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Upgraded Woo Audio 6? - Page 8

post #106 of 187
8/23/07 at 10:28pm
I've had my fully modded Woo6 now for a little over a week now (still using the original stock Rectifier tube) with about 70 hours on it. (Cans are HD650s). Initially it sounded closed in and some what lifeless, but more recently the sound stage has shown signs of life with the bass becoming slight more pronounced. (I have a NOS Mullard GZ33 that I dying to plug in, but will give the stock Sovtek a little few more weeks).
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post #107 of 187
8/24/07 at 2:15am
i like the gz33 very much too...it's very close to the metal base in dynamics
but slightly rolled at the top and bottom compared to a good sounding metal
base...yes, not all metal base sound the same...

i prefer the second version over the third version...(second version is the
one without the holes in the plates)... i don't want to try the 1st version due
to outrageous prices...
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post #108 of 187
8/30/07 at 12:58pm
well, it's been over 450+ hrs. of continuous burn-in now for my modded WA-6
and all i've got to say is, wow!

i guess this is what hi fidelity is...velvet smooth mids, widest sound-stage
imaginable, every freq. more salient yet nothing overdone, incredible detail
and clarity in the lower freq., even in lower volumes, superb clarity/separation
of notes. focused and fast hf without constraint nor silbilance, the head-room
is amazingly vast and free from any sense of being walled in...wow! zero
hissing or floor noise audible and even the older 50's recording seem to sound
less noisy (maybe placebo?)...it's really incredible to listen to so much
texture, detail and clarity even at low volumes! i can listen for hours without
the slightest fatigue...

but, bass still seems to fluctuate, albeit minor, day to day it seems. for
maximum sq, it's best to listen after a 30 min. warm-up. it sounds optimum
after 2 hrs. of continuous playing...

i've decided that's enough for continuous burn-in...time to enjoy the amp
and my music...
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post #109 of 187
2/18/08 at 8:31pm
Ok, I guess I have to max out my WA6. What parts should I get?

V-Cap for stage coupling
0.15uf/600V or 0.1uF/600V, 2 pieces

Black gate capacitors for voltage filtering
Power Tank 220uf/200V, 2 pieces (WK series)

Black gate capacitors for decoupling
150uf/350V, 2 pieces (K series, VK/150)

Black gate capacitors for by-pass
220uf/16V, 4 pieces (K series, FK/220)

Anything else?

Tubes I have: Mullard GZ32, Mullard GZ34 fat metal bases and if I'm lucky, I'll get one metal base GZ34.
I'll be using HD 650 & D2000 with my WA6.
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post #110 of 187
2/18/08 at 8:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jantze View Post
Ok, I guess I have to max out my WA6. What parts should I get?

V-Cap for stage coupling
0.15uf/600V or 0.1uF/600V, 2 pieces

Black gate capacitors for voltage filtering
Power Tank 220uf/200V, 2 pieces (WK series)

Black gate capacitors for decoupling
150uf/350V, 2 pieces (K series, VK/150)

Black gate capacitors for by-pass
220uf/16V, 4 pieces (K series, FK/220)

Anything else?

Tubes I have: Mullard GZ32, Mullard GZ34 fat metal bases and if I'm lucky, I'll get one metal base GZ34.
I'll be using HD 650 & D2000 with my WA6.
i'd recommend you get all of the blackgate upgrades, as they will put the wa6
one level higher closer to being on par with mid-level home amps...

for the stage coupling capacitor i'd recommend the v-cap if you have the
budget but the following are just as good for half the price. you should ask
jack first, but he may have you purchase them yourself and send to him...

jensen 0.15uF/1000v CopperFoil (~$80 pair)
mundorf 0.15uF/1200 Supreme Silver & Gold (~$80 pair)


and get prepared for a long burn-in, about 750+ hrs., til the sound signature
settle and stop changing...
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post #111 of 187
2/19/08 at 12:04am
The Max-ed WA6 very tempting, but the upgrades is costing more than half the amp it self...

Does stock WA6 sound comparably with the max version? especially when it's paired with K701?
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post #112 of 187
2/19/08 at 12:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capunk View Post
The Max-ed WA6 very tempting, but the upgrades is costing more than half the amp it self...

Does stock WA6 sound comparably with the max version? especially when it's paired with K701?
yeah, the upgrades are not cheap by any standard...

the wa6 stock is a very good tube amp but it doesn't have the transparency,
separation of notes, resolution and the sense of weight to the notes from the
maxed version...it's kind of like going from a blown up image from a 35mm film
to looking at a print from a medium format...less grain, edges are focused
and separation of lines are clearer, and a sense of being closer to the object
thru the medium...and yes, it's great with the 701...i've seldom picked up my
senn 600/650 in the last 6 mos...
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post #113 of 187
2/19/08 at 2:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by takezo View Post
i'd recommend you get all of the blackgate upgrades, as they will put the wa6
one level higher closer to being on par with mid-level home amps...

for the stage coupling capacitor i'd recommend the v-cap if you have the
budget but the following are just as good for half the price. you should ask
jack first, but he may have you purchase them yourself and send to him...

jensen 0.15uF/1000v CopperFoil (~$80 pair)
mundorf 0.15uF/1200 Supreme Silver & Gold (~$80 pair)


and get prepared for a long burn-in, about 750+ hrs., til the sound signature
settle and stop changing...
I think I'm going to do the upgrades myself. Shipping alone would cost me $150+

So, any comment to those K series capacitors? Are they ok?
And what about those resistors, should I upgrade some of those?
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post #114 of 187
2/19/08 at 3:20am
The Mills resistors (12 watt) for the power supply section are noninductive and excellent low noise. In other places the Kiwame or Riken Ohm would be very fine.

I may try battery bias tomorrow in my 6. I have always preferred it to caps, resistors or caps + resistors. I have to see what the driver section of the tube is biased at. Nope, I would have to mess with resistor values and the bias voltage right now is 2.2 to I don't feel like messing with it. A good nonpolar Black Gate and Kiwame resistor for the cathode bias.

What is a K series cap?
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post #115 of 187
2/19/08 at 3:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamato8 View Post
The Mills resistors (12 watt) for the power supply section are noninductive and excellent low noise. In other places the Kiwame or Riken Ohm would be very fine.

I may try battery bias tomorrow in my 6. I have always preferred it to caps, resistors or caps + resistors. I have to see what the driver section of the tube is biased at.

What is a K series cap?
I was looking at those Black Gate caps here: Black Gate Audio Capacitors
"K series (FK/VK/K): This series is the high performance DC model. Extremely low noise."
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post #116 of 187
2/19/08 at 4:30am
well, actually jack uses the vk and wk from that series...and yes,
they are absolutely fantastic...i think they are more important
than the stage coupling caps...these are what i used for my wa-6:

2 of 220uF/200v wk
2 of 150uF/350v vk
4 of 470uF/16v n-series
2 of .1uF/600v v-cap teflon

and i used mills and riken resistors:
Angela Instruments: Tantalum Film, Riken Ohm Carbon Fi

everything went smooth except for the pair of ground forks that
refused to accept solder...took a sand paper and some cleaning
to make them submit...i used silver strand 7/30awg wire for
internal rewiring (probably overkill)...

be careful not to fry any components when desoldering...it's
very tight in there...i stayed at 300 degree F or 150 celcius
for the solder and it worked fine with cardas silver solder (had
to raise slightly for the ground fork challenge)...don't forget to
have plastic straps on hand to tie down the power/filter caps.
silicon rubber is good to hold them in place too. good luck.
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post #117 of 187
2/19/08 at 4:36am
You can also get the Riken Ohm or Kiwame and everything else you need here: http://www.partsconnexion.com/catalog/resistors.html

They have good prices and are helpful. I used to deal with Angela but you better know what you want. The owner can be nasty and normally is of little help.
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post #118 of 187
2/19/08 at 4:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamato8 View Post
You can also get the Riken Ohm or Kiwame and everything else you need here: http://www.partsconnexion.com/catalog/resistors.html

They have good prices and are helpful. I used to deal with Angela but you better know what you want. The owner can be nasty and normally is of little help.
yes, partsconnexion is where i purchased all of my subsequent coupling caps...

only purchased the resistors thru angela place once and i knew what i wanted
so i guess i was lucky...
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post #119 of 187
2/19/08 at 4:47am
I used to buy a lot of caps, resistors, and other things but I always knew going in, after one experience and that relayed to me by a couple of friends, to "know" what you wanted. I got tired of this and his short response. He told me once and a friend the same thing, "call back when you know what you want" after asking a simple question.

I wish there was more room, I would love to try some Audio Note copper coupling caps (I prefer them to Jensen).
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post #120 of 187
2/19/08 at 6:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamato8 View Post

...I wish there was more room, I would love to try some Audio Note copper coupling caps (I prefer them to Jensen).
the copper cap is about 20mm x 50mm rated at .15uf so it shouldn't be a
problem in the wa6 chassis. it's about the same size as the vcap, maybe .3 inches
longer...

Audio Note
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