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
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.
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