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First Watt F3 - factory version

The F3 is still there.

I am not in the market having just paid for my clone version - for almost the same as this factory version!

Ah well, at least I will be able to tinker with mine.
 
Hopefully you're getting the latest version with the separate output cap board + multiple Silmics, in which case tinkering shouldn't be necessary. Unless you just can't help yourself, of course.:)
 
davidjt said:
Hopefully you're getting the latest version with the separate output cap board + multiple Silmics, in which case tinkering shouldn't be necessary. Unless you just can't help yourself, of course.:)
Click to expand...

Only just seen that 15-Silmic board and was a bit too late to change about.

Joe has used the Jim’s Audio board which has an extra transistor and a few extra caps - think this is PS stuff, a cap multiplier maybe? PS is fully dual-mono.

Happy to get to know the amp in original form first anyway and tinker once I’m familiar.

It arrives tomorrow :)
 
davidjt said:
So, what do you think of it so far?
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Oh, too early to say.

It has freed up the bass on my Goodmans largely as I expected - the M2 felt a little over controlled with them. It has a very live feel. Very quiet.

But I find it takes weeks for me to decide how I feel about components. Will report back!
 
davidjt said:
So, what do you think of it so far?
Click to expand...

My F3 is stunning :)

Had a very frustrating week with it but took my valve pre out of the equation this morning and replaced with a homemade Alps in a box - there was clearly an impedance mismatch before (surprising as it was 650/10k ratio).

It does everything my M2 does and then ups it all a level. Cleaner, quieter, more detail, more natural rhythm and drive, and utterly luscious sounding too.
 
eastone said:
My F3 is stunning :)

Had a very frustrating week with it but took my valve pre out of the equation this morning and replaced with a homemade Alps in a box - there was clearly an impedance mismatch before (surprising as it was 650/10k ratio).

It does everything my M2 does and then ups it all a level. Cleaner, quieter, more detail, more natural rhythm and drive, and utterly luscious sounding too.
Click to expand...

I will be building a wee passive with a better pot - TKD probably - to remove the slight thickness that the ALPS is imparting.
 
Good to hear it's living up to expectations.
I've a spare set of Jeff Young's F3 clone pcbs + the new capacitor boards which will be in the classifieds in a day or two. You can put a new one together for around half the cost of a second-hand unit.....
 
davidjt said:
Good to hear it's living up to expectations.
I've a spare set of Jeff Young's F3 clone pcbs + the new capacitor boards which will be in the classifieds in a day or two. You can put a new one together for around half the cost of a second-hand unit.....
Click to expand...

Give me a shout before you list them :)
 
Hi Brumjam,
I bought the xa25,mint condition and all that good stuff, but, for some reason it doesn't play well with my Townshend Allegri Refernce pre.
Started off with the the high capacitance Elecrofluids cable to Living Voice OBX-R2's-that was a total disaster-dull as mince.
Switched that out for the Hitachi SSX-102K-the other cable that LV recommended many moons ago. That was a definite improvement-wouldn't be hard,but,nah-still rolled off at either end and flat sounding...tried a couple more and was starting to think the amp was broken. Was starting to get that horrible sinking feeling.
Doug Brady at DB Audio and the chap at Select Audio,the importer, had both said a passive would be fine. Then had a chat with Ajay at Art+Sound and it was he who filled me in on the xa25 not really liking passives. Anyway I've sent some emails to Pass and Townshend to see what they've got to say but it looks,at the moment,that I may have to trade the Townshend for the Pass xp12...hmmm. During the meanwhile I put in my old DNM 3B and wahey the amp is sounding pretty good. A solution will be found and I will go to the ball!
 
wow , thats surprising . we had a townshend allegri here with my F5 mono clones and it was pretty damm good .... in fact if it had had a remote i might have bought one . very good synergy . Currently using a active BC pre 3 vbs which is excellent but that townshend reference would blow it away no doubt
 
I’m still very curious about preamps with the Aleph 3. At present I’m getting better results with the Audio Synthesis ProPassion stepped attenuator than the Verdier valve pre though it does mean pretty much opening the AS when driving inefficient LS3/5As. I’d like to try a really good solid state pre at some point (vintage Pass, Threshold, CJ, Krell, Levinson etc). Either that or grabbing something like a Chord Hugo and try driving it direct. I’m only single source up in that system.
 
Tony L said:
I’m still very curious about preamps with the Aleph 3. At present I’m getting better results with the Audio Synthesis ProPassion stepped attenuator than the Verdier valve pre though it does mean pretty much opening the AS when driving inefficient LS3/5As. I’d like to try a really good solid state pre at some point (vintage Pass, Threshold, CJ, Krell, Levinson etc). Either that or grabbing something like a Chord Hugo and try driving it direct. I’m only single source up in that system.
Click to expand...

I am hoping to get hold of an ACP+ preamp kit when they are back in stock, to try with my F3: https://diyaudiostore.com/products/acp-amp-camp-pre-amp?variant=31783672119369

9dB gain and 0.8 ohm output impedance!
 
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NoisyNeeb said:
Hi Brumjam,
I bought the xa25,mint condition and all that good stuff, but, for some reason it doesn't play well with my Townshend Allegri Refernce pre.
Started off with the the high capacitance Elecrofluids cable to Living Voice OBX-R2's-that was a total disaster-dull as mince.
Switched that out for the Hitachi SSX-102K-the other cable that LV recommended many moons ago. That was a definite improvement-wouldn't be hard,but,nah-still rolled off at either end and flat sounding...tried a couple more and was starting to think the amp was broken. Was starting to get that horrible sinking feeling.
Doug Brady at DB Audio and the chap at Select Audio,the importer, had both said a passive would be fine. Then had a chat with Ajay at Art+Sound and it was he who filled me in on the xa25 not really liking passives. Anyway I've sent some emails to Pass and Townshend to see what they've got to say but it looks,at the moment,that I may have to trade the Townshend for the Pass xp12...hmmm. During the meanwhile I put in my old DNM 3B and wahey the amp is sounding pretty good. A solution will be found and I will go to the ball!
Click to expand...

The Pass XA25 shouldn't be too hard to drive, as its specified input impedance is 47 kohms. And the Townshend, being an autotransformer preamp, should have more drive than a resistor-based passive. But the thing about autotransformers is that their driving ability varies with the gain setting. Fully open, the source is driving the power amp directly, effectively.

So, reading of your experience, I'm wondering what the output impedance of your source (or sources) is, and what sort of volume setting you found yourself using when driving the XA25 with the Townshend? If your source has a high output impedance, and you were using close to full level, I guess the impedances could be the issue.

I also noticed that when Stereophile tested the XA25, JA found that the input impedance dropped a bit at high frequencies. So if there's an impedance mismatch, the top end might suffer most.

(PS I have a pair of Dave Slagle autotransformers, which I'm hoping to try out with my recently acquired Aleph 5. But I need to actually wire up the autotransformers and put them in a box, first, and sadly there are lots of other jobs higher up my 'to do' list at the moment.)
 
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