Is the Quickie an Upgrade from my Foreplay II?

[Doc B.]

As soon as I mention that we are even thinking of a potential product I will be asked how much, what's it called, when will it be shipping and will a Goldppoint attenuator and Mundorf caps fit. 

I will probably have a better idea after we actually come up with an idea for an amp, and I will let you guys know.

[aragorn723]

lol sorry!  Curiosity got the best of me    Is it really expensive to run tube amps?  I know the tubes definitely run more than preamp tubes, do they get replaced often?

Dave

[williaty]

I spent yesterday and today listening to the system and swapping back and forth between using the Foreplay II and Crack as the preamp.

The Crack wins hands down. By a HUGE margin.

So, that at least tells me that I have to replace the Foreplay with something better. The problem with that is pricing. With the yawning gulf in the Bottlehead product lineup between the Quickie and the BeePree, I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid that at $135 for the Quickie+CSS, it'll be less than I'm hoping for. At ~$1100, there's simply no way I can do the BeePre. I'm concerned about branching out to something other than Bottlehead brand because I think the Bottlehead stuff provides astonishing value for money (so anything else of similar price is going to be worse) and I tend to like the way Doc voices his stuff.

That leaves me looking at a Crack as a preamp.

Is there any good reason I shouldn't just buy another Crack+Speedball kit, build it with RCA jacks instead of a headphone jack, slap a Clear Top and 5998 in it (which is the tube setup I like now in my existing Crack), and build an outboard box to house an input selector (as I don't think there's room in the Crack chassis)? I mean is there any technological reason why using the Crack as a preamp leaves something to be desired?

[Doc B.]

You could certainly convert a Crack with some RCA jacks. Would it be better than a Quickie? Depends on what you are looking for. The Crack will have more grunt, the Quickie will be more refined on top. Crack with a submissive might be a nice setup too. Just set the Crack volume knob wide open and use the Submissive attenuator. Actually Quickie with a Submissive could be nice too.

FWIW we had a meeting today to discuss the topic of what kind of amp we could make to go with the intermediate DHT preamp design we have worked up. We came up with an idea that is a little different for us, and everyone thought we should give it a shot. So cross your fingers that it does what we want it to and maybe we will have that intermediate preamp/amp combo sometime this year.

[williaty]

To be honest, I've wondered about just using the Submissive. With the volume knob on the Crack wide open right now, I still have about 25dB of attenuation in the system and it's plenty loud enough. I've just been worried that going to a passive will make it sound lifeless if what I like about the sound happens to be due to the tubes.u

[Alonzo]

I would offer my opinion, having been in the same situation.  I have an original Foreplay (all the mods), a multi switched  fully modded Quickie, and a just breaking in Crack Preamp;  all in use with a Submissive attenuator before my amp.  I've done the A,B,C comparison; bought better cable and repeated, switched out speakers and repeated.  I would say that it all depends on the completeness (synergy, I know, I hate those audio "zero meaning" descriptions too)  of your system.  I use horn speakers that are pretty efficient.  To match the best sound I've had to just sit and listen.  My digital source sounds best with no pre, just source, dac, submissive and amp.  Vinyl has needed the extra grunt of the Crack Pre so it is Table - Seduction- Crack P- Submissive (I listen to everything - blues to funk to classical to show tunes).  My Quickie sounds best before my super tweeters, nice and clean.  It's a bit of a bother having all these big azz boxes on my shelf but I'm on the way to consolidating some of these builds.   

I would say that a basic Crack Pre beats out a modded Foreplay, I, II, or III (in my opinion).  The comparison of Quickie to Crack Pre is pretty cheap to try and if you don't like it you can go back to using the Crack as a headphone amp or make a Quickie headphone amp.

I do know that you should have a Submissive, period.  Just mod it for more inputs as needed. It's beat out all of the other attenuators in the volume range I listen.

I don't know about the upcoming Bottlehead offerings, my beer budget determines my incremental upgrades and I have too much ADHDOCD to wait on some of the delivery times but if you can swing it the BeePre may be the upgrade you are searching for, it is the top of the line for a reason.

[Paul Birkeland]

Any rough ideas of what price point the midline power amp would be?  I think there would be a lot of interest for something like that.  Personally my amp is a solid-state, been curious about hearing what a tube amp could do for my system   (and the paramounts are just a little too much lol).

We have ideas on paper and a rough prototype or two, but nothing beyond that.  Said amplifier needs to be priced less than a Stereomour and more than a Quickie.

[Paul Joppa]

I should point out that we must still build at least one prototype pair and listen to them, to determine whether this idea is total crap or not.