well, he's 'Talian, you must coooonvince him, to his own benefit
So, let's try with another Italian
GO FOR ALEPH J, F4 OR M2!!! 
This is the way I'm going to follow
Beauty of a First Watt amp is once you have a case / power supply, you can just swap in amplifier boards to find out what you really like with your ears, room, equipment, source material, etc... F5? Aleph J? M2X? Just swap it in... (I obviously like the F4 and then just roll preamps of different flavors..)
It seems possible that you could modify the L220 crossover so that the LF section was one input and the MID/HF is another. Here is the schematic (from audioheritage.org)
You could start with one Firstwatt (Aleph J, F4, F5, M2, F6... etc) and build a second Firstwatt later and have biamp mono-blocks.
I think so too, the crossover are very old fashioned, you can see from the attached pic (I had the electrolytic caps upgraded with new film ones), it won't be bad to use the tubes on the mid-high section and solid states at the bottom
So, let's try with another Italian
This is the way I'm going to follow
We are 'talians from the south, harder than the others to convince...
So which would you pick as easy to start with and eventually upgrade later of if confident with the assembly and result?
You all seem to bend on the F4 to begin with, have to read the pdf to try and understand how it works
Grazie
So, say I pick the right case and big enough transformer/caps it would be just (...) swap the power boards?
It gets more and more interesting, I am gonna enjoy sum sun by the gardens with my dog as a retired one would and once back I will read something about the F4 while listening to some music.
Told you by the way, build it or not it's such a pleasure to interact with you, we are very well covered from the other side of the wall till the west coast
I'd go for J or F4, absolutely keepers, even if you would switch to other FW boards in the future
I'd go for J or F4, absolutely keepers, even if you would switch to other FW boards in the future
Okkey Peppí I will give a read at the F4 specs but since I am no tech would you mind as a fellow Borbonic to summarise for me pros and cons of j4 vs F4 vs F5?
Grazie cumpá
Giovanni
solder'n'plug'n'play - M2
solder'n'set a little'n'plug'n'play - F4, especially considering SP9 preamp swing (which is probably sole good thing SP9 is having
Ahah, and I thought the SP9 being the almost only piece worth keeping in my sound system
With your preamp I' probably go for F4 too.
Have a look here:
Sound of various Pass amps
Saluti isolani
And here:
Sound of various Pass amps
According to those who built F4, it is very neutral and follow the qualities of the preamplifier. In needs more swing than others because it has no voltage gain.
Sound of various Pass amps
According to those who built F4, it is very neutral and follow the qualities of the preamplifier. In needs more swing than others because it has no voltage gain.
F4 would allow full potential of your SP9 to shine, simply because F4 is not having voltage gain ....... that means that for full blast , preamp must deliver that on input of F4
that also means that F4 is not having much character of its own, resulting that preamp is dominant in amplification chain, sound wise
read pdf
that also means that F4 is not having much character of its own, resulting that preamp is dominant in amplification chain, sound wise
read pdf
Just did a couple hours ago and then called my friend in Napoli (pizza?) who confirmed being available to help and about FW being worth.
Peppe, would you help me arrange a shopping list so I can figure where would I end?
Grazie