New Stereomour is born

[Samsquatch]

Hello BH forum,

Finished up my stock SII this week. I've been listening for a few days now with zero issues. I went with Audio Note balance and volume pots because I really liked the improvement with the Alps Blue in my Crack (I says Pardon?) but couldn't get the Alps at the time of ordering and figured it would be an improvement over the stock supplied ones. I also installed some Solen Silver 3.3uF caps and actually have some .1uF for the driver stage that I totally missed dropping in at the time of the build so I'll get to them after the DC filament and Shunt Regulator upgrades and many hours of listening.

Anyways, I'm not very versed in the way of describing how it sounds but I would have to say there's a better presentation from my Fostex FE126ENs. Better imaging or soundstage I guess would be my impression. I'm extremely happy and the darn thing is just gorgeous. And this thing really cranks up and doesn't overdrive the tubes at all. Not that I listen to music super loud but you gotta go there sometimes. The Smash/Seductor combo would fall apart at high levels but still love them.

A couple questions because they come to mind. Why use 3K and 2K Ohm resistors in parallel from the hum pots and not just a 5K? Also, should this thing be dead quiet with the hum adjustment? I can get it so close but there's still some perceivable hum if you're really listening for it. Will it get quieter with the DC filament upgrade?

Now what do I do with that Smash and Seductor? Any and all suggestions will be appreciated and considered!

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes, the DC filament upgrade drops the noisefloor significantly. 

The 2K and 3K resistors are in parallel to make a 1200 ohm resistor.  At the time we put out the Stereomour I, we had 1.6K 10W resistors with a 4.7K resistor across it so you could clip out the 4.7K resistor as part of the conversion to #45 tubes.  With Steroemour II, the #45 conversion is way more involved, but it would still be easier to only have to clip out the 3K resistor, then put an ~8K resistor across it for the change.  It's also far easier to fit two 5W resistors in that space rather than a 10W part.  We are able to put lots of ventilation around those parts to better get the heat out, and the resistor bodies stay way away from the power supply caps.

I like the copper colored top plate!

[Samsquatch]

Thanks PB. All of my BH products have the same finish. Before I even started I had seen a picture of a similar scheme and really liked it. It also received the bosses approval for our living room presentation. It's also been a long time since I've done any electrical learning and totally forgot that resistors in parallel and series calculate much differently. 

[Gerry E.]

OT: Did I Miss the Memo?

For the last 6 months or so, I have noticed people posting great photos of their builds, etc.  However, most of them are really large in size.  While the detail is excellent, it's hard to see the complete component because it doesn't fit on my screen (iPad or desktop monitor).  Did I miss a memo on how to fix this (i.e. some default option)?  Anyone else having this problem?

Sorry to have hijacked your thread Mike but I have been meaning to post this for awhile and you are the lucky winner!  :-)
 
Gerry 

[Doc B.]

Don't know why it does that, I have the same problem on my PCs. Easiest is to right click on the image, then open in new tab.

[2wo]

On my iPad if I click the thumbnail I get the huge image but if I click on on the link/label under it, it opens in a new tab at a manageable size...John

[Gerry E.]

Don't know why it does that, I have the same problem on my PCs. Easiest is to right click on the image, then open in new tab.

On my iPad if I click the thumbnail I get the huge image but if I click on on the link/label under it, it opens in a new tab at a manageable size...John

Now I have solutions for both the PC and iPad, thanks Doc and John!  One might think that I would have tried the label/link on the iPad or selected it by accident but if I did I probably just assumed that the photo was sized right. 

Gerry     

[Karl5150]

Nice tidy build viewed from either side of the plate.
Karl

[Samsquatch]

Thanks Karl

[robertod]

Yes photo so large had to reduce screen size... this would happen when I would click on the pic.  So I tried clicking on the description, ie. bottom.jpg  and the image would show up perfect didn't have to reduce screen size.
It worked for me hope it works for you guys.