Just finished fine tuning my First Watt F5 clone.

I built it about a year ago out of parts that I had on hand back then, including a power supply reused from another project. The resulting sound was rather disappointing. Now I spent time matching transistors and tuning the feedback network. The amplifier now is very close to the performance described in the original service manual.

I am listening to F5 (the music is Tchaikovsky performed by Wiener Philharmoniker and von Karajan) and realizing that it is so good that if this was my first amplifier, I might not be interested in building anything else.

Someone pointed out that it's interesting to see all the components in a system, rather than just discussing them individually. I liked the idea - I think it also shows what projects ended up actually useful - so here are my systems (I have three with diy components).

The music I listen to is an eclectic mix of classical music (such as Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky), opera (mostly arias), jazz (Armstrong) and some pop music.

The first system is the one I listen to the most and also the testbed for whatever project I may be working on:

• exposure 2010S CD player
• Mac + Musical Fidelity V-Link + V-DAC
• B1 clone preamp
• Burning Amp 1 (my take on it)
• Klipsch Heresy III speakers

The second is the best sounding so far, has the highest WAF and is likely to stay around for some time:

• Sony CDP-XB920 CD Player
• Elekit TU-879S integrated amp
• Full range back loaded horns with Fostex FE206E (built from a kit)

The third is my first foray into vinyl...