Upgraded Crackatwoa with TwoQuiet

Audio Islander · 7092

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Offline Audio Islander

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on: December 14, 2016, 06:40:35 PM
Got my TwoQuiet upgrade and installed it the same night. It made a very noticeable difference.  The separation from silence to music is pretty amazing.  Also seemed to enhance the bass.  Here are some pictures after the upgrade.

Next upgrade for this amp will probably be some nice large output capacitors.  I am about to search the forum for recommendations, but if anyone has any let me know.  Also any other suggestions?  These next upgrades are a mix of wanted to try to make it even better and just wanting to tinker.  This has been my first year doing any kind of soldering and have become addicted.

Current kits in order of build include:
1. Quickie (Pretty amazing Price/Performance)
2. Quicksand (Used only for low impedance headphones right now)
3. Crack-a-two-a
3. Eros
4. TwoQuiet upgrade for Crack-a-two-a

Future Plans
0. Making a Raspberri Pi based audio server with I2S (No USB or SPDIF) DAC
1. Yet to be named Bottlehead Speaker
2. Kaiju
3. BeePree 300B



Offline Doc B.

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Reply #1 on: December 14, 2016, 06:49:29 PM
Man, you work fast!

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


Offline Sugar Man

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Reply #2 on: December 15, 2016, 08:27:22 AM
Looks great, too!  What did you use on your base?

Mike "Stein" Ayotte

Current Gear:

Elekit TU-8600 300B w/Lundahl Trannies
Herron Audio VTPH-2a
Rega RP8 w/ Apheta 2
Bluesound Node 2i
Audio Note E Speaker Kit-04 w/ AlNiCo drivers

Stereomour II w/ Jupiters
Eros w/ Mundorf Silver Oils
Blumenstein Orcas & Subs


Online Paul Birkeland

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Reply #3 on: December 15, 2016, 08:39:23 AM
Looks squeaky clean!

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline Audio Islander

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Reply #4 on: December 15, 2016, 11:43:51 AM
Looks great, too!  What did you use on your base?

I used Minmax espresso oil based stain.  Tried to not leave it on too long to reduce how dark it got.  Thinking about also adding a clearcoat.



Offline kritpoon

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Reply #5 on: December 19, 2016, 06:23:00 AM
The top plate color look very nice!!! Is it metallic paint?



Offline Audio Islander

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Reply #6 on: December 19, 2016, 07:36:23 AM
The top plate color look very nice!!! Is it metallic paint?

Yes. I sanded the top plate with 220 then did multiple coats of metallic rose gold paint.  I then did multiple coats of clear coat.

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JC



Offline JamieMcC

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Reply #7 on: December 19, 2016, 10:25:57 PM
+1 on the top plate, nice colour choice.

Shoot for the moon if you miss you will still be amongst the stars!


Offline kritpoon

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Reply #8 on: December 23, 2016, 06:40:48 AM
Yes. I sanded the top plate with 220 then did multiple coats of metallic rose gold paint.  I then did multiple coats of clear coat.


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JC

Thank u JC I am gonna try that on my next Bottlehead kit.

Krit



Offline Tommy Thompson

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Reply #9 on: May 21, 2017, 04:38:36 PM
Yes. I sanded the top plate with 220 then did multiple coats of metallic rose gold paint.  I then did multiple coats of clear coat.

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JC

I did a similar paint job - Rustoleum gold flake - on a S.E.X. but experienced paint crushing when tightening the screws.  I used small washers to cover them.  It doesn't appear you had a similar problem?
Tom



Offline Doc B.

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Reply #10 on: May 21, 2017, 05:14:14 PM
Could be that he let the paint cure for a longer time period than you might have. It's usually best to let the panel sit for a week or more before attaching hardware. The paint under the top skin can take quite a while to polymerize.

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