My snail pace M125 build is finally functional, sounds nice, still dialing and breaking it in plus fumbling around with assorted driver tubes (will have some spare GE 12bh7's - PM me if interested) Dragged this out for almost 6 months, but there was never any intention of trying to move fast. Long and winding road lead me to actually finish the wood TT plinth started 14 months ago plus collect and organize all the cabling behind my cabinet (Ha ha - the extra monoblock AC cord broke my threshold for cable clutter)
I made a handful of cosmetic (W.A.F. = thumbs up!!) and chassis modifications:
A dozen or so 1/4" vent holes in bottom chassis pan, one centered under each tube and others at corners.
Bolt on aluminum feet in place of stick on rubber.
Filtered IEC socket
Teflon silver plate wire
4 & 8 ohm output binding posts and some AudioPhool RCA plugs
Glass panel to cover driver board (total P.I.T.A. !! Failed my DIY glass fab attempt - needed to be rescued by professionals at local glass shop ...)
Wood "fenders" on the sides and a copper strip on front bottom to cover chassis seams.
Stainless hardware for tranny bell covers, defaulted to metallic black paint after mocking up with several colors.
Shot some metallic silver that was leftover from my TT rebuild over self etching primer on the quad caps - turned out surprisingly nice to my eye as the raw cap is, well, raw.
Thanks to Bob for ridiculously fast response to my occasional questions.
Cheers, Tim