Have a look at the http:\\Pass Diy site.
Under PROJECTS there is a very informative article about GROUND LOOPS.
I'm not familiar with the F5 - I've built the Aleph 4.
Are you sure you are driving it properly ?
The Aleph 4 has GAIN - 24dBs of it. A standard 2V RMS signal from a CD player can fully drive it - Hence my B1 pre.
Under PROJECTS there is a very informative article about GROUND LOOPS.
I'm not familiar with the F5 - I've built the Aleph 4.
Are you sure you are driving it properly ?
The Aleph 4 has GAIN - 24dBs of it. A standard 2V RMS signal from a CD player can fully drive it - Hence my B1 pre.
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Ok, here are some observations I have made.
I only made one bypass RCA jumper and I plugged the other side into an old cd player.
The jumper side has mVDC at the output but the cd player side has ~4vdc. This is swapable. Then I noticed that if you power up with no RCA attached the vdc shoots up to ~20. Also the LEDs go out with no RCA. So that must be the power supply rails straight to the output.
I only made one bypass RCA jumper and I plugged the other side into an old cd player.
The jumper side has mVDC at the output but the cd player side has ~4vdc. This is swapable. Then I noticed that if you power up with no RCA attached the vdc shoots up to ~20. Also the LEDs go out with no RCA. So that must be the power supply rails straight to the output.
If you short out the RCA inputs and you get 0V or mV at the output then that is correct.
With no input you can expect a voltage at the output.
With no input you can expect a voltage at the output.
Is it underpowered or do you need a bigger signal to drive it? The F5 needs 4 volts for full output. What are you using as a source and/or Preamp?
I have a squeezbox feeding a ARC pre with 18db of gain that I have driven a F4 with. Also my current amp is a Zv9 that I never go past 11 O'clock. My speakers are 96db. 11 O'clock is very loud. With the F5 i can turn the pre all the way up and it's like 830 with the Zv9.
Do you have a way to measure input and output voltages?
Maybe, how would you do it?
Play a sine wave and measure the input vs output voltages. That will tell you the voltage gain. The guys here can tell you if it's on target. That would be a very good start.
With the F5 i can turn the pre all the way up and it's like 830 with the Zv9.
Something's not right. With 96db speakers the F5 should drive you from the room.
Look really closely at R9 and R10 and see if you didn't swap them by mistake. You might be throwing away the signal right at the input...
The bias is close. It's at 0.59v but the dc offset is a bit high ~100mv. I think it's my heavy hand. I am having a hard time getting it down but I think it's me.
With 100mv it's not really close. Set the highest bias you can get with zero offset. It helps to use 3 meters if you have them.
......It helps to use 3 meters if you have them.
sometimes using even 13 meters isn't enough

to OP :
there is small tutorial for powering up and setting F5 , which I wrote in ( by my weak memory ) in thread called something as "F5 yadayada building thread "
maybe it help
Zen Mod said:"F5 yadayada building thread "
(All joking aside, here is the relevant yadayada...)
Biasing an F5:
dial both pots to 0 ohms ( check with ohmmeter )
place one voltmeter across PSU caps ( best between + and - of PSU) to observe max voltage of PSU
place one voltmeter at output - to observe offset
place one voltmeter across one source resistors of output mosfets ; it doesn't matter which one .
for test - slowly dial up Variac ( presuming that you have one , as man with many skills) up to full mains voltage , observing voltage at PSU ....... thinking about max cap voltage ( 25V as in FW ? ) , because with 0 Iq PSU is unloaded and voltage is maxed
if nothing is smelling - leave Variac at full mains ;
what's important - Iq must be very low , offset is irrelevant in this moment .
now turn one pot one turn ( assuming that you have multiturns )
then turn other pot one turn
observe Iq and offset
proceed one then second pot , again just one turn
observe Iq and offset
again one turn + one turn
now you are probably in range when you can see which pot is pulling offset in right direction - to 0 .
proceed iteratively with pots , while you set - say - 75% of desired Iq and zero offset
now - put lid on box and let it cook for a while - until yo get thermal equilibrium on heatsinks
it's best to use wire/clips to leave those voltmeters in place ;
open the lid , up bias to - say - 90% of desired one ,while maintaining offset
put lid on , let it cook
check ;
if all is OK - move voltmeters for Iq and offset to other channel and repeat procedure
use it few days at 90% of desired bias , then check and set to 100%
remember - temp. equilibrium with lid on is important
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