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REVIEW: Bottlehead products Foreplay, Anticipation Modifcation C4S Preamplifier (Tube) Review by Marc Bratton at Audio Asylum

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This review is of the stock Foreplay preamp...mine does have some modifications (enumerated below), but is pretty close to what you'd get for $149.00. I bought this preamp already assembled from a gentleman in Canada. This was his 2nd one, so he decided to play a little bit. He did the following mods:(1.)Upgraded power supply caps. I don't know their brand or value, but they're preetty beeg. (2.)He ditched the dual hair-trigger volume pots in favor of a single Alps volume pot. (3.)He put a pair of toggle switchs in the place of one of the inputs. This allows for switchable gain. It sounds to me like the low setting is about 6-7db lower than the high setting. I'm not sure why he did this, but it is fun to play with. In most applications, I favored the lower gain setting.
Pulling it out of it's shipping carton, the 1st thing I was stuck with was how...dinky it was! The pic at the url makes it look bigger somehow. The power supply transformer reminded me of something you'd see in a doorbell circuit. The tubes were cheap-o 5365's, and the nickel RCA's looked like something you'd see on a budget receiver. But hey...Doc Bottlehead's trying to give you that tube sound at IC op-amp prices, and I think he's succeeded admirably. So, I pulled out my FT Audio LW-1, which I regard highly, and put in the Foreplay. 1st impressions can be valuable in that you tend to hear the differences right away, so here are my 1st impressions: (1.)Classic "tube sound". The highs were a bit rolled off, the bass was not too well controlled. In my system, with MMG speakers, this was not objectionable, as it gave a pleasing fullness and body that was somewhat lacking with the FT Audio, to the point sometimes of a bit too much of a good thing. Pleasing? Yes...accurate? No. (2.)The midrange, while having that tube magic we all crave, was just not as clean and tidy as the LW-1. It had just a bit of fur on it...not bad, mind you. Not even noticable lots of times. But it was definitely there, especially with heavy transients. It sounds like the line stage was being overloaded.(3.)Speaking of power supply and transients, this is the 3rd area where it fell down a bit compared to the LW-1. It just wasn't as quick with the leading edges of transients. Consequently, things sounded just a bit slow and downbeat compared to the LW-1. Not bad, hardly noticable, again. But there. With kickdrums, you'd get less of the leading edge, but the body of the beat was fuller, more fleshed out. You pays your money, takes your choice, I suppose. Voices were a bit more fleshed out and full with the Foreplay than the LW-1 as well. Indeed, most instruments had more presence-they just sounded a bit more like they were in the room with you than the LW-1, which sounded cleaner, and more tonally neutral, just not quite as present. I wish to emphasize that I am amplifying these contrasts so you can get a handle on the sound of this little pocketrocket. It was a noticable difference, but I could actually live happily with either one. I hope you realize what rarified company this puts the Foreplay in, because the FT Audio is a noted linestage slayer.
Yep...I think the little pipsqueak could be hotrodded into a real contender. Better tubes, the Anticipation mod, better dampening of the case (or a better case), better RCA's and power cord...you get the picture.
Matter of fact, if you go to the Bottlehead website, you'll get LOTS of pictures of folk's handiwork who've done just that. It's that good. In it's (near) stock form, it reminds of me a lot of a Dynaco PAS3. Not bad for $149.00! If you're craving the tube sound, and don't have the bucks for a tony tube preamp or power amp, I think you'd be remiss to not try this thing out. As a matter of fact, if you want a tubed CDP, but can't afford $600.00 for a Njoe Tjoeb, here's what you do...LOL! Get this kit, and build it. While you're building it, call Headroom and ask 'em what the "catch of the day" is. Those folks keep track of the best sounding portable CDP's, as they're into portable audio. It'll probably be the cheapest Panasonic they make. Get that, plus a 1/2mtr. pair of Monster(!)
miniplug-to-RCA interconnects. Get some bluetac from Target for 99 cents (don't buy it from AudioAdvisor for $10.00-asinine!). Set the little Panasonic on 4 little squares of the BlueTac, for vibration control, hook it up to the Foreplay with the Monster. Now you've got "a tubed CDP" AND a line stage for less than $300.00. It sounds F$#!% GREAT!, unlike most $300.00 CDP's. No, it doesn't beat out my Ah!Tjoeb. Dynamics are compressed, for one thing. But it sure sounds very listenable. I found myself meaning to only listen to one track on a CD, and instead listening to the whole damn CD, just lost in the music. Folks, this is a very good sign with a kilobuck component, much less one costing this little. Plus, it makes a...STATEMENT. I'll leave it to you to figure out what that statement is. But I gotta tell you, this little thing is a blast to play with. What more do you want for $149.00? HIGHLY recommended...and no, it won't beat out the kilobuck line stages. That's not this thing's point. Just have fun.


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Topic - REVIEW: Bottlehead products Foreplay, Anticipation Modifcation C4S Preamplifier (Tube) Review by Marc Bratton at Audio Asylum - Marc Bratton 16:27:46 05/14/01 ( 7)