Why does the Quickie sound so 'nice'?

[paulw]

I bought the Quickie as a temporary substitute for my Foreplay, which needs the volume and selector switches sorting out.  The problem is I've put 50 hours on the Quickie and the Foreplay is sitting forgotten in the corner - I prefer the way the Quickie sounds!  I like the overall smooth and more (for the want of a better word) organic presentation.  I've always found that Bottlehead gear to provides a very musical insight, yes as has been said before, more music less Hi-Fi - just the way it should be.

So here is this little pipsqueak of a pre - I can hear the limitations in the bass, loss of treble detail, lack of authority in overall presentation, it is blatantly not as good, but still it deliverers something very musical and I've yet to PJCCS it.

So is it the direct heated bit, the triode operation, the removal from the mains, its pure simplicity.....or all those things combined?

Perhaps it's just delusional and I was in need of a change, but I can't see me rushing to sort out the Foreplay anytime soon, may just sell it and put the money toward a Manley Skipjack switch box, and maxing out the Quickie, component wise!

Paul

[machinehead]

I can highly recommend the PJCCS, other than different tubes, easily the best upgrade.  If you like it now, just wait. Put some
Mullards, Telefunkens, or RCA's in it, the PJCCS, and watch out.

[Grainger49]

I still haven't heard one but I am convinced that a big secret is the batteries.  Not really a secret but battery operation is quiet and clean.

[machinehead]

Come on Grainger get one!

[Paul Joppa]

Battery operation does seem to have some unexplained magic. The same can be said for directly heated cathodes. Although the C4S and shunt regulator together make a huge improvement, there is still a cathode follower in the Foreplay. Elsewhere there are posts about the virtues and vices of small amounts of second harmonic distortion, which the Quickie probably has more of than the Foreplay.

OK, there's four theories. Plenty more where those came from (the internet)  :^)

[TheSparkle]

I have been wondering the same thing.  For each channel how does one tube, a couple of capacitors and a few resistors sound so good?  The PJCCS and Telefunkens added a lot of 'filling out'.  I keep thinking, "Do I need to even try the Foreplay?"

[Tom S]

I can't answer the question but, once I removed my Extended Foreplay III from the grid and fed it from a 12 volt battery via a pure sine wave inverter, I was stunned, to say the least.  So, as some have said, "If the power supply isn't pretty, then neither will be the sound."  The sound stage expanded, the attack and decay of notes played became alive and the bass opened up even at the low levels that I normally listen at.  I won't go back to running on the grid.  I've built and used the Welborne Ultrapath Battery Powered and while not the equal of the Foreplay for driving the amps, it exhibits the same characteristics.  There is much to be said about battery power.

[Grainger49]

   .   .   .     once I removed my Extended Foreplay III from the grid and fed it from a 12 volt battery via a pure sine wave inverter, I was stunned, to say the least. 

Tom,

I am not familiar with the quote.  Are you referring to grid bias for your FP III?  Or is it heater voltage?  Or are you using multiple 12V supplies for the B+?

[TheSparkle]

   .   .   .     once I removed my Extended Foreplay III from the grid and fed it from a 12 volt battery via a pure sine wave inverter, I was stunned, to say the least. 

Tom,

I am not familiar with the quote.  Are you referring to grid bias for your FP III?  Or is it heater voltage?  Or are you using multiple 12V supplies for the B+?

Is that off the grid as in not connected to main AC?  Reminds me of the old 'farm radio modification' so that rural homes could power their radios using the windmill-charged batteries, but I'm off topic a little.   How do you get enough voltage to the FP III with batteries only?  My tripath chip amp sounds much better on 12v battery power than with the switching power supply.

[Tom S]

Sorry, should have been a tad more specific.  I took the Foreplay and the rest of the system off the public power grid supplied AC and am feeding it through a 12 volt marine battery via a pure sine wave inverter back to 120 VAC.  So, I'm not a victim of the poorly regulated AC fed through the public utility but rather am powering the system via battery.

[Grainger49]

Interesting.  I have seen quite a few inverters, mostly for motors.  Those don't put out anything that looks like a sine wave, and include quite a bit of switching noise.  

But a sine wave may not be necessary for clean power.  It may only require that the power generated doesn't contain all that high frequency "hash" that is so often "on the line."