OK, let me start out by saying my build did not go without errors or issues. As much as I tried following the instructions as closely as possible, every now and then I would find a wire soldered to a location it had no business at and of course those were the locations under the boards. I swear there was a solder gremlin undoing my fastidious work just to confuse and confound me. That and the fact that it is very easy to melt a capacitor or two if you happen to turn your head at the wrong time to answer a question from your wife. That is a bad habit of mine but after 40 years you learn when to fear your wife.
After overcoming all of these issues, I finished up the build yesterday and to my amazement all of the measurements were within tolerance, all of the tubes functioned and all 12 of the LEDs were bright red..... The only thing left was to connect the EROS up and see if I had indeed had a working preamp. To my amazement there was music right out of the gate.
Initial Impressions and comparison.
My system consists of a Project RPM 1.3 with Acrylic platter, Sumiko EVOIII (HOMC), Adcom GTP500iii and Adcom 545 Amplifier, feeding into a set of Vandersteen 2Ce's and Dayton Sub. With the Eros in place my immediate impression more detail, more bass, and a deeper soundstage. Keep in mind the phono stage I have been using is no slouch and has had very good reviews over the years. It's sound stage is actually very wide, however, it simply is not as good as the stage that the Eros is presenting. This is after only a few hours of serious listening.. There is no discernible hiss unless I crank up the preamp to the 3 O'clock position. Given that I never go past 11 or 12 O'clock under normal listening this is never going to be an issue. In fact I found myself turning the preamp down due the actual amount of gain with the Eros.
There is no doubt that after break in and some time getting to know it, I will try rolling some tubes and play with the caps. I can see that this is going to be a long and happy relationship. I can also see that there may be more Bottleheads in my future.....
Even though I didn't have to ask for help on the Forum, the existing posts helped me understand what to watch out for and that along with the instructions that came with the kit made the build fun and very rewarding.
Thank you to all.
Project RPM 1.3, Speed box, Acrylic Platter, Sound Smith upgraded Sumiko EVOIII Eros, Beepre, Emotive XPA-2, Cambridge Azur 640C, Magneplanar 3.7i's, Dayton Audio Sub.
