WA22 let's roll some tubes (Done Mod, Burnning-in)

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seamaster /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will have to wait Dan to test the amp out frist, and tells me what's his opinion on he amp, and what options, parts, and mods needed. I already told his the mod can't be too expensive, and select parts very carefully. I will post our email exchange in public here. So you guys will also have ideas what's going on. But test will take time.

Awesome, Seamaster.

I am very interested in this upgrade as well. If the price is within my range, I might dive in sooner than later..

 

[Seamaster]

Hi Griffin, I first of all want to really thank you for the opportunity to pursue this project for you. This is a REALLY GREAT amp and with the Senn's, sounds better than I have ever heard a headphone amp sound! I had my techs all listen and even the UPS guy and the unanimous reply was WOW!

I have been listening to it off and on this week while I work, being fed via the Transporter, to get a feel for the stock sound of the unit. I intend to open it up before the end of the day and outline my intended upgrades and make a proposal for you.

I am really excited about headphones now and not only want to pursue a mods offering for the Woo products, but will also want to both add headphone outs to our preamps AND design a headphone amp of our own at some point.

I have to say that I don't know that I would prefer to STRICTLY listen to headphones, but they certainly have their place, and when it sounds THIS GOOD, it is an incredible way to enjoy music!

Thanks, an update and proposal to follow later today.

Sincerely,

Dan W.

President, ModWright Instruments Inc (MWI)
Modwright - Elegance. Simplicity. Truth. Great audio gear from the ground up, and first class modifications.
1.360.247.6688


The headphone he is using is my balanced HD650 with Equinox cable

 

[Seamaster]

They REALLY DO! It is quite an accomplishment and if you speak with the designer ever, please pass this along to him from me as a fellow designer. It is not difficult to engineer a functional circuit. Infusing the design with MUSIC and Soul is quite another thing.

Thanks,

Dan

President, ModWright Instruments Inc (MWI)
Modwright - Elegance. Simplicity. Truth. Great audio gear from the ground up, and first class modifications.
1.360.247.6688





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: GRIFFIN CUI
To: ModWright
Sent: Fri, January 22, 2010 1:29:21 PM
Subject: RE: Woo Audio 22 headphone Amp Mod

The best part of Woo Audio amp is, these amps have soul.

 

[tosehee]

That's a great endorsement. Good to be a WA22 owner..

 

[Seamaster]

Tubes used in the amp:

EML 5U4G Mesh Plate
National Union 6F8G round plate
G.E.C 6AS7G brown cup base

 

[Frihed89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seamaster /img/forum/go_quote.gif For those of you own WA22 now. What tubes have you been rolling? Too busy to listen your Amp or too lazy to post? All listening is done with only HD650 with Stefan AudioArt and Cardas Balanced cable . Round 5 I ordered a pair of 6F8G/VT-99 adapters from ebay, a guy name Glenn. pictures is in the thread " Got my paws on WA22". They are very well made for the price at $40/pair. and you can chose cable color too. For those of you remember SiglePower Audio was charging people over $100 for adapters? Now pair of Raytheon in place of 6SN7. Turn on the amp let it warmed up for 5 min. Put on Headphone...... Holy crap! I jump out the chair. My amp is burnning! No just kidding. The amp sounds so expansive with ton of air on top, while still tube sweet. the mid is very clear and engaging, soundfile has enlarge with all 3 dimensions The bass is very clean and powerful, when low bass note kicks in you feel your heart is pumping faster. Compare to 6F8G's Brimar are very tubey maybe good to pair with HD800 or something bright. then I put Sylvania 6SN7WGTA back in just to make sure, Sylvania just don't have the "impact" to music like 6F8G do.

Last time I looked and bought these tubes were, what, $35/pair? And now they are ???, but still worth it. They are, indisputably, the best 6SN7GT I have heard in my SP rig as output tubes. I have also used them as drivers in preamps amps, with good success.

 

[Seamaster]

I got 3 pair of National Union 6F8G round plate at $60~$80 USD a pair. Still well worth every penny, consider they leave my $250 pair Brimar 6SN7GT in dust.

 

[Seamaster]

I am asking him if the amp has little more density and dynamic, transparency would be nice.

I haven't put together a scope or price yet as I am still working out the best places to upgrade. I did however, several days ago, install four of our .22uf TEF coupling caps to replace the Dayton caps that were stock. I have been running it 24/7 to break them in and decide if they are the sound that you want. I next intend to replace the grid-stop resistors with Riken Carbon Films. I would also like to bypass the power supply electrolytics with MWI film caps. I don't know that the voltage regulator circuit that I initially proposed will work for a number of reasons. There are a few other components that can be upgraded however.

The DACT volume pot is excellent, as is the signal wiring. The signal path components benefit from being upgraded.

I will quote you a final price

 

[tosehee]

Thx for update

 

[Seamaster]

Dan claims his own cap is better than Mundorf cap. He said Mundorf sound too warm. What do you guys think?

 

[h.rav]

^ Mundorf (silver/oil) sounds very dynamic, musical, not warm at all. IMHO, it's better than V-Cap. I'm curious about Modwright's cap, I might try it soon.

 

[Seamaster]

I know when he started his business and before he came up with his own cap. He was using AURICAP in all his mod job. So, his cap should be at least better than AURICAP, this is just my guess

 

[Seamaster]

Correction above: He been using Sonicap.

I found some reviews:
http://www.10audio.com/sonicap_oimp_multicap.htm

 

[tosehee]

EML 5u4g mesh is coming on its way. I will update with some impressions along with short comparison with Phoenix once properly burned-in.

 

[Seamaster]

Nice, I have EML 5U4G soild plate comming. Those EML tubes need very long time to bring out the bass. Still little shy for me. Because I listen to hard rock too. Other than that they sound very good out of box.