The diyAudio Firstwatt F6

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Avoid solid core wire for power connections and most signal connections, like the connections to the speaker terminals.

Find a soft jacket, soft stranded copper. Some Teflon jacket with tinned copper wire is hard to work with. It's too stiff. 16 to 12ga is nice for power and speaker connections. 22ga or smaller gauge is good for signal. Depending on application you might want to use shielded wire. At least twist the input wires. I use 30ga solid wire for RCA input such as wire wrap wire. $5 for 40Ft at Radio Shack. Takes some practice to work with it.

good luck!

vince
 
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Do you guys think these heat-sinks will suffice?

I still haven't powered it up yet as I am waiting for a part but its pretty much completely assembled (just 1-ch; I need to verify that it even works before I populate another board.. :))

I previously posted the eagle files for the main board however I somehow forgot to include the power supply cap bank. I doubt it will be of much use though, since it was specifically designed for the caps that I purchased but here it is anyways (along with an updated main board; there were some minor problems with part layout in the original.) Also, FYI I used 150mm x 100mm boards for both.
 

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Good advice. Turn the heat sinks vertically and if necessary raise the board with standoffs. There are some spacers to be bought at Lowes that will work nicely.
Ya I'm definitely going to use spacers when I install it in an enclosure. I just have it randomly laid out on a piece of ply wood at the moment while I adjust the bias and generally make sure the board works. Of course I will continue to adjust it after it is installed but I need to wait until tomorrow before I try turning on. Waiting on one last part.. Hopefully. That piece of wood is actually kind of darkened from being cooked by other stuff so I may want to consider spacers even for the prototype :D

When you guys say vertically do you mean with the fins running perpendicular to the board, or what? I may just end up using a fan if they're too hot. I have plenty of ambient noise anyways.. I think I might even have tinnitus.
 
When you guys say vertically do you mean with the fins running perpendicular to the board, or what?

Vertical fins mean they go up and down, so the convection currents flow upward unobstructed.
The bottom end of the fins should not be blocked either. With a fan you can have other orientations.
The best fan use is impingement cooling, blowing directly into the long edges of the fins.
 
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I have logged a number of hours with my F6 and am enjoying it over my other 2 Firstwatt amps but as is always the case your newest build most always sounds better not that the other two do not sound very very good. I have tried many different combinations with the F6 using tube and BA3 preamp along with the B1 and different combinations of subtle changes on my crossover networks. Right now I like the BA3 preamp with the B1 the best with my 103 db horns. To me with my builds on my speakers in my room the sound is best with the B1 in the mix. All I can say to those that think the F6 tends to be a tad bright is try the B1. It is very simple to build and all I am using as a power supply is a cheap laptop charger. Works great. I do not understand exactly why this is so but to my ears I like the F6 with the B1 between my preamplifier and F6. I could use my F6 with only the B1 most of time with my speakers but using a preamplifier too hasn't hurt the sound. I decided to use the B1 because Mr Pass sent a B1 along with the F6 to be reviewed by NewRecordDay. With his phono and B1 he increased the gain on his Pass XP15 which I do not have so I decided to use my BA3 preamp build along with the B1. If you have not seen the review here is a link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=395&v=pdw7esZBbXE