Made up my mind on the stereomour

[Jim R.]

Yes, when it's available, I'll be getting one.  After listening to Paul's "paswen) Paramour IIs, I think the Stereomour will do very nicely in my system and built as a 45 amp.

Will the new CCS board be part of this kit, and then will it be possible to use a 5670 driver?  Knowing that it has a gain of 35 vs. 60 for the 12at7, of course.  Paul's have a 6j5, which is more like 20, and I appear to have plenty of drive for even that from my dac/ldr attenuator setup.

Nothing at all wrong with the Paramounts, mind you, but it's more money, electrical outlets are at a premium, and I'm still saving for that dac :-).

-- Jim

[Paul Joppa]

The new board will become the standard board for all applications, eventually. It's kind of a Franken-board given all the variations possible, but the economics of scale are daunting with custom PC boards...

The filament power for the driver is 12 volts, so no 5670s. But remember, Stereomour has a volume control. You can turn the gain down to whatever you want. and there are plenty of 12-v tubes - the 5965 is fairly similar to the 5670, for example. If you're driving a 45, which has half the Miller capacitance of a 2A3, you might think of the 6072.

[Jim R.]

Ah, ok, didn't realize the filament voltage was 12v.  I suppose a 5751 would also work, and I have quite a few nice flavors of those.  5965s can be really nice too, and I have a NOS pair of tele diamond base ecc81s if I just want to leave well enough alone :-).

-- Jim

[Paul Birkeland]

The filament power for the driver is 12 volts

How much current is that winding able to deliver?

[Paul Joppa]

Looks like about 0.5 amps RMS maximum.

[Jim R.]

Well, the wait is over and the deed is done... I placed my order for Stereomour #1 yesterday.  This amp will go in the living room system with the Cornwalls.

A little while ago I had an opportunity to buy a rare pair of Fi 2a3 monos, and did so for my office system.  These are rare because they very seldom come up used, but even more so because this one of three pairs that Don ever built with Tamura amorphous core OPTs.  Anyway, as much as I would have liked to have a pair of Paramounts, this was kind of a no-brainer as they cost me roughly the same as a tricked-out pair of paramounts would have eventually cost me anyway..  So the Stereomour was the logical choice, and given the nice looking initial results and the fact that I've really come to love the 2a3, and all the good stuff that Bottlehead represents, all add up to make this something I'm really looking forward to -- both the building and tweaking, and of course the listening.

Thanks to the whole BH crew for coming up with what promises to be another classic BH amp, and especially thanks for a stereo integrated -- monos and a pre would not be possible in my living room setup.

-- Jim

[Paul Birkeland]

I'm sure you'll love the amp. Having listened to a sub optimal prototype or two, this is an excellent design, and PJ's iron really makes the amp a substantial upgrade from any of the stock Paramours of the past!

[Jim R.]

PB,

Great to hear, especially since there are so many satisfied Paramour I and II owners out there.  I had a pair of the IIs on loan here for a little while and I too really like them even though the owner said the upgraded transformers were less than ideal.

Should be a blast!

-- Jim

[Paul Birkeland]

Oh, I would say the old Paramour upgrade iron was really nice, especially the complete package from Magnequest.  The stock Specos were, however, less than ideal in a lot of ways, but they really helped get the kit out at an attractive price point.