I did steal that phrase from another forum denizen, but there is a theme to the comments on this thread. This one’s a keeper.
christangriego saidMy experience with my BHK has been that slowly turning the knob yields fairly consistent results with 1 unit of change for every 10 degrees of rotation.I want to ask other people if they’ve had this issue “without remote”. When you grab volume knob and turn slowly I’ve had the volume never change from 58-59, or other numbers after over 1/2 a knob turn. I had this happen a few times the other night when listening to headphones and decided to try again. The amount of “clicks” to volume change are all over the place on the unit I have in house. If you turn the volume knob faster, it appears to be more responsive. This is a weird unpredictable volume knob physically. With remote it’s one push, one click, one number change.
Rapidly turning the knob, on the other hand, either produces no change or, worse, change in the opposite direction to that desired.
I had the same results when trying to set the input names - slowly turning the knob results in fairly accurate character selection whereas quickly spinning the knob produced random character picks (and even displayed some characters that appeared to have been spontaneously created by the BHK).
-Pb
Christian Grego said: I want to ask other people if they’ve had this issue “without remote”. When you grab volume knob and turn slowly I’ve had the volume never change from 58-59, or other numbers after over 1/2 a knob turn. I had this happen a few times the other night when listening to headphones and decided to try again. The amount of “clicks” to volume change are all over the place on the unit I have in house. If you turn the volume knob faster, it appears to be more responsive. This is a weird unpredictable volume knob physically. With remote it’s one push, one click, one number change.
On other pre’s it may be a few clicks to change the volume, but this is more like a totally unresponsive volume knob. This does not happen with remote. IMO, if the volume knob is to be so unresponsive it should be left off the unit. Programming issue? I can shoot a short video if anybody needs to see and email to factory.
Christian: I had a similar experience with the volume knob on my Beta unit when I first received it… Unlike PB, and like you, I found that a swift, deliberate rotation yielded the expected response, while a gentle, slow rotation didn’t “grab” and produce the same level of change… sometimes two or three clicks yielded one “db” adjustment, sometimes 3 or more clicks yielded no volume change…
My beta unit was the unit that arrived with 3 pieces of hardware loose in the unit (see old posts in this forum), and a packaging failure which allowed the volume control to bang up against the inner box, which I thought might have contributed to this apparent “looseness” condition of the volume knob (along with a hum/buzz in the headphone output triggering at exactly 85 on the volume display). PS audio recalled the unit and repaired it; unfortunately on receipt again the packaging failed and the XLR jack on input one was basically ripped out by the retaining clip… also, after about 5 minutes listening on the headphone output, I hooked up the XLR output to a pro sound headphone distribution amp and there was only a faint output signal, going back to the HP out yielded the same result-- barely audible at volume 90, with much buzz. Unit going back tomorrow and PS Audio promises a new production unit will go out to me by end of week.
When I get that one, i’ll check and respond again on this issue, as well as the hum issue, and then (hopefully) the overall sound of the unit in my main system)…
magicknow said Pee-in-your-pants good.I think this statement should be in the technical literature, it certainly elicits a response of how good it must be.
magicknow
“Spontaneous orgasm” seems a more appropriate metaphore.
Meg musta’ had one of the very earliest BHK prototypes on set that day!
now we’re gonna’ get thrown out for good…
I reckon petrojo’s freight provider must be on drugs 
I’ve had my BHK Signature Preamp for one week as of today. Previously I had been running direct from my Directstream dac into my pair of BHK 300’s driving a pair of Revel Salon2’s. The main impetus for me to add the BHK was so I could set up my vinyl system which consists of a VPI Signature TT, Transfiguration Proteus cartridge, and Jeff Rowland Cadence phono stage running fully balanced. Digital source components consist of a Perfectwave Transport, a Bridge 2 being fed from a Synology DS412+ NAS using JRiver, an Auralic Aries with the USB output converted to I2S by an Audiobyte Hydra-Z and a Logitech Transporter. AC is from a sub-panel with four 20 amp dedicated circuits and all but the BHK 300’s are plugged into a P10. I’ll be adding my Rotel RHT-10 tuner soon.
Cold out of the box the BHK Signature preamp sounded slightly constricted and bright. It took about a day for it to start opening up and the initial perceived brightness transformed into a smooth upper midrange and treble. Normally I’m not one to start tweaking things when all is well, but having replaced the tubes in my BHK 300’s with matched pairs of Tungsram 7DJ8’s with great results and having another matched pair, I replaced the stock tubes in the preamp. At this point I started noticing real changes in the sound of my system. The soundfield took on added weight. By this I mean the kind of weight created by subsonic frequencies that gives a listening venue a sense of volume (dimensional) as though the original ambience of the recording space took over my room. Instruments and vocalists sound fleshed out and more three dimensional than without the preamp in the system. There is more solidity with images that extend well beyond the boundaries of the speaker plane in width, depth, and height. Low frequencies are more authoritative but also more controlled as though the 300’s have a tighter grip on the Revel’s woofers. The midrange and high frequencies have texture that I never noticed before to the extent that every now and then something will come through and grab my attention and in an involuntary gesture I look in the direction it came from. All of this in the first week! Maybe this is all placebo effect, but if it is, I like it.
I’ve been at this hobby for fifty plus years now and my hearing isn’t nearly as acute as it once was, but I have to say this is the best sounding system I have ever had. Thanks to Paul, Bascom, Ted, Arnie, and the rest of the PS Audio team I have permagrin on my face. Now it’s time to kick it into gear on the BHK Signature phono stage
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It would be informative to switch back to the stock tubes after a few hours to see where the sound is. Most have reported a brief break in period for the BHK Pre. What you describe sonically is what I experienced during the first several days with the stock fire bottles.
…Normally I’m not one to start tweaking things when all is well, but having replaced the tubes in my BHK 300’s with matched pairs of Tungsram 7DJ8’s with great results and having another matched pair, I replaced the stock tubes in the preamp. At this point I started noticing real changes in the sound of my system…
So Tungsram 7DJ8 will work with the preamp? Might as well order a pair before I get the preamp next week.
I believe the preamp will work with 6, 7 or 12 series tubes. Some adjustment may be required (jumpers maybe). Mine shipped yesterday and I don’t think the manual has been posted on-line yet. Anyone who has theirs who can clarify?
I don’t have my manual with me but the product description mentions switchable 6v and 12v heaters, so a 7v tube would be reasonable as well.
In the video interview of Bascom, ‘BHK on sound and tubes’, at 3:36 minutes he mentions that he originally designed the preamp to use the 7DJ8 and specifically the NOS Tungsram. To quote Bascom, “…that really made the preamp sing”. There is a jumper behind the tube socket to switch between 6 and 12 volts. He goes on to say the 12AU7’s that come from the factory are readily available and “sound almost as good as that wonderful 7DJ8”. I bought mine from Upscale Audio in matched pairs and I think I’ll order three more matched pairs as backups for my 300’s and the preamp they sound so good. They won’t be available forever and the cost is peanuts compared to most tweaks. I also want to replace my speaker cables and interconnects with Iconoclast but my “financial planner” says I need to wait for the stock market to recover some more before another big outlay. I’m looking at approximately 26 feet of balanced interconnect and a 4 foot pair of speaker cables. Thanks to you, Glenn, I’ve been obsessing about those cables for some time.
BTW, for those with the quirky volume controls, I don’t have the skipping issue that some are seeing. I can increment or decrement slowly and every click of the knob changes the level one number up or down. I also don’t have the clicking in my speakers that others have mentioned. I must have gotten lucky because a good friend of mine that lives close to PS Audio has both problems and returned his unit to the factory to be checked. Previously he was told to just turn the knob faster and it would respond. Hopefully a better resolution will be found.
I’m also using the remote trigger to power my 300’s on and off. I set the trigger delay to 18 seconds and the 300’s lock in 1 second after the preamp. It’s nice not having to worry about forgetting to switch the amps off when I shut the system down at night.
DenisD said In the video interview of Bascom, 'BHK on sound and tubes', at 3:36 minutes he mentions that he originally designed the preamp to use the 7DJ8 and specifically the NOS Tungsram. To quote Bascom, "...that really made the preamp sing". There is a jumper behind the tube socket to switch between 6 and 12 volts. He goes on to say the 12AU7's that come from the factory are readily available and "sound almost as good as that wonderful 7DJ8". I bought mine from Upscale Audio in matched pairs and I think I'll order three more matched pairs as backups for my 300's and the preamp they sound so good. They won't be available forever and the cost is peanuts compared to most tweaks. I also want to replace my speaker cables and interconnects with Iconoclast but my "financial planner" says I need to wait for the stock market to recover some more before another big outlay. I'm looking at approximately 26 feet of balanced interconnect and a 4 foot pair of speaker cables. Thanks to you, Glenn, I've been obsessing about those cables for some time.BTW, for those with the quirky volume controls, I don’t have the skipping issue that some are seeing. I can increment or decrement slowly and every click of the knob changes the level one number up or down. I also don’t have the clicking in my speakers that others have mentioned. I must have gotten lucky because a good friend of mine that lives close to PS Audio has both problems and returned his unit to the factory to be checked. Previously he was told to just turn the knob faster and it would respond. Hopefully a better resolution will be found.
I’m also using the remote trigger to power my 300’s on and off. I set the trigger delay to 18 seconds and the 300’s lock in 1 second after the preamp. It’s nice not having to worry about forgetting to switch the amps off when I shut the system down at night.
Are the 7DJ8’s worth the investment for the Monos? I ordered a pair for the preamp, but could scoop up 4 more for the amps.
wglenn said I don't have my manual with me but the product description mentions switchable 6v and 12v heaters, so a 7v tube would be reasonable as well.The preamp will allow 6,7 or 12 series tubes to be used. There's an internal jumper to set the voltage and one for current too.
Not sure why the manual has yet to be posted. Still overseas but I’ll see what I can do.
Is it true, that the first BHK Preamps are already on their way to the dealers, which would mean that the beta-testing has come to an end? 
BTW, will there be some information about the changes between the beta-units and the final devices?
Production units are shipping. Some folks have already gotten theirs. Mine is in transit. Can’t wait.
Great news! So all bugs have been fixed! Looking forward to the first user reports… 
BTW, will there be some information about what exactly has been changed between the beta-units and the final devices?
Maybe I lost track but I think that it was only the addition of the tube-hour counter firmware.
wglenn said Maybe I lost track but I think that it was only the addition of the tube-hour counter firmware.And even that may have already been included but just wasn't in the manual.