The Amazing Fet Circlotron by Mike Rothacher

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#101
mrothacher said:
I've listened to the F5 very briefly, but not side-by-side with the Circlotron. I suspect they're very similar. One day I'll build an F5 and make a real comparison, but alas, I haven't been able to do much hobby-wise lately.
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Mike, this is fantastic. Many here have reported the F5 to be the best sounding amp they have heard till date, and what you are saying is that your amp is nearly identical. Good work, Mike and ofcourse, hats off to Mr.Pass.

Anyone else would like to comment?
 
#102
Well, to be clear, I borrowed (very, very, liberally) from Mr. Pass's F5. I couldn't possibly take credit for the sound. The Circlotron article is a bit of a curiosity piece and I really enjoyed writing it as much as building the amp.

Having said that, it sounds very good indeed. The F5 has better measured performance for sure (and a little more OFB).

I listened to the F5 with Lowthers, and I was really astonished that a solid-state amp sounded so good with full range drivers like those.
 
#103
mrothacher said:
I listened to the F5 with Lowthers, and I was really astonished that a solid-state amp sounded so good with full range drivers like those.
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That said, I personally prefer the F3 on the Lowthers or Feastrex, but then
I'm old and don't want my ears to get excited with all those high frequencies.

😎
 
#109
I haven't heard them side-by-side, but I'd guess they have a lot in common.

The circlotrons sound great. I've been listening to them for almost a year now. They have nice presence, a very black background, and great dynamics. A good balanced source is important.

That's as close to auto-review as I'll go.😎
 
#112
Driving this amp

Are there any issues with using a chip like a DRV134 to drive this amp from an unbalanced source? Or is there something better besides a transformer? I've been wanting to build a solid state amp for a while and this looks like a good candidate.
 
#113
I think a chip would work fine providing it has enough output.

There's a JFET version of Nelson's Balanced Zen Linestage around here somewhere that would make a nice preamp.

I have a few Jensen transformers on hand but I haven't tried them yet.

If possible, I recommend building a nice (discrete) balanced preamp. It woud require only slightly more effort than adding a front-end and will prove more versatile in your system.
 
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