[Bill Baker]

While burning in some other amplifiers that were finished up today, I took the time to hook up the Bella 100's for some serious listening as promised.

 The system at this time:

* Bella EXtreme 100 Mundorf amplifiers (a lot more inside these amps than advertised )
* Audio Note Custom L3 Deluxe preamp w/ Double C-Core AN output transformers
* Audio Note Custom DAC 2.1 Deluxe (added after picture was taken)
* Jolida JD100 acting as transport for now
* Prototype Silver/Gold interconnects from DAC to preamp
* Custom Clarity Labs Emberglow 1.5M Balanced interconnects from preamp to mono blocs
* Prototype SG17 Silver/Gold foil speaker cable
* AIRSINE and Flavor 4 VH Audio power cords
* Eichmann power block and PC cord.
* GR-Research OB-7 Deluxe speakers

 Wow!! Whole new level of performance.

[lonewolfny42]

Bill....

More power.....nice !!!

I am also a big fan of a good sax or trumpet. I would have to say the sax is my favorite and oddly enough, the harmonica comes in right after that.

OK.....

Sonny Rollins - "Saxophone Colossus" and "Way Out West"

Stan Getz - ""Getz/Gilberto"  and "Jazz Samba"

Bob Mintzer - "In the Moment"

Branford Marsalis - "Trio Jeepy"

Morphine - "Cure For Pain"

John Coltrane - "Giant Steps"

Claude Delangle - "The Solitary Saxophone"

Stanley Turrentine - "A Bluish Bag"

Joe Henderson - "Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn"  and "So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles)"

Miles Davis - "Kind Of Blue" and "Milestones"

Freddie Hubbard - "Red Clay" and "Straight Life"

Lee Morgan - "The Sidewinder"

Clifford Brown - "At Basin Street"

Wynton Marsalis - "Marsalis Standard Time ~ Vol.1" and "The Magic Hour"

Don Ellis - "Electric Bath"

Woody Shaw - "Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard"


And.....harmonica.... 

Junior Wells - "Hoodoo Man Blues" and "Alone & Acoustic"

J. Geils Band - ""Live" Full House"

Magic Dick and Jay Geils - "Bluestime"

James Cotton - "Living the Blues"

Charlie Musselwhite - "Harmonica According to Charlie"

Big Walter Horton - "Can't Keep Lovin' You"

Frederic Yonnet - "Front and Center"

And.....a good collection...

Check out the samples on Amazon.....

[Bill Baker]

More power.....nice !!!

 Hi Chris, it was not just about the power as I am currently running them in triode which means I am still at 60 watts. Later today they will be switched to pentode for 100 watts. It was more about justifying running <$5k speakers with more than $20K worth of electronics. They were very much at home in such a system.

 A few days ago, I finished up a pair of EXtreme Hurricanes for a customer. Before leaving work last night, I decided to throw them in for a short period of time running in pentode for the full 200 watts. I have to say that the better the system gets, the more these speakers show their true potential of what they are capable of. I only wish I had a pair of these Hurricanes around that were full broken in. Unfortunately, they are leaving next week. Maybe I am going to have to bi-amp with two pair of Bella 100's I have to build another pair anyway to bi-amp the CLS-9's.

Bottom line, these speakers appreciate high quality upstream components.

OK.......................

 Chris, I have most of the recordings you mention but not enough time to go through them all. Many of them don't even have the wrappers off yet. I have propably 50-60 Jazz & Blues CD's that are unopened.

 I have several recording by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, Miles Davis, etc. James Cotton is one I listen to quite often. I forgot the name of the album I listen to teh most but it is very upbeat and a clean recording.

[Bill Baker]

Now that I have about 60 hours on the OB-7 Deluxe, I decided it was time to install all the bypass capacitors into the crossovers.

 I use the SoniCap Gen II .10uF for all the shunt capacitors, SoniCap Platinum .10uF in the high pass filter and Mundorf Silver/Gold .22uF in the midband circuit. Now it's time to burn these in 

Later on, the midrange drivers will get Bybees.

[saisunil]

Nice recommendations Chris. I need to get more Harmonica ....

Thanks

[rklein]

Hello:

I have been looking to build a pair of speakers for quite a while.  The OB-7's look very promising.  One question is grills.  I personally would take them off for critical listening.  However, my system does double duty for 2-channel and HT.  Plus it is located in our family room so while I think the speakers look very handsome without grills my better half would probably appreciate having grills for normal TV usage as well as when the speakers are not in use. 

Thanks,
rklein

[Bill Baker]

hello rklein,
 Building in some grills would not be a problem. However, they could interact with the performance of the planar tweeter. As long as you remove them for critical listening, you would be fine.
 I am considering a pair of OB-5's for my home and in doing so, I would build these with two piece grills to keep the wife happy. One for the woofers and another to cover the MTM section that could be removed during serious listening. I would leave the covers on the woofers at all times.

[Bill Baker]

Good evening AC'er,
 Now that I have another 100 hours or so on the OB-7's with the bypass caps in, I wanted to rpovide a quick update.

 For those of you who are building or ordering these speakers.....DO NOT skimp on the crossover and go without bypass capacitors. As mentioned previously, I have the Platinum Teflon on the tweeter but went with teh Mundorf Silver/Gold on the midrange as I feel this is the most critical range.

 The differences were noticable from the start but after many additional offers, things really opened up even more. The soundtage has become wider and more spacious.

 I have also played with different interconnectand speaker cables and can assure you they too make a significant difference.

 In the end, I now have this system where I want it and I don't think there is much more I could do to improve it.

 System details: a few changes made

* Bella EXtreme 100 Mundorf amplifiers (a lot more inside these amps than advertised )
* Audio Note Custom L3 Deluxe preamp w/ Double C-Core AN output transformers
* Audio Note Custom DAC 2.1 Deluxe (added after picture was taken)
* MHZS CD66 acting as transport for now
* Musica Bella SG24 Silver/Gold interconnects with Bybee option from DAC to preamp
* Musica Bella SG24 Silver/Gold interconnects from preamp to amplifiers
  (Balanced version of above cable with Bybee option going in soon)
* Musica Bella SG17 Silver/Gold foil speaker cable
* AIRSINE (amplifiers), Flavor 4 (preamp, DAC) & Jam'n Audio power cords
* Eichmann power block and PC cord.
* GR-Research OB-7 Deluxe speakers with Mundorf Silver/Gold and SoniCap Platinum bypasses

[Bill Baker]

Hi everyone, I have had these speakers up and running daily for some time now so I thought I would provide an update on some of the power I have used to drive them along the way.

Bella 3205 MK II Reference - This amp, aka: Big Blue, has been around for a while and now has about 2,500 hours on it with the same Cryo Svetlana KT88 tubes as the day I built it.

Bella 3205 MK II Signature - I used this amp to originally develop the MK II 3205 circuit and run Valve Art EL34 tubes and JJ 12AU7's. Has about 600 hours.

Refence Jolida 801 amplifier - This amp has also been around for a while and now has about 2,000 hours on it with the same Cryo Valve Art KT88 tubes as the day I built it.

Bella EXtreme 100 Mundorf mono blocs - I no longer have this pair but you get an idea of how they worked with the OB-7's from earlier post within this thread.

 Jolida JD1501RC - slightly upgraded with ModWright OIMP coupling capacitors and some critical resistors.

 Bada DC 222 Integrated Hybrid - Bone stock right now but currently in the process of upgrading for a customer.

 Jaton 2 channel SS amplifier - A very nice, affordable SS unit.

 When a preamp was used, it was always my Audio Note Custom M3 or M2 linestage unit. The Audio Note Custom DAC 2.1 Deluxe has been in place from the beginning. At the moment, I am using a Jolida JD100 as a CD transport. Cables are a combination of our own SG Series 24 Silver/Gold interconnects and SG17 Silver/Gold speaker cable.

 Here is the order of my personal preference. This may surprise some of you:

1) Bella EXtreme 3205 MK II Reference (KT88) w/ Audio Note Custom M2 linestage
2) Bella EXtreme 100 Mundorf Silver/Oil mono blocs with Audio Note Custom M3 linestage (running with balanced cables)
3) Reference Jolida 801 (KT88) w/ Audio Note Custom M2 linestage
4) Bella EXtreme 3205 MK II Signature (EL34) w/ Audio Note Custom M2 linestage
5) Jaton 2 channel SS amplifier w/ Audio Note Custom M3 preamp.
6) Bada DC 22 integrated amplifier
7) Jolida 1501RC

 That's it for now. I will post more details of my findings with these combinations in Part 2 a bit later. All I will say for now is that I still find these to be amazing speakers that continue to impress me on a daily basis.  I stopped keeping track of hours after 200 but have been running them everyday while I am working and they continue to sound better as they mature and rack up hours.

 As you can see from my preference list, I do prefer all tubes with these speakers but then again, I am bias towards tubes but everybody knows this already

[Bill Baker]

Wanted to show an update picture of the speakers. As you can see in the picture below (as it sits right now), I have finally got around to getting the bases painted and applying a few more coats of oil finish on the front baffle. You can also see how the Cherry wood is starting to naturally darken. The speakers are running daily now as we test and evaluate our new Musica Bella line of products. They are seeing 8-10 hours of use a day.

 I am in the process of chaging the system around a bit. In the forth coming days, the system will be as follows:

 Highly modified Reference Jolida 801 power amp
 Musica Bella Purity remote control preamp.
 Audio Note CDT Two MKII transport
 Audio Note Custom DAC 2.1 Deluxe
 Musica Bella SG 24 Series interconnects
 Musica Bella SG17 & SG28 Series Silver/Gold speakers cables (bi-wired)