The amplifiers in my main stereo have been, for the past 13 years, a pair of Pass Labs Aleph 1.2 monoblocks. I hadn't imagined ever replacing them prior to attending the 2011 Burning Amp Festival in San Francisco, when eminent audio luminary Nelson Pass announced he was releasing his F5 Turbo article. I'm a big fan of Class A amps but the F5 seemed a little anemic to me. Nelson designs exceptional-sounding audio equipment and a scaled-up version of his renowned F5 struck me as both an exciting project and a worthy successor to my beloved Aleph 1.2 monoblocks.

Understanding the F5T circuit and assembling the parts has taken almost 2 years. The enclosures and some of the circuit boards were purchased from diyaudio's store; other components were sourced through group buys, allowing me to acquire far better quality parts than would otherwise have been possible. I designed the front and rear panels using Front Panel Express' CAD program and they did the milling, etching and coloring for me.

My F5 Turbo amps operate in Class A to about 160 watts per channel. They sound very clean and throw an expansive soundstage -- wide and deep, with excellent resolution and "air". The amps are authoritative and very well balanced. I'm thrilled with how this project turned out.

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