The New BeePre Pure Speculation Thread

[raymondp1138]

My understanding of the upgrades may not be correct, but is sounds like the new attenuator design needs the C4S loads for optimal performance. But is the reverse also true? Meaning, will the preamp work just as well with C4S loads with the basic pots?


I'm hoping the C4S loads (w/o the attenuator) can be a stand alone upgrade.


Thx.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

My understanding of the upgrades may not be correct, but is sounds like the new attenuator design needs the C4S loads for optimal performance. But is the reverse also true? Meaning, will the preamp work just as well with C4S loads with the basic pots?

Yes, the new attenuator needs the C4S loads for optimal performance. 

I'm hoping the C4S loads (w/o the attenuator) can be a stand alone upgrade.

That is not in the plan as of now.  The new design could, however, allow you to get creative and have both the balance control and the BeeQuiet attenuator.  You'd have to move the balance control to a hole on the wood base, but it's now possible with this design.

 

[Doc B]

Everyone wants to know about the upgrades but no one asks about how it sounds?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Everyone wants to know about the upgrades but no one asks about how it sounds?

Doc B. didn't want to let me take it home!

 

[Deke609]

Everyone wants to know about the upgrades but no one asks about how it sounds?

I do, and specifically the stock, stock+C4S/BQ and Stock+C4S/BQ+shunt-reg/cathode-follower as compared to the BP1+BQ. 

Tell us everything Doc!

cheers, Derek

 

[Thermioniclife]

How about the Microphony?

 

[Deke609]

See primary benefit #2:

The primary benefits of the new design vs. the old are:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Replacing the two single voltage power transformers with a new universal power transformer.
[*]Reducing the severity of microphonics and apparent noise in the circuit through relocating the attenuator and using a different 300B operating point.
[*]Offering a far easier to build stock circuit and modularizing the more difficult components as future (optional) upgrades.
[*]Providing some additional space with a larger chassis plate that matches the Kaiju.
[*] Low line voltage regulator dropout is now nearly impossible through the combination of using the Kaiju DC filament regulator, the universal power transformer, and a different circuit design.
[/list]

 

[Thermioniclife]

Yeah I read that but I would like to hear from the designers.

 

[raymondp1138]

Everyone wants to know about the upgrades but no one asks about how it sounds?

I just assumed whichever becomes the final product will sound great.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Microphony is greatly reduced.  The revised design (we'll assume the attenuator upgrade is installed because it makes the math easier) will be at worst only 4dB less microphonic than the BeePre 1.0, but every reduction from -0, -0 on the BeeQuiet attenuators reduces the microphony by that amount of attenuation.

So if you find you listen to -9dB on the coarse switch and -0dB on the fine switch typically, then the new BeePre with the BeeQuiet upgrade would have 13dB less microphony than BeePre 1.0.  For those who happen to use a high gain solid state amplifier with a BeePre or who use a Kaiju with super sensitive speakers will find that they listen with the BeeQuiet attenuators turned way down most of the time, and the new design would be a very dramatic change. 

For reference I don't even bother using my vinyl coated lead rings with the new design.

 

[johnsonad]

I’m excited to hear it and even more excited about the low part count.

 

[Natural Sound]

Nice to see some of the details coming out. I'd love to hear some listening impressions from the Bottlehead team.

One of my visual observations is that there is tons of room around the input jacks! Interconnect junkies like myself now have lots of room to move around. I really like that.

Is the overall gain lowered in the new design? Often times I feel like I need to dump excessive gain somehow. Getting a few extra dB gain from a phono pre is usually desirable. Excessive gain in a pre amp often is not.

I'm also interested in cost. But I understand that detail probably isn't settled quite yet. I'll be patiently waiting for that.

It's always nice to have something to look forward to. Especially in these trying times. Thanks for your continuous improvements guys.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Is the overall gain lowered in the new design? Often times I feel like I need to dump excessive gain somehow. Getting a few extra dB gain from a phono pre is usually desirable. Excessive gain in a pre amp often is not.

It should be slightly lower, but not noticeable.  I need to pop into the workshop to do some measurements at some point, but I would expect the overall gain to be 8dB +/-2dB.  That's about as low as most preamps get.

I'm also interested in cost. But I understand that detail probably isn't settled quite yet. I'll be patiently waiting for that.

I'm working on this.  I am expecting the basic BeePre to be close to the cost of BeePre 1.

-PB

 

[Paul Birkeland]

If you're jonesing for a BeePre with EML tubes or other slightly-off 300Bs that need a little more filament current, that can now be more easily accommodated with the new filament arrangement.  Trimming it out would be the same procedure used for the Kaiju.

 

[Alby0521]

Hello,

All is very exiting!!!
When do you expect to release it on the market? 2 weeks, 2 months, 1 year? A ballpark idea?

Thanks.

AB

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I have another prototype I need to build to get things closer to the final product, then the one after that can be built for the manual shoot.  Tentatively that manual shoot would be in early November, and we would have pricing and ordering available shortly after that.

 

[jjvornov]

Now I know what my winter Bottlehead kit project will be! I was worried that after the Monamour build, I was done. This is exciting as the BeePre 1 is an amazing preamp as it is, but having the buzz and microphonic fixed is worth building a new one.

 

[RPMac]

With the new op points, will the 6A3 still be an option?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

With the new op points, will the 6A3 still be an option?

A mild modification will allow this (jumpering across a few resistors with pieces of wire).

 

[RPMac]

A mild modification will allow this (jumpering across a few resistors with pieces of wire).

Can it be safely done using a switch?