2. amps-preamps
  3. 126606-2100

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
adeep42 OP
118 posts
 
Thank you all for chiming in. Really appreciate the input.

Alan
ranjan
35 posts
 
I have owned a few pieces of ANK gear, though I have never built one myself, and have found them to be an extremely good value for the price. I currently have a ANK EL34 amp with the C-core transformers and I must say it is a wonderful unit. I have a friend that owns a ANK kit 1 and it is really an amazing amp, if paired with a nice set of high efficient speakers. I'm sold on the ANK gear. I must say however my experience with the BH units is very limited.
adeep42 OP
118 posts
 
Hello Ranjan, interesting coincidence. Have been giving a lot of thought to the SET amps and alternatives. Just ordered the ANK EL34i with C-Core transformers. Should arrive in several weeks. Really looking forward to the build and listening. 
bartguy's avatar
bartguy
1 posts
 
I've built the ANK EL34 (with IE transformers) as a power amp, the L4 remote preamp and the L3 phono. Also, a Bottlehead Stereomour, Quickie, and Foreplay 2. I'm waiting for delivery on the Bottlehead BeePre and Kaiju 300B pre and power amps. I think Bottlehead's manuals tend to be more complete and up to date, which has me leaning their way a little more lately. But the form factor is a little funky compared to the more standard ANK stuff. Nobody mentioned Elekit, but I love the TU-8200 integrated.  

ranjan
35 posts
 
My EL34 was originally built as an integrated but I had Digital Pete (the original builder) bypass the preamp and I now use an Audio Note UK M2 preamp into the EL34. Very nice sound. I also have a ANK L3 phono and a ANK 2.1 DAC that was highly upgraded (a gain by Pete) with Duolund caps and better resistors. All really very good gear. I wouldn't hesitate to buy more of the ANK gear and am seriously considering adding a ANK Mentor preamp to the lineup. If you have any questions on the ANK gear give Pete a call. Really nice guy who is very helpful. His number is on their website.
More to discover