2. amps-preamps
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Bottlehead vs. Audionote Kits

Recently completed my second Bottlehead kit. I've now built a Crack headphone amp with Speedball upgrade and an Eros phono-pre. I couldn't be more delighted with both. First the challenge and fun of building has been a truly invigorating experience. The on going fun of tube rolling is great. Finally, both kits just sound terrific. I believe that I'm getting reasonable SOTA at a bargain price.

So here's my question. I'm thinking about building a SET amp for my second system. Do I go with Bottlehead Stereomour II with 3 1/2 Watts at $1,429.00 or Audio Note Kit 1 with 8 Watts at $2,325.00?

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Would love to hear from folks who've built or heard either.

Thanks in advance,

Alan

adeep42
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
I've built a Crack and a Quickie preamp. The process is lot's of fun and the products sound great. I never would've guessed the elcheapo Quickie would sound as good as it did. 

I had trouble with my crack build and the support from Bottlehead forum was amazing. Mine turned out to be a faulty tube socket which was fixed by blowing a bit of air in the tube holes. 

No experience with Audio Note; they seem a bit pricey to me.
adeep42 OP
118 posts
 
Thank you all. Totally agree BH and the BH community via the forums are helpful and great. Fabulous how people will help you diagnose problems. 

Still hoping to hear from some ANers.

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,379 posts
 
I may be wrong but in the low wattage SET amps, wouldn't 8 watts be a better choice than 3 1/2 watts?  What are your speakers and how efficient are they?.  I would think that  with low powered gear, every watt is precious.
adeep42 OP
118 posts
 
Stereo5, Agreed. Current speakers are not particularly efficient, but that can be changed.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,764 posts
 
BH and see if it works for you. If not, sell it (for a profit!) and build the AN.
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