When I first starting looking into tube headphone amplification, I found the Bottlehead Crack (and some various others). Deciding which one to buy was really tough, as it seems the Crack was the best choice, but I was hesitant to build my own amp. The Bottlehead forums were really good and made me feel that I could do it, but what finally convinced me to buy the Crack were the glowing reviews the Blumenstein Orcas received. Might sound odd, but I hatched a plan to build a full 5.1 surround system comprising Bottlehead and Blumenstein. Only problem was that I did not want to commit to the cost of a Stereomour & Orca Deluxes without having ever soldered in my life. So this is where the Crack became my number one headphone amp choice.
After building a stock Crack, and then exchanging certain parts for higher-quality components, I felt really confident ahead of my Stereomour build. I found the manual to be even better than that of the Crack, and can say that I really enjoyed this build. There were some new tricks that I learned with this build, for instance stripping the sheath of a wire and then using that sheath to insulate exposed resistor wires. Luckily while waiting for my Stereomour, I decided to build a smaller SS amp called an RKAmp4 where I could practice PCB soldering. However, once I read the Stereomour manual and saw that the recommended PCB soldering temp is 375 degrees C, my soldering became a lot better. I now use 375 for everything except desoldering where I will use 450. I find that I melt a lot less insulation and still get proper solder joints.
Now for the gallery shots, some shots of the underside.
I was very comfortable with the workings of the VALabs after PB helped me with identifying in/out/ground and installed this from the beginning. I believe terminal 8 is where all the STP drain wire goes and that got very crowded. I could not fit all the wires through there and needed to solder some together to reduce the number of wires going there. Other than that, the smaller C4S board was really tough to solder. I was soldering wires that had no proper mechanical connection when I soldered that board to the Stereomour. I was really relieved when resistance checks worked.
The only item I really was not pleased with were the standard RCA jacks. I really struggled with 3 of the 6 to get them mounted properly. They would look fine, but every time I pulled out an RCA cable the jack would come loose and needed to be reattached to the chassis. I ordered some Neutrik jacks and have been quite pleased with them. Definite step up in quality.
Once resistance checks worked, I realized my voltmeter could only measure 250V, while there are several voltages higher than that in the Stereomour. I know I shouldn't have, but I plugged in some cheap 8-ohm speakers and fired her up. It made music, but the speakers were the limiting factor. Plugged in the Orcas, and have to say the sound is quite excellent. The midrange is to die for, and the bass is just right, i.e. not too much and bloated, but definitely noticeable. Hum pots were adjusted by ear and hum is almost non-existent once the tubes are warm. If there is no other noise I will detect some light hum, but with any noise at all it is not audible. Still need to buy a Fluke and test the voltages properly. Also still need to install the impedance selector, but 8-ohms is working quite well for us right now.
Finally a shot of the Stereomour in its natural location.
It is being used almost on a daily basis (hour or two per daz) as 2.0 sound for the TV, although occasionally I will be home-alone. Then I can really crank it up and listen to some proper rock & roll. We have a decent sized living room that is not treated and has wood floors. Generally the volume knob is set to 50%-75% for watching TV or movies. 75% will be fairly loud, but not overly so. For music, I can start listening from about 25% for soft music and again turn it up to about 75% for loud music. Listening at 100% is usually too loud.
For 2015, I will probably order the rest of the Orcas needed to complete the setup, but am still completely undecided on the rest of the set-up. I really want to hear a BeePree / Paramount combo, but I don't need more volume. Getting S.E.X. amps for the rears / centre may work or perhaps getting another Stereomour for the rears and then ??? for the centre channel. Tough choice since I really like the sound of the Stereomour.
After building a stock Crack, and then exchanging certain parts for higher-quality components, I felt really confident ahead of my Stereomour build. I found the manual to be even better than that of the Crack, and can say that I really enjoyed this build. There were some new tricks that I learned with this build, for instance stripping the sheath of a wire and then using that sheath to insulate exposed resistor wires. Luckily while waiting for my Stereomour, I decided to build a smaller SS amp called an RKAmp4 where I could practice PCB soldering. However, once I read the Stereomour manual and saw that the recommended PCB soldering temp is 375 degrees C, my soldering became a lot better. I now use 375 for everything except desoldering where I will use 450. I find that I melt a lot less insulation and still get proper solder joints.
Now for the gallery shots, some shots of the underside.
I was very comfortable with the workings of the VALabs after PB helped me with identifying in/out/ground and installed this from the beginning. I believe terminal 8 is where all the STP drain wire goes and that got very crowded. I could not fit all the wires through there and needed to solder some together to reduce the number of wires going there. Other than that, the smaller C4S board was really tough to solder. I was soldering wires that had no proper mechanical connection when I soldered that board to the Stereomour. I was really relieved when resistance checks worked.
The only item I really was not pleased with were the standard RCA jacks. I really struggled with 3 of the 6 to get them mounted properly. They would look fine, but every time I pulled out an RCA cable the jack would come loose and needed to be reattached to the chassis. I ordered some Neutrik jacks and have been quite pleased with them. Definite step up in quality.
Once resistance checks worked, I realized my voltmeter could only measure 250V, while there are several voltages higher than that in the Stereomour. I know I shouldn't have, but I plugged in some cheap 8-ohm speakers and fired her up. It made music, but the speakers were the limiting factor. Plugged in the Orcas, and have to say the sound is quite excellent. The midrange is to die for, and the bass is just right, i.e. not too much and bloated, but definitely noticeable. Hum pots were adjusted by ear and hum is almost non-existent once the tubes are warm. If there is no other noise I will detect some light hum, but with any noise at all it is not audible. Still need to buy a Fluke and test the voltages properly. Also still need to install the impedance selector, but 8-ohms is working quite well for us right now.
Finally a shot of the Stereomour in its natural location.
It is being used almost on a daily basis (hour or two per daz) as 2.0 sound for the TV, although occasionally I will be home-alone. Then I can really crank it up and listen to some proper rock & roll. We have a decent sized living room that is not treated and has wood floors. Generally the volume knob is set to 50%-75% for watching TV or movies. 75% will be fairly loud, but not overly so. For music, I can start listening from about 25% for soft music and again turn it up to about 75% for loud music. Listening at 100% is usually too loud.
For 2015, I will probably order the rest of the Orcas needed to complete the setup, but am still completely undecided on the rest of the set-up. I really want to hear a BeePree / Paramount combo, but I don't need more volume. Getting S.E.X. amps for the rears / centre may work or perhaps getting another Stereomour for the rears and then ??? for the centre channel. Tough choice since I really like the sound of the Stereomour.
