F4s

[iansr]

As some of you may know Nick has made me a pair of First Watt F4 amps. I've got them up and running in my system right now. As I write I'm listening to JJ Cale on a Sugden Masterclass CDP (modded with the v. rare TDA 1541a S2 DAC chip), Basie + (Aikido circuit) preamp with 6n6p's, 2 F4's in parallel driving Quad 989s. The sound is, and I know this may be sacrilege round these valve-centric parts, just bloody wonderful. I've had some highly regarded commercial amps in the past ( Conrad Johnson Premier 11A, Pass Labs Aleph 2 monos, Red Wine Audio Signature 70 amongst others) but these amps are in another league completely. I've never heard a Lamm, a Wavac or an Ongaku but this is the kind of listening experience I would have expected from something with that kind of reputation, not to mention cost. I should also say that these are the most un solid state SS amps I've ever heard; the sound is just so liquid and natural - those are the best words I can think of.

Nick has made a valve buffer with 76's to try as an alternative to the preamp. I'll try that tomorrow with a TVC.

I intend to bring at least one of them to Owlston BTW.

Thanks Nick, you done good And I suppose we should give Nelson a bit of credit too

PS. They are getting even better as they warm up!

[ed]

congrats Ian, I'm relieved that you think so highly of them.

I've found that mine improved when I set the bias as high as the sinks would allow. I've recently swapped my EL34 out of my studio system in favour of the F4 and quite frankly its awesome....at the moment its my fave amp by a country mile.......

I'm in the middle of putting a zenkido together just for an experiment to compare, but I know the F4 on its own is going to take some beating...There are quite a number of stalwarts over on DiyAudio who have ditched their 300Bs in favour of moskidos saying they prefer the sound in every department.....

ho hum....I've a feeling this discrepancy between ss and valve is soon going to be a thing of the past........only the fules and misguided will want to keep that fight going.

[Mo]

Is the F4 a stereo power amp or monoblocks?

[Nick]

Can be both. They are built as stereo, but can be used bridged from a balanced source, or parallel. When I tried them driving the NS1000s, I used them in parallel, but they didn't do a bad job (not much difference in fact) with just the single stereo amp.

[Nick]

only the fules and misguided will want to keep that fight going.

Ahh, still a place for me then

[ed]

Ahh, still a place for me then

not the remotest doubt, you are most certainly in the 'sanitorily challenged' section. You can go where you like with immunity.

[Paul Barker]

OK I'll bight.

esl's probably do sound better on such an amp.

I don't expect your amp would sound as good on my speakers as my amp.

But I'm not saying it's not a fantastic prospect that a way of achieving what many of us like has been invented without the need for valves. You must be really happy.

Nick has had it at home, when will we expect to see his 211's transformers and suchlike on ebay?

[iansr]

Ed
Glad to hear you pleased with yours as well. I think you are dead right about the bias BTW.


Paul
I obviously can't say anything about your amps/speakers but don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these are the best amps ever (that would be a stupid thing to assert), I'm just saying how great they sound on my system. Nick's 211 is a great amp and it might even be better than the F4s on high efficiency speakers - although I can tell you there is not much in it IMHO cos I've heard them both on his OBs - but his 211 will probably not have enough juice to drive/control the 989s.

I should also explain that over the years I've had valve, SS and class D amps and if I have a bias it is towards valves. I have become convinced that SET's offer the greatest potential for sonic nirvana, but a SET amp will not drive the 989s. That is precisely why I wanted the F4s, so that I could use a SET to provide the voltage gain and F4s to provide the necessary current. So today is going to be v. interesting as I will replace the preamp with the 76 buffer.

[Nick]

Well, given that Ian didn't suggest they were as good as valves, just that they were the best SS he had heard, I have to agree with that entirly.

In all truth, I still prefer the 211's, but thats not the point of the F4s, they do what they do very well.

Ian, I think you might also be suprised at the driving ability of the 211, my first 211 failed to drive Colins statics, thats why we went down the gm70 route, but this 211, because (I suspect) its running in A2 did a much better job when I took it to Colins over the new year.

[Clive]

Ian, what does your golden-eared lady think of the F4's?

[iansr]

Nick
In that case I'd be very interested hear the 211 on the 989s, hint hint.

Hi Clive, hope things are going well in the counter-espionage business

Amani has not heard the F4s yet. She has never forgiven me for selling the Aleph 2s and I reckon these are way better so i will be very surprised if she doesn't think they are fab. I'll let you know if I'm right!

Right, time to set the 76 buffer up.

[Paul Barker]

.I've a feeling this discrepancy between ss and valve is soon going to be a thing of the past......

No Nick he didn'

[iansr]

OK been listening to TVC + 76 buffer + F4s. Not done any ABing with the aikido preamp but my initial reaction is that I've gone up another rung. Unless I'm kidding myself there is some of that SET magic coming through; its that great sense of presence that I think you get with SETs.

How many more rungs are there I wonder. No, don't answer that!

[simon]

Which valves/PSU etc. do you use in your Aikido pre Ian? The 76 buffer stage sounds good .

[Clive]

Hi Clive, hope things are going well in the counter-espionage business

Ian, you're blowing my cover. In Milan at the moment.