Horio

Leonardo, you are a lucky man if you have access to some nice equipment for chassis work. I only wish I had that sort of access for my DIY T2 panels. If you want a good learning project to help build your confidence, take a look at the Cmoy or Mini^3 portable headphone amps. Both are inexpensive to build and will teach you many valuable things for a Firstwatt build (like creating parts lists, selection parts, populating a PCB, etc). These projects are the starting point for many DIY'ers.

Leonardo, There is only one way to get into DIY and that is to give it a shot. I started off with recabling a pair of headphones, and now I'm building a T2. The beauty of the Firstwatt amps (and a big reason why they sound so good), is their simplicity. There are really not that many parts required to build one of these fine amps, and there is excellent documentation and support available at the Firstwatt website and over on DIYAudio. I would start by doing some reading. Take a look at the manual on the Firstwatt website to learn a little more about the amp design, then cruise around the threads on the DIYAudio forum. The more you read and plan, the better the build will go. I think that DIY is not as difficult as many people think it is. It's a great way to really learn about electronics, and it's always extremely satisfying to build something on your own. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any questions.

I run my bass light K1000's through a Cavalli EHHA tube headamp, and I think its a great combination. I wouldn't say the K1000's are the best all around headphone, but they do some things that still blow me away (ie, acoustic guitar & small ensembles). I plan to hold onto mine for a very long time and supplement them with some SR-00X's eventually. I'd love to hear the K1000's through a Firstwatt F3 amp. If you have any DIY skill or would like to learn, I would highly recommend one of the Nelson Pass Firstwatt amps.

Sent. Thanks for organizing this Kerry.

I'm hoping to get going on a KGSSHV build soon. Just waiting for a board run to get going. Would be cool to give the case mounted heatsink build a shot. Sorry to hear about the transformer problems. I have ordered several transformers from Sumr and I haven't had any issues (knock on wood). People posting problems with the Sumr units on this thread and the T2 thread have me a bit weary...

I'm planning to be there. This will be my first show of this kind, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've always wanted to hear a nice MBL setup, and this should be my chance!

Great work Kerry. Looking forward to more pictures as you progress.

Can FPE drill/tap heatsinks? Man this would be handy if they did. I just assumed there would be issues with clamping the heatsinks into their machines. After doing some minor drilling & tapping on some heatsinks for one of my other builds, I definitely agree that it is worth it to have someone with the right equipment do it.