Introducing one of the most remarkable musical instruments in the world, the BHK Signature Preamplifier. This exceptionally built vacuum tube preamplifier opens up the music and reveals nuances, life and space not previously heard on your system. It is the perfect interface between your sources and power amplifier. Designed by Bascom H. King, the BHK Signature distills Bascom’s 50 plus years of high-end audio design experience into a single masterpiece of audio amplification. “This is the best sounding preamplifier I have ever designed or heard,” and that’s saying a lot for a man of Bascom’s experience.
Preamplifiers play a critical role in any separates audio system, strategically positioned between sources of music: CD players, phono preamps, DACs, tape recorders and tuners – and your power amplifier – the preamp serves essential roles of control and isolation. Control is simple in concept, but extraordinarily difficult to design in an acoustically transparent manner. Control duties such as input switching, volume, balance, and amplification can place unwanted acoustic thumbprints on the music if not designed with extraordinary care. The challenge in any design is to do as little damage to music’s purity as possible. Details on how each section of the BHK Signature executes control with minimal sonic impact can be found in the Overview section on this page.
It comes complete with the much vaunted BHK headphone amplifier built-in, and if you’ve heard BHK’s The King or any of his work with headphones, you’ll appreciate what’s inside. It’s absolutely state of the art.
PerfectWave chassis, OLED display and stepped volume attenuator (same dimensions as DirectStream)
Tube input stage, zero feedback, based on gold-pin 12AU7
High current, low output impedance MOSFET output stage
Fully balanced input to output
High current oversized power transformer
Fully regulated power supplies using BHK designed MOSFET discrete voltage regulators (filaments regulated through LT regulators)
Full BHK designed zero feedback, discrete MOSFET headphone stage
Remote control
Volume and balance through a unique combination of gain and attenuation control for the lowest impact on music possible
Two output DC control triggers
Single ended and balanced outputs can be used together for different feeds or separate