Introducing Reduction, replacement for Seduction

Doc B. · 6203

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Offline Doc B.

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on: April 03, 2013, 11:41:38 AM
PJ and I had planned to revise the Seduction kit as much as five years ago. But the kit sold so well that we didn't want to throw everyone a curve by making some small changes that were more about easing production than radically changing the sound of the preamp. So it stayed in the lineup from 2001 until just last month. The unfortunate side effect was that the assembly manual became more and more out of date as the visual appearance of various parts were forced to change over the 12 year run. This made building the kit a little more difficult than necessary.

And even so the recent retirement of the Seduction kit create a small tempest. To those unhappy with the demise of Seduction, rest assured that we have a replacement in the works. The new Reduction phono preamp kit will be the same 6922 based circuit that was in Seduction. The biggest cosmetic changes to the basic kit will be that the power transformer will be the PT-5 that we use in the Eros kit, and the chassis plate will be 8 x 10". The use of the PT-5 is a very cool change, partly because it is more quiet EM-wise than the old PT-1, which lowers the noise floor of the preamp a bit, and partly because it allows the use of a regulator on the DC heater supply.

We don't have pricing finalized, but the price for the basic Reduction kit will be as close as we can get to the old Seduction price. The price for the upgrade kit that replaces the Seduction C4S will be a bit more than the old upgrade, but for a couple of very good reasons. Firstly the PC boards used will be the much more reliable and easy to work with boards that we use in the most recent kits like Paramount and BeePre. A secondly - this is really cool - the upgrade will include not only C4S active loads for the gain stages, but since the power transformer has enough current capability for it, it will also include also a zener based high voltage shunt regulator circuit, thus taking the sonics up a notch from Seduction.

And so Reduction should work out to be a very good way to add vinyl to a system based upon Crack, S.E.X. and Stereomour. And it will also work nicely with the Quickie. Gain will remain the same as Seduction at around 36dB in the basic version and 40dB with the C4S upgrade.  And thus cartridges with an output level below about 2mV will typically need some form of step up device between the cartridge and the Reduction. High output moving coil cartridges and moving magnet cartridges will work great with the preamp as-is.

We are pretty close to on schedule with the release of this kit and I hope to be able to start taking orders some time this month.



Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline Jim R.

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Reply #1 on: April 04, 2013, 03:43:49 PM
Oh, very nice!  BTW, no regrets on buying the last of the seductions -- that one will still be going to the same place I bought it for. And btw, my sister-in-law is thrilled that I am going to build her a new stereo system -- she was just about to go out and buy some big box store stuff, but now will be getting the seduction, s.e.x. 2.1 or stereomour, and some Blumensteins of some sort.

-- Jim

Jim Rebman -- recovering audiophile

Equitech balanced power; uRendu, USB processor -> Musette DAC -> 5670 tube buffer -> Finale Audio F138 FFX -> Cain and Cain Abbys near-field).

s.e.x. 2.1 under construction.  Want list: Stereomour II

All ICs homemade (speaker and power next)


Offline Doc B.

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Reply #2 on: April 12, 2013, 02:35:19 PM
Double and triple checked the costing on this new kit and barring any unforeseen issues that increase it I think everyone will like the price. Hope to have a prototype going together next week.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline Doc B.

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Reply #3 on: April 17, 2013, 08:29:04 AM
Prototype panel has shown up, and we have tentatively scheduled tomorrow and Friday for construction.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline corndog71

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Reply #4 on: April 18, 2013, 04:08:20 PM
The seduction always kind of intimidated me particularly with all those tiny little caps on the tube pins.  Can we expect more of that in the Reduction or will it be a bit easier to assemble?

The world was made for those not cursed with self-awareness.

Rob


Offline Doc B.

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Reply #5 on: April 18, 2013, 04:48:24 PM
PB is working hard to make the assembly easier. In fact he figured out a few changes to the layout today that will really help make it easier to assemble, to test and to mod. Those little caps will still be there, but one will be moved away from the socket which should make it a lot easier to install them. I suspect everyone will find this one a lot easier to put together than Seduction.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline Wanderer

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Reply #6 on: April 19, 2013, 03:09:17 AM
Easier? I recall no issue building a Seduction.

So on the new Reduction you:

A) get a soldering iron hot
B) throw soldering iron  in the shipping box
C) shake box
D) finshed Reduction falls out of box.

Kevin R-M


Offline Jim R.

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Reply #7 on: April 20, 2013, 04:18:45 AM
Doc,

As the circuit is the same, can we expect a tape head version as well?

I may just have to grab one of these...

-- Jim

Jim Rebman -- recovering audiophile

Equitech balanced power; uRendu, USB processor -> Musette DAC -> 5670 tube buffer -> Finale Audio F138 FFX -> Cain and Cain Abbys near-field).

s.e.x. 2.1 under construction.  Want list: Stereomour II

All ICs homemade (speaker and power next)


Offline saildoctor

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Reply #8 on: April 24, 2013, 05:44:38 AM
Sweet!  One question - will the new circuit then be 2 separate channels (c4s boards and all) that are supplied by one power supply?  It sounds like that is what you are describing Doc.

Kerry Sherwin

45 Paramounts, 6SN7 Extended FPIII, OC3 regulated Seduction
Blumenstein Orca Deluxe / 2x Orca Subs
VPI Classic / ADC CD-100x


Offline Doc B.

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Reply #9 on: April 24, 2013, 05:53:51 AM
Yes, two channels, one power supply. No, no tape version. Tape heads tend to have less output than phono cartridges and need the extra gain of the Eros tape head preamp circuit.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline stereo_eyes

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Reply #10 on: May 08, 2013, 10:34:42 AM
Love my crack.  I so want want of these as my next project.

The only catch? I can't get it within 3 feet of my receiver. Best case it will probably be 4.5 feet, worst case 6 feet. And the input impedance of the receiver (Denon 4311) is only 47k. Can I make this work by just using a very low capacitance cable such as the Blue Jean LC-1 (12.2 pF/ft)?





Offline Paul Joppa

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Reply #11 on: May 08, 2013, 10:40:31 AM
Low capacitance cable will help a lot; 47K is no problem at all.

Paul Joppa