The diyAudio Firstwatt F6

It was Canada Day.....

nice setup 😉

I believe it's completely proper distance from the pool

:clown:

491577d1435835143-diyaudio-firstwatt-f6-img_20150701_141521_hdr-1024x576-.jpg
 
Bare - With 200W SMPS, you will probably need to use one per channel, that's a bit small to run the entire amp.

promitheus - 300VA is fine. LED in Pass amps are 3mm. I like to run my LEDs bright, and aim them at the top ventilation holes in the chassis. No direct light shining from front panel, but it does light up a bit and it looks very interesting. See here - http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/anal...ible-technics-sp-10-thread-3.html#post4112781 (not a power amp, but you can see the LED though vent in bottom photo)

formantjim - Wonderful! Looks great! Please take more photos during the rest of the construction.
 
not nitpicking , but - are we are speaking about front face LEDs ?
FW amps are having 5mm holes ...... populated with 5mm LEDs

Aha! Yes... You are completely correct. I was thinking thatthe FW LED were not the big fat ones, so said they are 3mm. (Being American, I don't think in Metric, and am at a disadvantage when speaking in easy-to-use and straightforward measurement systems...) 😀
 
Aha! Yes... You are completely correct. I was thinking thatthe FW LED were not the big fat ones, so said they are 3mm. (Being American, I don't think in Metric, and am at a disadvantage when speaking in easy-to-use and straightforward measurement systems...) 😀

Thats a great idea with the indirect lighting from inside the enclosure.
I don´t like bright lights coming from the front when I am listening to music in low ambient lighting.
 
It seems all are using the trusted workhorse IRF240.

Is it still possible to use complementary pairs such as the old Toshiba's in the F6 or is it simply better (such as with matching) then to stick to just the N devices (2SK55 for instance)?
 
Nice work CPTNKABUKI ( what a name ) 😀
And how do you like the sound?

Hi WalterW. I'm not that confident to talk about the sound yet (limited audio experience). However, I have a class-d (Topping TP-60) which I used to get started in diy audio. The class-d sounds crystal clear, but it is too clinical for my tastes. I also think it is lacking in the lower frequencies. This could be a poor match with my 206EN. The ACA had warmth and also retained clarity, something about bass? Trying out the F6, I noticed improved clarity again, but definitely significant improvement in bass. Not only presence - clarity again. I'm re-listening to my music collection to find those 'golden' tracks for this amp. On some, I can almost feel the tension of a plucked string (not just the sound), or feel the interaction of a singers breath with the microphone. Sometimes it sounds like someone is tapping or running fingers directly on the paper cone of the driver (in a good way!) - which I guess is the power of the amp delivered to control the cone, not just letting it fly. This description is very excited though, I have no idea how objective it is.

Thanks again.
 
triode_al - the F6 uses the transformer for phase inversion of the device on the negative rail, and therefore only uses N-channel devices.

If you have (4) of the N-channel Toshiba, I think it would be worth trying.
 
Matched are not strictly necessary. The N-channel parts are usually of similar measurement if from the same production batch, and this amp has an offset pot to get the offset zeroed due to non- identical parts.

That, and the F6 uses dissimilar source resistors, so matched parts would become a little 'unmatched' because of that! 🙂
 
Approximately 2006 IR sold that line, manufacturing facility and all to Vishay. IR ceased to make those products at that time. I have no way of knowing if any changes were made other than a price increase.
As of this year, Infineon now owns IR. IR will likely fade away into Infineon over the next year or two. Their first changes were to lay-off people like me 🙁🙁