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Acknowledgement
Posted: May 24th, 2026, 3:47 pm
by Cogito
Over the last few years, I stepped away from audio, partly due to some bad experiences with DIY preamps. Recently, I decided to get back into the hobby and started looking for a new DIY preamp project.
Dave McGown was incredibly generous with his time and guidance throughout the process. Thanks to his recommendation, I ended up with the Tubes4HiFi SP14 preamp.
The SP14 is an outstanding preamp — so much so that I’m once again spending several hours each week just enjoying music.
Thank you, David.
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted: May 24th, 2026, 4:11 pm
by SoundMods
Cogito wrote:Over the last few years, I stepped away from audio, partly due to some bad experiences with DIY preamps. Recently, I decided to get back into the hobby and started looking for a new DIY preamp project.
Dave McGown was incredibly generous with his time and guidance throughout the process. Thanks to his recommendation, I ended up with the Tubes4HiFi SP14 preamp.
The SP14 is an outstanding preamp — so much so that I’m once again spending several hours each week just enjoying music.
Thank you, David.
AWESOME SAUCE! 
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted: May 24th, 2026, 5:18 pm
by David McGown
Shashi,
You are welcome. It is a nice 6SN7 Aikido implementation. Hard to beat a nice sounding 6SN7. Grover Gardner has this preamp, so the recommend was based on his experience with it (as well as my experience over the years with the Aikido topology of John Broskie in various preamps and gain stages). Really glad you have it running and are enjoying it.
Continued happy listening!
David
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted: May 24th, 2026, 10:11 pm
by Grover Gardner
David McGown wrote:Shashi,
You are welcome. It is a nice 6SN7 Aikido implementation. Hard to beat a nice sounding 6SN7. Grover Gardner has this preamp, so the recommend was based on his experience with it (as well as my experience over the years with the Aikido topology of John Broskie in various preamps and gain stages). Really glad you have it running and are enjoying it.
Continued happy listening!
David
Yes, the SP14 is one of the great bargains in audio. Of course you can trick it out in a number of ways by upgrading the power supply and coupling caps etc. Also, if you hasven't tried the Bendix 5852 rectifier, you should!
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted: May 25th, 2026, 12:49 pm
by Cogito
Grover Gardner wrote:
Yes, the SP14 is one of the great bargains in audio. Of course you can trick it out in a number of ways by upgrading the power supply and coupling caps etc. Also, if you hasven't tried the Bendix 5852 rectifier, you should!
Thx Grover, I will order Bendix 5852.
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted: May 25th, 2026, 1:18 pm
by SoundMods
Cogito wrote:Grover Gardner wrote:
Yes, the SP14 is one of the great bargains in audio. Of course you can trick it out in a number of ways by upgrading the power supply and coupling caps etc. Also, if you hasven't tried the Bendix 5852 rectifier, you should!
Thx Grover, I will order Bendix 5852.
I agree. The 5692 is a 6SN7 on steroids. It's built like a tank -- has very low micro-phonics -- although it was designed for the riggers of aviation (before solid state) those vary characteristics tend to serve music. The icing on audio cake? They're rated for 10,000 hours MTBF. RCA was the prime contractor for Bendix, G.E., Sylvania versions to name a few. In my system the high-gain version 5691 gets the job done in my Cary SET power amps.
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted: May 25th, 2026, 1:55 pm
by Grover Gardner
I agree about the 5692, but I was referring to the 5852, Bendix's version of the 6X5. Frankly, the 6X5 is kind of puny-sounding, though it does the job. The Bendix version lends a deep, rich sound to the SP14.