Here's a sneak peak at our new phono preamp

[Paul Joppa]

This looks so great.  How will the circuit differ from the Eros?

This was a custom one-off, specifically made to have the flexible equalization. To do that and keep the controls from interacting, the equalization was separated into two parts, which eliminated the option of an unbalanced output from the second stage, so the only output is the balanced line driver third stage. (In our original Repro tape head preamp, from which this preamp was derived, both outputs were available. The first two stages of the Repro are similar to the Eros.)

The other difference is the Eros has a servo bias, which allows a wider range of EF86 tubes to work. We are still looking at other bias methods, so it's not clear what will be in this preamp when it is finalized.

These high-end products also use many expensive high-quality parts, which drives the price up a lot.

[paulw]

Any chance of a less sneaky peak?  I keep looking in hoping for some more pictures...

Paul

[Doc B.]

I'll try to get another pic up today when I get in to the office.

[paulw]

That would be great - unfortunately I've had to retire my Seduction as it has to few inputs ;^) I did initially try an upstream switch-box (Manley Skipjack) but here were just to many problems with three cartridges, two step-ups...oodles of hum, cables routing and so on - is the sneaky phonostage a single input?

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi142.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fr81%2F4will8%2FASC2.jpg&hash=2f09d56d51f0a43e2a17270b30d9a46460428d49)

Paul

[Doc B.]

The phono preamp can be customized to some extent. If you order an RIAA only version there is more room to make changes to the layout. PB does the case design and builds them, and I will ask him if he could fit in more inputs.

There are a couple of pics here, about the third post down:

https://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/515603/seattle-meet-10-2-10-impressions/30

[paulw]

Wow, the sneak peak picture left me quite unprepared for its true size, when you add something for perspective :^0

Paul

[Doc B.]

Yeah we thought it looked pretty enormous - until we set it next to a Pacific Microsonics Model 2 DAC and a Spectral preamp. Folks are so used to our relatively small and lightweight kits that the size and heft of the Tube Phono has kinda thrown them for a loop when we have taken it to shows. It's not so big that it won't fit on an equipment rack shelf like any other gear, but you're not going to sneak it onto the same shelf with a turntable.

[paulw]

but you're not going to sneak it onto the same shelf with a turntable.

Oh I don't know - My turntable shelf is over 6 foot long, it used to have three turntables on it before I consolidated them into one turntable with three arms - so plenty of room ;^)

Paul