The diyAudio Firstwatt F6

Member
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Have an F6 for a year or 2 now. Working flawlessly.
Powering Tannoy Monitor Golds in Bespoke Boxes with Bespoke Xovers.
I like it enough so that I'm not even considering alternates.. ever again.
Interesting bit is I have a 2 yr old Grandaughter who loves listening with me.
Amazingly (to me) .. she will swivel her head around to follow the apparent soundstage.
Her hearing acuity (being 2 and Female) is a whole different Planet more capable than ANY of us.
Often she turns completely around, with a startled look on her face .. following music seemingly emanating from behind her... or even in another room.

About as good as it gets IMO.. after 50 yrs of this Audio Weenie sillyness.

My new favorite post of all time.
 
Hi has anyone implementet the stereo version of the FW powersupply presented in the F6 burning amp notes (see attachement)?
I find it interesting as half of the Rs and the last Cs are dedicated to each channel. Does this in any way benefit e.g. with regards to channel separation (stereo perspective, which is good on the F6 already :) ).
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2018-05-24 at 14.43.37.png
    Screen Shot 2018-05-24 at 14.43.37.png
    374.7 KB · Views: 568
Thanks ZM I´ll leave this issue :confused:. I was looking for the reason/intent behind this design.
Ill try dual mono in my M2 build (2x200 VA would be enough?), I already have the std supply working well in my F6 using a 400VA toroid.
just go for it

or go dual mono ; several examples on my blog

in short -one channel :mains fuse, 250VA Donut , two bridges , 4 pcs 33mF/25Vdc

each channel having own CL60 from audio gnd to case

so , just power cord, IEC and switch are common for both channels
 
intent is better channel separation , better dynamic behavior , smaller ripple , etc.

M2 , being on cooler side - 200VA per channel should be enough

ignore fact that I chose 250VA as lowest value I use , mostly better sleep being the reason
Sleep is overrated :) I find the 400VA and 8x18000uf in my F6 give excellent bass, even driving 86-87db two-ways in our living room high WAF system :).
However my persistence regarding the schematic (see +V_A, +V_B and -V_A, -V_B in my earlier attachment ) was the nagging feeling/hope that one could get 70-80% of the benefits of mono supplies from this single stereo supply with no additional cost.
 
Last edited:
If the powersupply is built into a separate box, is there any practical distance limit ( with regard to performance, electrical and sound) I.e. if I would build 2 mono supplies into one box and have 2 umilicals, one to each mono amp unit placed on wall behind speakers? The umbilicals would have to be 2-3m long. I have had a great tube pre with a 1m umbilical to the powersupply. Sounded great, no hum etc. This would be for my extremely low WAF system in my cave :)
 
Last edited:
Official Court Jester
Joined 2003
Paid Member
taking in account that you're on this side of Big Pond ...with some time invested in clever searching , you can make decent Papamp for 500-600 Euros , in parts ; everything in industrial quality

we all know what kind of quality ( both - build and sound) you can buy from commercial made products - all bells and whistles and buzz , but sound nowhere

make one , to have an amp to enjoy , then you can slowly search surplus places and junkyards , and stash enough peanut priced parts , to make next ones ..... just for fun and enjoyment in building

if you need more specific help in chasing parts , just buzz
 
I have both +/-23V and +/-29V umbilical power supplies. Both are dual mono. The 23V supply is CLC while the 29V is CRC. Standard NP supplies
In attached pics the 23V is used for my SUSY F6 and M2. The 29V is for VFeT2.
M2x will be tried with both.

I think the real advantage is that you can build different amps without having to replicate power supplies.
Just my feeling.

Best

Bob
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6810.jpg
    IMG_6810.jpg
    704.9 KB · Views: 665
  • IMG_6811.jpg
    IMG_6811.jpg
    693.5 KB · Views: 668