The Upgrade Bug Is Biting

[astroimage2002]

Hi All,
I now have hours of listening with my Stereomour. It is a very nice integrated amp, the kit is a blast to build and the instructions are awesome! Yea, I had a few problems building the kit but Paul Joppa, Doc B. and Eileen did a super job of holding my hand and leading me thru any issue that I had.
I am still having a few issues with the build that I did that I am not proud of and need to clean up. They are in no way the “fault” of Bottlehead… All mine… Nothing major, just silly things like one of the RCA inputs sounds way wrong compared to another one and I haven’t listened to the third yet. That tells me that I have a bad solder joint in the bad sounding one.
Now to the question. The Stereomour is a great sounding piece and I want to see if upgrading it will improve the way it sounds. I plan to break the upgrade path down into several different stages and would really like to keep the cost down.

Stage One:
Clean up my build; To do this I will be needing at least one pair of RCA’s (Don’t know if I melted something when I assembled it or not, the center pulls out when I remove an IC from it) Replace some/all of the “hook up” wire and some/all of the STP wire (I cannot believe I am contemplating that one, The STP wire is a pain in the tail). I am looking for recommendations on what RCA’s, hookup wire and STP to buy. Links would be appreciated as well as gauges, remember I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  

Stage  Two:
Upgrade the capacitors, both the coupling and parafeed. Chances are that I will do this while I am doing stage one because it makes a lot of sense. I built the Stereomour to handle either a 45/2a3 power tube. According to the information that I have found on the topic and the input of Paul Joppa the values that I should be targeting are 0.1uF/600v for the coupling caps and around 5.0uF/600v for the parafeed. He has made the following statement in this forum – “In general, I'd say 1.5uF to 5uF for the 2A3 Stereomour, and 3 to 10uF for the 45 Stereomour. The stock values is 3.3uF.” So I am thinking that I’ll try to stay as close to 5uF as possible. I have looked at Audience Auricap capacitors for these positions and they cost a lot of money! Are any of you using these caps? Have they been worth the cost for you? Do you have any suggestions for caps that sound 90 to 95 percent as good?

Stage Three:
Replace the volume control with Paul’s recommend Goldpoint Switched Attenuator. Has anyone here done this? What are the most notable improvements that it made?

Stage Four:
Replace the stock 2a3 power tubes with Emission Labs 45 mesh plates. These are some pricey tubes but they are available… are there any viable options to these that a normal guy can afford and not sacrifice sonics?

Stage Five:
Replace the selector switch with a Goldpoint… Talking out loud on that one… I have no idea if the Stereomour would sound any better.

Now, time for the “dark horse”, given the fact that doing all of the above upgrades will cost in the neighborhood of $1100.00 (OUCH! THAT HURTS) I do have a “plan b”. Would I be smarter to just clean up my build of the Stereomour (stage one) and be done? With the money I saved by not souping up the Stereomour I could buy a new pre for my QuickSilver Mid Monos… Maybe a ForeplayIII with the C4S upgrade?

Thanks For Reading!
Brian

[Grainger49]

I can give a little help.  I own hot roded Paramours.  I would suggest a drop in replacement for the RCA jacks not any of the insane dollar replacements.  Here are the direct replacements:

http://www.parts-express.com//pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=091-1120

I have upgraded iron and needed a 10uF Parafeed cap.  Still you can buy the insanely good and insanely inexpensive Obbligato Polypropylene Film in oil caps from DIY Hi-Fi and from Parts ConneXion.  Here is a link to DIY Hi-Fi:

http://www.diyhifisupply.com/?q=catalog/35/obbligato_film_oil_caps

You should break in the caps you are listening to before making a judgment.  Break in the Obbligatos for a week using this method (Reply #1):

http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,80.msg286.html#msg286

Sorry I'm no help on either of the Goldpoints or the tubes.  

[JC]

Just .02 from a general perspective, I would start with the RCAs.  They should not come apart on you in normal use.  If you have one that does so, I can't help but think that connection isn't as good as it could be.

Then, clean up any suspicious solder joints.  This may be as simple as re-heating and adding a tiny bit of solder, or you may have to remove some solder first before re-soldering.  In either case, bad connections, in the aggregate, can cause more mayhem than you might think.

After that, I might suggest a nice new pot or stepped attenuator; the one you have in mind sounds like a winner to me.   If I understand the circuit, I think that may have more of an impact than the selector switch.

Trying different tubes is one of the joys of tubed audio, but I will leave it to you to decide what your budget is for this.

I would certainly suggest all of the above before replacing wire, which I think would have much less of an impact.  Certainly, I would expect changing wire to be the least cost-effective in terms of both money and time.

Again, just my .02, and meant to apply in a very general way.  I don't own a Stereomour, and those who do may have different opinions.

PS: From reading the threads here, it sounds like you may want to invest in one of the new power cord kits for your amp, too.  The order page for them is supposed to be up next week some time, I believe.  I have not tried one, of course, but if Doc says he thinks they are an improvement, I would be very much surprised if that is not exactly the case.

[Frihed89]

Hi Astroimage, I am looking at the Paramount and not your amp, but I did notice that you didn't say anything about upgrading the output transformers.  My experience on other SET amps made by a different mfr and PP amps, too, is that the biggest  (and most expensive) sonic bang for the buck comes with new output transformers.  Maybe you have already got the upgraded ones.  If not, i'd discuss it with Doc and Paul and find out what the experiences of others are.

Coupling caps, boy, is that a minefield.  I have two Danish Butter Cookie tins full of coupling caps I have tried and rejected (listening by ear) in various preamps, amps, and cd players, in almost all price ranges.  The ones I ineviatbly do NOT return to the cookie tins are the new Audio Note copper foil ones, which are not cheap, but I suggest you not start at the top, but with the cheaper vintage ones, first  It's easier to do the test with monoblocks because you can listen to different caps in different channels, but i generally try the Russian K-40s, Sprague silver colored vitamin Qs, first, and then work up.  You might find out if anyone bypasses the coupling caps in this amp with any success (or try anyway).  I found that worked well in a preamp with some small value Auricaps.  By the way, I only know how to unsolder old parts and replace them with new parts that other people tell me about, so don't think I know what I am talking about.  In fact, I am terrified of electric shocks, perhaps even phobic from some bad experiences.

Onward and upward.

[Grainger49]

frihed89, you have a PM.

I think the removal and replacement experience you have is great.  Consider that removing cleanly enough to replace a part will be tedious and exacting. 

And if you think you don't want to be shocked, I have a pacemaker, I'm dependent on it.  A shock would be a very bad thing.  I'm very careful now.

[braubeat]

Hello

If you are going to diyhifisupply to get obbligato caps (which are great by the way), check out the tj meshplate tubes. There is a 2A3 and a 45 version. I have the 2A3 version and it sounds great to me. I have not heard the Emission Labs version (which is supposed to be great also)  but at less than 1/2 the cost they are a lot closer to my price range.

Good Luck
Michael