About R15
This from the included paperwork.
"And now for the upgrade"
We sent an original kit to Papa Pass and he wrung it out with his test gear. Turns out it could be tweaked to have more bias and put out SIX watts into 8 ohms with less distortion. On previous kits to get this advantage you had to add resistor R15 , Value 2.21K between resistors on the circuit boards as shown in the online Build Guide. We now include these resistors in the kits and the holes are provided for R15 on revised circuit boards so no modifications are required.
This from the included paperwork.
"And now for the upgrade"
We sent an original kit to Papa Pass and he wrung it out with his test gear. Turns out it could be tweaked to have more bias and put out SIX watts into 8 ohms with less distortion. On previous kits to get this advantage you had to add resistor R15 , Value 2.21K between resistors on the circuit boards as shown in the online Build Guide. We now include these resistors in the kits and the holes are provided for R15 on revised circuit boards so no modifications are required.
Attachments
Pictures from my build of the first amp.
Great experience, one previous kit under my belt-Akitka amp, this was more DIY and I was glad that I did the Akitika first as it had very detailed instructions and great support from the designer during the process.
Back to the Pass, loved the resistors with the actual value written on the resistor, the PCB had plenty of space and the parts were all there. The two online build guides were essential. I made myself go through the circuit diagram and made a list of all of the components and laid them out before soldering. The wiring was a little tougher as I had to visually estimate the lengths. I used the 3 connection power jack so I wouldn't have to enlarge the holes on the back of the case. I used the multimeter to confirm the right tabs/leads to connect the wires to as described in one of the build guides. The hard part was that no matter how much I twisted the stranded wire it wouldn't fit into the power jack tab holes. I ended up soldering some of it to the surface and some through the holes. Also I had to extend the leads of the LED with wire to get enough length to get it into the LED holder. I covered the junctions with heat shrink.
All in all very satisfying and fun so far. I think the second one will go quicker.
Great experience, one previous kit under my belt-Akitka amp, this was more DIY and I was glad that I did the Akitika first as it had very detailed instructions and great support from the designer during the process.
Back to the Pass, loved the resistors with the actual value written on the resistor, the PCB had plenty of space and the parts were all there. The two online build guides were essential. I made myself go through the circuit diagram and made a list of all of the components and laid them out before soldering. The wiring was a little tougher as I had to visually estimate the lengths. I used the 3 connection power jack so I wouldn't have to enlarge the holes on the back of the case. I used the multimeter to confirm the right tabs/leads to connect the wires to as described in one of the build guides. The hard part was that no matter how much I twisted the stranded wire it wouldn't fit into the power jack tab holes. I ended up soldering some of it to the surface and some through the holes. Also I had to extend the leads of the LED with wire to get enough length to get it into the LED holder. I covered the junctions with heat shrink.
All in all very satisfying and fun so far. I think the second one will go quicker.
Attachments
Re power jack
In my haste to get things going I had not realized that the three prong power jack was ALSO supplied though not in the bag with the rest of the stuff. It was therefore unnecessary for me to make the jack hole larger. Live and learn!
One other thing worth mentioning with my build is that to solder the leads to the red led it was best done with the led not in place. This is probably mentioned somewhere else. I'm done with one now and waiting for the 30 mins warm up to set bias. Off the bat it measured 8.16 V.
In my haste to get things going I had not realized that the three prong power jack was ALSO supplied though not in the bag with the rest of the stuff. It was therefore unnecessary for me to make the jack hole larger. Live and learn!
One other thing worth mentioning with my build is that to solder the leads to the red led it was best done with the led not in place. This is probably mentioned somewhere else. I'm done with one now and waiting for the 30 mins warm up to set bias. Off the bat it measured 8.16 V.
Hello Team,
Good Afternoon!
I recently bought ACA pcb and the components from digikey. I have assembled the parts based on the build guide. One amp kit is fine and the output is clean and audible, but the other amp kit the sound output is very minute, I have to keep my ears close to the speakers to hear the music, even at full volume of my mobile device. I am not sure what's causing this behaviour. Every components are exactly the same as the other good amp.
Could anybody help me fix this issue.
Thank you,
Kapalin
Good Afternoon!
I recently bought ACA pcb and the components from digikey. I have assembled the parts based on the build guide. One amp kit is fine and the output is clean and audible, but the other amp kit the sound output is very minute, I have to keep my ears close to the speakers to hear the music, even at full volume of my mobile device. I am not sure what's causing this behaviour. Every components are exactly the same as the other good amp.
Could anybody help me fix this issue.
Thank you,
Kapalin
I decided to stuff some boards and build a linear PS to hear what all the fuss is about this amp. My build uses a single PS with 60,000 uf of capacitance and an Antek 200VA 15V transformer, much as any of the FW builds. It is in a test wood chassis I use to test new circuits with because I actually had no plans on using this build that much. This may change now that I have heard it. Iam pleasantly surprised at what I am hearing. I was glued to my seat listening to a CD all the way through. This is with extremely efficient horns with more than enough volume in my mid size room. Fantastic sounding for 2 clean watts. I would be satisfied if this were my only amp.
