Nelson Pass First Watt amp F1

Interesting insight so far, not as promising as I had thought it might have been. I am thinking of using it in my current system(emm labs front end, vonschweikert db99's and jena labs cabling) any thoughts? I have contacted first watt(which is seperate from pass) and they have been a great help so far, but I am curious about what consumers think.

It is not compatible with multiple driver speakers unless the crossover is designed to be driven by a transconductance amolifier.

This is a very specialized amp that boasts an 80 ohm output impedance. In effect, the amp is designed to be "loaded down" by the loudspeakers, which results in a shifted tonal balance. This shift in tonal balance helps to compensate for the lack of low frequency weight found in many "full range" aka Lowther, Fostex, etc... type drivers. If used in conjunction with more conventional multi-way loudspeaker designs, it probably won't sound too good. On top of that, and as Herman pointed out in another thread, the crossover points on the loudspeaker will be altered. Due to the fact that this amp acts like a current source rather than the more conventional and commonly used voltage source designs, it will have very limited mareketability and would be "near useless" for most audiophile type speakers. Sean
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Well I guess that answers my question, not the amp for me. I guess I'll just stick with tubes, its working for me, my mind just runs crazy from time to time.

Hey Twl, from looking at this article it appears that a frequency shaping network is required to optimize the performance of a particular driver with this amp. If the ones you heard at the show did not have one (my guess is it did not) then that may have contributed to your unfavorable impressions. I've never heard this amp and probably never will but it is an interesting concept.