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69.25.108.3
I've read a lot of good things about it, but they're all from people who have invested hours of time into building theirs - which may color their opinion positively. Anyone hear one and not like it?
Follow Ups:
I used a Foreplay II that I built for five years and it worked great in my system. For the money, you couldn't beat it. The price of the Foreplay III is getting up there though in the range of other kits that you might look at too like the Hagerman Clarinet and the Mapletree kits.While I haven't heard the FP III, I swapped my modded Foreplay II with a friend's Clarinet and the FP II sounded rolled off on the top and bottom by comparison. That's what got me thinking about building another kit.
I recently built a Mapletree Magic 5B SE octal based preamp that uses 12SN7's and 6R7GT's. It actually has three circuit topologies so you can switch between passive, Cathode follower and Shunt Regulated Push/Pull circuits on the fly. As much as I loved my FPII, the Mapletree blows it away. More detail, bigger soundstage, much quieter and more extension from top to bottom. One other advantage is these NOS tubes are dirt cheap compared to NOS 9-pins.
Just another couple ideas for you.
steve
The foreplay is fun to build. People say BH has the best instructions which makes it an easy build. I can't say how it is compared to other kits because I haven't tried them. The Foreplay does need some of the caps upgraded to sound it's best. Putting in some Jensens makes all the difference. I would recommend buying the pre amp and amps combined to save some money. If I was just intersted in having a good pre amp and not so much into buiding a kit... I would get a used Modulus 2 and modify it. You can get them used for about $450 or so. The sky is the limit on mods. Throw in some Jensens and it sounds very good.
After building a 407A and 12B4 preamp, I never cared for my Foreplay anymore.
Is there a kit for a 407A preamp?
I'm afraid I haven't bumped into one. But if you can go beyond kits, you may want to visit diyAudio.com and you'll see the discussions on the 12B4, 5687 and 407A preamps.
Cheers!
Hey-Hey!!!,
I could never justify spending the money on one after reading about how much parts replacement was needed with the original kit parts. I built a 5687 based on the VTV 6SN7 design instead.And then on to the 12B4 as well. Tried 14AF7, RK-34, 6BL7, 12A4, and a whole host of other neat looking amplifier triodes( and a pentode or two for good measure! ).
Doesn't mean that the Fp didn't sound OK, just that for the effort and money required, I found better results elsewhere.
cheers,
Douglas
Friend, I would not hurt thee for the world...but thou art standing where I am about to shoot.
a DHT line stage? I had myself all set to go with 12b4 and 5687 (to one-up my foreplay owning friends....see I must lead them along....terrible burden you understand)But now I find myself thinking again, instead of doing...plus I was given a few type 30 and 31 tubes. Some say once you try you aren't going back?
Given the commerical offerings and the combination of price and support the foreplay has I do feel it offers value for the first time DIYer. The foreplay 3 transformer has enough balls to run the 12b4.
Re: the pentode loading we breifly discussed...if a triode likes constant current and a MOSFET will do nicely....seems like a pentode would like constant voltage....now what do you see as okay for that?
Russ
soon enough I suspect....:)I am using pentodes as active loads. The old DH ones are not really useful for this service, gm is quite low, and that's a qty of interest.
For a linestage, I'd go with a high current cathode, the wire will be thicker, and probably less prone to making noise. Or build a pentode from two triodes. There's all sorts of options...
Best Regards,
Douglas
Friend, I would not hurt thee for the world...but thou art standing where I am about to shoot.
On my list. I'm hoping to hear an all DHT preamp soon!
How can did I forget that the CCSed 5687 I made (prototype) sounded better than a CCSed Foreplay too...
The original Foreplay was a lot cheaper and not near as good sounding IMHO. The current foreplay 3 is much better and has a beefy enough power transformer to support a lot of tube choices. Of course it is a lot more money but I think it is a better deal.
Russ
PS My friends own them and I have heard them a lot. I even talked one into buying the new foreplay 3 after he had borrowed the original foreplay.
The only issue I can see with the Foreplay is that it may have too much gain for some systems. When a preamp has too much gain, you will get hiss and residual hum. If your amp only needs a half volt to go to full power, you really just need a buffer.
_______________________________
Long Live Dr.Gizmo
But it will always be system dependent. I have a couple (II and III) and am building a custom knock-off. In terms of value, if you can solder, it is incredible. But I would bet there are systems that it just doesn't match well with and would sound suspect.
I think the world of my Extended Foreplay III . Driving an ARC 100.2 high def sand amp into MG IIIa's . I use Mundorf supreme silver in Oil coupling caps in the E-FPIII. It picks up nuance I've never heard in CD's I've owned for years and is really dynamic .I don't know how You can go too far wrong for the price .
Joe
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