Bottlehead at VSAC 2008

"I think the only room that I went nuts over was the Bottlehead room, which had a beautifully reconditioned Technics 1500 tape deck feeding Bottlehead amps and crossovers driving direct radiator speakers arranged in a line source.  I think the amps were 300B. (yup, they were stock Paramounts, Pete) The midrange driver was a good sounding but fairly inefficient 4 ohm 5 inch unit driven by four power amps in series, each with the output transformer connected to drive one ohm.  One power amp per woofer.  One power amp per tweeter.  Electronic plus passive crossover.  Four six inch ported woofers per side. Each speaker module used a small and narrow Parts Express cabinet laid on its side, driver centered. Cabinets were stacked.  Four woofer cabinets, one midrange cabinet, one tweeter cabinet.  Felt applied to front of cabinets. Woofer modules vented.  It was pretty wonderful.  Huge sound with a lot of nuance, air, inner detail, soundstage, and imaging. Bill (Van Winkle) and I were gaga over this system."

Pete Riggle, Pete Riggle Audio

"The Doc schooled us all in setting up a room once again. All I could say is wow.... how the hell he got all of that designed and assembled in a couple weeks is beyond me. Sound? Damn impressive and one you won't fully appreciate unless you have done something like this before."

Kevin Haskins, DIY Cable

"Well, certainly the Bottlehead room with the Wall O' Amps was a standout. I don't know why Doc's solderin' arm wasn't in a sling."

Dave Cope, Triode & Co.

Bottlehead At CES 2007 - Best of Show

"Folks, I've heard some mighty fine stereo systems over the years...But fed by the (Tape Project/Bottlehead) Technics tape deck and those Japanese oddball electronics from BA Labo, the Magico Model 6s reached a level of realism from full orchestra to solo voice that I've simply never heard matched."

-  Jonathan Valin, Best of Show CES 2007,The Absolute Sound, April/May 2007

Bottlehead Amp Building Class, 2006

Bottlehead at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2004 - Best Sound of Show

"If we were going by the usual "Best Sound of Show" standards and concentrated purely on the sound rather than attributes like impact, displacement, soundstaging, scale and weight which require free-air in-room speakers, Doc B. would have won, hands-down and with no possible disagreements." Srajan Ebaen, Sixmoons.com

"Doc B. showed off his new foray into the world of serious headphone listening with a prototype amplifier being fed by a Nagra tape unit. Really cool, but not for the faint of heart. The presentation left little to find fault with—the music was just there!" Dave and Carol Clark, Positive Feedback Online

Bottlehead at VSAC 2003 - Best Sound in the Show

"Best Sound in the Show" Dave Glackin, Positive Feedback Online

"Doc B.'s room (Bottlehead/MagneQuest/Progressive Engineering/Paul Stubblebine Mastering) was in an awful lot of ways the best of the show....The Doc has got some exceptional SET designs going these days… gorgeous to see, wonderful to hear. Quite a lot of work went into his setup, it's clear." David Robinson, Positive Feedback Online

"And finally, we come to the Bottlehead room. I don't care what they said at the Digital Shoot-off, the best source at the show was (the) Ampex 350 tubed, open reel tape deck." Rod Morris, Audio Asylum