Opinions sought: paramour II 2a3 or Paramount 1.1 2a3?

[Jim R.]

I'm just seekingg some opinions from those who have, or who have heard both of these amps in their systems in an attempt to get me focused on a definite direction. I've asked a couple of people privately offline, but I'm also throwing it out here to see what folks might have to say. I do very much like the sr-45 and it does some simply amazing things, but I think that overall the sound is just a tad on the thin side for me. The 2a3 has been my go-to  tube ever since I heard my first one many years ago and now I have a sizeable stock of iron and other parts and can build either a paramount 1.1 in 2a3 configuration (one of the few BH amp configs I've not heard at all) or a very nice paramour II with the shunt regulated, soft-start paramount driver board and the 5670 for the gain tube.

Speakers will be single wideband driver, crossoverless and with integrated mosfet isobaric sub  and 97/98 db sensitive and a super easy load.

I'm afraid that I'm caught up in a bit of analysis paralysis and only can afford to build one set in an all-out configuration. I'm not worried about power, dynamics, immediacy, etc. what I'm looking for is the best overall musicality and tone, so whatever you guys with or who have heard both in your systems can tell me about that, I'd be very grateful for.

Thanks much,

Jim

[xcortes]

I am listening right now to a Paramour 1.1 with tfa2004 Ni, exo 003, bcm 08s in the ps and auricaps. Nice NOS tubes.

And have in my HT Paramour 2s (not sr drivers) with exo 050 Ni, exo 003, rgc 06s in the ps.

Have never heard them back to back but when I first tried my WE speakers was with the Paramours and I enjoyed them tremendously. That in spite of them having the Sovtek 2A3 which I compared last week to my RCAs and sounded like crap.

Not much help I guess. Of course the Paramours will have more filament hum but I use them on the HT 97dB speakers, the back ones are very close and hum is not intrusive. And you'll need an extra cap for coupling.

The Paramour should be an easier build.

You really can't go wrong either way.

If you give me a few days I could do a back to back comparison but I need to do some changes to the 050s secondaries to make them 4 ohm.

You looking for the best musicality and tone? That's what I privilege and what my WE do best.

Give me a few days. The Barclay Crocker Mozart Ciola and violin duos tape and the WE are, as keto said, the perfect sommelier for the test.

[johnsonad]

I prefer the 5670 over the 12AT7 driver and I wrote a bit on the 1.1 Paramounts in the past.  A shut regulated PS would be nice no matter what the final is. It's nice to be stuck between two great choices

[xcortes]

I need to build something for my office 755As ( Altec, not WE) and have the pt2s that I purhased with the group buy along with Co bcps and Co pinstripes 2004jrs. Also have the paramount 1.0 boards and a few pairs of pgp pts as well as mq ps chokes so I can also go Paravlow with paramount drivers or Paramour with paramount drivers. So I will also benefit from my experiment

[Jim R.]

Thanks Xavier -- I'm trying to decide between paramour II and paramount 1.1, not the flavors of paramours, but I see what you're saying.

I'm leaning to the paramounts, partly based on what Aaron has said and what others have said elsewhere and in private. though it's also pretty obvious that they would both be fine choices.

After all, there is really no way to precict how one will sound as compared to the other until they are actually built, broken-in and a good deal of listening has happened with each.

Thanks guys!

-- Jim

[xcortes]

My post said: "I am listening right now to a Paramour 1.1 with tfa2004 Ni, exo 003, bcm 08s in the ps and auricaps. Nice NOS tubes.

Should have said: "I am listening right now to a Paramount 1.1 with tfa2004 Ni, exo 003, bcm 08s in the ps and auricaps. Nice NOS tubes.


Let me know if you want me to run the test over the weekend.

The only difference would be premium caps on the Paramount vs brownie/Solen on the Paramours.

[Jim R.]

Hi Xavier,

No, I just read through a bunch of your and others' posts on the paramount board and I've decided that I'm going to build the paramounts first. It just seems like the place I'll likely end up anyway, so why not start there :-).

Thanks for the clarification and offer to experiment, but you should enjoy your listening time.

-- Jim

[johnsonad]

Jim, you may want to give 300B's a try at some point especially with a Paramount build. 

[Jim R.]

Hi Aaron,

Probably not advisable given that I'll be using the dowdy 60 mA plat chokes, and I don't have anything with a higher current rating anyway.

-- Jim

[johnsonad]

You can run the 300B as a 2A3 in the Paramount. Just leave the filaments set for 300B. 

[xcortes]

Or run a 2.5V 300B which is what me and a couple of other BHs did last week with my Paramounts.

We ran the Sovteks, my old RCAs and a pair of TJ300Bs 2.5v.

When we put the 300B in I was immediately reminded of an old post by PJ (I think) who qualified the 300B sound as technicolor. Boy he was right!

[johnsonad]

Which Xavier suprises me as we both love the BeePr though you are running a 6v 2A3 in yours.  Is it the OP of the 300B that does it? I remember reading that running a 300B at the 2A3 OP in the Paramount will give you a closer to 2A3 sound. PJ posted something to that effect some time past saying the curves are nearly identical.  I've read elsewhere that you can get a close to 45 sound out of the 300B with something like 350v, 60mA, 5k load.

[Jim R.]

It still won't be the same as a 300b at it's proper operating point, etc., and yes, I could easily run the jj 2a3 40s at 8 watts by keeping the filaments at 2.5v and adding the coupling cap and changing the necessary components to set for the 300b operating point, but then I'm back to needing more current capacity for the plate chokes. If I had some bac-80s, no problem, but this is not going to be built as an ammp to hack up and try new iron, etc. in -- I'll be able to do some of that with the sr-45s I have now, but these are going to be pretty much designed around the iron and parts I have collected, including the two nice 1/8" x 10" x 13" ofc copper top plates. The PT endbells are getting brass plated now and then the copper will get nickel plated before it all goes together, and then some of that nice teak for the bases.

Xavier, where did you get those ps chokes? What are their ratings? I'll definitely have room for them in the new chassis.

-- Jim

[xcortes]

Old mQ stuff.

[Paul Birkeland]

The 5670 driver stage is a nice improvement, especially since you have a preamp. 

Do you have PT-2's for your build, or PGP 8.1's?