Thanks for all the orders!

[Doc B.]

Response has been so great to this new kit that Queen Eileen has doubled our initial order of chassis plates from the laser cutter.

[Grainger49]

Now that, is addictive!

[Paully]

And there are probably a lot of us in the wings waiting for some audio money so we can order one.  Heck, I already ordered some tubes!  Looking forward to buying one, I really can't wait.

[Bryon]

even to the point of having ordered tubes.  

I've overspent my audio budget this month [by a bunch] but there are more months and fuller bank accounts coming.

in anticipation

Bryon

[Paully]

[Just_Joe]

veni vedi visa

I came, I saw it, I bought it.

[Doc B.]

As I mentioned in another thread, even after we have doubled production we have only seven kits left available as of this afternoon. There will be some lag before we have a second production run complete, so order soon if you want a kit from this first run.

http://www.bottlehead.com/store.php?crn=44&rn=442&action=show_detail

[Doc B.]

As of early this morning we have only three kits left available in the first run.

[Dyna Saur]

Make that "only two kits left", now     if y'all know what I mean...  ;-)

/ed B in NC 

[Doc B.]

Now we're down to just one kit left from the first run.

[Doc B.]

The first run sold out a bit after midnight. We have initiated a second production run, and it will probably ship two to three weeks after the first run. We hope to begin shipping the first run around the first or second week of April. We have been selling several kits each day and it looks like this kit will continue to move pretty quickly so I would suggest getting in on the second run early if you plan to order.

[Brian]

Very glad to get the last kit! -B

[lextek]

I'm looking forward ordering a Crack and building it.  So it is best suited for high impedance headphones(HD600/650s).  Are there any mods to make it play nice with Grados?

[Paul Birkeland]

I'm looking forward ordering a Crack and building it.  So it is best suited for high impedance headphones(HD600/650s).  Are there any mods to make it play nice with Grados?

Yes, there are ways to make this amp run well with Grados.  If you increase the current in the 6080, the output impedance will decrease.  Along with this, the 100uf output coupling caps would need to be at least doubled to attain acceptable low frequency response. 

The upgrade path we will offer with the kit will optimize it for use with 100+ ohm headphones, as 250+uf film capacitors are pretty tough to find, expensive, and physically huge.  I would mention, however, that there will be some ways to modify the upgrade package, but I can't disclose much on that until the upgrade package is complete.

[Dr. Toobz]

I'm looking forward ordering a Crack and building it.  So it is best suited for high impedance headphones(HD600/650s).  Are there any mods to make it play nice with Grados?

Yes, there are ways to make this amp run well with Grados.  If you increase the current in the 6080, the output impedance will decrease.  Along with this, the 100uf output coupling caps would need to be at least doubled to attain acceptable low frequency response.  

The upgrade path we will offer with the kit will optimize it for use with 100+ ohm headphones, as 250+uf film capacitors are pretty tough to find, expensive, and physically huge.  I would mention, however, that there will be some ways to modify the upgrade package, but I can't disclose much on that until the upgrade package is complete.

This makes me wonder about another set of cans with "low" impedance, the AKG K-701/2. I think their rated impedance is something like 62 ohms, so they're not quite as bad as the Grados. I'm still debating between these and Sennheiser HD600/650's, and placed an order for the Crack amp the day it was released, so I want to find a replacement for my Beyers that will work equally well with the Crack and S.E.X. amps. The S.E.X. will have no problem driving anything, but OTL is a different story. In the case of the AKG's, is the impedance high enough where one could simply substitute a 5998 for the 6AS7/6080 in the Crack amp and be fine? If the 6AS7 nets a Z-out of 100 or 120 ohms, I would think the 5998 would get you about a 60 or 70 ohm output impedance, right?