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Firebottle
17-02-2017, 09:54
The Mono is born.

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/Paramotorpilot/Monoblocks/P1030654.jpg

Combining the best of valve (tube) and solid state technologies, the Mono utilises a regulated high tension supply powering a super linear triode gain stage. This drives a high power low impedance MOSFET output stage providing very low distortion and a natural and transparent sound.

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/Paramotorpilot/Monoblocks/P1030647.jpg


Input impedance: 60K ohm.
Sensitivity: 1.2 volt rms for full output.
Output power: 55 watts per channel rms into 8 ohms, 85 watts into 4 ohms.


http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/Paramotorpilot/Monoblocks/P1030653.jpg


£1000 per pair, hand built to order.


:) The first pair are being sent out today.

Bigman80
17-02-2017, 10:06
These are phenomenal, I've heard them and Alan knows I've got a good ear.

Great build quality as always and technical support.

Great work Alan. I hope you sell loads !!!

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Ali Tait
17-02-2017, 10:15
Nice work Alan. Will these be at NEBO?

CageyH
17-02-2017, 10:16
Hopefully not the ones shown. ;)

Bigman80
17-02-2017, 10:24
Are these yours?

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CageyH
17-02-2017, 10:30
I believe so.
They look great, and if they sound like the prototypes Alan built I will be very happy.

Bigman80
17-02-2017, 10:37
Wow, congratulations. They are fantastic. You'll be over the moon.

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Simon_LDT
17-02-2017, 15:52
These look great! Very neat layout inside. These monos are top of my 'would like' list when I look to upgrade amps, hopefully before the end of the year. Will these work with 85db Harbeth's (6ohm)? I know I had problems when using the demo AIR unit and my previous XTZ speakers (88db, 4-8ohm).

mikeyb
17-02-2017, 17:26
These look great and knowing how your Firebottle Plus and Vivant Phono stages sound, I bet these are excellent 😉

Sherwood
17-02-2017, 17:30
Look very nice. Sad not to see the proposed wifi camera. Perhaps you could send a link to this to purchasers who like to see their valves glowing!:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hnBwbOCWcM

Geoff

Firebottle
17-02-2017, 18:10
Cheers Geoff :thumbsup: ... :rolleyes:

@Simon. They will work very well with your Harbeths at 85db and 6ohm. During testing I was driving Maggies which are about the same sensitivity but only 4 ohm, they sounded fantastic :)

Jimbo
17-02-2017, 20:22
Hard to go back to a stereo amp after hearing these. Effortless and superb soundstage.

Sherwood
17-02-2017, 21:41
Hard to go back to a stereo amp after hearing these. Effortless and superb soundstage.

That's a different take on monoblocks. Mine do stereo!:scratch:

Sherwood
17-02-2017, 21:43
Cheers Geoff :thumbsup: ... :rolleyes:

@Simon. They will work very well with your Harbeths at 85db and 6ohm. During testing I was driving Maggies which are about the same sensitivity but only 4 ohm, they sounded fantastic :)

If they drive Maggies that is some achievement! Very few amps can deliver the current to make them work well.

Geoff

Ali Tait
17-02-2017, 22:18
That's a different take on monoblocks. Mine do stereo!:scratch:

Think he means the channel seperation is better with monos. :-)

CageyH
28-02-2017, 07:26
The first pair of production monoblocks have arrived chez Cagey (before the weekend). They look fantastic.
Included in the package are some "Audiofool Stacking Spacers" - I will let you abbreviate that, but it did make me chuckle.
Power on is planned for this evening....

Neil McCauley
31-03-2017, 09:34
FYI: http://www.hifianswers.com/2017/03/firebottle-monoblock-power-amplifiers-for-sale/

Bigman80
31-03-2017, 09:55
FYI: http://www.hifianswers.com/2017/03/firebottle-monoblock-power-amplifiers-for-sale/
Good choice.

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Bigman80
09-04-2017, 22:04
Ive had my pair of Monoblocks for a month now and I wanted to contribute to the sterling reputation these monos have.

Its hard to pinpoint the exact thing that makes them so good because I kinda swapped my entire rig at the same time. New speakers, phonostage and amplification all changed together so now ive sold the Sony on, I can speak freely.

The Sony 730ES was good, very good in fact but these, Oh my, they are otherworldly.

I set up my old rig for a reminder and I can honestly say the Firebottle Monoblocks were so much better. It was agonizing to hear an amplifier I love get absolutely devastated by these monos.

The decision to sell the Sony wasn't made lightly. Alan and I spent a few sessions listening at my house and Alan was good enough to loan me some amps to see how I got on. From the moment the monos went in I knew I had to buy some.

Alans input, knowledge and help with questions I had, really made me feel very comfortable handing over huge wads of cash.

These are a class act. So is the builder.

Thanks Alan.

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walpurgis
09-04-2017, 22:39
Glad you're enjoying those Oliver. And that you are now settled with amps that suit you.

Bigman80
10-04-2017, 05:06
Glad you're enjoying those Oliver. And that you are now settled with amps that suit you.
Cheers Geoff. Its quite a nice feeling lol

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Firebottle
10-04-2017, 06:13
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTxL2thU9-0qjjv6_y12aUTuLMRm2GFz59os8a4B3w2kyIg9AyMNA

Bigman80
16-04-2017, 17:54
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTxL2thU9-0qjjv6_y12aUTuLMRm2GFz59os8a4B3w2kyIg9AyMNA
😂 very much

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CageyH
12-07-2017, 18:09
I have just picked up some spare valves for my mono block amps.

1st set - E88C SQ Philips 8255 NOS "Platinum Matched Pair" Low Noise Triode Delta Heerlen Code.
2nd set - Matched pair NOS Telefunken 8255/e88c

Both should be quality replacements, and not being that commonly used in HiFi, they are available relatively cheaply.

Edward
07-02-2018, 09:44
Old thread I know but this thread was just referenced elsewhere.

Alan, are you still making/selling monos and if so perhaps you could update this thread with pics and prices please?

Bigman80
07-02-2018, 12:24
He's making a pair for a AOS member as we speak !!!

Hammer
07-02-2018, 12:29
Me i hope

Bigman80
07-02-2018, 13:33
Lol,

Picked any cases yet Martin?

Edward
07-02-2018, 13:54
Any details as to spec and costs?

E

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Hammer
07-02-2018, 13:57
Alan sent me some details for a case on sunday when i got back, looked good so going with those.Same design as yours with exposed valve and heatsink on top or the case Nice:)

Hammer
07-02-2018, 14:02
Any details as to spec and costs?

E

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Probably best to speak to Alan on that as he can within parameters make to suit

Bigman80
07-02-2018, 14:07
Alan sent me some details for a case on sunday when i got back, looked good so going with those.Same design as yours with exposed valve and heatsink on top or the case Nice:)Lovely stuff mate. Looking forward to seeing them in your rig [emoji4]

Edward
07-02-2018, 14:09
I've sent Alan a PM.



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Bigman80
07-02-2018, 14:11
[emoji41]

Hammer
07-02-2018, 14:17
Lovely stuff mate. Looking forward to seeing them in your rig [emoji4]

Forgot plus Telefunkens:doh:

Bigman80
07-02-2018, 14:19
Forgot plus Telefunkens:doh:Lol, a must!!!!

Firebottle
07-02-2018, 14:21
http://i68.tinypic.com/2ro2gcx.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/dpe0jl.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/2i8ygqh.jpg


Had trouble finding some pictures, think some got lost with a camera :doh:

Hybrid design with super linear valve driver stage and MOSFET output stage. 90W rms into 8 ohms, will drive any speaker including maggies.

£1000 per pair.

Edward
07-02-2018, 14:28
Ah thanks Alan. I got confused did not realise was with mosfet output, thought valve output.

Looks yummy and heard great things about your implementation. Let me ponder.

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Bigman80
07-02-2018, 14:39
Ah thanks Alan. I got confused did not realise was with mosfet output, thought valve output.

Looks yummy and heard great things about your implementation. Let me ponder.

Sent via TapatalkWelcome to come up for a listen mate.

Edward
07-02-2018, 14:47
Welcome to come up for a listen mate.

Ah thanks Oliver. Very kind of you. As I think I mentioned elsewhere to you my wife comes from your neck of the woods. Maybe we will visit again sometime, last time was 2 years ago. It is certainly our aim to visit again - lovely countryside there. Combining it with 'proper' hifi makes it even more appealing.

Bigman80
07-02-2018, 14:51
Ah thanks Oliver. Very kind of you. As I think I mentioned elsewhere to you my wife comes from your neck of the woods. Maybe we will visit again sometime, last time was 2 years ago. It is certainly our aim to visit again - lovely countryside there. Combining it with 'proper' hifi makes it even more appealing.No worries. Just drop me a message.

CageyH
07-02-2018, 15:10
Had trouble finding some pictures, think some got lost with a camera :doh:

Hybrid design with super linear valve driver stage and MOSFET output stage. 90W rms into 8 ohms, will drive any speaker including maggies.

£1000 per pair.

Have they gone back up to 90W?

hifinutt
16-06-2018, 15:40
been playing with some firebottle kin in recent days

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/950/41991936661_1074a6a4cb_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26YFDMX)P1060172 (https://flic.kr/p/26YFDMX) by [/url], on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/954/27122888957_7dd5b524de_z.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158267783@N02/)P1060171 (https://flic.kr/p/HjKTWv) by , on Flickr

used for a number of weeks with velleman valve pre which is a very modest pre but not bad at all . does not have the massive holographic soundstage of the modwright but then it cost about 72 times less . big bouncy muscular sounding , every big as good as the departed supernait 2 but that had better holographics . does not get too hot but those little valves can get knocked and lost one 2 days ago getting it back in the rack . fortunately thanks to a very efficient valve company billinton export valves i was up at running in less than 24 hours . impressive . this pre power was used with the very big sounding impulse ta`us

then for a few days used with the tannoy eaton legacy , again big sound and extremely transparent with FM radio , this transparency gave rise to a very very slight hardness at times but very enjoyable . this was using a bel canto pre 3 ss pre amp
so the msb [ costing about 14 times as much as the FB ] was smoother and better in holographics . that said we have previously tried the FB with the velleman with the eatons and that was very good so a better match i think than the ss pre

one thing i noticed was that sometimes there was a slight pop when turning off one of the amps when used with eaton [ not the other ]

i noticed in the instructions that it says the input is dirctly coupled so DC on the input should be avoided . i don`t quite know what this means and thinking of trying another pre amp which says

"DC filament power helps to create an amplifier with low noise and exceptional sonic qualities. " this amp is based on a herron pre amp design i think

and wondering if that means the amps are incompatible , perhaps someone technical can enlighten .

now thanks to our very own jerry [ a big thanks ] i am using the FB with a schiit saga valve passive and that is smoother top end than the velleman and for the money is a cracker

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1733/42818305421_5ef2213b97_h.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158267783@N02/)eLFjmVv (https://flic.kr/p/28eH1rc) by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158267783@N02/], on Flickr

hifinutt
15-06-2019, 21:13
Tried these lovely monoblocks with a number of pre amps now . Always sounds good , best combo was with the saga pre. Now using a sugden a21se as a pre amp and it makes a very good pre amp although I find the remote a bit imprecise. Still using the stock tubes although have some telefunckens to use sometime

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48069346321_7da41a720e.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2geHXX8)261b4cedbd79c498545aefa536dd33fadda06ae4_2 _375x500 (https://flic.kr/p/2geHXX8) by [/url], on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46991936374_f54ef22379_z.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/158267783@N02/)P1060525 (https://flic.kr/p/2eAvXvy) by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158267783@N02/], on Flickr

Bigman80
15-06-2019, 22:53
Still a lot of performance for the price. I do remember mine fondly.

smangus
16-06-2019, 10:06
Still a lot of performance for the price. I do remember mine fondly.They're still good!

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Bigman80
16-06-2019, 10:22
They're still good!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk[emoji106] Yes. I bet they are.

hifinutt
16-06-2019, 16:09
They are delightful , They are beautifully made