First watt choices

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wdecho

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Joined 2014
Russellc said:
Don't get me wrong, I haven't heard a Pass amp I didnt think outstanding. That said, of all the ones I've built in my signature, I enjoyed the F6 least. An excellent amp, with outstanding upper range and expansive sound stage, but not warm like Aleph J or M2. I found it the closest to the F5 in comparison. I "decommissioned" my F6 to put the Aleph J boards in. I still have all the others, and with a chassis and power supply, I could "recommission" the F6, but I dont feel the need. Cant say the same about M2 or Aleph J, would miss them too much. Ditto for the complimentary BA3 in my main system. Please, I am not saying the F6 sounds bad, I dont think it does at all, its a fine amp. Just like the others better, just my taste and opinion, others will vary in their tastes

I also agree with others here that the First Watt amps I have benefit from pre with gain. With the B1, or other gainless front ends something is missing to me, with the exception of the BA3 amp, which has more gain...still, I prefer some gain with my preamps even there.

Russellc
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My results, pretty much the same regarding F6, F5 with horns. I believe the type of speakers matters a lot when choosing a Firstwatt clone build. With the right speakers I believe the F6 and F5 would make a great choice. Personally I like my BA-1 and BA-2 builds over my others with my horns. There are no culls with Firstwatt clones but I do have my favorites. I generally prefer some gain but right now I am using my B1 version 2 for my SS and tube builds to enable use of sub. My favorite pre with gain is the LSK pre that has very little interest but is a fantastic sounding preamplifier. I have two of them the one discussed at the BAF by Nelson and Juma's design.
 
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Georg Kovalcik

Member
Joined 2017
Russellc said:
Don't get me wrong, I haven't heard a Pass amp I didnt think outstanding. That said, of all the ones I've built in my signature, I enjoyed the F6 least. An excellent amp, with outstanding upper range and expansive sound stage, but not warm like Aleph J or M2. I found it the closest to the F5 in comparison.
...

Russellc
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Did ypu build your F6 with AC degeneration (like described in art_f6_baf.pdf,
dominant 2nd) or without (like shown in F6_DIY_SCH.gif, dominant 3rd) ?
 
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Russellc

Member
Joined 2003
Paid Member
wdecho said:
My results, pretty much the same regarding F6, F5 with horns. I believe the type of speakers matters a lot when choosing a Firstwatt clone build. With the right speakers I believe the F6 and F5 would make a great choice. Personally I like my BA-1 and BA-2 builds over my others with my horns. There are no culls with Firstwatt clones but I do have my favorites. I generally prefer some gain but right now I am using my B1 version 2 for my SS and tube builds to enable use of sub. My favorite pre with gain is the LSK pre that has very little interest but is a fantastic sounding preamplifier. I have two of them the one discussed at the BAF by Nelson and Juma's design.
Click to expand...

Yep, two different horns, Ewave, Altec, 3 different direct radiator, low to fairly high (for direct radiator, 86 to 92 dB) tried all.

Russellc
 
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PJN

Member
Joined 2004
wdecho said:
My results, pretty much the same regarding F6, F5 with horns. I believe the type of speakers matters a lot when choosing a Firstwatt clone build. With the right speakers I believe the F6 and F5 would make a great choice. Personally I like my BA-1 and BA-2 builds over my others with my horns. There are no culls with Firstwatt clones but I do have my favorites. I generally prefer some gain but right now I am using my B1 version 2 for my SS and tube builds to enable use of sub. My favorite pre with gain is the LSK pre that has very little interest but is a fantastic sounding preamplifier. I have two of them the one discussed at the BAF by Nelson and Juma's design.
Click to expand...

I also completely agree with the speaker thing, it has a large influence on amp preference. I have built a few Pass amps and for my preference I liked the Aleph J over the F5, because it sounds warmer, yet detailed. I liked the F6 over the Aleph J, the F6 seemed to me to be more dynamic, like the Aleph J on steroids. I have a M2 also, using it with fullrange drivers in BLH, nice tonality, warm and soft, easy to listen to. Just finished a DIY Sony VFET, it has it's own sound, dynamic, very detailed, giant soundstage. I recently swapped it into the M2 system, the M2 sounds warmer but less dynamic and veiled in comparison. The point is that you need to be careful with Pass amps, they are addictive, you can't just build one.
 
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migkiller1971

Member
Joined 2010
stephenmarklay said:
I would love to hear about your process. Is there a list of components that you are going by?
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I got my boards from Tea Bag. There is a BOM for the stereo boards here:

M2C BOM - Google Sheets

I might use the Universal PSU in the diyaudiostore.. There is a lot of parts I don't see listed anywhere. Bridge Rectifiers, caps,etc...which means a lot of reading.

I haven't seen a build guide.
 
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plasnu

Member
Joined 2011
PJN said:
I also completely agree with the speaker thing, it has a large influence on amp preference. I have built a few Pass amps and for my preference I liked the Aleph J over the F5, because it sounds warmer, yet detailed. I liked the F6 over the Aleph J, the F6 seemed to me to be more dynamic, like the Aleph J on steroids. I have a M2 also, using it with fullrange drivers in BLH, nice tonality, warm and soft, easy to listen to. Just finished a DIY Sony VFET, it has it's own sound, dynamic, very detailed, giant soundstage. I recently swapped it into the M2 system, the M2 sounds warmer but less dynamic and veiled in comparison. The point is that you need to be careful with Pass amps, they are addictive, you can't just build one.
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hahaha, this kind of post would confuse people more, but I agree about Pass amps. What I learned from Pass amps is, there is no amp that sounds 'better" than the other amps. I love most of my amps, and they all sound accurate and beautiful, albeit all have very distinct tone. Well, which is more transparent? Who cares! ;)
 
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