Singapore Seduction

[berniebanks]

Finally got the seduction kit put together. As with the crack the instructions are clear and easy to follow resulting in another build that worked as advertised. Only tip I have is get a magnifying glass to read the dale resistor values. Dammed if I can see them clear enough with my old eyes and reading glasses. Space is tight on the tube sockets so a little patience is required ( with a few "f" bombs thrown in) but you'll get there in the end.

Right now its stock without the C4S and KK caps and sounds fantastic. The first thing I noticed was the bass was tighter and well controlled a bigger soundstage that filled my room and to top it off the detail was superb. Norah Jones Live from Austin Texas never sounded better .

Will listen for a while stock and add the C4S next.

(old phono amp was a Project Phono Box SE)

A couple of quick snaps to view

 

[Laudanum]

Congrats!!!  Nice looking amp and you're right, sounds great.  Mine came with "orange drop" caps for a lot of positions.  I think they are larger in general than the caps I seen in your Seduction (Look like Pannys or maybe Xicons).  You are right, I did do some cursing at the tube sockets, but really not bad.  More fumble fingers than anything when placing the passives and trying to get them to stay in the position I wanted them to. 

I installed the C4S at time of install.  There was one particular cap which needed it's leads formed so it sits either very low or to the side ... so that it clears the C4S board.  In the case of my kit, that was a larger Orange Drop type cap and I didnt think about clearing the board when I soldered it in.  That was my biggest source of frustration and completely my fault for not looking ahead.  That one got a few f-bombs    All worked out perfectly fine in the end. 

Enjoy.

 

[berniebanks]

Added the C4S today, all I can say wow a real noticeable upgrade. More dynamic and cleaner sounding. I checked my kit out for hum full volume and its real quiet, cant hear a thing even when I put my ears up to the speakers. Great Kit Doc.

Thank You

 

[Grainger49]

Bernie,

I see you too are a fan of nice tight twists in the AC lines. 

That is really pretty work, just like the manual I have (original paper manual).

 

[berniebanks]

Yep. I have read that it helps to keep the noise down so did my best t make them as tight as possible.  I'm really pleased with the seduction. I am currently listening to it with the 6N23P-EV tubes you suggested.

 

[Chris]

Is that true?... the tighter the better? I always wondered if loosely, moderately tight, to using a drill and making the twist really tight had different effects...

 

[Laudanum]

Is that true?... the tighter the better? I always wondered if loosely, moderately tight, to using a drill and making the twist really tight had different effects...

I think it's actually 2 to 3 twists per inch that is suggested in the Bottlehead manuals.  I used a drill wherever suggested in the manuals.  I didnt reverse my transformer which would have given a little more room to work around it in Seduction and shorten some of the wires from the transformer.  The manual had it oriented so the wiring tabs were facing the PS terminal strip at the back of the amp rather than the power entry socket.  I didnt find out until later that it was OK to turn it around as in Bernies pictures.  No harm no foul, I got it done no problem.  You cant see it in my gallery picture but if I remember right, I used a drill and twisted those wires pretty tight as well.

 

[Chris]

Ok thank you , I have heard of the 2 -3 per inch.. I may just stick with that...

 

[Doc B]

I would imagine that the theoretically perfect number of turns per inch will vary with wire gauge and insulation thickness. The idea is to get a tight enough twist to emulate the two wires crossing at a 90 degree angle to each other, which cancels the fields generated by the opposing current traveling thru each wire. Somebody proposed about 3 turns per inch for about 22 gauge wire years ago and that has just kinda stuck without, as far as I know, any hard data to prove if it is really optimal.

 

[Chris]

Thank you, Doc, that is a perfect explanation and makes the most sense of anything I have heard... the idea of emulating the 90 degree angle crossing..like you would do with multiple power cords, interconnects etc...That helped alot!...

 

[berniebanks]

Just a few more pics of the finished kit now with C4S