Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Kaiju Stereo 300B amp => Topic started by: Doc B. on June 21, 2016, 06:06:39 AM
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There have a been a lot of posts lately from builders who are very enthusiastic about using boutique components in anything they own. This is great, after all this is DIY. But there is something very important to keep in mind about this. These builders did not have a stock Kaiju to listen to in order to make some decisions about where they would like to sound to go with the parts they changed. Thus there is no particular justification for the changes other than the desire to personalize the kit. Will there be differences? Probably. Will they be differences that you like? I have absolutely no idea, and neither does the person who has implemented the mods.
I have also seen a post of someone lamenting not buying Paramounts rather than the Kaiju. As great as the Paramounts are (I have been using them in my system for 8 years), they are a step down from the sonic attributes of the Kaiju from a technical standpoint. The Kaiju has better transformers and plate chokes - better bandwidth that is audible. I will be replacing all of my Paramounts with stock Kaijus over the next few months and I know I will be reaping the sonic benefits of doing so because I have compared them side by side.
I point these things out because some may mistakenly assume that the Kaiju needs boutique part fluffing to be good. There area lot of technical considerations - things the boutique part manufacturer will not often tell you - when choosing a component. Things like voltage, current and temperature ratings, rated lifetime, size, materials science, reliability and even ease of installation come to bear on the decision. These are factors that we have been considering for 20 years now. And we design our kits for a ten year sales life span. So we don't take those decisions lightly.
Kaiju is intended to be our best sounding, top of the line amp. When I set out to create the new Limited Edition kits we had some discussions about what to do to them to make them special. The upshot was that we felt the cosmetics would be interesting to work with since the kits are unfinished. When it came to the circuit components we just didn't feel the need to change anything, since the deliberation over the best part for the job had already taken place in the initial design.
So, by all means, mod these kits to your heart's content. But be honest with yourself and do it because you want to personalize them. Because there is no way to tell if some part change is for the better unless you have listened to the amp without the part change first, and changed only one part at a time before listening again. And even then, you can't assume that someone else will like the change. Modding is best done in a methodical fashion. Change one thing at a time and listen. Don't take other people's word for what will work for you. And never forget that this is really all about enjoying the music.
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I agree very very much with what Doc B. is saying here and that's exactly why I ordered two Kaijus - one to be left as is - a stock Kaiju as my hearing memory won't last forever so I need two for comparison.
The second Kaiju kit I ordered is the one to go crazy with - step by step.
I really want to find out, which change in terms of stock by boutique parts replacement causes which changes in terms of sound improvement / deterioration? And I am absolutely aware that these findings might not be transferable into other circuit designs and that's the great thing about it: We got a hobby that is never ending and never stops to be exciting...;o)
To check all this out I am about to build an single driver speaker - just taking considerations in terms of design (open baffle, open baffle with low end extension, Oris horn with open baffle low end extension, vented box - as I am a horn fan I first thought I'll go for the Oris horns without anything additional but I guess it will just be a small open baffle speaker first to have a very simple design which will make it easier as there are less degrees of freedom to be handled) and use these to compare the two amps.
I guess I'll have to order a third one as I originally planned to use these in a active multi channel design - so let's se where this all leads to - only one thing I am sure about: It will stay exciting...;o)
Great hobby and I'm amazingly enthousiastic about finding out what parts cause which changes...
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Can 400v coupling caps be used in the Kaiju if the voltage runs 175?
Doug
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I wouldn't be bothered by having 0.1uF/400V coupling caps, but the parallel feed caps need to be 630V+.