Sony vFET Amplifier Part 2

I have ordered. This has been a long awaited project for me.

We have heard very little from Jim "6L6" about this project. From my understanding he has been test building this project and making a build guide. How is the build guide going Jim? I always enjoy reading your build guides before starting the build.
 
I'd like to post a response to a question asked over email. The question being "What happens if I fry my VFETs?".

The first part of the answer is that hopefully, with the documentation being provided, you shouldn't 🙂 Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Nelson has designed the PCB so that there is a well documented test sequence. This test sequence that should verify everything is AOK before you make your "leap of faith". Jim is documenting this in detail, step by step.

The second part is that now that Nelson has said there will be a second batch, we will give first preference for any unsold VFETs from that batch, to those who have had the misfortune to fry their transistors.

Thirdly, we will also keep a few extra from that second batch on hand for a period of time, "just in case". We understand this is a big and expensive project, and you don't want to be left without an essential part. So, please know that we will do everything we can to help in this situation.
 
Jason, I assume the value of the international shipments will have to be declared based on the price in the shop to get insurance? Because we will look at ~20% import turnover tax which is set based on declared value...

Sven

Pretty much indeed.
And the diyaudiostore will probably not even accept to declare a lower value even if you asked.

I will have +23%VAT and here in Portugal at least we also pay tax on the shipping charges which doesn't make any sense at all!
We get a small discount from the exchange rate though...
 
Jason, I assume the value of the international shipments will have to be declared based on the price in the shop to get insurance? Because we will look at ~20% import turnover tax which is set based on declared value...

Sven

That is correct. It would void the insurance, and also puts us in a very difficult legal situation. Unfortunately it's store policy that we don't fake export documentation. We use an enterprise grade warehouse/shipping service and so we don't have the flexibility that we might if it was being shipped in person. Unfortunately we are "too legit" to be able to do this. Thanks for your understanding.
 
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So - thanks to Nelson and the DIY-Audio-Team quite a few of us will get their hands on 4 pairs of V-Fets.
What should we do, build 2 pairs of the "The DIY Sony VFET" or use the FETs to build the original 2015 "VFET Part 2" Amp? 🙂

I would definitely build the original version with 2 pairs per side.
Unfortunately the group buy boards do not offer the flexibility for this, so one would have to make new boards.
 
Unfortunately the group buy boards do not offer the flexibility for this, so one would have to make new boards.

Really?

I still can't find the "latest" version of the original schematics (Was it updated since the original VFET2 pdf?), but if the differences between GB and Original are only things Nelson explained on the newest pdf, I though it's not too hard to utilize GB board as a basis of the original version...

I also was wondering what is the best way to deal with the extra pairs of VFET, which probably would require extra L-bar.