F5Turbo Illustrated Build Guide

Dennis,

I realize this post completely borders on the absurd and foo foo land but I use the Furutech binding posts in a lot of my builds although my NPXP uses Cardas Rhodium. On the speaker cable side, I have terminated it with Furutech's low mass banana plugs. The reason is durability and reliability. Since I build a lot of amps, there is a constant unplugging/plugging going on in my setup and bananas provide an ease and convenience. The plating on the Furutech bananas I have found to be of much higher quality than less expensive generic manufacturers. I am sure WBT, etc...are up there in quality too...I realize the pricing is psychotic :eek:

FWIW :rolleyes:.

Best,
Anand.
 
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low-mass bananas: BeCu

For speaker cable connections, I like low-mass bananas ("Z-Plugs") as well.

No special brands, but I take care to choose the Beryllium Copper versions - all BeCu without gold plating etc. So no Ni intermediate layer, no gold flashing.
Pure silver should be interesting as well, though I suppose you would have to use some silver alloy to provide the spring tension in the plug ...

Something like this:
Beryllium Kupfer Hohl Bananenstecker BS-10 unbeschichtet | eBay

Probably similar versions from U.S. suppliers as well.
For this one from Mundorf, the description reads right, but the picture looks like it has some gold flashing nevertheless:
Mundorf Connector BFA Beryllium Copper Banana Plug


Regards,
Claas
 

6L6

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Leave it in the middle if you don't have a distortion analyzer or way to FFT a reference tone.

Also, I’d suggest leaving the ‘turbo’ diodes off your build. Builders lately have been having much more success with them omitted, particularly on the bigger versions.
 
Leave it in the middle if you don't have a distortion analyzer or way to FFT a reference tone.

Will be able to do this. Thanks for the heads up. Will leave P3 in the middle for starter.

Also, I’d suggest leaving the ‘turbo’ diodes off your build. Builders lately have been having much more success with them omitted, particularly on the bigger versions.

Eliminate the MUR3020W devices all together; just leave them out of the PCB?
Nelson speaks about eliminating those (including the cascodes) as well alongside the balanced template for a simplified version of the balanced F5Tv3.
 

6L6

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I bought a huge pile of the Monoprice banana plugs with the red and black anodized bodies and couldn’t be happier. Replaced every single speaker wire I have with them and it’s been a 100% positive experience. They have a really neat dual-screw system to grab the wire. Also they are an incredible bargain. Win-win-win.
 
I don't like the fact that for the most part they have exposed metal tabs that can easily get shorted. They can't be swapped out quickly (like for comparing cables or amps and especially if bi-wiring is used), need to power off amp while changing to make sure you don't short anything, can't be easily extended as there is no female cable connector, etc.

Other than that they work :)

Just ordered some of the ML type wing nuts for the amps, two sets per mono block for bi-wiring.
 
I have used both Neutrik Speakon and PowerCon connectors. They are excellent and reliable. On my MOFO monoblocks I used Neutrik PowerCon with a custom power cable as well.

y5Embo4.jpg


hrC6o4v.jpg


Best,
Anand.
 
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On finely stranded speaker cable, I often had issues with reliably tightening the grub screws on the double-screw plugs. Often ended with a lot of little copper threads torn away.

The low-mass bananas I linked to I just solder (hot iron with wide tip), and then put red or blue heatshrink over the part that doesn't go into the binding post.

Fast, simple, secure. :D


Regards, Claas
 
F5T Response Graph

Hello,
I recently finished my F5T build and after the initial setup and listening too, I decided to try it on the audiotester.de software to see what it looked like. Assuming I did everything correctly, the frequency response graph shows a 10db dip at around 8000hz. I attached a copy, but it may be hard to see. I am not an engineer nor was I able to compose a internet query to come up with what might cause this dip in a power amplifier. As for hearing it, my hearing aids would have kicked in way before that, so I am sure I would never notice it sonically, but I would like to know why. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
 

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F5Turbo - Monoblocks

Hello F5T-builders,


a member asked me for some pics of my F5T-monoblocks. Although this is the

F5T build guide thread - some pics...
Sedlbauer toroids 1000 W, sec. 2x30V AC
railvoltages: +-42,7 V

50° - 55° C on the heatsinks
JFet -quartet (matched) + cascode -BJTs in the frontend
4 N-ch- and 4 P-ch-MosFets (matched) per monoblock
I've built these 'babies' a few years ago.... and I still like them a lot! ;)

Cheers
Dirk :D
 

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