Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Crack => Topic started by: setterp on July 02, 2014, 11:46:32 AM
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Happy to say that I completed the Crack about a month ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it in stock form. Today I finished adding the speedball and everything is working perfectly on both the initial build and the speedball upgrade. Voltage were nearly perfect out of the gate on both builds.
The only things that have me any trouble was attaching the transformer screw that has the extra washer. That took a little finagling. I also took a guess at the new transistor orientation on the speedball and guessed wrong. Ended up having to resort to a heatgun to get those stubborn three pin transistors removed (luckily, BEFORE I fired up the circuit) from the small speedball boards. Despite the forum sticky, I would highly recommend some sort of notation in the manual, would saved some poor souls a lot of trouble.
Base was finished in 3 coats of shellac and a final coat of automotive lacquer. The sound, well it was brilliant before the speedball with my humble pair of Senn HD650; and now with my first hour with the speedball it is other worldly!
I have a Smash preamp incoming, and looking very much forward to slinging a little more solder. I have been an audio enthusiast for some years, but never had the satisfaction of building my own amplifier. I'm hooked!
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Nice! I can't wait for mine ordered on June 19 and this waiting time is killing me....... :'(
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Looking good!
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Great job! Congratulations on finding and fixing your mistake before powering up. Welcome to the Bottlehead family, it's a great supportive community. Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
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Congrats on your build neat job. If you don't mind me asking what make are those nice looking desk top speakers in your pic?
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Thanks for the nice words everybody! ;D
Jamie the speakers are Danny Richie's (GR Research) LGK's. I built them about 3 months ago, and have really enjoyed these little gems. They are an EXCELLENT near-field speaker, and continue to impress me for the price.
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Good deal. You see a lot of posts here with problems but I like seeing the "I built it right the first time" posts. Congrats on a successful build. Now it's tube rolling time!