Eros finished, first listen today.

[Noskipallwd]

Finished the Eros yesterday, voltage checks were all good. Drove home in a blizzard this morning and decided I needed to relax before bed. So I hooked up the eros, just a little hum and a bit of tube rush but not bad at all for first run. I put on Ray Lynch "Deep Breakfast", always the first album I play through new gear. It is a very dynamic piece with incredible soundstage. First impressions, wow! The first surprise I had was the gain, did not expect that much, but it has alot of headroom which is always good. Second surprise, how much better it sounds than my Hagerman CornetII right out of the box, stock tubes and no burn in. The eros soundstage is well defined even with headphones, and it has detail in spades. Very glad I decided to build it, worth every penny. Think I will roll some tubes in the next couple days. Oh, and by the way, I am sure Jim will want to know, the eros is a fantastic match with the Concept and the Ortofon 2M Black!

Cheers,
Shawn

[Jim R.]

Shawn,

Thanks for the report :-).  Glad it is working and sounding so good  in it's infancy.  Deep Breakfast -- now there's an album I haven't heard in about 20 years!  Actually only had it on CD back in the day.

Yeah, and what's with the weather?  It was 85 degrees a couple of days ago and the dog came in this morning with snow all over her!  Definitely not spray painting weather today -- looks like I'll have to wait a couple of days for that.

Enjoy, and again, thanks for the report!

-- Jim

[coca]

Shawn, thanks for your report, especially the comparison to the cornet phonostage.
How about an indepth comparison when the Eros has fully broken in.

Bernie.

[Grainger49]

More in the Eros family!  Glad it went well.  You know, I don't hear of problems with the Eros these days.  I think the community has figured out all the kinks and builders check first.

I, too, am bemused with the snow story.  I'm sunburned from yard work and it is in the high 70s to low 80s here now.

[Noskipallwd]

Thanks, Gents! Sitting at work looking out the window and it's snowing like hell again. Well maybe they will get the forest fire put out now. Jim, I bought this copy of "Deep Breakfast" 20 years ago! Bernie, I will certainly give my full impressions after some time with the Eros, I am starting my 7 days off in the morning and plan on staining the Eros' base and alot of good quality burn-in time. I replaced the output and the .01uf RIAA caps with Mundorf silver oils so it will take a few hours to settle down. Maybe I should do a full ab review, considering I have 5 different phonostages in my possession at this time. The Eros, Hagerman CornetII, modified Jolida JD9, Clear Audio Nano and a Project PhonoboxII. I ask myself how the 'bleep' did I end up with all of this gear. Grainger, you are absolutely right! I read all the threads before the build so I was aware of most of the pitfalls, as well as the fact that Bottlehead has the best manuals in the business. I was almost disappointed that I had no troubleshooting at all! The Quickie should be on its way soon though. By the way Grainger, I got some russian teflon caps by accident, shipped with an order and not charged. The guy that sold them to me did not recognize them either. I almost asked him if they were secret KGB caps, but was not sure he would appreciate that bit of humor. They are 1uf 600 volts, I'll send a picture, maybe you can tell me what the heck they are for. (the vendor told me to keep them, maybe I was right!)

Cheers,
Shawn

[Grainger49]

Shawn,

Where are you? 

I am burning in (3 weeks) a pair of Mundorf 0.47uF Silver Gold for my Eros.  I couldn't pass up the Parts ConneXion  sale.

OMG ! ! !  And I don't use that much, in fact rarely.  I have never seen the 1uF KK Teflon.  I have heard tales of them from the KK sellers.  Even they say that this value/voltage is as scarce as hen's teeth.  Please send a picture next to a quarter or something to judge the size.  If you have trouble posting a picture I'll send some quick instructions.  It is best to get it hosted so you can insert it in the middle of the text.

Who did you get them from?  I want, I want!

[Noskipallwd]

Just a little update, I rolled in a set of NOS valves today. Sylvania 12BH7A, Jan Sylvania 7308, and 2 GEC CV4085s. An immediate improvement, to both soundstage and detail. The image has more depth, you can hear instruments that are more forward or back. As far as detail, well I Listened to some Mozart piano concertos and I could hear the Pianist working the pedals on the piano, which I have never heard before. Kudos to Doc and Paul and everyone at Bottlehead for an amp that punches well above it's weight. I doubt you could find a pre-assembled commercial offering that sounds as good as the eros for less than $2000. Grainger I sent you a PM.
Cheers,
Shawn

[Jim R.]

Shawn,

I'm loving this living vicariously through you :-).

Today is looking to be a good painting day, so hope to finish the various bits for the stereomour and start on the Eros -- Eros is definitely next in line after the stereomour (which I'm also really itching to get playing.)

Hope you're enjoying the tunes on your days off.

-- Jim

[Noskipallwd]

Just wanted to relate my experience today. Mounted my Benz Glider-S LOMC on the Concept today, hooked up the Hagerman Picollo headamp to the Eros. Oh yeah, I like! The picollo headamp and the eros seem to be a very good match, no added noise that I could detect, which was my biggest concern. I built the headamp and it's seperate PSU carefully to keep it quiet. Elna cerafine caps, PRP resistors and Hammond shielded enclosures. I like the headamp better than the Cinemag SUT I have. The bass with this setup was a little overwhelming at first but I got used to it and am very happy, I think I will leave this setup alone for the forseeable future. Grainger, I think you will be very happy with the Mundorf silver/gold oil cap substitution!

Cheers,
Shawn