FirstWatt SIT-3 Review

Joe, my problem is we have no official distribution of Nelson Pass amps in Poland.
I tried to get a SiT 2 for audition at home a few years ago for my former AG’s - Duo Omega but the Danish dealer responsable for Poland was not willing to accept the audition at home even with the deposit from my side.
 
I assume that all available supply of these amps are already sold out. It almost seems silly for both Stereophile and The Absolute Sound to be doing rave reviews on a product was was sold out long before the review hit the magazine racks.

With that said I would love one of these... but... I know even if I could afford it there are none to be had anyway :)
 
I’m so sorry that some parts of the world are very difficult to get certain gear. I took a leap of faith based on some word of mouth and Nelson’s reputation. It’s one of my top two amps. :D
 
Randy, don’t worry. You won’t like it anyway. :P

But seriously, it’s not for every speaker/system.
 
Hehe... I really loved the First Watt F6 that I had. That was in my relearning stage however. I agree, the SIT 3 would probably not have enough power for my KEF speakers anyway.

I think of all the amplifiers I have tried the First Watt that I had would probably come in third for my over all favorites....

Audio Mirror
T+A
First Watt
.....
Others: Quick Silver, Goldmund Job, McIntosh, Audio Research, PS Audio, SST, W4S...
I'm sure I forgot some and left them off the list :D...
 
In it’s puny power rating range, I have to say, this is one of the best amps of all time. Just needs a high gain preamp and LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of warm up. And it also likes to operate in the 8ohm range. I’m using a resistor with my 18ohm speakers so the amps always sees 8ohms (it’s happy zone).

It doesn’t sound tube, and it doesn’t sound solid state. It’s hard to explain. It just sounds like music.

I have 7 more coming....

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Sounds like this might be the match for my EMM Pre2, which sports 12 dB of gain. Don't know exactly how the EMM's VC is calibrated, but it starts at 0. Right now, driving one Lux m900u in stereo mode into the Mezzos, I'm listening to Coltrane '58: The Prestige Recordings (MQA Tidal) at a volume of 6. By comparison, running the Pre2 through 600 watt Classe's into Salon2's I would probably use a volume setting of 45 or so for this album. With the EMM/Lux/AG combo I have a usable range of 4 (the most clapped-out, highly-compressed modern rock album) to 14 (the far end of wispy classical), but in actuality I rarely make it past 6 in rock, 8 in jazz, or 10 in classical without threatening my hearing. With EMM/Classe/Revel the volume range is 25-60. Moral of all this random number noise is that maybe the EMM/SIT 3/AG (or similarly sensitive speakers) is worth exploring.

Parker
 
pdub said:
Sounds like this might be the match for my EMM Pre2, which sports 12 dB of gain. Don't know exactly how the EMM's VC is calibrated, but it starts at 0. Right now, driving one Lux m900u in stereo mode into the Mezzos, I'm listening to Coltrane '58: The Prestige Recordings (MQA Tidal) at a volume of 6. By comparison, running the Pre2 through 600 watt Classe's into Salon2's I would probably use a volume setting of 45 or so for this album. With the EMM/Lux/AG combo I have a usable range of 4 (the most clapped-out, highly-compressed modern rock album) to 14 (the far end of wispy classical), but in actuality I rarely make it past 6 in rock, 8 in jazz, or 10 in classical without threatening my hearing. With EMM/Classe/Revel the volume range is 25-60. Moral of all this random number noise is that maybe the EMM/SIT 3/AG (or similarly sensitive speakers) is worth exploring.

Parker
Click to expand...

As soon as I get another one, I’ll send it to you.
 
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