Bottlehead Kits > Stereomour II
Another Stereomour build
Carbon13:
Well, I finally finished my stereomour II and I have to say that it was so much fun to do this build! This kit was exactly what I was looking for in a first build, all the components were included, instructions were clear and support was available (and excellent!). As you can see by the pics, I painted the top plate a piano black and the transformers in silver. The base is a cabernet stain and finished to high gloss poly.
My only hiccup was during the voltage check I was getting a weird reading on one terminal (I forget which one off the top of my head) but then I noticed that one of the LEDs was out on the board. I had a tough time soldering that board because it's so small. Turns out that a bit of solder seeped through the back side of the board and shorted the LED on the front. I removed the access solder and voila! All good! I feel lucky I spotted the issue so quickly and was able to fix it.
So, first impressions. This amp is replacing a Fisher 500C tube amp that is about 10x the power, so keep that in mind. I really noticed the difference with this amp when I play Springsteen's Nebraska album. WOW! midrange was amazing. I could hear texture in his voice that I've never heard before. I recently have read reviews that talk about hearing "emotion". This would be an accurate description of what I was hearing on this album. Good start.
I next thought I would try stretching those 3.5 Watts with some Billie Eilish. This was a bit of a disappointment for me. My Fisher 500C driving my Klipsch Fortes usually hit me in the chest with bass with Billie. Not so with the Stereomour II. This lack of low end could be a deal breaker! But then I read on the forum that switching the 4ohm tap may improve the bottom end at the cost of some SPL. So I cracked out the soldering iron and switched over to the 4 ohm. And here comes the bass! Maybe not quite as robust as the Fisher but pretty darn close. Add in that stellar midrange and I think this amp is real winner!
I have noticed that the paint on the transformers seems to be "cracking" under the clear coat. I wonder if this just my shoddy painting or a result of heat? Anyway, not a major issue yet but may require a fix down the road.
Next steps: I'm going to live with the stock unit for a while and then do the upgrades incrementally (I bought them already so they're waiting in the wings). Once complete and I've listened for a while, I'll switch the Fisher back and in then make final decision on which to keep. But for now, the leader definitely is the Stereomour. Plus I built the damn thing so there's bragging rights too ;)
Thanks Doc and BH team!
johnsonad:
Very nice looking build! It's nice to have more than one amp.
debk:
Wow great job!
Karl5150:
Very nice build. The finish on the base looks deep, with an almost liquid quality from the poly.
Karl
Carbon13:
Thanks for the kind words! Yes, I'm super happy with the amp and I'm really enjoying discovering new sounds in old records! I've already started tube rolling with a couple of NOS Mullards CV4024s. That "mullard flash" is quite the fireworks show ;) Glad I read about that here before I tried them. They sound pretty good to my ears though.
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