Dutch Bee Pre and Paramounts

[Jeroen]

Hereby some pictures of the Bee pre and Paramounts. My wife forced me to put the connectors to the back of the base because she doesn't like cables.. 

I'm very happy with the amps, great soundstage, lovely sound, much thanks Bottlehead!

And a picture of the audio system with homemade horn speakers (BD 15 woofer, Lowther DX65 for the mid and Fostex tweeter)
I'm using the Paramounts to drive the Lowthers. The woofers are powered by digital amps, the tweeters by an old tube amp.

Regards,

Jeroen

 

[Doc B]

Wow. Just beautiful.

 

[marantzfan]

Those look fantastic!  Do you have any pictures of the underside? 

Also, where did you get the tube dampers?

 

[aragorn723]

Awesome speakers, can you make me some?  8)

 

[denti alligator]

Yes, I'd love to see pics of the underside and back. How hard was it to do these with the cables in back?

Amazing work!

 

[JamieMcC]

Please post some pics of the speaker builds if you have any to hand, awesome job!

 

[wullymc]

Beautiful builds!

I love the speakers also.

Remember...happy wife, happy life.

 

[Grainger49]

That is a stunning system.  As everyone has asked we will all want to know more.

 

[johnsonad]

What are you using as weights on your 300b's in the BeePre?

 

[Jeroen]

Hi guy's,

Thank you for your positive feedback.

It was easy to put the connectors to the back of the Bee pre. I used a piece of aluminium and drilled some holes with a plate drill. I made the cables long enough to have enough space to take the aluminium plate of the base for testing etc.
I replaced the stock volume meter by a motorised TKD meter, I'm planning to make a remote control for the Bee Pre.
The tube rings I use are from Duende Criatura. They work fine, but still the 300b's are very microfonic. I'm thinking of  building a base with springs to decouple  the amp from the audio rack. Better would be a sealed box  which keeps out all 'noise' coming from the speakers. When I play music loud and push the pause buttom the speakers are singing for a short period (caused by the 300b's in the Bee pre)

I use 300b tubes from JJ electronic for the Bee pre, a big improvent to the stock EH tubes. Funny enough I tried JJ electronic 2A3 tubes for the paramount and the soundstage became twice as narrow as with EH 2A3 tubes..

The speakers are made of beech plywood with a welded steel frame. The horn is a 200 Hz tractrix horn that I made on a lathe. The cabinets for the woofers are based on the same way of building. Rings of beech, but  with a brace every 15 cm. I chose this shape because  it's strong and has no big reflecting wall's.

Have a good weekend, regards Jeroen

 

[mcandmar]

Seeing your process to make the speakers makes them even more beautiful

 

[Doc B]

The image of you turning that giant curved cabinet on the lathe is just amazing.

My hunch is those Teflon looking tube dampers don't have enough mass. I suggest trying the lead coated vinyl rings that I use. The additional mass makes a big difference, in fact I will add another on top of the existing one on my preamp when I get motivated.

 

[aragorn723]

Doc,

What tube dampers do you use?  How about using lead tape for microphonic damping?

Jeroen,

What knobs do you use for your volume control and selector?  Thanks,

Dave

 

[Doc B]

Here's some info about the dampers:

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=3826.msg35420#msg35420

 

[Jeroen]

Hi Doc,

That makes sence.  I'll try to make a ring of lead on the lathe and tape it with teflon. Just see how that works..


Dave, the knobs are from Audio Note. Expensive but nicely made of sollid brass.

 

[Karl5150]

Oh my, just beautiful.

 

[marantzfan]

Here's some info about the dampers:

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=3826.msg35420#msg35420

This link should be made into a sticky. 

 

[aragorn723]

Is there a website for these?

Dave