Yes, and not only in the best seat. A very well tuned to the room - optimaly placed speaker system - makes every single soul present in the living space even more happy. It simply sounds far superior: Everywhere.
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It is very well worth the extra effort in my experience.
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It is very well worth the extra effort in my experience.
Not to drift too far off topic, but, in my experience, trying to impose the best practice standards of your interests and hobbies on others assuming they will enjoy them equally and willingly make the same sacrifices for them is, ah, unrealistic.
Reading the room is probably more important than treating it.
Back on topic - do we know how big the new batch of F5M boards sent to the shop was? Trying to gauge if it's going to be another 29 minute window. 😅
Reading the room is probably more important than treating it.
Back on topic - do we know how big the new batch of F5M boards sent to the shop was? Trying to gauge if it's going to be another 29 minute window. 😅
Imposing best practice standards???
This is diy audio and High Fidelity and not som Tone Deaf Old Ladys Forum for weak people that get easily offended by:
Extremely good and very friendly advice.
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Sorry, to clarify, I mean a forum member trying to impose those standards on their family, not you trying to impose them on said forum member. I didn't mean to imply that you were imposing anything, but re-reading I can see I was unclear.
To put another way, I meant to say that while the advice is good, living with others you can't always implement the best solution, because your family might not care about audio at all.
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I'm not sure that playing time would make much difference for a Class A amp. If you did your final biasing after it being on 1.5-2 hr, it should be stable after that, if your ambient is the same. I do recall, though, Nelson mentioning to check bias a week or two after putting it into service.
Anyway, you might want to keep track of the bias when you sense higher temps on the heatsinks, before making changes. This will allow a better feel for the amp's behavior. Based on my experience with the F5m, if it is running hotter, even because ambient has risen, the bias has increased. I'm anticipating further changes as the weather warms, so I am following it closely.
Like you, I am also running with smaller heatsinks. Is your chassis the regular 2U Dissipante, or the 2U Mini Dissipante (a bit narrower chassis)? From some of your inside photos, I'm guessing it might be the latter. It sure looks good.
Anyway, you might want to keep track of the bias when you sense higher temps on the heatsinks, before making changes. This will allow a better feel for the amp's behavior. Based on my experience with the F5m, if it is running hotter, even because ambient has risen, the bias has increased. I'm anticipating further changes as the weather warms, so I am following it closely.
Like you, I am also running with smaller heatsinks. Is your chassis the regular 2U Dissipante, or the 2U Mini Dissipante (a bit narrower chassis)? From some of your inside photos, I'm guessing it might be the latter. It sure looks good.
Yes I biased originally after one and a half hours, and when the readings were stable but I will recheck after a longer period - I do check offset whilst playing, just in case! Based on my observations I do think the amp heats-up more when playing, which is counterintuitive to the theory, but this is likely because the micro-climate is also warmer. And yes, mine is the mini-diss but the heatsink size is the same.
That was my point! Hand method works on mine fine. XA 252 is warmest, can still keep hands on there. Cats actually cycle on off with it. Other amps can be slept on indefinitely. XA 252, they get on got a spell only, then roll onto floor to cool off. Seriously!
I finally coughed up 20 bucks for a digital meat thermometer. Holy perfectly cooked steaks!That's what I use - an instant read thermometer. Great for cooking too.
Russellc
Help with buzz. Now that I have the heat issues under better control, the next thing on the list is a faint 100Hz buzz when my ear is up against the speakers. It doesn't change with volume and isn't there with input cables removed. In fact it isn't there when the input cables are attached but not connected to the preamp (a Whammy). When I connect the preamp the buzz occurs even if it is switched on or off, or even unplugged from the mains socket. Unplugging anyone of the cables (from preamp to amp) stops the noise so I tried removing the return shield on one cable but the buzz returned. Tried a different cable, no different. I've also tried putting a 0.22 microfarad cap from chassis earth to signal ground without success. It appears to be some sort of ground/signal loop issue but would welcome some pointers please. Thanks.
What's plugged into the Whammy input? Does the noise persist when the Whammy is connected to the F5M but not to a source?