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Thoburn
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« on: August 16, 2011, 05:10:54 PM » |
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I sent an email to Marc over at MagneQuest about transformers for the Stereomour. His reply was that Bottlehead has not asked for them yet. I'm not sure how that works. Anyway, I was wondering how much interest there might be out there for a set of Nickel output transformers (and maybe others) for Stereomour? Paul Joppa replied in my resistor upgrade post awhile back that the Stereomour transformers are pretty good as it, so maybe it would not be worth the money. What say ye other Stereomour owners? How much would you pay for them?
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A problem with communication is the assumption it has been achieved - source unknown
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Paul Joppa
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« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2011, 06:39:42 PM » |
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Mike's memory is off. (Believe me, I understand; I'm even older than he is!) I first gave him the specs in an email dated 4/26/2009, and I've repeated them to him once or twice since then. It's his decision when or whether to produce a suitable design; when he's ready I'll naturally work with him - we've collaborated on these things before and it's been pretty fruitful as well as a lot of fun.
Normally with a new Bottlehead product, Mike waits until there is a large enough customer base to justify creating a design and manufacturing a run. So the best approach is to convince him there are interested parties. You can ping him by email or (better) telephone, or even start a thread on his forum.
As for sonic quality, I expect that with steel cores Mike's design would have similar extension (bass and treble) but would be a little better musically than mine, due to his better materials and workmanship, and because he would make a design specifically for the target application. But I can't get nickel cores from our transformer house even if I wanted to; they are too fragile for reliable machine assembly. And Mike has more experience than practically anyone with nickel cores. I don't have a personal Stereomour yet myself, but I'll manage to make it happen once Mike has some iron to put into it!
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Paul Joppa
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Thoburn
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« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2011, 06:32:47 AM » |
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I don't have a personal Stereomour yet myself, but I'll manage to make it happen once Mike has some iron to put into it!
I can't imagine a more resounding endorsement. |
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A problem with communication is the assumption it has been achieved - source unknown
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shelby1420
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« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2011, 06:44:29 PM » |
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[quote author=Paul Joppa
Normally with a new Bottlehead product, Mike waits until there is a large enough customer base to justify creating a design and manufacturing a run. So the best approach is to convince him there are interested parties. You can ping him by email or (better) telephone, or even start a thread on his forum.
I would be interested for sure.
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Enjoying the music
Rick
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braubeat
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« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2011, 06:50:48 AM » |
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Is the stereomour enough different from the Paramour that the Paramour upgrade would not be worthwhile.
Michael
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jrebman
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« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2011, 07:32:53 AM » |
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Count me in for a potential upgrade iron set -- full or pinstripe.
-- Jim
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Jim Rebman
Alix linux box --> HRT MusicStreamer II+ --> Crack --> Sennheiser HD-600s.
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Filthymidget
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« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2011, 08:08:56 AM » |
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Count me in for an iron upgrade!
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Doc B.
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« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2011, 08:49:46 AM » |
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PJ is right that you need to let Mike know. Post your interest on his forum or give him a call, as I don't know how often he looks at this forum.
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Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.
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Paul Joppa
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« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2011, 05:21:43 PM » |
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Is the stereomour enough different from the Paramour that the Paramour upgrade would not be worthwhile.
Michael
The Paramour II upgrade would work very well, but it won't fit on the chassis. The choke has exposed terminals and should not be on top of the chassis, and the OPT is both too long for the holes, and too wide to fit easily. The old Original Paramour OPT would fit but is no longer in production. It's not an MQ product anyhow, and not really any better than the stock unit. |
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Paul Joppa
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jrebman
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« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2011, 05:26:16 PM » |
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I just bumped and posted in the MQ circle and suggest others follow up with the same.
It looks like Mike's last post tells people to ask Doc and PJ about the status of the iron, so not sure what's happening with that.
Is thereno other outlet for a good wound and stacked PF transformer anywhere? What about amorphous core transformers -- every one I've had has been remarkable, though not cheap.
It would be really great if BH had some other alternatives for upgrade iron -- O-netics, Transcendar, 1electron, electra-print, intact adio, and others come to mind, though I don't know all the particulars involved.
-- Jim
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Jim Rebman
Alix linux box --> HRT MusicStreamer II+ --> Crack --> Sennheiser HD-600s.
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astroimage2002
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« Reply #11 on: August 20, 2011, 05:40:43 PM » |
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jrebman,
I am happy to wait and see what happens. I know that Paul and Doc have given the information more than once and that MagneQuest is waiting for more kits to be on the street. Nothing wrong with that! ...so I wait to see what happens.
Brian
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Doc B.
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« Reply #12 on: August 20, 2011, 05:58:44 PM » |
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Frankly guys, I don't think that there are a lot of alternatives from other manufacturers would be that much of an upgrade. Don't get me wrong, all the guys mentioned are really nice guys and if the guys who haven't yet sent me samples want to I would be willing to give them a try. However the iron we have custom wound these days is very well designed by PJ in collaboration with our winder.
The only iron that has really knocked me back on my heels vs. our own stuff over the years has been Mike's. Mike has our blessing to make whatever he wants in terms of upgrade iron. He and PJ usually work together on those things. Some years ago Mike was feeling that the margins were getting tight as materials costs went up and up. I didn't want Mike to feel like he wasn't getting enough out of the sales to be worthwhile and I decided that the best approach was for Bottlehead to step away as the middleman in the sale of MQ iron so that the customer could avoid having to pay higher prices and so they could also have a direct line to Mike in terms of delivery. Thus I'm not really directly involved with the design or the sale of MQ upgrade iron anymore other than to try out the designs and determine the improvements they make to the kits.
What I will suggest as a general approach if you decide to upgrade to MQ iron is to consider permalloy laminations, either partial or all, depending upon what Mike thinks would be the best in terms of power handling. And also bear in mind that we will have a switching setup for the stock Stereomour transformers that will allow easy changing of the output impedance to 2/4/8/16 ohms as an upgrade option soon. PJ and Mike will have to work out if that would be usable on any upgrade iron.
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Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.
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jrebman
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« Reply #13 on: August 20, 2011, 06:13:42 PM » |
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Dan,
Understood and I surely didn't mean to knock the stock
BH iron -- itis certainly really, really good, and who knows, when I get the stereomour all finished I may not even think the upgrade so necessary.
I know ebag4 has had a wonderful time with this amp and his V-1 speakers and is hearing things he's never experienced with his system (and that's a good thing :-) ) so who knows.
Certainly you are among the few folks out there who size their iron appropriately for the application whereas it seems many companies just pick something big enough to do the job and leave it at that. Of course there are exceptions but this is what it seems like to me.
Anyway, I do just need to get the amp going first.
--b Jim
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Jim Rebman
Alix linux box --> HRT MusicStreamer II+ --> Crack --> Sennheiser HD-600s.
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johnsonad
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« Reply #14 on: August 20, 2011, 09:09:52 PM » |
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If people are so hot on upgrading iron and if the Magnequest Paramour iron upgrade will work well as Paul says it will why don't you just build a larger base and top plate?
I for one am having a harder time getting iron out of Mike and the turn around times have been getting longer and longer over the past couple of years. It would be nice to have an alternative winder who can do with permalloy what Mike does. He is a master but could use some help!
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Aaron Johnson
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