Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Hi Rrsclyde,
I have mine configured as an integrated, with a Khozmo stepped attenuator. Out of curiosity, I thought that I might hook up my Morrison Audio ELAD (solid state) placing it between the source and one of the inputs, after calling Pete and asking if that was safe. At first, superficially, I thought that I preferred it, but I soon realized that the magic of the amp's timing and the way it exposed musicians intent, at least with this preamplifier, had been lost.
I'm glad that you asked about noise. It is not just quiet, but very quiet. My speakers are 102db efficient horns, and there is no noise to be heard with ear to speaker. I think that its one of the reasons for the clarity of the amps sound. And yes, it can be built as just an amp.
I would love to hear the Legend C-Cores with that new super preamp they are introducing.

Roxy,
I've heard that the Khozmo attenuator is a significant upgrade, but Brian steered me away from installing it from the get-go. He suggested getting the kit successfully built and burned in, and then perhaps doing that upgrade down the road. The part itself is about $180 on Partsconnexion.com, so it's not extremely pricey to retrofit.

Rebbi,
Don't sweat it. I doubt that it's a big difference. Users have been praising this amp for years, and that was before the many upgrades that have been incorporated since it first came out. You will be happy.

Hi Rebbi, We havent heard from you in a few days. How is the build coming?

Jetrexpro:
Hi!
I've had a busy work week and have only had sporadic time here and there to work on the kit. :-(
I've also offered to help Brian to edit the final version of the assembly manual for the Kit 1 2014 Edition, which is due to be ready for distribution by the end of the month. So that's taken some time, too.
So, in building my kit, I've been working with an incomplete, "beta" version of the build manual, which has somewhat slowed me down because it's necessitated a good number of Q and A emails back and forth between Brian and me. But I've learned a lot in the process and I feel confident that the new assembly manual will be very good.
As for the kit itself, I have the wires soldered to the Elma input selector switch and I'm just about ready to make the connections to the Driver Board and the RCA inputs. At that point, we'll be ready for power on (without tubes!) and voltage checks. So expect to see another blog post by the end of MLK day on Monday!