Paramour

delivery status

7/13/06 - Sold out! Thanks for making the Paramour one of our most popular kits for the past 7 years. We will keep this page active for archival reference. The Paramour II has replaced the original Paramour and may be found here

A legacy of great sound at great price - just $599 - Now shipping with Sovtek monoplate 2A3s

The Paramour kit is a pair of single ended parafeed 2A3 monoblocks. Everything is included in the kit except solder. Price is $599 Yes, you read that right, $599 for a pair of single ended parafeed 2A3 amps, with tubes. 

Our head of research and development, Paul Joppa, worked hard to give us an elegant design. The amp uses a 12AT7 tube with our unique C4S active load as the driver. The driver stage is R-C coupled to the Sovtek 2A3 and the 2A3 operates in parallel feed output mode. The power supply uses ultrafast soft recovery rectifiers and a C-R-C filter. Metal film resistors and polypropylene capacitors are used in the signal path. Filaments are AC and a hum balance potentiometer is employed on the 2A3. The parafeed coupling capacitor is a high quality Solen type. The chassis is laser cut .062" thick brushed aluminum and the wood base kit supplied is milled from beautiful Pacific Northwest alder. High quality gold plated RCA jacks are included as well as quality ceramic and micanol tube sockets and high purity long crystal copper magnet wire for the ground buss. All wiring is point to point. What all this means is that you have a classic, simple, elegant circuit which exhibits the resolution and musicality that a single ended directly heated triode like the 2A3 is capable of producing, at a price that is about half that of the next closest competitor.

Power is 3.5 watts at 5% THD at 1kHz. Bandwidth is -3dB at 25 Hz and 37 kHz. Hun is typically less than 2mV RMS. Input impedance is 270K ohms, output taps are 8 and 4 ohms, and the amp can also be configured for 16 ohm speakers. We recommend speakers of 96+dB sensitivity for serious listening with all kinds of music. 93 db speakers are satisfactory for less stringent requirements (chamber music, soft jazz, acoustical) and smaller rooms, and we even use a pair of Paramours in our shop with some 87 dB sensitivity monitors for non-intrusive background music. Sonics are hard to describe in print - suffice it to say that Paramour sounds like the very good SE2A3 amp it is. The parafeed output and C4S active load give the amp a remarkable sense of realism, bandwidth and bass articulation, particularly considering the price.

Yes, a beginner can build it!

This kit was designed from the get-go as an introduction to the wonders of DIY audio and single ended sound. Construction is just plain easy. The design is so simple that there's just not much under the chassis. We've a reputation for the best assembly manuals in the business, and a detailed 48 page manual is included with step by step instructions and large color photos of the finished amp from several angles. You don't even need to be able to read a schematic, but of course one is included. We even include soldering tips for beginners. A couple of fun evenings work will have you up and running. Check out is simple, just a few resistance readings and voltage readings, and you're ready to play music. And don't forget another important resource, the bottlehead forum, an online forum where fellow bottleheads will answer your construction and troubleshooting questions. NEW 1/25/04 - Here's a cool website by bottlehead enthusiast Wardsweb, showing the detailed construction of a particularly gorgeous pair of Paramours. 

You'll need a 30-40 watt soldering iron and some solder, a volt-ohmmeter, some simple hand tools like a screwdriver, pliers, and a wire stripper, and some glue, sandpaper and your favorite finish for the wood base. You may also want to try some interesting finishes on the above chassis components. The Paramour in the picture above has had the transformers sprayed with Krylon flat black, and a clear polymer finish applied to the alder base. For some more extreme finishing ideas, look here and here

April 2001 - PARAMOUR UPDATED

We have decided to update the original circuit to incorporate the C4S active load on the driver stage. This will significantly decrease noise and hum levels and increase the linearity of the driver stage. The previous version of the kits averaged about 20-30mV RMS hum with Valve Art 2A3s. With the C4S installed the hum level is reduced by approximately a factor of ten, to about 2mV RMS. Subjectively the C4S will also improve the transient speed and image localization of the amps. The change is not subtle and we feel that our customers will find the improvement significant.

C4S update to existing Paramour kits

We also offer the Paramour C4S upgrade to current owners of the original Paramour kit for $49. Call 360-697-1936.

Need a preamp to go with your Paramours?

Frequently Asked Questions

Paramour Iron and Capacitor Upgrade Kit - Sold Out

The final run of this kit has been sold out. Thanks for your support!

delivery status

The Paramour Iron and Cap upgrade offers several cost effective improvements to the stock Paramour kit. The stock parafeed output transformer is replaced with a custom-built-for-Bottlehead parafeed output transformer with greater inductance and double the power handling of the stock unit. The upgrade transformer comes with 4,8 and 16 ohm taps for easy matching to most speakers. To get the best performance possible the new output transformer is matched to a MagneQuest BCP-15 plate loading choke. With 40 Henries of inductance, the brass channel frame mounted BCP-15 choke is the same one used in our custom order Excite 45 amp kit. To complement the capabilities of these quality inductors ICW Clarity Caps are included to replace the stock interstage and parafeed output coupling capacitors. All the wire and hardware required to mount the new parts is included in the kit as well. The stock plate loading choke is retained, being rewired to function as a power supply filter choke. The complete installation instructions are online, via the link below.

Paramour iron and cap upgrade assembly instructions

The result of adding this upgrade is improved bass response and power bandwidth, better resolution, and a more quiet background. 

The upgraded Paramour amp shown here has also been upgraded with our Big Stud binding posts which can both be found on our Parts page.

Paramour Iron and Cap Upgrade Kit - two custom Bottlehead output transformers, two MagneQuest BCP-15s, Clarity Caps and hardware, $219 plus shipping

Paramour Iron Upgrade Impressions

Parmours LIVE LARGE!!!!!!

Posted by margaritafred on December 12, 2004 at 07:35:01

I'm listening to the just finished 'Mours as I type and I couldn't be more happy! Only 2 hours of break-in! I'm actually very amazed because I built them out the chute as follows:

Paramours/Pink Sheets/C4s Upgrade/Iron & Cap Upgrade & finally Wardsweb wiring scheme! Boy do you have to keep checking back & forth to keep track of where you are! I planned on doing it this way for some time because I wanted a clean wiring scheme. Upgrades to my foreplay have created quite a birds-nest!

Anyway, these things are dead quiet & CLEAN!! Highs have incredible sparkle & midrange soundstage is DEEP. Can't speak to bass because I biamp but these things sound like they have 1,000 hours on them!

I have a busy Sunday ahead of me and for some reason I can't get out of my seat! Love this stuff.

Fred 

I got the Paramour Iron & Cap Upgrade for my birthday a week and a half ago, installed it last weekend, and it’s now well along the way breaking in. Great improvement across the board in the sound of the Paramours! Takes the bass to a whole new level- goes deeper, with lots more detail. You can hear the bowings of the basses in orchestral music, and really hear the plucking, etc. on string basses in jazz. The attack and decay of the bass notes is very tight and realistic. The mids and high notes are also much clearer and better defined. Can clearly hear the different tones when the violins and flutes are doubling melodies in Mozart’s 40th. Dynamics (which were already good) and vocals are much better. Everything’s a big step up with all types of music.

Also hearing lots of sounds in live recordings I didn’t notice before. In Ahmad Jamal’s “But Not for Me” recorded live at the Pershing (a classic), you can hear much more “crowd” noise in the background. Playing it right after installing the upgrade on only one amp, we heard voices that sounded like they were coming from around the corner of the room, and it was people in the audience. Brings the club right into the living room. That’s a sound stage!

One note on the value- right after installing the upgrade in one amp, with no break in and the original tubes that came with the kit, it sounded way better than the unmodified amp that had a Tektronix/Telefunken 12at7 and a NOS RCA 2A3 in it. If you’re going to put money into better sounds, the upgrade is more cost effective than expensive tubes. However, the upgrade with the better tubes sounds that much better again! My evaluation relates to the new iron only, as I already had Auricaps for interstage couplers, and Clarity Caps for parafeed caps.

Doc and P.J. have done it again! If you don’t have a birthday coming up, there’s always Christmas…

back to Products

 

Paramour Impressions

Foreplay III + Paramour = Musical Ectasy

Posted by Posternutbag (A) on March 28, 2005 at 15:17:22

Being new to this whole world of tube-based glory and having spent loads of money in the past on various SS receivers, amps, etc., I figured it would be a good time to share with you my experience this past weekend getting to really enjoy the fruits of my labor...Due to some poor Bay Area weather all weekend and a head cold I've been nursing, I had a nice chance to spend many hours going through some of the favorites of my live music collection...My current setup is a pair of slightly modded paramours (built Jan/Feb 05) and my recently completed Foreplay III (finished last week)...I'm using a Tosh 3960 (unmodded) as my source and a pair of Experience Music Life Monitors for speakers paired with a Pinnacle Baby Boomer sub....DIY interconnects (Belden 89259) and DIY power cables (Belden 19364)...Anyways, I was blown out of the water by the wave of music emanating from my new system this weekend...Jerry's voice and guitar from some late 70's JGB was unreal, downright emotional...with your eyes closed, you'd swear he was 10 feet in front of you...same with some more recent live phish recordings, the attack and edge were vibrant/bone-chilling and you could hear everyone in the mix so well...My wife and I spent 6 hours juggling discs, lying on the couch relishing the music...

Thanks Doc and everyone who's helped...I'm a happy convert! This weekend alone was worth all the money and effort...The iron and cap upgrade is next...then some DIY speakers...then a tubeDac...what a fun journey!

Scott 

Right channel Paramour born 12/21/04

Posted by Cantskienuf on December 22, 2004 at 09:49:09

Again, no buzz, no hum, no hiss. In fact, as I was letting it warm up I walked past the speaker and for a moment I thought that I had forgotten to turn on the amp - but I hadn't, it is just that quiet (and I haven't adjusted the hum pots from the center testing position). Of course, that was on a 92 db speaker. I guess that might be my next project. Measurements of this unit were very comparable to the left channel (didn't bring my notes in today). The first 30 minutes of music may have sounded a bit disappointing (probably the Auricaps notorious break-in requirement), but they are both coming in very nicely after about 10 hours of break-in. In fact, I couldn't leave them in the basement assembly area, I had to move them upstairs so that I could continue listening. 10 hours and they've already replaced the triode/pentode push-pulls in my primary listening room. They also sound much better in the circuit with my Foreplay than they did with the ASL grounded-grid pre-amp, but who knows if that is break-in related or not. I guess you could say I'm really happy! Now if I can find some RCA 2A3s and build a pair of Voigts.... 

Now performing locally -- The BottleHead Trio

Posted by tonyb on November 27, 2004 at 11:38:12

I have spent the last several hours listing to the Bottlehead Trio. Foreplay was born last August but had no one to play with. Paramour #1, a stock unit without the C4s, made it's debut last week -- and with Foreplay and an old test speaker sounded pretty good. Paramour #2 (complete with the C4S) made it's debut last night.

This morning I hooked them up to some Klipsch bookshelf speakers and they have been singing ever since. They easily outclass my solid state system which originally cost about twice what I have INVESTED (felt the need to emphasize that word) in the BottleHead units.

The stock Paramour is impressive, but the difference between that and the Paramour with the C4s in it is substantial. I've listened to songs where one channel seems to outshine the other, then switched the inputs at the Foreplay and replayed the same song, and now the other channel is the outstanding performer. What a diff! Maybe in a week or two I'll install the constant current source in Paramour #1, but I got to get my friends to hear these first.

Thanks Doc, Paul and Eileen. Also thanks go to Wardsweb whose guidance via his website has been instrumental to my success in putting these together. Also thanks to those on the board who advised me that I probably wouldn't want to do some of the stuff I was thinking on doing.

Who woulda thunk that a beancounter like me could build a stereo? That idea is almost as absurd as an attorney being able to build one.

TonyB 

 

WOW! I can't believe the level of sound quality this combination can deliver. I was absolutely blown away. I have read all the posts praising this gear but I had to add my own thoughts. I was a bit nervous being a die hard rock'n'roll fan that 3.5 watts would leave me hanging on some heavy tracks. I was WRONG, Paramours kick with bass like I have never heard. My current solid state system (thats the last time I mention that dirty phrase) consists of Krell monoblocked amps to PSB Stratus Bronze and a CAL audio CD w/tubed DAC. I still think this system sounds good but the foreplay, paramours, & Whamodynes sound better. I heard bass notes on Eagles Hotel California & Lenny Kravitz CD's that I never new were there. These babies are like magic and they only have about 4 hours on them. I can't wait for a Bottlehead DIY phonostage so I can get my analog rig on it. I can only imagine the sonic bliss in my future. As for now I will continue to use my 15 year old extra CD player I robbed from my garage system (it's to cold here in Nebraska to work on anything in the garage anyway) and hope Doc hurries with the phono stages I have been hearing about. To conclude let me say, if you are considering purchasing any of these items, everyday you wait is one day you will never get back to listen to these wonderful components. Thanks Doc and all your staff for great service, tech support, product.
This is the first in several installments of the "Paramour experience."

The building was fun !

Sound quality :

Even though they are not yet "run-in" properly , they have a very fluid midrange, and definition galore !!

You want to get all the sound that your source has to offer for the $, this is the way !

Bass is fast taught, tight, and deep.

Highs are very transparent, and the mids are super sweet.

Breaking them in will be a joy !


They are everything that Doc. says they are...believe it !!!

As for the wattage, I will run some test after 100 or so hours. The room filling sound on 90 dB speakers makes me a believer , that low power is very satisfying. The will not move the couch...but you can feel them "pecking at it". A huge sound stage, and this was a preliminary listen of 2 hours, with a solid state preamp.

Imagine the sound with the foreplay, which shall commence tomorrow and Wednesday !!

They are winners !

 

    First Seduction of a Paramour


Late last night, I received my new upgraded 2A3 tube amplifiers from Doc Bottlehead. I had a brief chance to listen to just a few tunes. But now, with the opening curtain barely off the stage, I will tell you my earliest impressions about how Paramours recite and play their lines.

Before the lead actor takes the stage, to recite his lines in the glare of the public eye, he paces backstage with the nervous trepidation of a child opening presents at Christmas.

Once I got the monoblock amps and tubes to my home (three light boxes), I fought to get the bubble wrapped and double bubble wrapped pieces released from their tight Styrofoam shells. Filled with excitement and worry, I was that actor – I was that child.

A strange cord emerged first – it was made of stiff black and green strands crisscrossed like DNA interwoven together. The small, 3.5 watt amps emerged next. They are the size of a tissue box, trimmed in the light tan of Ash wood. Compared to my 60 pound Class A monster amp these amps seem light and delicate.

Whereas the old Pioneer M-22 is a solid block of black caps, transformers and a twin racks of cooling fins larger than a refrigerator’s, the Paramours have a rust patina applied to their tiny transformers and a green top plate. They look like simply made jewelry or music boxes. Although sold in kit form, I ordered these units assembled, since I would probably hold the soldering gun by the wrong end.

With out any warm up, just the sub woofer disconnected, I slipped a silver piece of Diana Krall into the player, using shuffle for a random selection…and immediately noted the tasty delivery and timbre of the strings.

But a few bars were all that I got to hear, the movie, “Anna and the King,” intruded into my play. “Little miss sensitive ears” had started to watch it already – the hand made musical recreation instruments were relegated to home theater duty. But within a few minutes, it was noticeable that the voices had no hard edges – they seemed more natural and real. Unless something suddenly went drastically wrong, within those few initial minutes, the decision was made to keep these charming little babies.

I can hardly wait to run the diminutive pair through a real battery of sonic tests. I have a carousel of round silver dishes to please the pop and jazz palate; it will be interesting to pick out new flavors and smells from the food I regularly taste.

The twin Paramours have a thin tin metal plate fastened to feet along the bottom. They do not close off the tissue box, but form a shallow shelf beneath it.

“Sounds clearer” little miss sensitive ears said from the couch, but as the amps warmed up they sent static lines across the front of the TV – a slight ½” move away solved that problem.

Jody Foster always does a good job in all her movies. And while it is not a wonderful picture, she does a good job in this one too. As Anna danced with the King, the Bottlehead amps sang with the violin strings, more like a classical guitar than an solid body electric Fender. Logs falling sounded better – only bridges blowing up was beyond their scope.

Sometime ago, I had a rusty Dynaco ST 70 with EL 84s tubes. Part of my childish trepidation was that once the amps were center stage, they would exhibit similar characteristics. But there was no apparent noise, no scratchiness; the bass tones were warm, even without the sub-woofer. Even on the movie, I found details coming to me; horns sounded good and rain sounded “good.”

The amps are not with out some awkwardness. The big 2A3 “bottle” and the little one are along the same side as the power switch, the input jack and the gold speaker cable binding posts, while the power cord comes out the other side. With all the lines plugged in, and the leads to the transformer exposed, the little amps have wires coming and going from all sides.

Sharp sounds are sharper. Nine o’clock on the dial sounds full, busy and harsh on the SS amp, in short, loud. While the 2A3s make bells ring in silent halls. In my 17 ½ by 27-½′ living room, they played about mid 70s in the decibel range. In fact, it seemed that the peaks were higher and faster in this sneak preview before the actual production.

Cat Stevens recorded “Teaser and the Firecat” over two decades ago. Simply recorded CD with vocals and strings, it is an emotionally involving and enticing disc. With the Paramours, the quick guitar strings were not so metallic; they sound more like cymbals on the SS amp. Instead of appearing up front with Steven’s voice, the guitar seemed to be behind, perhaps more to the left. But it was not a big difference, the CD has pretty vocals and songs whether played on a car radio or a pair of big old Klipsch Cornwalls with 15” woofers, mid and high range horns. Adding the Paramours to the system is not a big difference, like damping the horns or adding a 200-watt sub-woofer, but it is a crucial difference, like having milk with Oreo cookies, or lemons with swordfish.

In other words, my first impression is that flea powered amps with super efficient (100 dB per watt per meter) speakers are two ingredients essential to the enjoyment of the meal. The combination is instantly easier to listen to – I can not conceive of these amps wearing my ears out.

I slipped in a CD I have listened to recently, Amanda McBroom’s “Dreaming.” In my tours of the meager stores in the southern New Hampshire area, late in the ‘80s, I came across a particularly warm sounding CD. Not just once, but several times. In fact, it seemed to me that whenever I “stopped by” these establishments, they were playing this great sounding CD. It wasn’t just the liquid smooth effortlessness of the singer’s voice, although that was quite good. It was also the warm and deep reverberations of the bass.

Last night, the drums and bass had less solid “oomph,” yet voices were less dramatic and urgent sounding – more relaxed and natural. Percussion instruments have more snap. The amps did not seem to be working hard at all – they were not as warm or glowing as I expected.

At louder volumes, they remain gentle and polite, perhaps too much so. They give a sharp whack when a hard pounding is called for – a jab when a strong upper cut is needed. They do not seem to come more alive at louder volumes. They are alive at any volume. (I am constantly turning up the SS amp, while little miss sensitive ears is constantly turning it down.)

The central image did not seem as distinct, like when the narrow beam of the two channels crosses at the sweet spot, yet the soundstage was softer around the edges.

The softness of the bass led me away from tube amps a decade ago. Now, armed with a 200-watt sub, I am ready to return. The clarity of the sound makes me wonder if the Vibration Isolation Platforms for my pre-amp and CD player are required, or if the tubes in my pre-amp really do need replacing. Perhaps all the tricks and tweaks are unconscious attempts to correct something that isn’t right with the SS amps and efficient horns.

It is harder to believe that drums or pianos are sharing the darkened living room with my cat, and me but easier to believe that the singer is there. Less sound seems to come form the speakers and more from the area near the front wall. For all this glowing praise, the differences the SS and the 2A3 tube amps are so subtle that it is hard to describe. The bass is lighter; you taste the low notes on your tongue more than feel them with your feet.

As the night got later, little miss sensitive ears knelt down by my side.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Trying to describe my first impressions,” I said.

“Well, it is like a cool morning at the lake, you can hear the frogs and birds, but the mist holds the sound in. Now, she said, the mist is lifted.”

And so has the curtain, time to watch the rest of the play!

 

I built the Paramours a few weeks ago, and I an amazed with their performance. I'm driving Soliloquy 5.2's (90 dB/W/m, 8 ohm, 2-way, 3rd order crossover) in a room measuring 14' x 19' x 8'. While the Paramour's won't play Ministry at Goth Club levels, nothing else has made Etta James, BB King, Melissa Etheridge or Shawn Colvin step into my living room as the Paramour's do.

Patrick Kopson


So - just to add my data to the collective "n"

I impulsively ordered the C4S upgrade for the beta paramour's I've been enjoying last Thurday; almost instant gratification was achieved as I received a package yesterday on Monday and "built" the boards last night.

I put one board in the amp that was humming the most. Below are some measurements I thought might be interesting; I'm using a sweet whispered foreplay, and my speaker load is 7.9 ohms, a series-parallel 1197 4 speaker array. I measured the max mV put out during the 'oooo' part of 'I saw her standing there' when the neighbors were at work (ahh, the perks of grad school).

C4S'd:
3.0 mV noise
step 1 0.153 mV
step 2 0.211
step 3 0.292
step 4 0.425
step 5 0.595

That's a range of about 1.2 - 4.6 W I believe.

Stock:
18.5 mV noise
step 1 .083 mV
step 2 .111
step 3 .158
step 4 .222
step 5 .315

So about 0.65 - 2.5 W.

My normal listening settings are steps 1-3, depending on the music. Before I made the measurements, it sounded like the stock was about 6db lower (if each step is 3db) and that's what it turned out to be, nice that the ears work. So in casual A-B testing I feel that the C4S'd amp's lower noise floor makes a significant difference to the ears; the 1197's have a nice slap when it comes to percussive and bass stuff, and with the stock sound pretty snappy, but have a pretty dramatic lower octave drop-off so I'm going to lug some 1354 horns I'm just finishing which have some Hz heft and see what all the 'tight base' talk sounds like. So: my initial impressions are that the lower noise floor is significant, the apparent soft start (no cathode flare-up on iginition) is nice, and what may be a more efficient tube (or is the scale just shiffted? i'm too ignorant to know.{actually the C4S is giving you all the gain the tube can put out - Doc B.}) are all good reasons for me to mod the 2nd amp, ha ha. My only regret is that there isn't more theory included with the kit, but I suppose that's what this forum is all about. Ok too much typing, back to the music, and thanks again Doc et al.

 

 

Can I just say how much I love the Paramours?

    Posted by Patrick on May 04, 2001 at 11:40:57
I just wanted to say how much I love my Paramours. They are incredibly sweet, detailed but smooth and not lacking in bass. In all my upgrading my system over the past year, they made the single biggest difference.

I'm posting this because I see the Foreplay getting an awful lot of attention on the forum, and not much for the Paramours. I realize that this is partly due to the price difference, and the more general flexibility of the Foreplay (you can use it in a low-efficiency system, etc.). But just in case anyone has been turned off by the general hum/buzz-type posts with the Paramours: don't worry about it. Just order them. I guarantee you will be amazed. Even with the hum my Paramours were a revelation -- and once I installed VoltSecond's mods, even that went away. The new kits with the C4S shouldn't even have this issue.

Thanks to everyone at Bottlhead!

Patrick

My system:

Thorens TD-145/Grado Gold (working on building a step-up transformer with Audio Note iron so I can install my new Benz L2)
Rogue 66 pre
Paramours
Klipsch RB-5s