My Reduction

[corndog71]

So the plan is to build stock, evaluate, compare (I own a Cambridge Audio 640P and have a Musical Fidelity V-LPS on loan), add Integration, evaluate and compare, upgrade tubes to RAM tested, evaluate and compare, upgrade caps, evaluate and compare.

Oh and during all of this: enjoy the music! 

I will say it's nice to have such a thick plate to work on.  It looks twice as thick as my old Foreplay II.

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi576.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fss207%2Fcorndog642%2FBottlehead%2520Reduction%2FIMG_8081_zps83261824.jpg&hash=1c39749c254c2b0607606c7a5a4f54dd055bffce)

[Paul Birkeland]

Looks like you have quite a weekend ahead of you!

(FYI - the last 3 RAM 6922's I had my hands on were the same Russian 6922's that go in the stock Reduction)

[Grainger49]

That is a substantially larger transformer than the Seduction.  Of course there are a number of other refinements too. 

I'm glad to hear that the plates were thickened.  Tthe Eros plate is too.  I admit, I hadn't noticed.

[corndog71]

It is done.

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi576.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fss207%2Fcorndog642%2FBottlehead%2520Reduction%2FIMG_8113_zps1ad14ffe.jpg&hash=6d3e787a75e65768d026eb7f9138ba1a28be213f)

Everything went together perfectly! I have a quibble about no mention of clipping excess leads but otherwise great instructions.  Resistance and voltage checks were right in range.  I still have to finish my box as I don't have anything for that except for wood glue.

I've got lots of record playing to do.  It sounds pretty good so far!

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi576.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fss207%2Fcorndog642%2FBottlehead%2520Reduction%2FIMG_8121_zps2bbc8297.jpg&hash=d117d0687d3c7b407f3120ef05e0e322e3abac88)

[Grainger49]

Congratulations!

It looks like a nice build.  But where are the works?  That deserves a picture too.

[corndog71]

Ok.

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi576.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fss207%2Fcorndog642%2FBottlehead%2520Reduction%2FIMG_8100_zps3684bc0a.jpg&hash=62c0980ef1fe654bef9a8237d985016365593614)

[Grainger49]

Wow!  I bet the manual isn't that clean a build.

I'm impressed!

[ffivaz]

Nice build! I see you have the Integration upgrade ready to be, well, integrated!

[Paul Birkeland]

Nice job on the build!

[corndog71]

Nice build! I see you have the Integration upgrade ready to be, well, integrated!

Yep.  I'm going to live with it stock for a month or so before I add Integration.  I really want to pimp it out but I'm trying to be patient and give it a fair chance.

[corndog71]

Wow!  I bet the manual isn't that clean a build.

I'm impressed!

Nice job on the build!

Thanks, guys.  I just followed the directions. 

[corndog71]

It's been a couple of weeks and I just wanted to report that my stock Reduction seems to have settled down.  It sounds quite good and if I knew nothing about upgrading I could easily live with it. 

I haven't done direct comparisons just yet to the other phono preamps in my stable but so far it seems pretty competitive in the $300-400 range.  I think depth is even a little better but again I still have to listen to the others to be sure.  Hopefully I'll get a chance here sometime this week.

[corndog71]

Before upgrading my Reduction I had the opportunity to compare it to a couple of solid state phono preamps. 

I've owned a Cambridge Audio 640P for around 4 years and felt like it was a pretty decent piece for the money. (I think I paid $180 back in 2010)  Prior to this I used the optional phono preamp built into my Bryston B60 from 1999.  I thought the B60's phono was pretty solid. 

A friend was kind enough to loan me his Musical Fidelity VLPS for comparison as well.  Both the 640P and the VLPS were powered by their respective wall warts.

Source is Rega P25 with Shure V15VxMR.  Preamp is my Bottlehead Quickie.  Amp is my modified Dynaco ST35.  Speakers are AV123 X-Statik.

After living with the Reduction in stock form for about a month I felt like it had settled down enough to compare.  I would play a track and then swap cables to the other device and then play the track again.  Switching time was about 8-10 seconds.

Here are the notes I took:

Reduction sound seems limited to the width of my rack (centered between the speakers).  Vocals have a nice liveliness but everything else seems a bit constricted.  Still, not unpleasant.

VLPS has a bigger and bolder sound that stretched to the walls.  Deeper bass.  Good separation of instruments.

640P has a flatter presentation with little depth although the soundstage stretched out to the width of my speakers.  In comparison the 640P seemed a bit boring.

In the next test I wanted to make sure volume levels were matched for each device as they didn't seem matched.

Reduction bass doesn't go as deep as the others but seems tighter and better defined.  Soundstage is more laid back behind my rack which I favor.  Trying different tracks also allowed the stage to move wider to the speakers.

VLPS is more forward sounding in comparison with some vocals right up in my face.  Still, excellent bass. 

The Reduction and 640P are closer in performance.  The trade-offs are better depth from the Reduction and better bass from the 640P.  Vocals seemed slightly better through the reduction vs the 640P.  Of the two I preferred the Reduction.

Out of the three the VLPS was the clear winner.  From top to bottom it brought a great energy and verve to the music with excellent bass.  I didn't care for the more forward presentation but that's the only quibble I have.

***************************************************

I recently installed the C4S upgrade (not including Shunt Regulator) and will be making some additional comparisons sometime soon.  So far I like what I'm hearing.  It seems a bit clearer than stock.  Separation of instruments seems better as does overall width of image.  The bottom end still seems a bit weak but it could've been recording dependent.  It's not a dramatic difference but as the night went on I found myself pulled into a song several times.  It seems a bit more infectious.

More to come! 

[corndog71]

So I made several changes to my rig so any further comparisons are probably moot.  I was going through my box 'o tubes and found a pair of Ei Yugo 6922 which I had gotten for my Foreplay 2 many years ago.  I never optimized the circuit for them and so they went into the stash.  Out of curiosity I plugged them into the Reduction and they were a nice step up from the stock tubes.  A little bit more depth and space. Love it!  I'm still waiting on my replacement shunt regulator board which is en route.  That'll be fun.  And I broke down and swapped out the Dayton .47uF caps with a pair of V-Caps I stole from my Sex Amp.  And then I added better bypass caps to the caps in my speakers which really jacked up dynamic swings!  Bass is pounding now!

See what I mean?  Too many changes to really quantify it all but right now my rig has never sounded better!  My new VTA ST120 amp is the real stand out!  The music is more detached from the speakers.  More vibrant.  Still not the best I've heard but I expected that.  My tweeters while very good can still be bested by others. 

Nevertheless, my Reduction and Quickie are really shining through and I'm still not finished with the former.  I ordered some more caps for it because a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.    Love this stuff!

[ffivaz]

Nice review! Out of curiosity, what cart are you using?

Update: saw it : Shure V15...