Thoughts on the First Watt SIT Amps

Thanks for the response. I never purchased the Audiopax amps because they had reliability and major service issues. When the folks representing a company have a hard time getting service I can only imagine what customers had to go through to get service. It's a shame because Eduardo from Audiopax was/is a talented designer. However, there is much more to running a business than designing product.

I owned and demoed a couple of 45 amps in my system. With Jazz, blues, and vocal type music they sounded fantastic. When music got complicated and needed power and drive the 45 amps faltered a bit. I listen to a lot of rock, classic rock, and classical music. Often times loud and sometimes very loud :) Even though Avantgarde loudspeakers are very efficient, I find they still need more than 10-20 watts to get them to really open up. I once heard Avantgarde Duos driven by BAT VK-150SE tubes amps and they sounded effortless. Dynamics that smaller amps just can not do. Musical preferences and type of presentation the listener is looking for are huge determining factors that influence an amplifier choice.

I found that the SIT amp met most of my needs in an amp. It could use more power and drive and in my case less noise. If you ever do demo the SIT amp, please let us know your thoughts and if you run into the noise issues that I ran into. FYI, Reno HiFi that represents First watt gave me great service.Take it easy.

I know this discussion is about current production SIT, but I had a Sony TA 5650 VFET amp in the day for ten years before it failed and was very fond of it. SIT and VFET are different designations for the same kind of voltage controlled transistor type.

I have had a variety of tube amps, both push pull and SET and own several SET amps at the moment and three DHT based preamps.

I recently acquired one of the Sony TA 4650 VFET amps to use as a phono amp in a second location.

The phono amp uses a small signal VFET in the RIAA gain circuit, which then goes to a single small signal FET gain stage, and then feeds the push pull amplifier stage in this model. One can switch in or out the tone control stage which adds another small signal FET stage.

My thoughts about the VFET on hearing it again is that it most definitely is superior to most standard solid state amps.

The sound is very "fast" with the ability to image with enormous specificity in the sound stage in three dimensions.

The tonality is natural, with a non fatiguing character, unlike most transistor devices. The VFET has an analog sounding pulse response.

The dynamics are open and liquid, like DHT tubes.

Where it differs is that it does not quite have the "charm" factor of good DHT designs, and the tonal decay is sharper, without the more sumptuous resonant tails that SET designs have. The tonality of the VFET device is natural but a bit on the shallow side compared to tubes.

I have found that coupling DHT preamps with good solid state amps is an outstanding combination for some reason. I would not have thought that DHT preamp would synergies well with solid state amps, but they do, and sound very good that way.

Haven't tried the DHT preamps with the VFET yet, they are at different locations, but may get another VFET to try with Manley 300b preamp*.

I imagine that Allnic L5000 DHT linestage sounds fantastic.
Regards,

Brawny,
Just off topic but I read your comments on Audiopax. I agree that there was a period when Audiopax may have lost their way - I believe in part due to the fact that Eduardo is best placed to be allowed to design and create and to leave customer support to others. The company has now been restructured and I believe many agree that they are much more responsive to providing proper customer service. I am of course heavily invested in the product so cannot say I do not have any skin in the game - but I do believe they are wonderful amplifiers from the new version of the Model 88 to the Maggiore 100 which I have purchased.
James

Hi Vicks7,

Sorry, I have responded to your post sooner. I was on vacation for few days. Audiopax was sold and distributed hear in the U.S. for a years. Jim Smith initially did a great job of promoting the Audiopax amplifiers. Unfortunately, Audiopax managed to develop a reputation for poor customer service during that time. I know one customer who waited months to get his Model 88's repaired. I know a Audiopax dealer who had to wait 11 months for one of his amps to get repaired. I came very close to purchasing a pair of Model 88's myself. A friend in the industry, convinced me not to because of Audiopax 's poor reputation for service.

Eventually, Audiopax ran into U.S. distribution and dealer issues. To make matters worse, their U.S. retail prices sky-rocketed in a short amount of time. The devaluation of the American dollar didn't help either. In addition, Audiopax was constantly fiddling with the designs. Often swapping out different parts. It got to the point where no one knew what version of the product they had received or getting because no two were alike.

There is no doubt that Eduardo De Lima is a really nice guy and a very talented designer. However, it takes a lot more than these attributes to run a successful company. Performance, value, quality, and service is what I look for in a company. And I always initially look for these things from domestic companies. I do understand that Audiopax restructured. That still does not change the past. I do hope they get it together, and develop a track record for great customer service. Until they do, I would be very hesitant and cautious in purchasing any Audiopax product. It's just too much money to gamble with. I wish you the best of luck with your new amps!