transcendence masterpiece vs. tubes4hifi SP14

[jet]

Hi, I'm itching to build a tube preamp! No more room in the Bottlehead crack for mods, it's stuffed, and while tube rolling is a fun sport it just doesn't scratch the build itch. I've been obsessing for longer than I'm comfortable admitting to and I've narrowed it down to two possible builds: transcendence masterpiece vs. tubes4hifi SP14. Not surprising they both claim to be dead quiet and capable of delivering sonic nirvana.

My current system:
Thorens td 203 with a Nagaoka mp150 cartridge
Boozhound Labs jfet phono stage (battery powered)
Emotiva BasXpt 150 preamp
Adcom GFA 5500
Klipsch r15m speakers
2 Klipsch r100sw subwoofers
and a rarely used Denon 2900
Botttlehead Crack with Speedball and lots of other mods.
Headphones of choice are Sennheiser HD650's

this year I will be replacing the Adcom with an Aleph J build and the r15m speakers with either Klipsch Fortes or klf20's.

My living room is 13.5'x18.5' with an open 9'x12' dining room attached forming an L.

The reason I've narrowed down to the 2 listed kits is mostly they support dual outputs (I like the two powered subs). I"m a confident builder but not really a circuit designer and no danger of becoming an engineer. I'd like to incorporate the phono stage into the preamp build. I did look at Pete Millet's Low Mu tube preamp as a more scratch build but his own description of how it sounds gave me pause. I'm open to suggestions, tubes only for the preamp please.

 

[bbqjoe]

I'm currently building an SP14 right now.
It would have been built two weeks ago but you don't get the front and rear panel for at least two weeks after you get the board, so you can go ahead and put the board together, but there's nothing else you can really do until you get the rest.
I find this a bit frustrating. I ordered the SP14 on Dec 23rd.
I realize the holidays and yadda yadda, I'm right at two weeks now and still waiting for the panels and a few capacitors.

I'm hoping it's worth the wait!
But to put out $1200 and not get the complete kit all at once really does suck.

Also Roy says there's no room for a phono stage in the SP14, but I'm sure if you're a competent builder, you can figure a way.

That's all I got for now.

 

[drtool]

Blue Glow (on You Tube and this forum) is working on a diy tube preamp kit / build, right now. Phono included.
My best guess would be later this year, till he is 100% happy with it. So, if you can wait...

 

[Lavane]

I've looked at both. Roy's kits are pretty nice. lots of info about them and support on various forums too.The Transcendence build quality and price is a deal breaker for me. For the money layout and cosmetics could be a lot better. But to be fair, I've never heard one. That exposed transformer on the 300B preamp is just ugly to my eyes.

 

[jet]

Blue Glow (on You Tube and this forum) is working on a diy tube preamp kit / build, right now. Phono included.
My best guess would be later this year, till he is 100% happy with it. So, if you can wait...

Wow! That's awesome. I've watched a few of his builds. I How did I not know he's doing a preamp? Oh yeah January is no TV month for me. I can maybe wait...

 

[jet]

I've looked at both. Roy's kits are pretty nice. lots of info about them and support on various forums too.The Transcendence build quality and price is a deal breaker for me. For the money layout and cosmetics could be a lot better. But to be fair, I've never heard one. That exposed transformer on the 300B preamp is just ugly to my eyes.

I'm thinking of modding the chassis quite a bit for either build . Maybe potting the transformers in something better looking.

 

[jet]

I'm currently building an SP14 right now.
It would have been built two weeks ago but you don't get the front and rear panel for at least two weeks after you get the board, so you can go ahead and put the board together, but there's nothing else you can really do until you get the rest.
I find this a bit frustrating. I ordered the SP14 on Dec 23rd.
I realize the holidays and yadda yadda, I'm right at two weeks now and still waiting for the panels and a few capacitors.

I'm hoping it's worth the wait!
But to put out $1200 and not get the complete kit all at once really does suck.

Also Roy says there's no room for a phono stage in the SP14, but I'm sure if you're a competent builder, you can figure a way.

That's all I got for now.

Hang in there bbqjoe! Please let me know how the rest of the build goes.

 

[bbqjoe]

Hang in there bbqjoe! Please let me know how the rest of the build goes.

Will do. I'm sure I'll post about it here somewhere when it's done.

The board was a piece of cake, and the rest of the wiring looks simple enough.
I've studied his pics on the VTA site, as well as a bunch of pics on the Dynaco forum.
His instructions aren't as detailed as Bob's are for the VTA amps, but they're fairly simple.

I'm hoping this will be my first and last preamp. If it works well enough, there shouldn't be a whole lot of reason to change.
There may come a time where I build a custom enclosure for it.
I mean, if you're gonna have tubes, why not show them off?

I looked at the wood case and went, meh.
I might come up with something better, who knows, but I'd definitely like a tube through design.

 

[jet]

Will do. I'm sure I'll post about it here somewhere when it's done.

The board was a piece of cake, and the rest of the wiring looks simple enough.
I've studied his pics on the VTA site, as well as a bunch of pics on the Dynaco forum.
His instructions aren't as detailed as Bob's are for the VTA amps, but they're fairly simple.

I'm hoping this will be my first and last preamp. If it works well enough, there shouldn't be a whole lot of reason to change.
There may come a time where I build a custom enclosure for it.
I mean, if you're gonna have tubes, why not show them off?

I looked at the wood case and went, meh.
I might come up with something better, who knows, but I'd definitely like a tube through design.

I'm with you on showing off the tubes. My first thought after going to Roy's website was why would you hide all those tubes inside a chassis? BTW are the measurements of the board and chassis? They both look realatively small. Maybe a standard 2u will fit my phono stage.

 

[bbqjoe]

The chassis measures 16"x12"x5". It's rather large for what it is.
I'm positive if someone went with a SS phono preamp, it could be fit in easily.
The as is layout puts the PCB pretty much right in the middle.
I think it could be mounted a little differently so a phono preamp might fit in, but I have no idea how big a tube preamp board might be.
I'm certain he has a kit, as well as some others.
There are a couple sets of wires on the transformers that aren't used. I have no idea what their output is yet, but they might be utilized for something in the phono preamp quest.

Personally, I'm not concerned with phono, as I have zero desire to start collecting vinyl again.

 

[mkane]

Roys a real treat to work with and his products speak for themselves. I like the tubes enclosed.

 

[bbqjoe]

Roys a real treat to work with and his products speak for themselves. I like the tubes enclosed.

I think one advantage to having the tubes enclosed is that with a little spacing in between, an amp might be able ride on top.

I just put a visual on the transcendence, it's not very appealing.
Why would they mount the transformers on top?
They're really nothing to look at.

 

[Lavane]

I think one advantage to having the tubes enclosed is that with a little spacing in between, an amp might be able ride on top.

I just put a visual on the transcendence, it's not very appealing.
Why would they mount the transformers on top?
They're really nothing to look at.

A cover would be nice. The exposed windings of that doughnut bother me.

 

[bbqjoe]

It looks like the transcendence amp runs about $700, and that doesn't include tubes.
The tube store lists 300b's from about $125 to just short of $500 ea. or even more if you want to go that way.

I think the SP14 is better visually, and quite possibly financially.
I don't know enough about tubes yet to comment on 300b's vs anything else.

 

[BillWojo]

I lucked out on a completed SP9 preamp, it's much like the SP12 but it also has tone controls. Same looking board and it uses 4 12AX7 tubes. Not sure if it was one of Roy's builds or if someone else build it but it came in that nice aluminum casework with a phono pre and remote control setup. Very quiet, lots of detail, works great with my Mac tube mono blocks. It was a big jump up in sound quality from the SS pre that I was using. Found it local on CL from another audio guy, he purchased it used as well so not much history on it. Just missing the remote control.
I would recommend one of Roy's kits in a heart beat.

BillWojo

 

[bbqjoe]

Just got word...
The rest of my kit is, as they say, in the mail.

 

[jet]

Blue Glow (on You Tube and this forum) is working on a diy tube preamp kit / build, right now. Phono included.
My best guess would be later this year, till he is 100% happy with it. So, if you can wait...

I emailed Mark at BlueGlow electronics and he emailed me back that he is doing a preamp design based on the 6SN7 tube!!!!!! He says it'll be a few months before its a video series, which is perfect for me to clear up a few restorations that are piling up. Thank You for the tip I'm stoked to follow Marc through a build!!!!

 

[bbqjoe]

Hang in there bbqjoe! Please let me know how the rest of the build goes.

The rest of the build was fun! Here's a pic I took of the inputs after I finished them. I did the outputs the next day.
Even though Roy doesn't give you step by step verbatim instructions, he does describe the steps pretty well.
I got a bit confused when it came to wiring in the AC power. The drawings, and all the pics he has posted on the Dynaco board kind of conflicted with each other.
Fortunately a few sharp eyes caught a major miswire that might have turned the entire case into a fuse!

(When in doubt, Stop! Ask questions)

Other than that, I'd say building this preamp is about 5 times easier than building the whole ST-120.


I finished it up, and went in for the test mode.
One channel tested fine, the other was suffering from way too high of voltage.
After checking and rechecking my joints and placements, we figured it can only be a bad transistor/voltage regulator.
Roy popped a few in the mail, they should be here tomorrow.

 

[No Money]

I have built a SP14, used my own chassis, here's a couple of shots from when I was just finishing it. I really like what it does. A very nice pre-amp.

 

[bbqjoe]

I have built a SP14, used my own chassis, here's a couple of shots from when I was just finishing it. I really like what it does. A very nice pre-amp.

Interesting fabrication.
I think the design layout is simple enough that it could be moved into almost anything.

I really would like to see a matching stainless, tube on top design to match the VTA amps.