Thinking About Building an F6

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
M

Metropolis

Member
Joined 2014
#1
Hi All,

Recently built an Aleph J (with considerable help for 6L6) and love it - it is very relaxed sounding amp that pairs well with my Zu Omen II speakers. I can listen to it for hours without any listening fatigue.

I am thinking about converting it to an F6 and would like to hear from anyone that has built both and see if they think it is a worthy exercise (basically, how does the F6 sonically compare to the Aleph J). Is the F6 a little more detailed than the AJ? I find the AJ to be a very mellow sounding amp. Again, I love the AJ, this is just scratching the itch to play with solder.

Alternatively, I have matched mosfets for an F5 laying around, so I could build one of those - I built one with 6L6 a couple of years ago but got rid of it because it was not a good match for the speakers I had at the time (it actually may work well with the Zus).

I built the AJ using the deluxe 4U jack of all chassis and power supply PCB from the store - so basically I would just be swapping amp boards.

Any thoughts/comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Matt
 
Last edited:
#2
I built an Aleph 30 and swapped the boards to build an F6. I have horns and there was a difference in sound between the two amps. With my speakers I would prefer to have the Aleph 30 or J. I would strongly suggest building a complete new amp instead of just swapping boards. The Aleph J is that good. The F6 might produce a sound you like better with your speakers but if I were you I would advise keeping the Aleph J also. With 2 complete amps you can then swap boards on the one you like the least further down the road.
 
#5
I just don't know if I want to spend $200 on F6 parts just to find out I don't like it.
Click to expand...

F6 will cost you more than $200 to build. It's $120 just for the boards and Jensen transfos. JFETs another $50 from the store?
other parts...?

Anyway, you need to read all the 6moons.com articles on the F series of amps they reviewed. You have the A-J, so then just use your imagination to interpret their descriptions. In the end, you'll want to build it just to hear what the hell they are talking about. 😀
 
#8
I do have a 15w mini-aleph and it sounds very different than the F6 mosfets and F6 jfet. Mini-A is soft and not harsh sounding. The mini-A has mosfets front-end. I'm willing to bet the Aleph-J sounds a bit sharper than a mosfets front-end Aleph. So I think the F6 will sound closer to a F6. It's just my speculation. The output mosfets could have an impact as well. Fairchild vs IRF, etc, etc...

I'd build the Aleph-J (I have the boards Aleph-JX), but I have too many amps and too many more amps to build. Problems problems!

Vince
 
#9
nahhh, everyone who posted in this thread must have built more than 1 Papa amp clone. Sooner OP will follow 🙂

one is never enough, so why only focus on F6? there are other hot stuff right now such as M2 or SIT
 
#16
Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

PJN said:
I have an AlephJ and an F6, build the F6. If you like the AlephJ, you'll love the F6. Worst case you're only out ~ 250 bucks if you use your existing chassis.

PJN
Click to expand...

Just curious - why would I love the F6? Is it more detailed and resolving yet still laid back sounding? Does it have just a touch more treble energy? Is it more dynamic?

Basically, what do you hear differently between the two?

Thanks!
Matt
 
#17
Metropolis, a few members here including me have experienced that Aleph sounds better with differential output source. It would probably be one of the deciding factor whether your preamp has single ended output or balanced.

PS: I didn't notice that you already have Aleph. Just forget this message.
 
Last edited:
#18
Metropolis said:
Thanks for all the feedback everyone!



Just curious - why would I love the F6? Is it more detailed and resolving yet still laid back sounding? Does it have just a touch more treble energy? Is it more dynamic?

Basically, what do you hear differently between the two?

Thanks!
Matt
Click to expand...

Hi Matt,

For me the F6 has a lot of the character of the AlephJ, but is more dynamic and punchy. It seems even more detailed and has a very black background. For me this seems to me to be the thing that stands out most between them. Kind of like the AlephJ on steroids. The overall tonality and balance is much the same, very smooth and clear as a bell, not fatiguing in the least. I've tried it on three types of speakers, a two way, large three way floor stander, and single fullrange driver backloaded horn, and it gives the same impression on all of them and drives them easily even though they aren't high efficiency.

PJN
 
#19
vdi_nenna said:
Once you hear the mids of a VFET, it's hard to go back to anything else.
I can see why people love their triodes and transformers. 🙂

I wonder what the J2 sounds like....? Never mind.
Click to expand...

True!

I have been listening to my F5Tv3 for a good week, great sounding, superb dynamics🙂
Today connected my small VFET's (CSX1) and again surprised me with the fluid mid's, piano's, voices...superb!

That's why Yamaha called their B1 flagship a "Natural Sound Stereo Power Amplifier" I guess.
 
#20
I have been listening to my F5Tv3 for a good week, great sounding, superb dynamics
Today connected my small VFET's (CSX1) and again surprised me with the fluid mid's, piano's, voices...superb!

I come to believe I could love anyone's system if I got to live with it for a week. My brain adjusts to what I like about it. It becomes acceptable. That's why I think it's good to have multiple amps and speakers around. Change things up occasionally. Im.not into swapping amp cards. That's for PCs.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom