[borism]

Let me start by saying that I have never worked on electronics, never used a soldering iron before and have no woodworking experience. However, after being an audio equipment consumer for many years, I decided to try building a Stereomour. The decision was made simple by reading comments about very detailed instructions and people raving about the sound. Finally, Bottlehead has great customer support and a forum to troubleshoot anticipated issues. This seems important given my level of experience.

After waiting close to 4 weeks the kit arrived. The instructions are very clear, describing each step and full of detailed images.

So, here is my first few days. The wooden base, while easy to assemble is not so easy to finish (at least for me). I got to stain and polyurethane when I decided that I didn't like it and sanded it back down to the wood. Now, just used a seal coat (shellack based) and am considering my further finishing options.

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I had more luck with the electronics part. I have attached all the components to the aluminum plate and began attaching the wires. As you can see, I have a number of upgraded components including the selector switch and stepped volume control from Goldpoint. Nothing original here. I just copied others who recommended these upgrades.

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Unfortunately, I'll only know if it works once finished and everything measures correctly.
I can say, however, that this is great fun and very exciting.

[borism]

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[borism]

[Guy 13]

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Hi borism.
On your first and second post, some of the pictures did not show up on my office laptop.
I will try with my computer at home this afternoon.
I hope I will be able to see them, because I am highly interested in your Bottlehead Stereomour build.

Guy 13
 

[Brad]

Thanks for sharing.    I've been considering building a Stereomour as a power amp for a while now.

[Captainhemo]

I love these build threads, keep it coming   

-jay

[borism]

Hi,
Thanks for the encouragement. If it hadn't been for threads like this I would not be building this amplifier.
Guy 13, I like your passion for this hobby and have enjoyed your posts. The missing photos in my initial post are the ones I posted subsequently. Just my limited posting skill.
The surprise so far has been that putting the electronics together, including soldering seems easier than the "simple" woodworking piece.
This is as far as I got last night: attached the power supply board.

[JakeJ]

Lookin' good, borism!  Keep it neat and tidy from beginning to end, double check each step, and in the end you will likely fire it up and it will work perfectly.  If you do have any issues it will be much easier to track down.  But I doubt you will.

Build threads are always fun for everybody and most welcome here.

[ebag4]

Looking good Borism, your efforts will payoff greatly!  Good choice of amp, I love mine.

Best,
Ed

[Captainhemo]

Your build was great too Ed , really enjoyed it 
Thought Borism, might like to have a look so I dug up the link , hope you don't mind ...

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=94743.0

-jay

[borism]

Thanks,

The fun continues. Progress is a little slow since I don't have that much time after work.

Jay, I only wish that I had Ed's woodworking skills. My thought is, if I don't like my base, I can always go back to it at some later time point.

Last night I started on the input wiring. I decided to change the supplied shielded wire to a Mogami 2534 (quad cable). This makes it a little more complicated since 2 cables are blue and 2 are clear coated (out of the 4). So, I used an ohm-meter to mark the wires on each end. The Mogami wire has a beautiful copper shield.

So this is my #3 input connected:

[randytsuch]

IMO, building the chassis and connecting it are harder and more time consuming than putting the electronics together.

I'm building a tube amp, and have been working on the chassis part for a while now, and I still have work to go.  I built the power supply box but still need to make the box for the amp itself.

BTW, for the box I did built, I put on a few coats of shellac, then a few coats of Deft spray lacquer, the stuff in the blue aerosol can, and I think it came out pretty nicely.  One trick is to look for bumps, and feel for rough spots after each coat, and then use steel wool or very fine sandpaper to smooth things out before moving to the next step. 

Randy

[Guy 13]

Thanks,

The fun continues. Progress is a little slow since I don't have that much time after work.

Jay, I only wish that I had Ed's woodworking skills. My thought is, if I don't like my base, I can always go back to it at some later time point.

Last night I started on the input wiring. I decided to change the supplied shielded wire to a Mogami 2534 (quad cable). This makes it a little more complicated since 2 cables are blue and 2 are clear coated (out of the 4). So, I used an ohm-meter to mark the wires on each end. The Mogami wire has a beautiful copper shield.

So this is my #3 input connected:

Hi borism.
May I know with what make - model of speakers your Streomour
will be mated with?
I saw in your picture the Output Impedance Switch Kit installed,
what will be the impedance of your speakers.
Thanks.

Guy 13

[borism]

I made some more, though slow progress.

Guy, I am using Duke's AudioKinesis Jazz Modules. He claims a sensitivity of 92, but he is also being very conservative with this. On his site, he claims that amplifiers as low as 5 W can drive them. The Stereomour is nominally 3.5 W but people on the Bottlehead forum claim more than 4 W measured. So, it will be close.

The wood base is looking a little better since I began using a shellack spray can. Still struggling with some areas of to much shellack that I have to sand down again.

I was finally able to complete the input wiring. The manual says "tedious" work and it is. However, it is great fun and, hopefully, it will work. I had to somewhat adjust what was in the manual given that I changed the selector switch, attenuator and the wires.


 

[borism]

Well, the electronics part is finished. There was a brief scare though. When testing the voltages two points on each side were significantly higher than expected. I turned the amplifier off immediately and then posted the test values on the Bottlehead forum, asking for help. Within a very short time, Paul Joppa who designed the Stereomour responded stating it could be the 12AT7 tube that came with the kit. I changed it and to great relief all tests were fine.

Now, I have to wait until the wood base is finished to hear how it sounds. Never thought that would take more time than the electronics.

Here is a photo of the finished circuit.



 

[Guy 13]

Hi borism.
Your under the hood Stereomour is a bit crowded,
but my Decware SE84C+ is much more crowded than yours.
My amplifier is crowded to a point that you hardly can put the tip of a
soldering iron inside.
Yes, of course, as usual, I am exaggerating.
Nice work, I am more anxious than you to see (Because I cannot hear) how it sounds.
Please don't forget to tell me what make - model of speaker you will use with your Stereomour.

Guy 13
 

[jtwrace]

Please don't forget to tell me what make - model of speaker you will use with your Stereomour.

Guy 13

Guy, I am using Duke's AudioKinesis Jazz

[Guy 13]

Hi jtwrace.
I've done it again.
I really need to up grade my reading glasses.
Thanks, I don't know what I would do without you...

Guy 13

[borism]

It's alive!



Couldn't wait to finish the base and had to connect the Stereomour to my speakers. Have to add that I put in JJ 2A3 tubes and a Mullard 12AT7. So how is the sound? Without any burn-in it's wonderful! I was concerned if it would play loud enough with my speakers of 92 sensitivity. The volume is only at half in my living room. Paul Simon's Graceland is playing now. Very musical, detailed and with a huge sound stage. What an adventure!

Boris

[Nick77]

Congrats, that was fast! Good work, have to try this one someday myself.