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Tubes Asylum: REVIEW: Electronic Tonalities Foreplay Preamplifier (Tube) by SRMcGee

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REVIEW: Electronic Tonalities Foreplay Preamplifier (Tube)

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Model: Foreplay
Category: Preamplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price: $99
Description: DIY dual 12AU7 tube preamplifier.
Manufacturer URL: Electronic Tonalities
Model Picture: View

Review by SRMcGee ( A ) on October 10, 2003 at 11:11:04
IP Address: 167.25.108.29
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for the Foreplay


About three years ago, at the urging of my wife, I began to consider acquiring a second stereo for our home: my main system is in our basement and she wanted music in the living room. I felt that our second stereo needed to be “different” from the main system – something less formal, easier for the kids to use, and not easily judged against the very expensive solid state rig in the basement. A well-regarded audio pundit I’d been corresponding with urged me to try a tube-based system, and I liked the idea. It didn’t take me long to discover a wide array of reasonably-priced commercial products. Then, as a lark, I looked at DIY options. I figured that if the design and instructions were simple enough (I am truly a novice at this), I could build it and not pay for the labor, mark-up, fancy packaging, mark-up, advertising, mark-up, distribution and mark-up that typically get folded into the price of an audio component (and everything else in this capitalistic world of ours). I decided to start by building a preamp only; I purchased a tube amp (VTL ST-80) and a pair of speakers (Meadowlark Hot Rod Kestrels), and figured that I’d replace the amp with a DIY project once I had the preamp finished.

In a market filled with attractive DIY alternatives, the Bottlehead Foreplay quickly distinguished itself as the most viable preamplifier option. Bottlehead sells the Foreplay kit as their introduction to the world of DIY audio; they have other products as well (mostly amplifiers), but one of the company’s goals is rather altruistic – giving people the confidence to pursue high quality audio on a DIY budget. Bottlehead supports a shockingly robust forum on AudioAsylum and it was apparent that even if the company failed to respond to my anticipated cries for help (which, incidentally, was never an issue), there were dozens of avid Foreplay fans who could answer my stupid questions. The Foreplay was, by all accounts, a simple-to-build project. It was also highly adaptable and, at $149, it was damn cheap. This was a no-brainer. Not wanting my kids’ tiny hands to be burned on exposed tubes and desperately wanting my wife to like the look of the end result, I decided to build my Foreplay in a traditional (okay, boring) rack mount chassis. Stealing many ideas from TG’s ingenious “Son of Black Box” design (see the “Loose Parts” section of the Bottlehead website), I cobbled together a workable layout for my Foreplay. I then gathered the parts: in addition to the Foreplay kit, I also acquired the chassis, upgraded RCA connectors, the “Anticipation” C4S upgrade, a Greyhill selector, a DACT attenuator, Auricap output capacitors, Holco resistors and the parts for Voltsecond’s filament snubber, reverse recovery spike filter, and a pseudo dual mono power supply (Voltsecond, one of Bottlehead’s many fans, has posted a number of Foreplay tweaks and improvements on his own website).

Bottlehead strongly recommends that the Foreplay be constructed “stock” first; after listening to it for a while, the value of improvements or tweaks can be more easily discerned. I agree. Building the Foreplay, even in a different chassis, was pretty easy. Bottlehead’s instructions are excellent and geared towards the complete novice. I did hit a few rough spots (mostly caused by inadequate soldering skills that improved with practice) and found that both Dan “Doc Bottlehead” Schmalle and the folks on the forum were quick to answer my questions. In fact, I applaud the Bottlehead ethos – a lot of people helping each other, offering good advice, in a non-competitive, friendly environment. Anyway, before long I had the Foreplay up and running. The Foreplay was a lively, well-paced, decently-resolving preamp “out of the box,” but it had a couple of annoying traits that can easily be resolved by implementing a few relatively inexpensive modifications (hair-trigger volume controls and buzz, amongst them). After a couple of weeks, I added the filament snubber and reverse recovery spike filter and listened to the effect those few additional parts had: amazing – a little less noise, slightly cleaner sound. I added the other modifications in slow succession and was increasingly impressed with the improvements to the stock unit. The net result is a preamplifier with exceptional sonic qualities: the Foreplay paints a realistic audio picture that is livelier, more open, richer-sounding and balanced than I ever would have expected (that’s a dig at me, not Bottlehead). I’m not just proud of my Foreplay because I built it – the simple truth is that the preamp sounds terrific, period. Altogether, my Foreplay probably cost about $550 in parts, but that amount doesn’t begin to define its value. Is the Foreplay a “giant killer”? No, the Jeff Rowland Coherence 1 in my main system is clearly the superior preamplifier. However, that comparison is unfair. Does my Foreplay compare favorably with preamps costing two or three times its price? Easily. In fact, it acquits itself very nicely amongst stiff competition. Here’s the best part: I learned something about how audio equipment is created and about abilities I never knew I had. I had the confidence to try similar projects! Clearly, Doc Bottlehead’s evil ulterior plan – to alert me to the accessibility of great audio on the cheap – was successful!

I had a lot of fun building the Foreplay and quickly followed suit with a DIY kit amplifier (an AES AE-25 SuperAmp Signature). After a few additional projects, including modding my aged Proceed CD player and building some power cords, my wife announced that she was content: we have great sounding music in the living room. Most folks who build DIY projects live to open their work up and modify it to death. Not me; I agree with my wife. I’m done and very happy with the results.

Bottom line: at $149, the Foreplay is a very inexpensive way to start inching your way towards a high end listening experience. Don’t worry about it being a kit – you can build it. Before you’re done, expect to spend a little more on the Foreplay; the added expense is worth it, and the value of the result far exceeds the cost. And the damn thing is a lot of fun to build!

Regards,
Scott


Product Weakness: Stock unit begs for at least a few (fortunately inexpensive) upgrades; appearance (easily improved upon); and, for those without any DIY experience, building a preamp can be daunting (fear not -- it's shockingly easy, no pun intended).
Product Strengths: Extraordinary value, fun to construct (dare I say educational?), highly adaptable, and it sounds fantastic!


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: AES (Cary) AE-25 SuperAmp Signature
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Foreplay
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Modified Proceed CDP and a Magnum-Dynalab FT101A FM tuner w/ 205 Signal Sleuth
Speakers: Meadowlark Hot Rod Kestrels
Cables/Interconnects: DH Labs Air Matrix interconnects and Q-10 speaker cables
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Rock, jazz, classical, whatever
Room Size (LxWxH): 24 x 15 x 9
Room Comments/Treatments: Living room -- couch, love seat, etc
Time Period/Length of Audition: 2 years
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Electronic Tonalities Foreplay Preamplifier (Tube) - SRMcGee 11:11:04 10/10/03 ( 3)