Hello All,
I just finished building Troels Gravesen's MKIII 12" speakers and have started to research building a new amp for them. The speakers are rated 94 dB/2.8V and 4 Ohms.
The two builds that have stood out in the past days of research are the First Watt F5 and F6, but I am leaning toward the F6.
One question I can't easily find an answer for is how much money some of you have spent on parts to build these amps.
I will gradually make my way through all the forum pages but if anyone has any suggestions for which amp may work better with these speaker, please let me know.
DTQWT-mkIII
Thanks,
David
I just finished building Troels Gravesen's MKIII 12" speakers and have started to research building a new amp for them. The speakers are rated 94 dB/2.8V and 4 Ohms.
The two builds that have stood out in the past days of research are the First Watt F5 and F6, but I am leaning toward the F6.
One question I can't easily find an answer for is how much money some of you have spent on parts to build these amps.
I will gradually make my way through all the forum pages but if anyone has any suggestions for which amp may work better with these speaker, please let me know.
DTQWT-mkIII
Thanks,
David
All of them are wonderful amps. Do your tastes run more to the analytical side, clean, transparent and so forth or towards a little warmth? Consider your front end choices as well and their tone along these lines.
Of the two you list, I personally would be inclined to F6. Given my druthers, M2 or Aleph J. That said, all of these amps sound really, really good....just some flavor differences. None are bloated with bloom, or laser beam screechy, just subtle differences.
As to cost, sort of depends what you have on hand, major costs are chassis/heatsink, and power supply. Making your own chassis, or going with the store? I've done both, F5 was hand built from Aluminum, bought heatsinks.
Lots of drilling and tapping.
Store chassis/heatsinks are very nice, especially the deluxe pre drilled versions. Hazarding a guess, I would say 750 usd with deluxe box/heatsink from store and quality power supply. That's with 10 mm front plate, handles and rear plate finish kit with all the trimmings. My F5 was under 500 as I recall, but lots of work, drilling tapping, trips to hardware store, etc., not as finished looking as Store Deluxe chassis, but very presentable
Or go Frankenstein lab with board of wood with heatsinks bolted to it!
Russellc
Of the two you list, I personally would be inclined to F6. Given my druthers, M2 or Aleph J. That said, all of these amps sound really, really good....just some flavor differences. None are bloated with bloom, or laser beam screechy, just subtle differences.
As to cost, sort of depends what you have on hand, major costs are chassis/heatsink, and power supply. Making your own chassis, or going with the store? I've done both, F5 was hand built from Aluminum, bought heatsinks.
Lots of drilling and tapping.
Store chassis/heatsinks are very nice, especially the deluxe pre drilled versions. Hazarding a guess, I would say 750 usd with deluxe box/heatsink from store and quality power supply. That's with 10 mm front plate, handles and rear plate finish kit with all the trimmings. My F5 was under 500 as I recall, but lots of work, drilling tapping, trips to hardware store, etc., not as finished looking as Store Deluxe chassis, but very presentable
Or go Frankenstein lab with board of wood with heatsinks bolted to it!
Russellc
Of the two you list, I personally would be inclined to F6. Given my druthers, M2 or Aleph J. That said, all of these amps sound really, really good....just some flavor differences. None are bloated with bloom, or laser beam screechy, just subtle differences.
Store chassis/heatsinks are very nice, especially the deluxe pre drilled versions. Hazarding a guess, I would say 750 usd with deluxe box/heatsink from store and quality power supply. That's with 10 mm front plate, handles and rear plate finish kit with all the trimmings. My F5 was under 500 as I recall, but lots of work, drilling tapping, trips to hardware store, etc., not as finished looking as Store Deluxe chassis, but very presentable
Or go Frankenstein lab with board of wood with heatsinks bolted to it!
Russellc
Thanks Russellc. I did not even think about building my own chassis. I assumed I would buy one but now you have me thinking...
Thanks for the cost estimate. That gives me a good starting point. As for sound, my listening environment is an art studio with no treatments to speak of so the sound leans toward harsh. I think a bit of warmth from an amp would help.
David
F4 front end buffer only, so pre is what will determine sound characteristics. Also, it must have sufficient cajones to drive F4, which has basically no gain.
Never built my F4 boards. Was going to drive them with a 45 SET tube amp, with B1 in front of that as volume control. Sold 45 project before it came to light. Might bring them out for two balanced F4s once Shunty Pumpkin done? Also have parts for two Balanced BA3 amps.....
Russellc
Never built my F4 boards. Was going to drive them with a 45 SET tube amp, with B1 in front of that as volume control. Sold 45 project before it came to light. Might bring them out for two balanced F4s once Shunty Pumpkin done? Also have parts for two Balanced BA3 amps.....
Russellc
After some quick looking into the Aleph J, it does look like it might be a good fit for me. I can't find any evidence that the 4 Ohm speakers are any real detriment. Is that true, or am I missing something? My bass drivers are 12" also and I don't want to bi-amp.
Because I am new at this, please excuse if this is a dumb question. I would prefer XLR jacks instead of RCA. I don't know where to start and I have not seen any information yet concerning using these instead of RCA. Does anything change internally? Or do I wire them up pretty much the same?
Because I am new at this, please excuse if this is a dumb question. I would prefer XLR jacks instead of RCA. I don't know where to start and I have not seen any information yet concerning using these instead of RCA. Does anything change internally? Or do I wire them up pretty much the same?
Hi there,
The Aleph-j readily supports XLR input. (Mine was built with XLR only).
Referring to the schematics on the last page here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/atta...j-universal-mounting-spec-bom-aleph-j-ums.pdf
pin 1 goes to Ground, pin 2 to +IN and pin 3 to -IN.
Cheers,
Dennis
I have an Aleph30 (currently not used). Alephs are great for mid range but have poor bass control. they also dissipate quite a bit of heat with 4ohm load and the circuit needs a few adjustments to work as intended. those are pretty big speakers so you may want to consider BA-3b monoblocks, or maybe an M2 (the former I own and the latter I have not heard but it comes highly recommended). the end game is multi-amping with something like an F5 at the bottom and any of the warmer ones on top (Aleph30/J, F3, ACA, Vfet, J2, etc.).
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