[luishi5000]

I've had this amp for about a year powering bookshelf speakers with the stock tubes.

Today while listening my right audio channel went out. I switched my source to confirm it was the amp.

I swapped the KT88s out to troubleshoot and the right channel was still out. However when I switched the amp off the right channel suddenly cut back in for half a second.

Swapping back to the original tubes everything works once again.

These are my first tubes, not sure what could cause this. I've never had any tubes go out. Is this what I should expect when one of the tubes is dying?

Why would switching off the amp spring the dead channel back to life?

 

[JKDJedi]

I've had this amp for about a year powering bookshelf speakers with the stock tubes.

Today while listening my right audio channel went out. I switched my source to confirm it was the amp.

I swapped the KT88s out to troubleshoot and the right channel was still out. However when I switched the amp off the right channel suddenly cut back in for half a second.

Swapping back to the original tubes everything works once again.

These are my first tubes, not sure what could cause this. I've never had any tubes go out. Is this what I should expect when one of the tubes is dying?

Why would switching off the amp spring the dead channel back to life?

Could be dirty contacts, turn power off, unplug the unit and clean the contacts with alcohol. I take most of the swap off a cotton tips (ear cleaner) for this. Or if you have them small pipe cleaner deals (hobby lobby).

 

[lumdicks]

The Willsenton R8 sounds so nice with Proac 1SC, with Hifi Rose RS201E as streamer and Denafrips Ares II as DAC. Smooth high, sweet mid with good quality bass. Holographic imaging and incredible analogue sound.

Tubes used in R8; 4xGEC KT66, 2xMarconi B65, 2xRCA 5691 and a CBS Hytron 5692 as voltage regulator.

 

[trungvu]

I have Willsenton R8 with upgraded tubes: 4 x Psvane KT88 + 2 x Psvane CV181 TII + 2x Tung-Sol Reissue 6SL7. I am using RME-ADI-2 as the DAC.

The R8 improves the soundstage, it adds air and a little bit of warmth to the sound. I am using APPJ Headphone Impedance Adapter to connect to my headphones.

The default headphone jack is not working well with power-hungry headphones such as HEDD, Arya Stealth, and HD800s.

I am a headphone listener, I love the warmth and sweetness of the sound so I upgrade my setup as follow:

RME-ADI-2 --> Willsenton R8 (as tube preamp) --> Violectric HPA V340 (as preamp) --> Willsenton R800i 845.

The Violectric V340 gives the warmth and sweetness sound signature. Willsenton R800i 845 adds more soundstage, details, deep bass, and smoothness.

I am using Mogami 2549, Belden 8402 cables for interconnection.

This setup makes my HEDD, Arya Stealth, HD800s and LDC-X sound so beautiful, powerful, warm, and sweet. I don't have a chance to try Susvara or LCD-5 yet.

 

[shinewu]

Right now, even a decent OTL amp costs 2k+.
I plan to get one of this and the headphone adapter box. I am curious if there is any downside of this setup? Seems like the sound quality is not affected. Also willsenton R300 is almost the same price with 300B. I am wondering for headphone usage, is the 300B going to be better?

 

[KalahariLion]

Anybody having problem accessing China Hi-Fi web site? I purchased a set of Psvanne KT88 tubes for my Willsenton R8 on Monday. After that the web site could not be accessed and email to China Hi-Fi gets bounced back

 

[JKDJedi]

Anybody having problem accessing China Hi-Fi web site? I purchased a set of Psvanne KT88 tubes for my Willsenton R8 on Monday. After that the web site could not be accessed and email to China Hi-Fi gets bounced back

Oh no.. crap. Hopefully just their web is down for a bit. Crossing my fingers for ya man. Gonna try right now to access that website

 

[JKDJedi]

 

[KalahariLion]

Thanks for checking. Same problem. Hopefully just their web site problem

 

[KalahariLion]

Thanks for checking. Same problem. Hopefully just their web site problem

The web site is ok now

 

[JKDJedi]

The web site is ok now

That's Good News

 

[Odezra]

Have my Willsenton R8 a few weeks now - pairing it with a new pair of buchardt sk400 Mkii’s. Loving the synergy already with some new tubes on the way.

Some questions on the adaptor box for headphones:

- is this a safe practice to use an impedance box from the speaker taps? I have some nice headphones including ZMF Atrium and Hifiman Arya that I’d be loathe to damage
- is raphaelite a well known, reliable brand? Only seems to be available on AliExpress and I haven’t heard of it before? Any other options here worth considering?
- for set up, I currently use the 4ohm taps. am I right in assuming that I’d be running the 8 ohm and bi- wiring with the 0 ohm which are also in use for the main speakers?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jonathan c]

Right now, even a decent OTL amp costs 2k+.

Not the Woo Audio WA2: $1499 (U.S.)

 

[lumdicks]

Have my Willsenton R8 a few weeks now - pairing it with a new pair of buchardt sk400 Mkii’s. Loving the synergy already with some new tubes on the way.

Some questions on the adaptor box for headphones:

- is this a safe practice to use an impedance box from the speaker taps? I have some nice headphones including ZMF Atrium and Hifiman Arya that I’d be loathe to damage
- is raphaelite a well known, reliable brand? Only seems to be available on AliExpress and I haven’t heard of it before? Any other options here worth considering?
- for set up, I currently use the 4ohm taps. am I right in assuming that I’d be running the 8 ohm and bi- wiring with the 0 ohm which are also in use for the main speakers?

Thanks in advance.

What a coincidence that I have done some upgrades of my 2 channels setup recently, and also pairing my R8 with the newly acquired Buchardt S400 MKII, fed by Hifi Rose RS201E as streamer and Holo Spring 3 as DAC. The tonality, timbre, dynamics and resolution are amazing with holographic soundstage. All of the gears are still under burn in and I expect the result will be further improved soon.

 

[pdvm]

LOL, same here (Willsenton R8 + Buchardt S400mk2). The Buchardts have a few hundred hours on them, the Willsenton probably 100h or so. Sounds amazing, and I was surprised how well the R8 handles these lowish-impedance (mostly 4 ohms) speakers.

One warning though: I bought the R8 with upgraded Psvane tubes. It took me a while to figure out that the CV181-TII's were responsible for the upper-mid harshness I was hearing. Only when I replaced these with new production Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB, the frequency response was completely to my liking.

The R8's headphone out seems very fine to me; my Arya V2's sound wonderful through it. I do have to turn up the volume a bit; this is probably because they used a fairly high resistor in series with the headphone out. In contrast, I have the iFi Stereo 50 tube amp, which also couples the output stage (4x EL84) to the headphone out but with a lower resistor in between, giving 7W of power into a 32 Ohms load (=Arya). The Stereo 50 makes the Arya play louder and tighter (and remains my favourite with it).

The R8's headphone out should be a very good match with high impedance headphones, though.