[KTS]

Nice build, the Honey Badger is on my short list, also the Alpha Nirvana and the Wolverine.

[mkrawcz]

I definitely need to build
The Wolverine some day. That one will be a challenge. It has a lot of parts and it will be pricey.   

[Glady86]

I’m still digging my ELEKIT 8900, it’s all stock except for Audyn copper coupling caps. Rocking with Genalex Gold Lion 300b today. I’m amazed at the dynamics from just 9 watts. Though the speakers are high passed  at around 80hz so the subs are doing a lot of the bottom end.

[mkrawcz]

I’m still digging my ELEKIT 8900, it’s all stock except for Audyn copper coupling caps. Rocking with Genalex Gold Lion 300b today. I’m amazed at the dynamics from just 9 watts. Though the speakers are high passed  at around 80hz so the subs are doing a lot of the bottom end.

Try the PSVane Horizon 300b tubes.

[Glady86]

Try the PSVane Horizon 300b tubes.

I have Horizon in 2a3 and 300b, not sure if they are better or just a little different.

[Glady86]

I popped in the Horizon 300b, though l’m not comparing same music just listening to random songs. It seems they are cleaner in the highs, all three pairs I have give excellent sound staging, though I think the Horizon may a bit more impressive in that regard. Possibly more neutral or transparent. They aren’t expensive so that makes them a great option.

[mkrawcz]

I was fortunate to get the chance to purchase a 25th Anniversary Sony VFET amplifier from Diyaudio. I had no idea what to expect from this amp. It’s incredibly rare and there will be no more so I ordered one while I had the chance as it is the last run and they’re now gone forever. The moment I fired it up and music started playing I knew this amp was magical. The midrange is the best out of any amp I’ve heard SS or tube. It produces vocals more natural and realistic than any other amp I ever had. It’s a shame that there are no more Sony VFETs because this thing is the best 10watts I own.

[mkrawcz]

[Tyson]

Sexy!

[Jaytor]

I was fortunate to get the chance to purchase a 25th Anniversary Sony VFET amplifier from Diyaudio. I had no idea what to expect from this amp. It’s incredibly rare and there will be no more so I ordered one while I had the chance as it is the last run and they’re now gone forever. The moment I fired it up and music started playing I knew this amp was magical. The midrange is the best out of any amp I’ve heard SS or tube. It produces vocals more natural and realistic than any other amp I ever had. It’s a shame that there are no more Sony VFETs because this thing is the best 10watts I own.

Congrats! I bet it sounds great.

I was very tempted by this offer. I even had one in my cart and was starting to check out when I changed my mind. I have too many amps and other projects, and generally prefer monoblocks to keep the speaker cables short and leave clear space between my speakers. But it sure was  tempting.

[mkrawcz]

Congrats! I bet it sounds great.

I was very tempted by this offer. I even had one in my cart and was starting to check out when I changed my mind. I have too many amps and other projects, and generally prefer monoblocks to keep the speaker cables short and leave clear space between my speakers. But it sure was  tempting.

It has me seriously considering a pair of SIT-5 monos. I think they could turn out to be a perfect amplifier.

[jmimac351]

It has me seriously considering a pair of SIT-5 monos. I think they could turn out to be a perfect amplifier.

Be careful with those SIT-5 as I was also very seriously considering them since I liked the SIT-3 on the Wilson Duette. 

Unfortunately, the SIT-3 cannot handle the NX-Treme.  Danny and I heard that last week.

SIT-3 also did not like the new to me Clearwave Sypmphonia speakers.  4ohm, 86db 3 ways will Accuton Tweet / Mid and SS Illuminator woofer.  I think it's just not enough current. 

I've gone back and forth with Nelson a bit and it's just one of those things and I mention being careful because he indicated the SIT-5 is going to have a similar preference as it relates to speaker pairing - it just has more power.  The SIT-3 is supposed to be able to deal with "4-8 ohm" speakers, but it's just not that simple.  I suspect it's best with "Few drivers in number and very easy to drive" speakers.  Can't dip too low and also doesn't like "high ohm" speakers as it needs a resistor. 

However... on the Duette... still - it is really, really good.  I have not tried it on the Encore yet as the SIT-3 is being shipped back now. 

The 19db gain of the SIT-5 will be a lot easier to deal with than the SIT-3.  Danny's preamp won't drive SIT-3 well enough and I can max out the Ayre KX-5 Twenty with maybe a smidge more output. However, the KX-5 Twenty and KX-R Twenty have resistors that can increase the overall gain of the entire preamp by 6db.  The relative gain of each input can also be adjusted.

As most of you know, the SIT-3 only has 11.5db of gain because an input stage(s) have been removed.  Nelson wanted to the preamp to do the work and "simplify / purity".  The Pass preamps are setup to do exactly what Nelson wants by being able to vary the OUTPUT gain for EACH OUTPUT... pairing something like a SIT-3 / tube amp up top with some horspower for the woofers down low.

So, I will install those resistors when I get it back this next week and play with it more.  It really does sound great on the Duette.

And that sort of thing makes me hesitate on giving up too soon on the SIT-3 - I have a clean, late production example.

   

[jmimac351]

Also, regarding First Watt in general... I think folks will find "Pass Labs" to be very non-committal about blessing a FW amp matchup with any particular speaker, unless they know for sure. 

For instance, I reached out about the SIT-5 to Pass Labs.  Kent at Pass responded by telling me how much his classically training musician wife with great ears thinks the XA25 is the best sounding amp that has passed thru their home.

So, I asked Kent about buying 5 figure amps, and he responded my telling me how great their least expensive amp is. 

Another data point... those are very new to market.  I posted a wanted ad and immediately received inquiries from those ready to sell.

For whatever that's worth... I want to try the XA25. 

And, I think I actually prefer the .5 series Pass gear over the .8 - go figure.  The XA200.5 I made my own luck getting are really something else. 

Effortless sweetness.

I'm going to need to play with some current... and I am starting to get really excited.

[jmimac351]

Here is my rebuilt Folsom EC7293. This is probably similar to what Danny’s monoblocks are.

I believe Danny mentioned he added some Duelund copper foil bypass caps to his.  Those amps are very interesting, I wish I could live with a pair for a month to really hear what they are doing after sitting ON and simmering for days...

Danny indicated he was working on something along these lines for amps, but he has so many irons on the fire...

There were times when I thought I heard some etch and then things seemed to settle a bit more after a few hours.  I may be kidding myself, which is fine because this is all about what we perceive... but it takes a few days for things to really "settle" around this joint.

It doesn't appear those Folsom amps are gettable anymore, unless I've just missed it.

[mkrawcz]

jmimac351, thanks for the insight on the SIT-3 and SIT-5. It’s definitely a game of speaker matching with the First Watt amps. They are all unique, if you get it wrong it’s a bit disappointing, but get it right and it’s amazing. The ones that really are more universal to speakers are the F5/F5M, J2, and AlephJ. F5/F5M being the safest bet for most speakers considering power and neutrality. I will probably take a break from further Pass offerings for a while. I have an upcoming Wolverine amp project which should be interesting. It’s more of a high powered (200+watt)neutral amp with distortion numbers lower than even the lowest distortion production amps, but it’s going to be built with all the best parts. So we’ll see what comes out of it. Probably tackle that one in the fall.

[Tyson]

I can say my First Watt Aleph is a great match for the NX Oticas and the BA3 is great with the Line Forces. 

I’m actually excited for you to get those line arrays. 

[mkrawcz]

I can say my First Watt Aleph is a great match for the NX Oticas and the BA3 is great with the Line Forces. 

I’m actually excited for you to get those line arrays.

Yes, the AlephJ definitely matches well with the NX-Oticas. I haven’t tried the VFet in them yet. For now, the NX-Otica king for me is the M2X over the AlephJ. But that’s just down to preference. Both are outstanding.

[Tyson]

I re-wired my Aleph J Zen with all pure silver hookup wire and changed the RCA plus binding posts to all be silver.  Really let me tune it to be more dynamic and transparent in my HT setup which is where my NX-Oticas live. 

[KTS]

Tyson,
Did you take out the stock caps and put in Vcaps? They really bring out the detail and other added benefits. Although it takes a bit of time for them to not lean in so hard.

[Tyson]

Oh, no I did not.  What value are those caps?