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Experiences with First Watt amps?

botrytis said:
New class A is a Class A/B design, it is not class A. So, why bring it up?
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True, not class A and at idle are very efficient. When pushed they get wild and hot quickly.

botrytis said:
My Pioneer M-22 is a push-pull Class A. I mean 44 transistors and 62 Diodes - for a 30 WPC amp :D
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That tells me that your Pio has properly sized heatsinks and If your ACA heatsinks were too hot maybe they were undersized??
 
Now my dealer in Dubai tells me he can offer a Pass Labs XA25 for only $900 over the First Watt F8.

Tough choice! I'd guess that the XA25 gains woofer control and bass drive but loses "delicacy and air" from the F8. Plus the XA25 certainly looks more substantial, with better heat sinks at least. Maybe better resale value too.
 
FauxHall said:
Now my dealer in Dubai tells me he can offer a Pass Labs XA25 for only $900 over the First Watt F8.

Tough choice! I'd guess that the XA25 gains woofer control and bass drive but loses "delicacy and air" from the F8. Plus the XA25 certainly looks more substantial, with better heat sinks at least. Maybe better resale value too.
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I do not think you can go wrong with either of them. Does the dealer offer an audition in the showroom? That would give you the answers you are looking for.
 
He's got an INT25 in stock. I'll audition it with some Heresy IVs Saturday.

Should give an idea of the house sound.
 
FauxHall said:
He's got an INT25 in stock. I'll audition it with some Heresy IVs Saturday.

Should give an idea of the house sound.
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Jeepers Faux.. leave us hanging here.. I mean cmoon, May 11th?

What happened to your Pass experiment? I fear I'm involved with preparations towards making a similar decision, in the 'near' term.. keeping my tubes but moving upmarket and d/own wattage, from the Proceed Class A 125wpc AMP5 that's laying all over my stuff, touching all my things, right now.

Seemed like you were leaning towards the XA25.. ?
 
Lockdown put a kabosh on the new amp plans. We'll have to have a swab within 48 hours of return to Abu Dhabi - there's a border checkpoint between Dubai and Abu Dhabi now. The UAE is a "federal" system so different emirates have different requirements.

Plus, the world situation is turning me into a prepper. Might want to bug out ASAP. Got an eye on a mango and coconut plantation in the Philippines as a refuge so I'm saving my money for that.
 
Sorry to hear about the added struggles.

Philippines sounds interesting, evbody likes bananas.

I was wondering if I could sell off preamps, amps and run with the INT25, older 30 or 60. Also considering the XA25/ 30.8. Its possible, which direction, will be driven by timing and opportunity.. but then again, everything is, when you steer the bus by leaning from the back.

I can't see needing much more wpc, considering the higher db trajectory of Speakerquest 2021. the only thing holding me back from going integrated is a nascent but growing interest in bi/tri-amping and the modularity of 'separates' performance.

i thnk both INT units have preamp outs but that kind of defeats the whole deal of INTing, unless externalizing the signal was infrequent.. INT would solve that preamp question tho.. (do I switch to a Pass XP12 or similar) but I was interested in pairing tube preamp/ w solid state amp..before jumping back. headlong into SS pre/amplification.
 
F8 and XA25 are the main focuses.. seems like they're priced in a similar range, give take a few benjis.

Anyone here have/ had either, the J2, 30.8 .. 60..what speakers did you pair them with? what were the results and are they still in the catbird seat, or second chair?
 
I have yet to hear a modern Pass design I didn't like. Not all are perfect (I'm not too into the super low powered stuff), but I have an Aleph 30 clone doing great things in my basement rig.
 
asilker said:
I just purchased a pile of parts to assemble an F5.



Which transformers are those? great looking layout.
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Thanks!. They are An Tek 300VA each, with the shield covers they sell. The design calls for a single 400VA for both channels but, i looove to Sin!. Had a pair of cap banks and a pair of Schottky diode rectifiers too.
 
turboyam said:
Thanks!. They are An Tek 300VA each, with the shield covers they sell. The design calls for a single 400VA for both channels but, i looove to Sin!. Had a pair of cap banks and a pair of Schottky diode rectifiers too.
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Very nice. I know the transformer covers are useful from a shielding perspective but they also just look wonderful.

I'm building an F5 and the plan is to do pretty much everything by the book. Im not even doing input snubbing yet... We will see what happens after it's together
 
asilker said:
Very nice. I know the transformer covers are useful from a shielding perspective but they also just look wonderful.

I'm building an F5 and the plan is to do pretty much everything by the book. Im not even doing input snubbing yet... We will see what happens after it's together
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You will like it, it's an awesome design!, sounds so nice too!.
 
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