SissySIT

I have not seen that phrase applied to audio before, but I kinda like it. :yes:
Are the Serbian Ox carts cleared to make their way to the airport yet? I need to build one of these, and the Singing Bush for that matter. Many inquiring minds (greedy boyz) want to know how they compare.
 
I have 103dB sensitive speakers and all my VFET/SIT amps are quiet. I have the diyAudio Sony VFET, Hammond 193V loaded 2SJ28 L'Amp, SissySIT, and Tokin THF-51S version of BAF2015 SE 2SK77B.

They are all quiet. It's all in the construction and details. With high sensitivity speakers, sloppy wiring, poor layout, bad grounding, etc will be heard.

Regardless of which amp is in play, I enjoy the sound.

As ZM stated, build with whatever parts that are on hand.
 
I have 103dB sensitive speakers and all my VFET/SIT amps are quiet. I have the diyAudio Sony VFET, Hammond 193V loaded 2SJ28 L'Amp, SissySIT, and Tokin THF-51S version of BAF2015 SE 2SK77B.

They are all quiet. It's all in the construction and details. With high sensitivity speakers, sloppy wiring, poor layout, bad grounding, etc will be heard.

Regardless of which amp is in play, I enjoy the sound.

As ZM stated, build with whatever parts that are on hand.
As always, an objective feedback from Ben. 🙂
 
That will make the choice easy. I have none at hand!
I understand that L'amp is an early design with low watts and low damping factor and can be similar to a 2A3 tube amp in some ways. I just sold a 2A3 tube amp, becuase it had a bit of a tubby midbass, and the midbass felt uncontrolled compared to just about any other amp I used, including a cheap Sony home theater amp.
So even if my horns do not need more than 1 watt, I should probably go for a SissySIT for better control of the midbass.
For some reason I believe the SissySIT is better than the Sony V-FET. Newer design, etc. You amp designers must have learned something new in 40 years? 😛
Since I am biamping (why not make it more difficult for myself?) I could use a L'amp for the horns and a SissySIT for midbass, but I-read-on-the-internet that having two different amps when biamping can effect phase in bad way.
I have not read so much about the BAF2015, feel free to share if it blows the SissySIT out of the water.
Now about the Tokin THF-51S and Sony 2SK82. Some like the Sony for its lower distortion despite lower gain, and some like the THF-51S for its slightly higher distortion (but way less than a tube) and more gain. I think I will be happy with whatever I find.

Where do I buy SissySIT PCB boards, or are they unobtainium as well?
 
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Rewind, I’m running SissySIT 500hz and up on an active horn system and it is glorious. I’m also using an F5 for sub woofer and another F5 for 15” woofer. If you spend the time getting the active setup right you will be richly rewarded. The secret sauce in my system is the DEQX preamp that does the active crossover, eq, room correction, time alignment, etc. It is also acting as DAC and traditional preamp with volume control and input selection.

To your original question - I’ve run horns for 20 years. I’ve run 300b, 45, Aleph 3, Aleph J, F5 and others. SissySIT wins on my system. I just picked up an F3 to play with, and it also seems pretty special in the short time I’ve listened.

Send a message to ZenMod about the SissySIT boards. See if “pras” has Tokins left. He is on this forum and eBay.
 
Although the L'Amp has the least power of the amps that I mentioned, it does not have SE tube flabby bass. It does have the SE sound though in a good way.

Sonically the THF-51S BAF2015 amp does not blow the SissySIT out of the water, unless the extra power is needed. It is slightly different sounding than the SissySIT, but both have the VFET/SIT sound.

To my ears they all sound good, although I may have favorites. I listening happily and enjoy the music regardless of which amp is in play.

Zen Mod now has his version of the BAF2015 amp out called the Singing Bush.

The diyAudio Sony VFET amp is push-pull and is not second harmonic dominant. It also has the lowest distortion of all of the amps that I mentioned, although having the lowest distortion is not in itself a reason to choose an amplifier. It sounds very good but if I had to choose between it and the SissySIT, I would choose the SissySIT. The SissySIT is second harmonic dominant to maximum power output.

Approximate power in ascending order (8 ohm): Hammond L'Amp 8W, diyAudio VFET and SissySIT 17W, then BAF2015 35W. These numbers are my estimates based on my FFT distortion measurements of my amps. They should be in the right ballpark though.

A bi-amp combination of L'Amp and SissySIT would probably sound very good.
 
>A bi-amp combination of L'Amp and SissySIT would probably sound very good.

For horn speakers, we may not even need L'amp. For tweeter, I connect +24dBu professional DAC directly to 1 stage Sony SIT follower amp (minus gain), and the level perfectly matches to 25W woofer amp.
 
I have a DIY JBL speaker system with 2225 bass, 2397 horns on 2445 drivers, and 2405 tweeters. I run them biamped with a choke loaded L'Amp and a Sony TAN-5550 VFET amp. The Sony TAN is 50 watts/channel push-pull.



I use a 01A tube preamp and hum and noise is not an issue. I know that when I switched from a Cyrus amp powering the bass cabs to the Sony TAN, the sound improvement was very obvious. I guess not surprising since with my crossover point of around 800 Hz, that is the mid-point of the musical frequency range.


I have just finished a BAF2015 THS-51S amp, and I will try that on the low end, replacing the Sony TAN. That will be interesting.
 
Thanks for bringing me up to speed.

The F5 has been spoiling me with detail with for 5 years, but now the amplifier is down, because I bought too cheap capacitors that did not handle my turn-ONs. Before its meltdown I managed to tame its ugly 3rd harmonics with a B1 triode preamp, and it did sound wonderful, but I had trouble with the sound character of the fluorescent tube. I would like to ingest my 2nd harmonics from different source, i.e. SIT. I am also very close to finishing an F6 amp, but I think it will not be different enough from the F5.

I am cursed when it comes to noise, so I will try to build monoblocks. Balanced monoblocks must be counterproductive since balanced would remove the sought after 2nd harmonics, no?

rhthatcher: It is nice to know that I am on the right track when planning to build a SissySIT/Singing Bush. Question: My subwoofer has a 500W class D plate amp, I don't see how an F5 could replace it.

Plasnu: "1 stage Sony SIT follower amp"? Do you mean you used the first stage in the Sony V-FET amp from the DIYAudio store?

Pinholer: That sounds very much like my system, except my crossover points are 75-450-2000 Hz and I use hornloaded Raal ribbon as a tweeter. Until recently I biamped with a fat 2A3 amp on the JBL 15" midwoofers, and an F5 on a channel with both midrange horns and ribbon tweeter horns, because passsive crossover parts gets cheaper, simpler and sound better at 2000Hz than at 80 and 450Hz. Crossover duty is handled by Minidsp 4x10HD (for now). XTZ 500W plate amp on 12" Lab12 sealed subwoofer. This time I would like to avoid using different amps. An 2A3 and an F5 are really each others opposites, and it is possible a L'amp and a SissySIT would not be that different sounding, but I would know! :S



Ben, I demand to know your favourite! 🙂 Singing Bush with Tokin?
 
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> Plasnu: "1 stage Sony SIT follower amp"? Do you mean you used the first stage in the Sony V-FET amp from the DIYAudio store? Your DAC, does it have more than two outputs?

My Sony follower amp is similar to my other amp under development, 50W+ all SIT SE (thread just started), but without front end. 600 ohm transformer input + capacitor coupled output (160 uF motor cap + film, also works as tweeter protection). 24V SMPS. My DAC is an 8 output DAC for pro studio use, Apogee Symphony.
 
> An 2A3 and an F5 are really each others opposites, and it is possible a L'amp and a SissySIT would not be that different sounding, but I would know!

I currently use SIT SE for horn and Hypex nCore (summer only) for JBL 15" woofer (800Hz crossed), and I find it's pretty nice combination. SIT amp is overall very neutral and transparent, and it probably can be pared with any amp, I guess. Of course SIT amp is the best. 🙂
 
Yes, I would give an edge to the BAF2015 THF-51S/Singing Bush. But some may not.

They all sound good. It's summer now and the temperature is too hot for the BAF2015 "room heater" so I've been playing the other three amps in my system lately. Regardless of the amp in play at the moment, I do not feel that the sound is inferior.