It's basically an F4 with gain, so it would be completely awesome.
(It's currently my favorite amp from Papa.)
Hi,
For many years I have had a pair of F4 mono blocks that I run in balanced mono connection with a Pumpkin from Zen Mod as a gain stage and for speakers I have a pair of Reference 3A grand Veena with the following specifications
Efficiency: 90dB. 1Watt/meter
Frequency Response: 36Hz-20KHz (+/-) 3dB
Up to 100 kHz high frequency extension
Bass loading: F3@36Hz., tuned port, quasi-second order, -15dB at 20 Hz.
Impedance: 5 Ohm (+/-0.5 Ohm)
Power Handling: 200 Watts RMS
Phase: Almost constant at 10 degrees @94dB, wide band
The system is just wonderful, and every time I go to a dealer to listen to the latest high-end and high-priced currently available systems I feel that there is no need to even consider a change in the system. I am practically in audio nirvana. Which in one sense is too bad, since I like building.
However I am curious about one thing, and that is how the parallel mono connection of the F4 would behave sonically compared to the balanced connection that I am currently using.
I know, it should be very simple to just try it but they are built with only balanced in mind so some job is required to rewire it and therefore I thought that I first ask the forum for advice.
Will change of the balanced connection to parallel connection for these speakers make a change to the sound or will it only allow me to play louder, (I hardly press them as I normally never play very loud). Will the different connections behave differently with for example regards to handling difficult speaker-loads, and will any other characteristics change, like slew rate, damping factor etc, that possible could affect the sound?
For many years I have had a pair of F4 mono blocks that I run in balanced mono connection with a Pumpkin from Zen Mod as a gain stage and for speakers I have a pair of Reference 3A grand Veena with the following specifications
Efficiency: 90dB. 1Watt/meter
Frequency Response: 36Hz-20KHz (+/-) 3dB
Up to 100 kHz high frequency extension
Bass loading: F3@36Hz., tuned port, quasi-second order, -15dB at 20 Hz.
Impedance: 5 Ohm (+/-0.5 Ohm)
Power Handling: 200 Watts RMS
Phase: Almost constant at 10 degrees @94dB, wide band
The system is just wonderful, and every time I go to a dealer to listen to the latest high-end and high-priced currently available systems I feel that there is no need to even consider a change in the system. I am practically in audio nirvana. Which in one sense is too bad, since I like building.
However I am curious about one thing, and that is how the parallel mono connection of the F4 would behave sonically compared to the balanced connection that I am currently using.
I know, it should be very simple to just try it but they are built with only balanced in mind so some job is required to rewire it and therefore I thought that I first ask the forum for advice.
Will change of the balanced connection to parallel connection for these speakers make a change to the sound or will it only allow me to play louder, (I hardly press them as I normally never play very loud). Will the different connections behave differently with for example regards to handling difficult speaker-loads, and will any other characteristics change, like slew rate, damping factor etc, that possible could affect the sound?
now you have zilch 2nd harmonic
if you go to SE route, 2nd harmonic should show, either using Pumpkin's SE out or with another preamp
maybe you'll like it more that way, maybe not , but you'll know after trying it
these spks should be ease even for normal F4 without paralleling, but certainly decide with own ears what you like most
edit: what you think with "but they are built with only balanced in mind" ?
speakers?
if you go to SE route, 2nd harmonic should show, either using Pumpkin's SE out or with another preamp
maybe you'll like it more that way, maybe not , but you'll know after trying it
these spks should be ease even for normal F4 without paralleling, but certainly decide with own ears what you like most
edit: what you think with "but they are built with only balanced in mind" ?
speakers?
Thanks for the reply, very interesting.
What I meant was that the F4s are hardwired in balanced mode only and they don't have an single-ended connection. Not a big deal to rewire them however but I guess that I will lose 6db of gain to go to parallel connection, and the system does not have to much gain to spare, so maybe I will have to update the Pumpkin first for some additional gain.
Also curious to know about the behaviour of the F4s when switching from balanced connection to parallel connection.
What I meant was that the F4s are hardwired in balanced mode only and they don't have an single-ended connection. Not a big deal to rewire them however but I guess that I will lose 6db of gain to go to parallel connection, and the system does not have to much gain to spare, so maybe I will have to update the Pumpkin first for some additional gain.
Also curious to know about the behaviour of the F4s when switching from balanced connection to parallel connection.
if you have output GND terminals, then all you need is to make custom RCA to XLR cables
RCA hot to XLR pins 2 and 3, RCA GND to XLR pin 1
if you don't have output GND terminals, you can route one fat wire from PSU GND temporary (out of case), and make quick test , also taking previously explained signal cable
whatever you did with Pumpkin regarding gain setting, I can't believe that you're going to lack gain with speakers that efficient
RCA hot to XLR pins 2 and 3, RCA GND to XLR pin 1
if you don't have output GND terminals, you can route one fat wire from PSU GND temporary (out of case), and make quick test , also taking previously explained signal cable
whatever you did with Pumpkin regarding gain setting, I can't believe that you're going to lack gain with speakers that efficient
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