[roadtonowhere08]

Okay, this is a bit of a weird thread since this is mostly a section regarding headphone amps, but I have always been fascinated by all the components (and their reason for selection) that make up amps. Having recently purchased a stereo power amp myself, I had a chance to look under the hood and see what was in it. I do this with all my stuff, but normally I have a very good source of information regarding the manufacturer and components used to make it. I like to research this stuff before I buy just to know that I am getting a well made, well reviewed, and reliable product. That and I love to look at guts

It is from a brand called Face Audio, and I bought it from diycable.com. Based on the little information I could gather from avsforum.com and what Kevin Haskins has said (he is the person at diycable.com), this amp, the Face Audio F500TS, is a very solid amp that is (according to people who have seen both) built like a Bryston amp but a a lesser price point (obviously

). From what I researched, Face Audio is a company that takes amps from a (I am assuming) high quality OEM from China and mounts them inside a very nice hi-fi/pro audio chassis. This OEM has been very popular in Europe, as this exact build of amp (different chassis) has been marketed by other brands.

My curiosity stems from this story and information I gathered. I would like to know more about this amp (ie. component quality and what part does what). The reason why I chose to make this thread here is that there are people in this DIY area are very skilled in amp schematics and layouts. I know there will probably be little interest in this thread, but I am very curious about the "guts" of this amp, and any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Nobody?

 

[Pars]

OK, I'll bite. I don't see any schematics here, just pictures.

The amp looks OK... nothing jumps out as being really crappy in terms of its price point, but nothing jumps out as being really great either. I personally own an Odyssey Stratos, and you could have gotten one of these used with a 20 year transferrable warranty for near your price point. But, I digress. You asked for comments on layout:

In your first picture, if you look at the center section of the amp, obviously there is the power transformer. Looks like it is appropriately sized. The board with the 4 big caps is the PSU. It has a pair of monolithic GBA package bridge rectifiers, which is more or less standard. More expensive amps might use individual rectifiers (Stealth or HexFRED) for each bridge.

Flanking this (vertical), on each side are the individual channel amp boards. Output devices on heatsinks, looks like perhaps a thermistor on each heatsink. Looks like 4 output devices per channel.

So how does it sound? And, do you like it? THose are probably the most important questions.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

It sounds great! No problems driving my speakers full range. I could not be happier. I was curious about the insides, expected longevity, and how long the caps will last (especially the ones on the channel boards). I got this amp on a heck of a deal (about half off), so your amp, though amazing looking, was out of my price point. In addition, H@CKED BY McMyMMs | BycRAzytuRK appears to have been hacked by TurkishHacker McMyMMs BycRAzyT urk. Really classy thing to do to an audio company