch cannot be on the same plate. Put the tubes inside a box that has some type of decoupling using springs or rubber bushing. I have seen on another site where they have a 4P1L Decoupled Socket Kit and this is giving me ideas for the Quickie.

I think I can get away without padding the input, but you are right I would need to pad the Smash with my Folsom amp. I would test with cheap resistors first to see what works best and get high quality resistors for perminate install. I know that I'm being anal about the padding and adding quality resistors would have a minor affect on the sound especially if done right.

I had the Paramounts with 2A3s and loved them. I only sold them because I was going through some tough times. I have the Orcas that are only 89db and did not have a problem driving them, so would think that the Stereomour II with all the upgrades would be very hard to beat. I would also look at the S.E.X. Amp. I was driving my Orcas with the Decware ZKIT1 and never felt it lacked or was being over driven and it has less than 2 watts.

Did you change the coupling caps in your Quickie? If so with what?

I always have the bug to build or upgrade something, so I know what you mean.

Brad

 

[aragorn723]

Brad,

The upgrade bug is always there, I was interested in the paramounts before, and now that the Kaiju is out, well you know how that goes!  Going to give the forum a search, if I remember correctly, the staff at bottlehead had suggested the value change on those 150uf caps (or possibly told me that the 220ufs would be ok). 

You could probably go with vishay-dale resistors for the padding (i used the RN55D's-these are the ones from the kit, and are about 10 cents each). 

http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Resistors/Film-Resistors/Metal-Film-Resistors-Through-Hole/_/N-7gz41?P=1z0x8ah&Keyword=rn55d&FS=True

The coupling caps in my quickie are Russian PIOs (K75-10).  They are Russian mil-spec, and have a very liquid sound in the treble and midrange (but bass was a little mushy, which the blackgates fixed).  You can find some on ebay if you're interested, there's usually someone in the soviet block countries selling them, and fairly cheap too, so it makes for a good experiment.

Maybe someday i'll experiment with another chassis (got some shielded tube sockets that would go nice with that) but for now i'm going to keep the quickie as is (and maybe make the other as a second experimental quickie lol).  The bushings sound like it would work, maybe mount the tube sockets to a small board, then mount the board to your chassis with some metal standoffs and the bushings.

Dave

 

[aragorn723]

Here's the original post about changing the caps:

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=6885.0

Dave