Return to Akitika Home Page

Quick Navigation
PR101 Customer
Testimonials
Assembly Manuals Specifications
Schematics Akitika Store Upgrade your PR-101
PR102 Review Phono Preamp Headphone Amp

You Can Build the PR-102 Stereo Preamplifier Kit

PR-102 Stereo Preamplifier, 2021 version, black, front view

PR-102 Preamp, version shipping as of October 2021. Note that previous version had silver knobs and a different tone-volume board.

PR-101/PR-102 Stereo Preamplifier Remote Control

Select source, change volume and balance, without leaving your favorite listening spot (remote control not to scale).

Ready for Immediate Shipment

We have kits in stock and can ship your order within 1 business day of its receipt

There are 4 ways you can order a PR-102 preamplifier:

What is it?

The PR-102 is a Stereo Preamplifier kit. It is the successor to the popular PR-101 Stereo Preamplifier. Compared to the PR-101, it adds the following two new features:

You can build a PR-102. It's a good looking preamp that sounds great! You can build it and listen to it today, but it has 3 option slots that let you extend its capabilities in the future. Here's a quick list of the features and benefits:

PR-101 Stereo Preamplifier Back View

PR-102 Preamp Back Panel (showing optional gold plated input jacks).

Buy the PR102NR and Save $80

The PR102NR has No Remote control, and doesn't supply motor pots for volume and balance controls. That lets us pass $80 in savings on to you, so the preamp costs just $379 plus $26 shipping in 48 states. Yes, you'll have to get out of your favorite listening chair to adjust volume and balance, and change your input and output selections, but you'll save $80!

PR-101 Stereo Preamplifier Top View with Lid off

PR-102 completed. View with the lid removed.

Assembly Manuals

Here's the assembly manual for both the PR102 and for PR102NR shipped after September 2021. The main difference is a new version of the tone-volume board.

Obsolete manuals covering older versions may be found at the bottom of this page. Please don't use the obsolete manuals unless you are building a kit that was squirreled away in someone's closet!

Note also that we've placed the schematics in the PR-102's manual.

Specifications

Here are a few of the specifications that I've had time to post. I'll add more specs as time allows.

Distortion Tests (dB relative to fundamental, Zload=100K unless otherwise stated, tone controls off unless otherwise stated)
Frequency Input (vrms) Output (Vrms) 2nd harmonic 3rd harmonic 4th harmonic 5th harmonic
1 kHz 0.1 0.7 - < -120 < -120 < -120
1 kHz 1 1 -120 -132 -135 -
1 kHz 1 7 -113 -117 -135 -130
1 kHz 4 7 -109 -121 -137 -127
1 kHz (tone controls on, but flat) 4 7 -110 -120 -137 -126
1 kHz (tone off, 600 Ohm load) 1 2.5 -125 -112 -122 -118
100 Hz, 600 Ohm load 1 2.63 -122 -122 -131 -131
10 kHz 2 7 -96 * * *

Power Supply Capability

The PR102 accommodates option cards to add additional functions. The amount of stuff that can be added is limited by the available power from the power supply. A conservative specification for that power is:

Power Drain of the stock kit

About the Value

Why just $499 for the PR102 kit? Just $419 for the kit with no remote? I really don't know why I sell these kits at such a reasonable price. When you consider:

At $419 for the PR102NR kit (no remote control, no motor pots for volume and balance), you still get all the benefits of the PR102. You'll just have to get out of your favorite listening seat to adjust balance or volume, or select among the various sources and outputs.

How Do You Get One?

We have a limited number of PR102 and PR102NR preamp kits in stock today. Visit the Akitika Store now to order your kit.

What Isn't in the Stock Preamp?

The stock preamp doesn't have a built-in phono preamp. It didn't make sense to include it in the basic preamp, since many folks don't do vinyl these days. However, you can read about the Phono Preamp here

The stock preamp doesn't have a headphone amp. There's a front panel jack for it so that it's easy to add, but once again, the headphone amp isn't part of the standard PR-102.

Gold Plated RCA Jacks come standard!

PR-102 Gold plated RCA Input Jacks

Testimonials

Lots of happy customers!

I've started to collect and post reviews and reflections by folks who have built the PR-101. I've posted a few testimonials here for you to look at. Since the PR-102 is new, we don't have testimonials available to share yet.

If you've built a PR-102, please send me your thoughts. If you'd like me to share them, also send along your permission for me to to post them.

Bob Grossman's Review of the PR-101

Bob has a lot of crazy high end equipment. He reviews for AV showrooms, is a fine musician, and is principal librarian for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Here's his review of the kit.

Upgrade your PR-101

You can get the PR102 additional functions (MONO and HUSH) into your PR101. Just order the TV102UK (Tone Volume Upgrade Kit). It's compatible with the PR101 controller

You build it using the PR-102 manual, following the instructions on building the Tone Volume board, with a few very important exceptions, as as outlined in this document.

Please note that we don't have labels available for either the remote or the PR-101 to redefine F3 and F4...you'll just have to know.

Any Questions?

Submit a Question

Schematics

Complete schematics can be found in the manual.

Known Bugs

There are no known bugs at present.

Pictures While Building

Here's a gallery of pictures taken by one of my customers, Marc, while assembling his PR101. It also includes pictures taken while building the phono preamp (not included in the base price of the kit). Assembly of the PR-102 is very similar, and we hope to have pictures available of the PR-102 assembly process shortly.

...

Obsolete Assembly Manuals

Here's the assembly manual for both the PR102 and for PR102NR shipped prior to September 2021. Please don't use this manual unless you have an older, unassembled unit.

Return to Akitika Home Page

Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict