I purchased the Bottlehead Foreplay preamp kit including the following:

• Plain Kit
• Base
• Stereo Sweet Wispers
• Anticipation upgrade

I decided to do a plain build, 100% stock but using silver wire. The decision to use the silver wire was really due more to the fact that I had a lot of it lying around. I'd purchased about 500' of it from Myron Toback ($50) for some interconnects I was working on. The wire used in the system is 4 strands of 30 gauge silver twisted together then covered with a rubber paint-on coating as insulator.

I decided to add the upgrades one at a time later so that I could hear the improvement. I decided to use a set of nice cold plated RCA jacks that I had for the output and one of the inputs.

The images at the right show the final product. You'll also note that I decided to build the power supply of the preamp on a perf-board. This made the constuction much cleaner and easier. I don't care too much for the layout of most kits so I decided to organize it myself. The kit directions are really only suited to building the kit one way, so I wired it up based on the schematic rather than the text instructions so some of the wiring may appear different than stock. I also added a pseudo-star ground, basically just added a lot of extra ground connections.

Lessons:

• The stock Foreplay sounds great
  • As is it competes very well with the AES AE-3 6SN7 preamp I built. Keep in mind that the AE-3 already has Hovland coupling caps and the Caddock volume shunt upgrade.
  • It has a more understated sound, isn't as warm, better imaging, and less low-end than the AE-3.
  • Overall I prefer the sound of the Foreplay to the AE-3. The AE-3 just has too much midrange bloom, it sounds too "tubey" for my tastes.
  • It blows away any solid state preamp I've used. The recent ones include an NAD C160 and Rotel RSP-960.
• It has failings
  • There's a VERY annoying thump about 2-3 seconds after turn-on
  • There is a definite lack of low-end, not huge, but noticable compared to other high-end preamps.
  • The mono volume pots are a pain
  • The arrangement of the chassis isn't easy to work with
• The silver wire seems to smooth it out a bit and add resolution. This is compared to another foreplay I heard, but the effect is very minimal and might just be my imagination. Overall, the improvement was minor. For what the silver wire cost me I'd say it's very worthwhile, but at the normal price of silver wire it wouldn't be worth it.
• I don't really notice much of a difference with the nicer RCA jacks, but I'm sure the gold ones will maintain a good contact longer.

First I added the stepped attenuator. Improvement in sound was nice, not huge, but nice. Added detail and focus, but primarily it's the convenience of a single volume knob. I used the 20-90 resistors as I've found that the stock setup has a real 'hair-trigger' sound and I wanted a more usable setting. I find that this works very well for me, and I primarily use it in the middle of it's range. The one downside is that there is an occasional popping sound when moving between settings. Personally I don't care for it and would prefer to have a good pot with the shunt upgrade. I plan to do this on the next project.

The second upgrade was the Auri coupling caps. This made a very noticable improvement. At $12 each they are a very economical upgrade. Auri 2.0mf caps weren't in stock so I got 2.2mf caps. Change in tone and resolution is very noticable. The sound doesn't appear to have been colored at all, but the imaging is much nicer, and overall sound much more 'alive.' I also noticed that there was a slight improvement in low end. I highly recomend this upgrade.

Finally I added the Anticipation upgrade. I actually didn't do this one until I did the second chasis outlined below. You MUST get this upgrade. Voices are clearer, better defined, and low end his dramatically improved. Yeah, at $75 it costs almost as much as the original kit, but it's more than worth it.

For example, on Sarah McLaughlan's Surfacing CD, track 2, her voice always sounded a little grainy and the low-end was tubby, even on the upgraded AE-3. With all the upgrades the Foreplay now gives her a very clean sound, without a sharp high-end. I've found that a lot of systems make it difficult to listen to because the the high end is raspy and harsh, not with the Foreplay, very easy to listen to. The low end is also very tight and controlled, in fact I use this track as a reference because of it's potential harsh sound and very significant low end. Most systems make the low end very tubby, almost as if the recording was done poorly, but the Foreplay makes it all sound very tight and musical.

I knew that the stock layout of the Foreplay would never work, but as it's really geared as a 'starter' kit I knew I'd update it. I also prefer to use a perf-board to hold the parts. I don't use it to connect any parts, just to hold them in place. Connects between components are still point to point using the silver 4-strand wire. I had already received the Hammond case when I found the chassis made by Horace Atkinson. I also knew I didn't want to bite off all my planned upgrades at once so I decided to build a normal upgraded Foreplay with chassis changes to make it more usable.

The images at the right show the final product. Basically it's a stock Foreplay with the upgrades, placed in a Hammond steel case. I decided to use a shaft extension on the selector switch to shorten the input runs and reduce channel crossover. The following is a rundown of the parts used:

Overall I am very happy with the results. The Hammond case has been covered with black texture (crinkle) paint which gives it a nice look. Also notice that I've added the anticipation upgrades as daughter boards, everything is mounted using 1/4" standoffs so it's a very solid build. I have initally chosen not to put the base on it for ease of access, but might add those later.

Lessons:

• Get the Hammond alluminum chassis instead of the steel one. The steel chassis is just a pain to drill and work with. However a full Hammond with the top (which is not properly drilled to mount, you have to do this) is about $50, look at the chassis I outline below...definitely no comparison in quality, if you can spend the extra $50 I HIGHLY recomend the case by Atkins.
• The Wellborne knobs aren't cheap but are very nice looking, I don't think the pictures do them justice.
• I found that using some teflon tubing as an insulator for the silver wire was easier than the paint on stuff.
• The guy who sells the new chassis below also has some other parts, such as a nice alluminum box to cover the transformer. I might add one later.
  

I had always planned to do some custom tweeks to the Foreplay. One of the big planned upgrades was a remote volume and improved power supply. The images at the right show the chassis I plan to use. This is made by a local guy, Horace Atkinson, who also happens to be the US distributor for Sowter transformers. The chassis is VERY nice, definitely a new league for kits. Best of all it retails for $99. I've looked it one up close (still waiting for mine) and the quality is very nice. It's not perfect, but better than anything I've seen available before, and pretty much makes the Hammond cases look like junk.

I also pan on doing the following upgrades:

• Full dual or pseudo-dual power supply
• A choke regulator for the power supply
• DC fillament voltage rather than AC
• Remote volume pot with shunt resistor upgrade.

I'll post the progress of this project (not really started yet) as it proceeds.

I plan to setup a remote volume control for the preamp. The first step was to get the Alps motorized volume control from AES, cost about $70 (ouch!). The next step was the IR transmitter and receiver. There is a kit available for $45 from Carls Electronics.

I picked up the chasis from Horace. I had him add the RCA's and power jack/switch/fuse combo. All together this worked out to $190. Considering that good RCA jack pairs run about $8, with 8 of those and $20 for the power setup, the overall price is good. The base chassis is $100. I also requested that he non stain the sides so I could have a more natural look. I covered them with some clear poly to give it a little shine. These pictures show it as arrived, and with my selector and volume controls added. You can see that I'm using an extension shaft for the selector to shorten the input lines and reduce the chance of crosstalk. The knobs are Welborne items and run about $15 each but are very nice. I also added a hole for the power LED (blue) on the right of the chassis. The colors aren't too accurate as it looks darker in some of the pictures. It darkend a little with the clear coat but still looks pretty light. The combo power plug is nice too, it has a power jack, switch, and fuse block all in one piece.

I also took pics of it installed in the rack, but didn't bother to wipe off all the fingerprints so it looks like a mess. It's pretty much got a mirror finish on it and really looks great.

Here are some notes on the other parts of my system so you can evaluate the subjective opinions:

• Speakers
  • Martin Logan SL3 (Vertical Biamp)
  • Magnepan MMG
  • Spica TC-50
• Amps
  • Acurus A-150 (pair)
  • NAD 214 (pair)
• Source
  • Toshiba DVD
  • Theta Cobalt DAC
• Misc
  • DIY Silver Interconnects
  • Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker cables

I've also done some brief listening on various configurations of Bottlehead amps connected to some Lowther systems.