Tekton Double Impacts

@kdude66 : the Vidar amp is not released yet...probably early next week. The power specs were given out by the designer so I am confident they are accurate. The designer did say the amp is rated conservatively.

@david_ten : I race an air-cooled 911. It’s an 87 Turbo chassis with wide 993 bodywork with a normally aspirated 3.6L engine.

I can’t wait to get the Vidar amps and DI speakers. I ordered the speakers over a week ago and have heard nothing since then. That concerns me a bit. I guess getting the internal upgrade and holes for the speaker grills added complicates the process.

Well Schiit.... that is a hell of a price.

@mazikrav, thanks for providing the additional info in your latest post. Assuming that the gain provided in the active buffer stage Mr. Hammel provided you with is similar to what is described in the Stereophile review you linked to, your initial statement that it provides little or no gain was correct. "Unity gain" = no gain.

So per my earlier comments it can be calculated that when you are listening to LPs you cannot presently drive your F3 amplifier even close to its 10 watt maximum capability (for a 4 ohm load), at least on the vast majority of recordings. And the same would hold true with respect to the 30 watt capability of the F7. Fortunately it sounds like that isn’t a problem given your particular circumstances and listening habits. But I would suggest that if you go to a different amplifier it would be preferable to obtain one having substantially higher gain than the 12.5 and 14 db gains of those amps. Most amps having power capabilities comparable to the F7, or more, would provide that additional gain. As I mentioned, a downside of the design philosophy underlying most of the First Watt amplifiers is low gain.

Finally, as added confirmation of all of this note the following comment by John Atkinson in the measurements section of the review you referred to:

As specified, the Placette Active Linestage (ALS) offers a maximum gain of unity; ie, the maximum signal level is the same as that of the source components driving it. Owners should make sure, therefore, that their source components offer a sufficiently high signal level to fully drive their amplifiers.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

Vitop,

No real evidence to me that the vidar sounds worth a schiit,
Time will tell but that is quite a attractive price.

Kenny.

mazikrav,

Al's thoughts on your placette preamp are spot on.

I'ts so confusing to me that they call it a Active  linestage but the specs only list "Unity gain.

And like Al has pointed out unity gain = no gain.

If I was in your position and really liked the F3,I would look at replacing it with a active linestage preamp such as the LTA MZ2S.
Then if you wanted to later try the F7 you would have a much better matchup.

Just my thoughts and opinion but I'm strongly against using a passive preamp in my system in general.

If you still wanted to keep and use your placette you really need to find a suitable Amp that has the average gain of 26 db.

What is your budget and the sonic signature that you like.

Best,

Kenny.