Bottlehead Kits > Integration

Which resistance and voltage checks do I use to troubleshoot after Integration?

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oguinn:
I was listening to a couple records today and noticed a couple issues:

* There's more surface noise than I remember
* When I turned the Smash's coarse attenuator up to -18dB there was a weird amount of bass or low frequency coming through at high levels that were way out of whack with the highs and mods.
I'm planning to listen to a few more records, but I want to troubleshoot the amp's voltages and resistances first to make sure something isn't going to damage the amp. However, I'm not sure which manual measurements are valid after the upgrade was installed. For instance, the Integration manual lists only a few spots to check voltages - surely those voltages aren't an exhaustive list - and no resistances. But I also removed resistors and added new parts in, so I know there isn't a clean combination of the base Reduction and Integration manual checklists.

Does anyone have a quick hit list of which are valid, which aren't, and which are new areas to check?

Paul Birkeland:
I would recommend just checking the voltages listed in the Integration manual.  The Integration increases the gain of the Reduction a bit, so while there may appear to be more surface noise, there's also more signal to go with it!  The low frequency issues that you're mentioning could be subsonic coupling between your speakers and the turntable. 

oguinn:
Oh, interesting, so that could be the cartridge picking up and re-amplifying low frequencies?

Paul Birkeland:
Yes, there are tons of ways to deal with this that are all a bit dependent on your setup.  One of the worst case scenarios that I see is a pair of bookshelf speakers on a credenza with the turntable between them.  Though it looks stylish, it will not function stylishly. 

oguinn:
I did avoid that setup, although my woofer is on the floor next to the shelving unit the turntable is on. Not really sure where else I can stow that...

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