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NY famous R-10 mini-meet - Page 6

post #76 of 78
7/29/07 at 4:30pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bozebuttons View Post
The W005 was the amp I wanted to hear again,I had heard it at the SJ national.It was the first amp I listened to on Sat morning.
I was not impressed with it,that day but wrote it off as to being not warmed up being so early in the day,but never got back to it.
After reading all the positve impressions of the Woo5,I finally got another shot at the mini-meet.
I had supplied some sylvania vt231s for the driver tubes,so they went in the amp at the start of the meet.
Listening to the amp with the chinese 300bs with the R10s,the woo sounded very clean,but very 2 dimensional.
The soundstage was completly on a vertical plane between the R10s earcups with the vocals very slightly behind the plane.Very forward headstage with no depth.
Total opposite of the Cary & Zana with the R10s which both had a 3 dimensional headstage that went towards the back of my head,great depth.
I had tried TJ meshplate sophias in My Cary but sold them,because they lost the magic that the WE300bs have.
So with that in mind towards the end of the meet,I shut the Cary & Woo down & swapped the output tubes.The We300bs where now in the Woo & chinese tube where in the Cary.
The Woo5 now showed what it really could sound like,Headstage was now 3 dimensional, complete opposite of how it sounded before.
We now have a contender.If I where looking for a 300b amp(I am not,already own the Cary)the Woo would be at the top of the list,of course with WE300bs.
One thing I need to add,the chinese tubes where not 2 dimensional in the Cary,they where 3 dimensional,Just not as good as the WE300bs.
So first impressions (At Meets) are not always the best.
i spoke to Tyrion a little while ago who had this very woo5 (the prototype) just before this meet and has subsequently purchased a production unit, which he recently got. he said there's a noticeable difference between the two units with the production one sounding better even running the stock chinese 300b tubes. he'll be picking up some western electric 300bs soon but it sounds like this beautiful amp is even better than what we experienced. he'd sold his much love zana deux to make this purchase and it sounds like he has no regrets with this decision. Mike, care to opine some more about this?
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post #77 of 78
7/29/07 at 8:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by daveDerek View Post
i spoke to Tyrion a little while ago who had this very woo5 (the prototype) just before this meet and has subsequently purchased a production unit, which he recently got. he said there's a noticeable difference between the two units with the production one sounding better even running the stock chinese 300b tubes. he'll be picking up some western electric 300bs soon but it sounds like this beautiful amp is even better than what we experienced. he'd sold his much love zana deux to make this purchase and it sounds like he has no regrets with this decision. Mike, care to opine some more about this?
Dave, I enjoyed our talk today. I hope to meet you at one of the NY Meets. There is no question that the production amp is better than the prototype. I expected this to be the case as Jack made it clear that their goal was to take the feedback they received and improve it where they could. I am not positive but I believe they used different transformers as one example. The prototype, as good as it was, more rolled off at the top and bottom ends from my recollection. I remember at the Tampa meet thinking this could be improved. In particular, I was looking for deeper bass for the K1000. Jack and I emailed back and forth a few times discussing this. He promised the amp I received would be better. He kept his promise.

I'm using the same Chinese 300b's as the prototype and if there wasn't another 300b tube available, I would not be upset. Having said that, I can't wait for my WE 300b's to arrive. The case also looks different. I ordered silver and this one seems to be a darker, titanium looking compared to the prototype. Definitely a better looking amp. I've used HD-600, R10, K1000, ALO K701, PS-1, and RS-1 and they all sound great. I loved my Zana Deux/F1 combination but I have no regrets about selling either. I did a quick comparison between the WA5 and jp's HD2/F1 with the K1000 and felt the WA5 had the advantage at the bottom. Don't get me wrong, the HD2/F1 are excllent but I preferred the WA5 (it was maybe a 5 or 10 minute comparison and this is a new amp that I've waited 3 months for so don't read too much into the comment). While the WA5 is $3000, it replaced a $4,500 of gear (retail). Add another $600 for the tubes and it's still a relative bargain.
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post #78 of 78
2/15/08 at 2:09am
Thread Starter 
wow, i haven't peeked at this thread in quite a while. it appears the great head-fi crash took out all those lucious photos. attendees, any chance you could replace them?
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