Paramour II
Parafeed Single Ended 2A3 Amplifier Kit w/45 option
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It's here! Paramour II is the latest version of the classic Paramour parafeed single ended 2A3 monoblocks kit. And you can now easily mod it to use the 45 tube.
A legacy of great sound at great price - $679
Our head of research and
development, Paul Joppa, worked hard in 2000 to give us the original Paramour design.
This year he worked equally hard to improve the layout and increase the
versatility of one of the most popular kits in our history. Paramour
II is our latest high quality single ended, parallel feed, directly heated triode amplifier kit, consisting of a pair of monoblock amplifiers that can
now be configured as 3.5 watt per channel parafeed SE 2A3 amps or 1.75 watt per channel parafeed SE
45 amps (with user supplied tubes). Parts are supplied to allow creation of either circuit, with the
2A3 tubes included in the kit. Conversion from one circuit to the other is possible with some
very simple parts changes.
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The circuit The input stage consists of a 12AT7 tube. One half is configured as an actively loaded voltage amplifier using our Camille Cascode Constant Current Source for super quiet, dynamic, linear performance. It is RC coupled to the output stage with a high quality film capacitor. The output stage may be configured for either a 2A3 tube or user supplied 45 tube using cathode bias. A plate choke loads the output tube and the output is via a high quality parallel feed coupling capacitor and parallel feed output transformer with 4 and 8 ohm taps to work with a broad range of speakers. The amp uses zero feedback. |
The power supply
A custom Bottlehead power transformer supplies high voltage to the driver stage
C4S load and output stage plate choke via smooth sounding ultrafast rectifiers and a conservatively designed CRC filter for quiet operation. The power supply components mount on
terminal strips that attached directly to the bolts of the power transformer for a very efficient layout.
The chassis
The chassis layout utilizes the latest 8" x 10" format as employed in the
Paramount, S.E.X. amp and Foreplay III kits. Each monoblock's grained and laser cut aluminum plate is .080" thick, and includes our unique Hole Shrinker socket adapter which allows for future experimentation with octal based tubes in the driver stage. The chassis plate sits in an attractive Pacific Northwest alder wood base that you assemble and finish to taste. All of the inductors are mounted under the chassis except for the power transformer, resulting in a clean look that highlights the beauty of your glowing tubes. Input, output and
a new IEC style power entry jack are at the top rear of the chassis plate. A easily accessible power switch sits at the top front of the chassis, and an equally easy to access hum balance pot resides next to the output tube.
Component quality
Laser cut chassis plates and alder wood base kits are made for us here in the Pacific Northwest. Our custom Bottlehead
power transformers come from Northern California. The parafeed output iron has
been selected for great performance at a reasonable price, allowing for the very
competitive pricing of this kit. Rectifiers are ultrafast soft start types. Capacitors are a combination of
Xicon polypropylene, Solen polypropylene, and Panasonic EB electrolytic. Resistors are carefully selected for each application and include carbon composition grid stoppers, 1% metal films for precise voltage and current tolerances, and overrated wirewound resistors for
power supply filter and output tube cathode load. The driver stage uses special
Agilent LEDs chosen for linearity. Hookup wire includes both Alpha teflon insulated 22 ga. solid core copper wire for high voltage connections and Belden solid core shielded twisted pair for super quiet signal wiring.
Specifications
Power 2A3 - 3.5 Watts, 45 - 1.75 Watts
Hum typically 2 mV RMS, depending upon the output tube used
Bandwidth: 25Hz to 37kHz at -3dB
Sensitivity: full power at about 0.4v (2A3)
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What's new in Paramour II:
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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 have even used 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, and our customers have remained enthusiastic about this amp for over 6 years now. 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. All the builder needs to supply is solder. 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. A very thorough assembly manual is included in printable Adobe PDF format on CD ROM. It contains step by step instructions you check off as you go, detailed photographs of the assembly that can be blown up for great detail, and a detailed checkout procedure, along with tips on tool selection. You will need a copy of the free Adobe Reader software to use the manual.
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.
You'll need a 30-40 watt soldering iron (solder stations rule!) 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.
Paramour SE 2A3 monoblocks kit with Sovtek monoplate 2A3 tubes, $679 plus shipping.
Your pre-order will be charged the day the kit is ordered. We do this to allow cash in advance payment to our vendors to keep the price you pay as low as possible.
Before ordering, please read:
Paramour monoblock amps kit with Sovtek monoplate 2A3 tubes, shipped UPS to US address
Paramour monoblock amps kit with Sovtek monoplate 2A3 tubes, shipped Air Parcel to Canadian address
Notes for Our Customers Outside the U.S.
Paramour is only available for 120VAC mains. At this time our shopping cart is unable to process orders from outside the US and Canada. E-mail us at the link below for assistance in ordering:
Orders outside the US and Canada
or
call us at 360-697-1936 M-F 9-5 PT
Need a preamp to go with your Paramours?
Want a "most sophisticated circuit" type of 2A3 amp? Try Paramount 2A3
Paramour II MagneQuest Iron Upgrade
8/28/07 - we have worked out a new system of ordering the parts necessary for this upgrade that should save the builder a lot of wait time. You now order the fabulous MagneQuest/Bottlehead BH-5 output transformers and BH-6 plate chokes used in this upgrade directly from Mike Lefevre at MagneQuest. Call 215-288-4816 (up to midnight ET) or e-mail acrosound@aol.com to order. We will offer a kit of supporting hardware and capacitors that you can use to complete the installation, or you can use your own favorite flavor of caps and hardware. The instructions for installing the MagneQuest iron are linked below and you can figure out the parts you need if you decide to order them yourself from the parts list at that link. The Bottlehead Forum is available for tech support on this installation.
Paramour II Iron upgrade kit installation instructions
The Paramour II MagneQuest Iron upgrade offers several improvements to the stock Paramour kit. The stock parafeed output transformer is replaced with a custom-built-for-Bottlehead MagneQuest parafeed output transformer with greater inductance and over double the power handling of the stock unit. This output transformer combines the design talents of Mike LaFevre and Paul Joppa and incorporates advanced magnetic design optimized with modern materials. The upgrade output transformer comes with 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 custom-built-for-Bottlehead MagneQuest plate loading choke that is optimized for use with both the 2A3 and 45 tube versions of Paramour II.
To complement the capabilities of these quality inductors it is worthwhile to upgrade the capacitors in the signal path. You may chose your own flavor, or we now offer a new installation kit of Solen Caps and Auricaps that replace the stock interstage and parafeed output coupling capacitors, along with the wire and hardware required to mount the new iron. The stock plate loading choke is retained, being moved and rewired to function as a power supply filter choke, improving the already quiet background.
The result of adding this upgrade is improved bass response and power bandwidth, better resolution, smoother mids and treble and a more quiet background.
Mounting hardware and capacitor kit for iron upgrade
The kit includes Solen caps, Auricaps and the hardware necessary to install the MQ iron - $55
NOTE: MQ transformers are not included in this kit. They may be ordered directly from MagneQuest by calling 215-288-4816 or e-mailing acrosound@aol.com
Your pre-order will be charged the day the kit is ordered. We do this to allow cash in advance payment to our vendors to keep the price you pay as low as possible.
Before ordering, please read:
Mounting hardware and capacitors for Paramour iron upgrade, shipped to US address
Mounting hardware and capacitors for Paramour iron upgrade, shipped to Canadian address
Notes for Our Customers Outside the U.S.
At this time our shopping cart is unable to process orders from outside the US and Canada. E-mail us at the link below for assistance in ordering:
Orders outside the US and Canada
or call us at 360-697-1936 M-F 9-5 PT
Q: Is this new iron and cap upgrade better than the old one?
A: We think the sound is better by a considerable margin. Not only is the magnetic design of both inductors a little more sophisticated, the materials in the new output transformer have been upgraded to the best materials for the application. The new upgrade has smoother, sweeter highs and mids, and better low level resolution than the original Paramour iron upgrade.
Q: Can I buy the Paramour II with the iron upgrade and get a discount?
A: Actually the upgrade only eliminates about $10 worth of parts from the original design, so we just accounted for this difference in the price of the upgrade kit. In other words, everyone already gets the very best price we can offer when they buy the upgrade.
Q: Paramour II with the iron upgrade costs as much as Paramount 2A3. Which should I buy?
A: Paramour II is better if:
You want the very smooth, liquid qualities and superior bass response of MagneQuest iron, but don't want to spend over $1100 for amps. Paramount will also have an MQ iron upgrade soon. MQ iron in combination with the more sophisticated circuitry of the Paramount will make the price of the Paramount kit around $1700 or more.
You want to run 45s. The Paramour II upgrade iron and circuit design work well with 45s.
You have decided that you like the sound of AC filaments better than choke filtered DC filaments (please decide this for yourself rather than following the latest fads on the internet!).
You like choke filtered B+ supplies better than shunt regulated supplies (again please decide this for yourself based upon your own experience)
Q: Can I use this new iron with a 45 tube?
A: Yes, however you will need to add a different value resistor than the ones supplied in the Paramour II kit to the power supply filter to get the proper B+ voltage. PJ will post some instructions soon.
Q: What does "can be fitted into original Paramour with a little imagination" mean?
A: You will probably want to mount the BCP-15 on standoffs as we did in the original Paramour iron upgrade. Also the output transformer will mount in a different pair of holes than the output transformer from the original iron upgrade kit. We don't sell the original Paramour anymore, so it's not cost effective for us to make up a special set of instructions. But the iron will fit - with a little imagination. Here's a link to the original Paramour iron upgrade instructions, which you can modify as you see fit to accommodate the MQ output transformer.
Q: The plate chokes look similar to the old Paramour iron upgrade plate chokes, which I already have. Can I buy just the output transformers?
A: Yes, from MagneQuest. FYI, the new MQ for Bottlehead plate chokes use a refined winding scheme, however they are the same form factor as the BCP-15 used in the original Paramour iron upgrade. To fit these into an original Paramour iron upgrade you will also need to change the parafeed coupling capacitor from 3.3uF 600V to 10uF 600V.
Shunt regulated 45 conversion for Paramour II with the iron upgrade
As described on the Bottlehead Forum, we have come up with a very cool conversion kit to make your Paramour II with the MQ iron upgrade into one of the most sophisticated single ended amp designs available at any price. We have been selling amps with shunt regulated driver stages for some time now. And now we have to offer an amp circuit wherein the entire amplifier is shunt regulated. A 6CM7 dissimilar dual triode is used in the conversion. Half of this tube is used as the driver stage and half is used as the hybrid shunt regulator for the driver stage and the 45 output stage. The hybrid shunt regulator is loaded with one of our C4S active loads, and the driver is loaded by another C4S just as in the stock Paramour II. We take full advantage of the versatile Bottlehead Shunt Regulator/C4S board, using the unpopulated traces to crate a bias circuit for the driver stage that uses an LN431 adjustable regulator. The sound is resolved, refined, just plain natural and makes the Paramour II into what just may be the best sounding amp we have come up with. We supply all the parts you need for the conversion except for the 45 tubes. This is a kit for advanced builders, the instructions consist simply of a schematic and photos of the prototype layout.
for more info look at these threads on the Bottlehead Forum.
http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/bottlehead/messages/12/120000.html
http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/bottlehead/messages/11/119973.html
http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/bottlehead/messages/11/119732.html
We will be doing a very limited run of these kits, so order ASAP if you want one.
Paramour II with iron upgrade shunt regulated 45 conversion to US and Canada
6-11-07 First production run of the shunt regulated 45 mod kit has been sold out. Thanks to those who ordered! We will be offering this kit on a regular basis soon.
Notes for Our Customers Outside the U.S.
At this time our shopping cart is unable to process orders from outside the US and Canada. E-mail us at the link below for assistance in ordering:
Orders outside the US and Canada
or call us at 360-697-1936 M-F 9-5 PT
Paramour II is so new that we don't even have any impressions to post yet. But here are impressions of the original Paramour, which uses the same circuits and most of the same components:
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.
First of all I'd like to say thank you to Doc, Wes, everyone at Bottlehead Corp, and of course all the fine folks here on the board. I'd never built anything remotely like this before. To those of you who are where I was a few months ago I say "You CAN do it. Jump in! You'll like it."How does it sound, you ask? I admit I don't yet understand all the jargon people use when describing the sonic qualities of a system. That said, even with my 15 year old JVC CD player as the source and 10 year old Kenwood 90db three ways on the other end, the Foreplay/Paramour combination knocks me out. I can barely tear myself away. I'm hearing things I've never heard before. Live Grateful Dead sounds more like live Dead! I can hear Phil's bass better than I've ever heard it (except at a show of course). Small group jazz sounds like small group jazz! Acoustic guitar sounds like a real acoustic guitar. I was listening to "The Other Side of 'Round Midnight" on my turntable last night. The cat was in my lap and when Bobby McFerrin started to sing What is this this thing called love? Gomez turned his head and looked right between the speakers as if to say "Where did that man come from?". I can hardly imagine that it could get better but reading this board has convinced me that it can.
Thanks again, everybody!
After a marathon building session that lasted from 4am to 7pm this evening, I am finally listening to the Paramours I've waited so long to hear. This is my first time hearing a SE amp and I must say that I'm quite impressed by the quality of sound. The amps are very quiet and I don't notice much hum at all. Another thing the Paramour does well is play loud. I mean blasting me out of my little 11 x 13 listening room with clean dynamic volume. I really didn't expect that from my 92db /8ohm KLH 71's. The Paramours seem to have as much drive and impact as the 50 watt UL push-pulls I usually listen to.. I've got a friend who wants to build some Mark 3 clones. I can't wait until he hears these 3.5 watt giant killers. The hype is for real - the Paramours rule the roost. All praise to Doc, Paul "Brainiac" Joppa and Bottlehead Nation - world domination is certain. - maldar
by Roberts
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
by Colin
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
just C4S'd a paramour
Posted by yD on May 01, 2001 at 18:13:30
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 0.595That'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 .315So 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