I am not sure I will build them at this time but that is a beautiful job on those ACA amps and I hope to build a couple down the road. Good to know you can reduce the cost a bit as well.
Have a look at the Nelson Pass ACA its 6w also uses jfets and there are many reports of the Pass DIY forum that the ACA and the F5 sound similar.
The ACA is just epic with the HE-6 I have built a couple of them now using a Bottlehead Quickie in front of it. They are real easy to put together. The full Kit costs $317 but if you just buy the pcbs $19 sourcing heatsinks of ebay you should be able to easy build one for half that. Forget all the talk about 100W amps being a must with the HE6 been their done that tried a good dozen different amps up to 150w mono blocks and intergrated and the 6w ACA has easily bested them all. You could drive the ACA with the Whammy!
Thanks. I have indeed looked into ACA, since it is the hottest thing right now. But my assessment is that, among the more powerful amps (i.e., not the WHAMMY), F5 is the higher performing one, especially in the area of noise (which is relevant in powering headphones).
I am not sure I will build them at this time but that is a beautiful job on those ACA amps and I hope to build a couple down the road. Good to know you can reduce the cost a bit as well.
Thanks, my Whammy pcbs arrived today but still need to finalise my mouser order before putting it in.
the ACA is very simple circuit in that Nelson Pass less is more way. The component cost is very low my mouser order looks to be around £30ish to populate the boards (heat sinks and jfets on top) I found a large used heat sink on ebay and just cut it in two on a bandsaw at work. An off the shelf enclosure is the most expensive item. Diying one can save a lot of cash and is pretty simple, mine was just cobbled together out of just a few bits and pieces left over from other projects. One using some of offcuts I had of Zebrano and the other made from a bamboo chopping board.
Thanks. I have indeed looked into ACA, since it is the hottest thing right now. But my assessment is that, among the more powerful amps (i.e., not the WHAMMY), F5 is the higher performing one, especially in the area of noise (which is relevant in powering headphones).
Be very mindful about using a speaker amp especially if also using the same amp to run a 2 channel set up, a moments forgetfulness on the volume level or powering on off pre and power in the incorrect order can easy blow the drivers. I would strongly recommend not powering on or off any amp with headphones attached to its speaker taps and only connecting them to it with the volume control set at zero.
I think I need to get used to working with metal more and I should be able to accomplish the ACA for a very reasonable price down the road. I do have left over copper plate that would make an interesting top and front of the amp. Your build inspires me a bit Jamie, I also have some left over oak from some other projects.
I am using a Schiit Lyr 2 as pre amp into a Whammy and the sound is incredible. I have four or five class A amps but the Whammy is right up there, such an easy build and such quality for a low price IMHO.
Hey guys I am about to fire in my mouser order for the whammy but am a bit confused about which op amp to get as have not built anything with one before. It would be nice to source something from Mouser, but I wondered what you guys used recommend?
Cheers
Jamie
PS anyone else having problems with the forum feeds, I haven't been receiving the normal alerts when new posts are added to thread I am following...
Hi Jamie, I used this one initially: 595-RC4580IP - Texas Instruments, costs $1. There are others out there that are better, but that one was on the BOM so I tried it first. I ended up settling on a Burson dual as of yesterday. It sounds a little more open / less compressed than the T.I.
Regarding the feeds, I've been getting mine. I get a constant barrage of emails from the deal thread, haha.
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