[Monsterzero]

I'm pretty sure you've lived everywhere at one point, D.

I've lived in many places indeed. One of the perks of being a dj for Club Med

 

[gibosi]

Next week I will be in the Bahamas

The Bahamas? Is there an audio show there?

 

[L0rdGwyn]

I've lived in many places indeed. One of the perks of being a dj for Club Med

That sounds like a blast!

The Bahamas? Is there an audio show there?

Only audio show there will be me with some IEMs on the beach with a good book (but I might be secretly thinking about tubes ). I used to bring tube books on vacation, not anymore, probably a healthy choice lol.

If anyone needs a good beach read, highly recommend this one, it's a real page turner.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Tonight's listening - Philips GZ34, Philips EL34, RCA 5691.

 

[Zachik]

If anyone needs a good beach read, highly recommend this one, it's a real page turner.

Searched audible.com, but could not find the audio version...

 

[Xcalibur255]

Wow! To ignore a CC dispute is an impressive level of negligence. Well good you got your money back, maybe you can try again with a more reputable dealer.

I did vet this store looking for horror stories on online forums before ordering and didn't find anything that would raise eyebrows. They even sell the expensive limited edition RK versions of the KR tubes so there was nothing that raised any red flags. As soon as I had a problem and needed help though I didn't exist. Oh well, it's in the past now.

Enjoy that vacation. Hope it's a long one that truly lets to get a breather from work.

 

[whirlwind]

Next week I will be in the Bahamas

Good for you...enjoy Keenan.

 

[CJG888]

That sounds like a blast!



Only audio show there will be me with some IEMs on the beach with a good book (but I might be secretly thinking about tubes ). I used to bring tube books on vacation, not anymore, probably a healthy choice lol.

If anyone needs a good beach read, highly recommend this one, it's a real page turner.

I presume you have a portable tube amp for those IEMs…

 

[jonathan c]

That sounds like a blast!



Only audio show there will be me with some IEMs on the beach with a good book (but I might be secretly thinking about tubes ). I used to bring tube books on vacation, not anymore, probably a healthy choice lol.

If anyone needs a good beach read, highly recommend this one, it's a real page turner.

…could the 98-lb weakling also use a 98-lb transformer to impress the Funicellos….?

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Enjoy that vacation. Hope it's a long one that truly lets to get a breather from work.

Good for you...enjoy Keenan.

Thanks, it is badly needed, I am experiencing black cloud syndrome at work lately lol.

 

[cacacacaciiiiii]

Hiya,

I've recently bought/built the BHC (no speedball yet) for my Atrium. First time listening to tubes, and, more, please more!

I've been eyeing the Bottlehead site; Crackatwoa, Mainline, .. not just looking for more 'tube sound' but also the build process. (looking at their products, I'm leaning more towards the Crackatwoa than the Mainline.. OTL, more 'tube'-like sound).

In my indecisiveness I would buy both of those and give them a twirl.. that got me to thinking - why don't I build one of these myself? (got some hobbyist experience in the electronics field)

Being completely new at the tube amp thing - is a DIY project from scratch a possible way to come out with a 'better' amp than the Bottlehead offering? Or will there be limitations beyond skill, time, experience coming up rather quickly? E.g. if the Crackatwoa main improvement is the power supply but such a speciality item is only available from a place like Bottlehead - defeating the point of trying anything yourself.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Hi there - building your own amp is definitely an option, but it is a serious commitment, you have to hit the books and understand tube design before you can build your own amplifier. The end result could be better than a Bottlehead kit definitely, depending on what you design. There are power supply regulator kits available that will outperform the shunt regulator in the Crackatwoa and Mainline, the 21st Century Maida regulator from Neurochrome is an option, but as I said, some prerequisite electronics knowledge is required to properly implement it. The "tube sound" you are hearing is the sound of second harmonic distortion. The BHC is a fairly basic tube amp design and as such has somewhat high distortion. Improvements upon it will lower distortion, which will increase clarity and soundstage. The question then becomes do you like this less distorted sound? Most people do. Trying the Speedball before anything else might be a good way to assess this. There are also numerous OTL schematics around the web, lots on diyAudio.

 

[cacacacaciiiiii]

Hi there - building your own amp is definitely an option, but it is a serious commitment, you have to hit the books and understand tube design before you can build your own amplifier. The end result could be better than a Bottlehead kit definitely, depending on what you design. There are power supply regulator kits available that will outperform the shunt regulator in the Crackatwoa and Mainline, the 21st Century Maida regulator from Neurochrome is an option, but as I said, some prerequisite electronics knowledge is required to properly implement it. The "tube sound" you are hearing is the sound of second harmonic distortion. The BHC is a fairly basic tube amp design and as such has somewhat high distortion. Improvements upon it will lower distortion, which will increase clarity and soundstage. The question then becomes do you like this less distorted sound? Most people do. Trying the Speedball before anything else might be a good way to assess this. There are also numerous OTL schematics around the web, lots on diyAudio.

Awesome! Have been reading through this thread and saw your references to some reading material on the topic.

Read somewhere tonality is heavily influenced by the power supply regulator, and BH having proprietary ones got me worried - but that might just be so people can’t flat out copy the schematics and go around BH in their build. Your response got me more confident to do this.

One question on the side. With the current iteration/addons available to the Stereomour II. Any reason it wouldn’t be superior to the Mainline as a headphone amp given some tweaks and the lower noise floor through the DC filament supply upgrade? Probably a very specific question but I’ve seen you comment on some of their stuff.

Thanks!!

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Awesome! Have been reading through this thread and saw your references to some reading material on the topic.

Read somewhere tonality is heavily influenced by the power supply regulator, and BH having proprietary ones got me worried - but that might just be so people can’t flat out copy the schematics and go around BH in their build. Your response got me more confident to do this.

One question on the side. With the current iteration/addons available to the Stereomour II. Any reason it wouldn’t be superior to the Mainline as a headphone amp given some tweaks and the lower noise floor through the DC filament supply upgrade? Probably a very specific question but I’ve seen you comment on some of their stuff.

Thanks!!

I wouldn't say to tonality is most heavily influenced by the regulator, maybe others have had different experiences. Tonality is affected by everything, tubes chosen, topology, signal path components, brand and type of capacitor and where and how capacitors are used in the signal path greatly affect tonality. It's hard to say it is any one thing.

Yes BH, Paul Birkeland in particular, have made their own regulators. But there are many types of voltage regulators, both tube and silicon based, and information available on their design. The 21st Century Maida regulator I mentioned is very high performing, it is a low dropout solid state voltage regulator using a regulator integrated circuit. That is the simplest high performing solution, but if you were feeling ambitious, you could try design your own! Different regulators serve different purposes, the most basic function is to filter ripple, and a very simple series regulator can accomplish this. More advanced regulators utilize negative feedback to achieve a low output impedance in addition to filtering. Lots of options.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Sorry I am about to get in a submarine, I'll answer re regulators and Stereomour when I resurface.