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- Mar 24, 2006
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hi angelo
F3 is quite a product extraordinaire, and after living with it for 2 weeks i am now refusing to look at it as a SET replacement. it's actually a brilliant amp itself and i think lots of SETs would have a problem coping with it in several aspects. i believe it's the best sounding SS product made after jean hiraga's amps 30 years ago. i haven't heard the rest of first watt line, however i've heard lots of other pass stuff, alephs etc and though i kinda like the house sound of pass products, this one is IMHO a step forward, thanks to a stupidly simple circuit.
tonally it's great, warm and rich however still transparent enough. powerwise i think it can safely drive anything over 92-93db with not too difficult imp curve.
i got myself built by tim rawson in the states. if interested in details PM me. my serbian DIY buddies are still in an aleph J frenzy, however i much prefer the way F3 sounds with horns, i tried one of these and i can see some better speakers for aleph than mine.
F3 sounds rich and colorful enough so you actually need just a pre as neutral and transparent as possible. it works just fine with a TVC. i have a plain copper music first TVC at the moment (although i'm not a big fan of it) and it's very good match. though, when i want a sugar overdose, i run 2 preamps (tube + passive) at the same time (god forgive!), top tubes (mullard plus telefunken) hot rodded EAR 864 into wide open music first TVC into F3. that's as close as i can come to aural sex in my room, pardon my metaphor.
speaking of RAAL ribbons, mind that aleks has a new pro ribbon of (i think) 105 or 109db sensitivity. a bit more expensive, however as i understand not unaffordable for a top system.
F3 is quite a product extraordinaire, and after living with it for 2 weeks i am now refusing to look at it as a SET replacement. it's actually a brilliant amp itself and i think lots of SETs would have a problem coping with it in several aspects. i believe it's the best sounding SS product made after jean hiraga's amps 30 years ago. i haven't heard the rest of first watt line, however i've heard lots of other pass stuff, alephs etc and though i kinda like the house sound of pass products, this one is IMHO a step forward, thanks to a stupidly simple circuit.
tonally it's great, warm and rich however still transparent enough. powerwise i think it can safely drive anything over 92-93db with not too difficult imp curve.
i got myself built by tim rawson in the states. if interested in details PM me. my serbian DIY buddies are still in an aleph J frenzy, however i much prefer the way F3 sounds with horns, i tried one of these and i can see some better speakers for aleph than mine.
F3 sounds rich and colorful enough so you actually need just a pre as neutral and transparent as possible. it works just fine with a TVC. i have a plain copper music first TVC at the moment (although i'm not a big fan of it) and it's very good match. though, when i want a sugar overdose, i run 2 preamps (tube + passive) at the same time (god forgive!), top tubes (mullard plus telefunken) hot rodded EAR 864 into wide open music first TVC into F3. that's as close as i can come to aural sex in my room, pardon my metaphor.
speaking of RAAL ribbons, mind that aleks has a new pro ribbon of (i think) 105 or 109db sensitivity. a bit more expensive, however as i understand not unaffordable for a top system.