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Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?

68.113.106.29

Posted on February 26, 2014 at 10:18:18
Posts: 6
Joined: August 11, 2013
Thinking of building Bottlehead Paramount V1.1
http://bottlehead.com/?product=paramount-v1-1-300b2a3-monoblocks-pair-kit

or Transcendent 300B OTL
http://bottlehead.com/?product=paramount-v1-1-300b2a3-monoblocks-pair-kit

or maybe Transcendent Mini Beast
http://www.transcendentsound.com/Transcendent/Mini_Beast.html

Speakers are Model 19's and KlipschHorns. Any do's/dont's and opinions appreciated.

 

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RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on February 26, 2014 at 11:13:25
AudioSoul
Audiophile

Posts: 4594
Location: north central AZ
Joined: July 9, 2005

If you don't mind the esthetics of the Bottlehead cords coming out the top of the amp, it might be a nice one. BTW I think companies that have speaker and RCA connections on the top of amps and preamps are the most stupid things a co. has ever done. It limits you to using flexible cable or having stiff cable sticking up. This looks haphazard and messy......

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on February 26, 2014 at 12:45:36
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 15703
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
I would be a little wary about the hum problem associated with a 300B OTL, even if they say they have nearly eliminated the hum. How much hum is left? The more sensitive the speaker, the more sensitive it is to audible hum.

The 300B paramount does not require high sensitivity speakers, but does require an easy load if the sensitivity is low. There are a variety of 2-way monitors in the 88-90dB sensitive range that are also easy loads; you can even go lower if you have a high impedance flat electrical load curve, as do the LS3/5As (83dB sensitive) that are BBC licensed.

Tower speakers with more than 1 cross-over can be fairly difficult loads, compared to 2-way minis. So speakers are always a concern when you go the SET route.

 

My feelings exactly, I never give stuff like that a second look. NT., posted on February 26, 2014 at 13:18:19
ABliss
Audiophile

Posts: 1476
Joined: March 16, 2001
Contributor
  Since:
August 3, 2002
nt.

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on February 26, 2014 at 15:26:26
airtime
Audiophile

Posts: 11287
Location: Arizona
Joined: February 4, 2003
I have heard the bottlehead and wow - was I taken by the sound!!!! A quality amp! If I had the money I would go for one myself.

However I have never heard the transcendent. SO do NOT take this review as negative towards them.

Post over at the tube forum as well. A knowledgable bunch of guys and very friendly as well.

charles

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on February 26, 2014 at 15:49:00
IEaudiodude
Audiophile

Posts: 2814
Location: So Cal
Joined: February 11, 2010
I thought the same thing , seems silly to have the connectors facing up and in your face so you get a good view of every cable you own. I know the sound of a piece has nothing to do with how it looks,but it sure doesn't hurt for the gear to be appealing to look at everyday :^)
Photobucket

 

I built Paramounts when they first came out ..., posted on February 26, 2014 at 22:38:08
Rick58
Audiophile

Posts: 1118
Location: No. California
Joined: January 24, 2001
They sound good. I've upgraded the coupling and 'parafeed' caps with better ones, but it really didn't improve the already great sound that much. Maybe in this circuit those caps don't need 'boutique' caps.

It was a little challenging, esp. stuffing the circuit boards. I should have been more patient and gotten some of those headworn magnifiers, but I managed to get thru all of it with no errant connections, etc..

The new ones have the soft start circuit and use a different input/driver tube. Mine use 12AT7s and since I have a couple different flavors I won't be upgrading to the latest circuitry. I haven't had any issues with the 'regular start' things in there. I have read that some diodes tended to have issues, but mine seem to be OK (everything still works and sounds excellent).

I can't tell you what to get but I drive 90dB/W efficient Triangle Tituses with mine, they do have a flattish impedance curve and of course only the simple high pass filter on the tweeter (no filters at all on the mid-woofer). These are well known to be tube friendly. The B'heads drive them to more volume than I would want to have going for very long ...

Seems like OTLs are mainly for high impedance loads ... unless your speakers remain above 8 ohms or preferably more, I'd wonder about matching the OTL amp.

HAvent looked at the MiniBeast, I'll check it out.

Edit: Hmmm ... "Works with any 8 ohm speaker with a sensitivity of 95dB/watt or greater." for the 300B version ... I think they mean it remains above 8 ohms over the audio spectrum. Maybe your speakers do that, so it wouldn't be a problem.

Edit 2: The K'horns seem to be around 4 ohms in the bass up to about 200Hz, then have a peak at about 30 ohms at 2kHz. I'm sure they have been driven by low power tube amps all the time but I don't know about compatibility with OTLs.

All the DIY speakers on the Transcendent page are above 8 ohms everywhere in the audio spectrum ...

You might check out the forum, post a question there about compatibility ... your speakers and an OTL may be a match made in heaven, even tho the 'specs' don't seem to match up with normal OTL philosophy. Hard to say.

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on February 27, 2014 at 08:31:26
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3944
Joined: January 20, 2000
Not a 300B but this is an excellent amp with a lot of flexibility. Sounds wonderful with new production tubes that will not break the bank. I'm driving Heresy III's with a complex crossover.

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on February 27, 2014 at 15:54:56
Don't leave George Anderson's Tubelab SE out of your consideration.

It's a bare bones kit, just a board and a website based manual but the website, and the Tubelab Forum on diyaudio.com has excellent support.

This may give you an idea of what is required:





Not the 45/300B SE, but the somewhat less complex Simple SE.

 

Nice build! Are you using pentodes or triodes? nt, posted on February 28, 2014 at 12:57:29
nt

 

RE: Both!, posted on February 28, 2014 at 13:40:18
Triode-strapped Pentode.

6 wonderful Watts that, since plugging in Gold Lion KT-88s, furnish stiff
competition to my far more sophisticated 45. Just one of the Magnequest
plate chokes on my 45 cost the same as both Output Transformers on the
Simple. George is a genius!

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on August 14, 2014 at 09:28:52
Posts: 6
Joined: August 11, 2013
I read about the SE and SSE on his website and it looks good. What transformers and tubes are you using?

A set of 45 SSE monoblocks is interesting. There are no plans for monoblocks only stereo. (I'm not smart enough to do it on my own)

Thanks

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on August 14, 2014 at 09:30:22
Posts: 6
Joined: August 11, 2013
meant:
A set of 45 SE monoblocks

Thanks

 

RE: Tube amp kit - Bottlehead or Transcendnt ?, posted on August 14, 2014 at 09:58:07
Posts: 6
Joined: August 11, 2013
Actually, after looking at the SSE schematic, (in theory) you could get two boards, not populate the other channel, and add another input transformer ??

http://tubelab.com/designs/tubelab-sse/schematic/

 

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