F5 power amplifier

Ex-Moderator R.I.P.
Joined 2005
Galop, nice to hear

Oh, it was just a thought with the combined thermal switch and softstart
I have just been told that my delivery of heatsink weighs in at 45kilo, so I expect no need :p

Balanced F5x
I would still like some opinions about load issues with a balanced F5(X)
Sure, its a nice way to get more power, and retain the low voltage with less strain on curcuit
And I suppose we have a natural double bias, with standard settings :scratch2:
But amp will also "see" half impedance of actual speaker load :confused:
I do have matched quads of all, and could do it with double outputs etc
But Im not sure I want to go that way, even tho it does have some attraction
It would need complicated balanced signal
And I have never really preferred the sound of balanced gear over traditional
To me, balanced gear sounds a bit "mechanical", but I know it could have been related to something else
Any opinions appreciated
 
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I've just built my first amp the F5 2 weeks ago and what a great feeling of accomplishment.
The fact that is sounds great makes it all worth the time and effort.
I built the B1 a couple of days after the F5 and built speaker inclosers with the help of planet10-hifi drawings on the Fonken-steen. The drivers a F120A that I bought of ebay that were already enambled! They seem to sound better since I first installed them 3 or 4 days ago.
Now for the bad news. One of my channels started to distort last night. Made crackling noises through the music. I took the speakers off and measered the dc offset. It seem to fluctuate but was around 120mV. Oh that particular channel was also cool to the touch. I checked the voltage between R11 and R12, the volts were dramatically different. I forget which one though, one was around 4mV and the other 120mV. I proceeded to adjust them down checking the resistors and the dc offset at the speaker terminals. The offset wouldn't stop flucuating and P1 for some reason took alot to see any change in volts between R11. Once the two resistors were equal I started to move the voltage back up once I got around .52 volts R11 started to go crazy and soon after both R11 and R12 burned up. Dope! Sorry this is still all very new to me. I'm not sure what could have made the dc offset to act so sporadically the way it did.
 
Thanh
I think if you read the post of Mr. Pass and EUVL you get answer for your question .
By the way are you planing to use multiple power mosfet or just one pair on each board .
Or you will design a PC board to the X both half together ?
I use separate PC board like Smyslow .
I'm very happy the Master himself gave answer to our question , also Patrick answer is very valuable !
Now I will go on and each the PC boards .
Greets

Yes, I am very happy with the answer provided.
Regarding output mosfets, I will probbably go with 2 pairs or 3 pairs per half (ie total of 4 pairs or 6 pairs per channel)
However, it might end up being 6 pairs per channel, only because I have already built one working channel (regular version) with 3 pairs.
If I was building from scratch then I would probably go with 2 pairs on each half (4 pairs per channel).
However I think you mentioned you already have the devices laying around not being used, so go with what you feel comfortable with.
See how many you get matched and go with that. From what I have heard the Toshiba devices tend to be quite good in terms of them being closely matched straight from the factory.
 
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R11 started to go crazy and soon after both R11 and R12 burned up.
Sommething not so funny happend,I heard it sounded distorded
and I opened the F5 ,and at the bottom was R11 from one channel and R12 from the other laying...lose...
I have messaured on the mosfets and theres no short or opencircuit on the mosfets.
Those resistors must have been quite hot..can I just solder new ones and try?
 
If they were the correct wattage resistors (5 watt?) they should be hot, but not nearly hot enough to unsolder themselves.

What is common between both channels? An external short between the two positive speaker terminals? Power supply (or ground) problem? Was the bias unreasonably high on both channels? Oscillation on both channels?

Luckily there are not very many components to troubleshoot.
 
Hello Thanh

I go with 3 par 6/channel also . I have more than enough power mosfet.
Yes you right about the Toshiba device , they are very close matched already .But I did match them further . When I did the matching it was hard to believe they measure so close!
How you like your F5 ?
Some comments please about the sound .I didn't heard not one amp from the First Watt series .
I have something with laterals called Profet (it is a great amp) but different conception. The same time I will bridge that also .
I want to go with my system in balanced mode .My CD player (Audio Alchemy) balanced , I have a unfinished Aleph 1.7 pre..
I hope F5X it will be a further improvement over the Profet or my basic Aleph X .I write basic because I do not use JETs on the input. Still a great amp!!!
If you build the X please do not forget to ground the output , my AX uses 33R 25W resistors .
I order the parts these weekend or Monday .
What is the value your parallel resistors with the trim pots ? I think I will use 1K resistors and 2K multi turn pots
Also because U use multiple power mosfet what is the value the power mosfet resistors (0.47R) or higher ?

Greets
 
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Balanced F5x

And I suppose we have a natural double bias, with standard settings :scratch2:
But amp will also "see" half impedance of actual speaker load :confused:
yes the bias needs to be raised two times to allow for the half impedance load effect. Since there are two amplifiers supplied from the rails the total bias goes up by a factor of 4times, giving 4times the heatsink dissipation.

Or leave it at the same bias and run it as a high bias ClassAB.