Do any of you kind folks have experience with the Oddwatt Audio Forewatt?

[4thtimeaudiophile]

Just to give a little background - I own a CJ MV60 and it is my humble opinion that it deserves a better line stage preamp than the Emotiva PT-100 that is currently feeding it. I found the Oddwatt Audio Forewatt line stage kit online and they are in stock. It seems like it is good quality - Alps Blue Velvet Volume pot, Russian K40-Y9 PIO coupling capacitors, SOLEN and PANASONIC power filter caps, Edcor power transformer, etc. It comes with a pair of JJ ECC802-S tubes. I was wondering specifically if anyone has experience with this company and the kits that they offer. Also, any comments in general about getting a decent tube line stage preamp would be appreciated. I really enjoy building kits so I was looking at this first. The Schiit Saga+ caught my eye also. The MV60 deserves the best, but the top dog preamps are out of my budget. So it has made me a bit of a bottom feeder.

[admin]

No experience with the Oddwatt. As I understand this, it's a DIY preamp. I guess that also means that the quality will depend on the components that the builder used. Whether these are high or low quality and how they complement each other is difficult to say. I guess the best option would be to try and demo the unit in your system.

I agree, you can do better than the Emotiva. I like the Emotiva products but I think they are really better suited for home theater audio than audiophile listening. I think Schiit is a good brand and you get a lot of bang for your buck with their products. Again, I think their gear is especially good for headphone listening but also offer some good DAC's and other components at reasonable prices.

The alternative is to perhaps look at a used CJ preamp. You know you get high quality and the preamp and amp will be synergistic.

[AnotherJohnson]

Even solder and soldering skill impact how an assembly sounds. Topology matters too. In point to point breadboard wiring, there are a lot of possible paths for wire routing.

It’s fun to DIY, but hard to predict what the result will be from one build to the next, even of the same kit.

But …. Keeping in mind both budget and love of music, DIY could be a great option to get in the door.

I’d love to hear how this progresses. And, FWIW, there are no bottom feeders working the problem of bringing pleasing Audio into their lives.

[AnotherJohnson]

Tube Depot is running a sale on DIY kits and NOS tubes.

https://tubedepot.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqb ... jhEALw_wcB