Finshed Foreplay

[ralph]

I finished my Foreplay III last week. Sounds great, I am very pleased. After finishing construction and checking everything twice, she sings. There were a few slight discrepancy's in the resistance and voltage readings, but nothing more that about 10% off. There is a slight "white noise" sound in the speakers (bk -12) but cannot be heard further away that about 6". I am using the preamp with a Nelson Pass designed ZEN 4 i built about five years ago. Time to think about building a new power amp......

I will post photos of the finished Foreplay when I copy them from the camera to the computer.

Ralph

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fralphhowey.com%2F_audio%2F_images%2Fsw.jpg&hash=e50fcdb4bb71fb77135332103bca0a1e2adac52a)

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fralphhowey.com%2F_audio%2F_images%2Freadytowire.jpg&hash=9406e3cf2b0455eb478b4f984b097bf9654e8aeb)

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fralphhowey.com%2F_audio%2F_images%2Fworkbench.jpg&hash=b0ec9a80289429a233b6878a8013f4bb7c11bcf6)

[ralph]

Here are three more photos of my Foreplay build. I will take a few of the finished unit soon and post them as well.

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fralphhowey.com%2F_audio%2F_images%2Fforeplay-101.jpg&hash=f001a785f744947f5d7470cbe63865184998d954) 

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fralphhowey.com%2F_audio%2F_images%2Fforeplay-102.jpg&hash=6a9396ac6da4d425d4dd48ee479eccdff5a8a289) 

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fralphhowey.com%2F_audio%2F_images%2Fforeplay-103.jpg&hash=a604bf9166f2f82d37822fc50f3c1383ad2ebdc1) 

Loving this Foreplay   
Ralph in Taos

[Grainger49]

Ralph,

You are well over half of the way there. 

Looking Good!

[BNAL]

It is looking good. The hardest part is past. I hated wiring all the inputs. Well not really, but it was time consuming.

[porcupunctis]

Ralph, congratulations on a great looking build. You will enjoy great music for a long time with this thing.  My FPIII is one of the last things I would want to part with in my stereo closet.  My only updates were attenuators and output caps.  I still can't believe how great it sounds.

Enjoy your creation. 

[Dr. Toobz]

May I be so bold as to suggest to the OP that if you're done with Foreplay, it's time for SEX!

The amp, that is: http://www.bottlehead.com/store.php?crn=44&rn=433&action=show_detail

A Stereomour might be a nice buddy for the Foreplay as well, if you're looking to get into DHT's. Either would be a great follow-up project, and much cooler than a solid-state power amp!

[Laudanum]

I agree on the sound, and right now it's only being used in the headphone system with Crack.  I have a PP amp and speakers that I'd like to add eventually to that system using the second output pair from FP. This is one of the main reasons I went with it, and having 3 sources, eliminating the need for cable swapping was very welcome.   Im using the included attenuators and selector and only upgraded output caps and the OD3 cap as well as a PS bypass and built with 6SN7's instead of the 12AU7's.  
Right now it's serving duty as part of that full blown HP system with 3 sources, a modest TT with Seduction as well as a CDP and digital player.  There was some debate here when I was considering it, mostly regarding adding an additional component into the signal chain and whether the CDP would sound better direct into Crack.  But I have zero regrets, adding FPIII has only been a positive.  I dont notice any higher noise floor or loss of detail, just more tube goodness and it was especially a benefit with the digital player.   As a side benefit, the system is even more sonically tweakable by tube rolling with having two more tubes in the FPIII to roll.  I havent done the extended upgrade and I probably wont.  I love the FPIII and all of my Bottlehead gear.  The HP system sounds amazing.  

Congrats on the nice build and enjoy it, it's a sweet piece.

[ralph]

The sound is great from my system with the Foreplay, Zen 4 and the Madisound BK 12. I am using a Macbook Pro as a source. I think my next project is a DAC to use with the optical output from the mac. When listening to jazz, vocals, blues and some rock the sound suits me almost perfectly. Most of the "shouteyness" noticed early on with the BK 12s has disappeared with several hundred hours playing time. I have looked around a bit for a dac project, but have as yet not found any suitable candidates.

Also in my audio plans are a new amp. This time I want to build from scratch again like the Zen rather than a kit. I may buy or make boards or go point to point. Solid state or tubes? The F5 Turbo in a 50  wpc version is interesting, but I would probably have to "recycle" the heatsinks from my Zen, for cost reasons...

I like the double horns for the Fostex 8" drivers also......

I better get to work and stop this dreaming....

Ralph
Taos,NM

[Jim R.]

Hi Ralph,

very nice!  Bet that system sounds very nice, especially with the break-in period for the fostex drivers behind you.

I don't have any particular dac recommendation for you in terms of kits, but if you can spare a usb port, the Halide DAC HD is a really sweet, simple, no-fuss dac that has a great usb cable and interconnects built in and works great with my MacBook Ai, plust you can get it with various usb cable lengths, so if you want to keep the mbp by your side, that is easy to do.

Still thinking that one day I'll build a FP III for our living room system to feed the stereomour (which I'm building as a straight power amp), but that will have to wait until the piggy bank fills up again.

-- Jim