Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Legacy Kit Products => Smash => Topic started by: tipatina on May 03, 2018, 06:49:21 AM

Title: Smash with ACA DIY monos
Post by: tipatina on May 03, 2018, 06:49:21 AM
I ordered a Smash kit during the recent sale. I'm looking forward to receiving it and the build. I've previously built the Pass DIY monos form a kit and am using them with some Klipsch KG4's and a DAC with my laptop as the volume control. The present setup sounds good and I'm hoping even better with the Smash. I wonder if anyone else has used the Smash with the ACA monos.


Title: Re: Smash with ACA DIY monos
Post by: JamieMcC on May 03, 2018, 10:20:56 AM
Quickie and ACA was a very enjoyable combo,  Smash should be even better.
Title: Re: Smash with ACA DIY monos
Post by: mcandmar on May 16, 2018, 11:34:37 AM
Should work great.  I am running a big brother setup, custom built 4P1L preamp (similar to Smash), into a First Watt F4 clone.  Built it all four years ago and haven't changed a thing.

Anything Doc B or Nelson Pass puts their name to is going to sound great in my experience..
Title: Re: Smash with ACA DIY monos
Post by: tipatina on July 03, 2018, 06:53:49 PM
I finished the Smash over the weekend.
The build took about 6 weeks of off and on work with a couple of week long intervals with no building. I took it slow as per previous advice. I am novice with a couple of previous kits under my belt.
Problems: 1) I had never used a self tapping screw and holding the bracket properly took some figuring, 2) I failed to follow "attach" vs "attach and solder" a couple of times and had to use solder wick and a desoldering pump, 3) resistance checks were fine but upon initial plugin one of the LED's did not light up and some of the voltages were off  on that side. I inspected wiring and reflowed a couple of joints in the area of incorrect voltages  and tried again I noticed with the top plate bottom side up the the 4P1L tubes were loose and one fell out. I was putting it back in and I noticed that when it was held a certain way the LED lit up. I pushed both 4P1L's a little further into the sockets and they felt more secure. Now both LED's were fine and voltages correct.
Sound: With my little Pass DIY monos and some old KG4s from ebay (Crites diapragm and crossover kits) the sound of CDs and Spotify through Meridian Direct DAC is amazing. The system is clearly better with the preamp. Microphonics were helped by attaching some foam weather stripping to the case bottom and to the rabbeted edge. Feedback was helped by not having the speakers on the same rack.
This is a great preamp that is fun to build and has a fantastic sound. I'll eventually get around to the Smashup but plan to enjoy the current set up for awhile.
Title: Re: Smash with ACA DIY monos
Post by: mpeg2 on July 04, 2018, 02:09:13 AM
I just noticed this thread. I built the ACA (v1.5) - driving it from a Smash preamp into Klipsch Cornwalls. I'm very pleased with the sound of the combination - especially the clarity of the transients (cymbals, guitar and so on) - as well as subtleties that I don't think I'd heard before in the music.

Excellent combo.

I may try to build one of the bigger brothers in the future (maybe Aleph J)?

Rich