[Seamaster]

Update as 1/13/2017, I don't believe this thread is still going after 8 years. I sold my WA22 and moved on to better amps and headphones. I did have fun with my WA22 that taught me many things in my audiophile life and I am still benefited from the knowledge I gained. My WA22 quickly got very expensive with all the tubes, but SQ wise, the investment to performance ratio was very very poor with WA22. Now, I am enjoying an ALO Audio continental dual mono amp with Mullard tubes much better than my maxed out WA22 at 1/3 of the total price. So, time to move on guys, there are many fishes in the sea......

 

[Seamaster]

Please delete, thanks

 

[cheeseeater]

Some more Solid State mucking around.

Tried one of these:







Sounded the same as the other Solid State rectifier which is really nice. However it had the same over heat issue where at 2 hours the whole amp gets very hot.

Then I got the Weber Copper Caps (ordered two).







This is the bomb. The best sound. Everything is better than the best tube rectifier I own (Takasuzuki 274B). Sweeter clearer treble which produced more detail. I heard things in my favorite tracks that I hadn't heard before. Alison Krauss's New Favorite. Her voice croaks on some high notes. Never heard that before. Noise level is extremely low. Just not there at all. I've always had one of my drive tubes (TS RP 6C8G) that on occasion got a little buzzy/hum sound. Not a bit of noise from it last night. I've noted some rectifiers work better with the other tubes in the amp. Solid State kept them all dead quiet. I would guess good clean voltage keeps the other tubes happy. Holographics and soundstage sounded as good as the TAK274B. Bass deeper and clearer. Speed was excellent. Not as quick as the other SS rectifiers but better than the TAK274B. I'm not too worried about speed. It sounded good enough and I don't listen to a lot of lightning fast music.

Music in general had more snap and sounded far more natural.

 
With the amp on for three hours the amp was warm. No heat issues. Normal tube rectifier makes the amp hotter.

 
I adore Weber's Copper Cap. May look odd however it sounds amazing.

Weber copper cap? Your best rectifier? Really? Even the tak274b? I am intrigued. What other rectifier have you compared it to?

 

[cheeseeater]

[COLOR=FF0000]Update as 1/13/2017[/COLOR], I don't believe this thread is still going after 8 years. I sold my WA22 and moved on to better amps and headphones. I did have fun with my WA22 that taught me many things in my audiophile life and I am still benefited from the knowledge I gained. My WA22 quickly got very expensive with all the tubes, but SQ wise, the investment to performance ratio was very very poor with WA22. Now, I am enjoying an ALO Audio continental dual mono amp with Mullard tubes much better than my maxed out WA22 at 1/3 of the total price. So, time to move on guys, there are many fishes in the sea......

I've been reading this thread on my coffee and lunch breaks and I finally finished today. I have learned so much from this thread and I thank you all. Seamaster, your English has improved so much in 8 years. I was planning on thanking you all today, it's just coincidence that on the same day that the person who started it admonishes us all to move on and leave WA22 behind. In the early days some posts pointed out that Seamaster made broad judgements about tubes and which tubes were better or best without taking into account that others have differing tastes, priorities or gear. With my LCD -2 I can't tell the difference between the lyr2 with 300.00 tubes, but with HD800S there is a world of difference. And I have some music that I will never listen to on anything but the WA22/HD800S combo and I have music I will never listen to with HD800S, only the LCD-2 will do. This thread has been exceptional for me because somehow it has managed to stay focused. Very informative. Thank you.

 

[leftside]

It's a good thread. Continue to post on here, or the main WA22 thread. I was doing a DAC shootout tonight with DACs costing between $2000 - $6500 and the WA22 was quite convincingly picking out the differences. Also had the turntable running, and again the WA22 was highlighting the differences. My preamp probably also helps a lot tho.

 

[Seamaster]

It's a good thread. Continue to post on here, or the main WA22 thread. I was doing a DAC shootout tonight with DACs costing between $2000 - $6500 and the WA22 was quite convincingly picking out the differences. Also had the turntable running, and again the WA22 was highlighting the differences. My preamp probably also helps a lot tho.

Let us know what is the outcome for the DAC shootout. Thanks.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

  Update as 1/13/2017, I don't believe this thread is still going after 8 years. I sold my WA22 and moved on to better amps and headphones. I did have fun with my WA22 that taught me many things in my audiophile life and I am still benefited from the knowledge I gained. My WA22 quickly got very expensive with all the tubes, but SQ wise, the investment to performance ratio was very very poor with WA22. Now, I am enjoying an ALO Audio continental dual mono amp with Mullard tubes much better than my maxed out WA22 at 1/3 of the total price. So, time to move on guys, there are many fishes in the sea......

 
WA22 is still in production today mostly unchanged aside from minor improvements. It proves that there's no need to change for the sake of change. We don't make disposable audio products.  
 
Enjoy your WA22 everyone. 

 

 

[leftside]

 
Let us know what is the outcome for the DAC shootout. Thanks.

Will do!

 

[Badas]

Weber copper cap? Your best rectifier? Really? Even the tak274b? I am intrigued. What other rectifier have you compared it to?

I have 4 Mullard GZ32's, 2 Mullard GZ34's, 16 Brimar 5Z4GY's, 2 Tak 274B's, 4 United 596's and two Webber WU4G's.

Webber is technically the best rectifier. Clean, detailed, more bass. Also runs very well in my WA22 (No noise, hum or buzz what so ever).

My next picks which gives a some what more musical presentation rather than technical would be the Brimar 5Z4GY and TAK 274B. Tak has the smoothest treble, Brimar is a little spitty in the treble however has a very addictive signature. A note on Tak274B. They make my transformer hum. All 274B's make my transformer hum. Which is strange as it is a 274B that Woo supplies with a new amp. With the Tak I found that after about 800 hours burn in the tube settled. All background hum and noise in HP's disappeared. My transformer still hums but it can't be heard in HP's. Tak takes a real long time to burn in however on the flip side they seem to last. One member used the Tak for 4000 hours and tested. The result was that it was testing like brand new. A few of us are starting to think we will get 15-20 years use out of the Tak.

596 is very nice. However buzzes with my drivers. So I haven't played with them too much. I've teamed them up with the Tung-Sol roundplates 6SL7 drivers and the result was excellent. So another great rectifier. It just needs the right drivers.

Mullards are the bottom of the heap. Purely there if one day I truely get desperate.

Just my opinion.

 

[JackDiesel]

Just got my WA22 and the first rectifier I threw in there was a Mullard GZ32, listened to a couple songs and then the WA22 shuts off and won't turn back on. Blew a fuse. After getting new fuses, put in stock tubes to troubleshoot and sure enough I have a bad Mullard. I doubt the eBay seller will give me a refund.

So now I'm rocking a Brimar 5Z4GY. My TS 6F8G round plates should be in before too long, can't wait to listen to those. But even as is, my god what an amp. Combined with my Spring R2R DAC, pure bliss.

 

[leftside]

R2R DAC's rock! Was listening to my new R2R DAC for most of yesterday afternoon! Great combo with the WA22 for sure. Still can't believe how quiet the WA22 is running these days with the right tube combo (Cossor 53KU + matched B65's (black base) + 4 * matched 6BL7's). Never thought a tube amp could have such a black background.
 
I've also blown a couple of fuses with bad rectifiers.

 

[JackDiesel]

Should I try a Sophia 274B mesh for a different sound than the Brimar or go for another Mullard? Can't get over the pics of those meshes in the dark.

 

[kyle1010]

Should I try a Sophia 274B mesh for a different sound than the Brimar or go for another Mullard? Can't get over the pics of those meshes in the dark.

They are a stunning looking tube in the dark. The sound is very wide and airy but you lose a little of that euphonic liquid quality. Combined with 5998s it's good stuff though. Compared to the Brimar 5Z4GY it's definitely more open sounding. I have an extra brand new Sophia I can sell you at a head-fi buddy discount if you want.

 

[kyle1010]

Question guys. I just received a pair of 200 ohm LCD-4s and wow, marvelous sound but I have to turn the volume up to 3/4 to get those things going on my WA22 with stock tubes. I ordered some Sylvania metal base 6SN7s and a WE422a rectifier last night. Will either of those tubes give me a little gain boost over the stock tubes?

 

[JackDiesel]

They are a stunning looking tube in the dark. The sound is very wide and airy but you lose a little of that euphonic liquid quality. Combined with 5998s it's good stuff though. Compared to the Brimar 5Z4GY it's definitely more open sounding. I have an extra brand new Sophia I can sell you at a head-fi buddy discount if you want.

PMed.