Woo Audio 234 MONO monoblock amplifier official release
Sep 18, 2013 at 4:13 AM Post #76 of 122
Damn, so these are finally out huh? They're downright sexy and I'm willing to bet they sound about as good as they look. Thanks a lot.

One question though, those ARE stepped attenuators right? I'd imagine balancing the channels could prove to be quite the PITA otherwise...
 
Sep 18, 2013 at 7:48 AM Post #77 of 122
I have used dual volumes and dual stepped attenuators for decades now and they are really very simple to use, especially the stepped attenuators. I had major worries about them before I had them but once I started using them, the issue went away. The amps really look some special and different and although I await a confirmed price, many comparable 300b amps can cost much more than $15k. The flexibility of these amps is a tube rollers dream :) Off to buy a lottery ticket....
 
Sep 26, 2013 at 9:10 PM Post #80 of 122
Hope to see a VERY extensive HeadFi tv over this...
 
Sep 26, 2013 at 11:33 PM Post #81 of 122
Hope to see a VERY extensive HeadFi tv over this...

 
I was pretty excited about it to, until I found out that it only does 8W into 8 ohms, and that's with the most powerful tube type... 
 
With the projected price being over $10k for one monoblock, that's just absurd, regardless of the tube swapping feature or how good it sounds. Monoblocks are for speakers, not headphones, and the fact that you can get 1kW into 8 for just under $1500 elsewhere absolutely killed my interest.
 
Sep 26, 2013 at 11:51 PM Post #82 of 122
Less if you run the '45's'... 
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Sep 27, 2013 at 2:59 AM Post #83 of 122
   
I was pretty excited about it to, until I found out that it only does 8W into 8 ohms, and that's with the most powerful tube type... 
 
With the projected price being over $10k for one monoblock, that's just absurd, regardless of the tube swapping feature or how good it sounds. Monoblocks are for speakers, not headphones, and the fact that you can get 1kW into 8 for just under $1500 elsewhere absolutely killed my interest.

 
Buy yourself a pair of nice, horny and highly efficient speakers. Then a SET amp with 300B tubes will be far more dynamic, detailled and beautifuly sounding than everything you could have with 1kW, especially under 1500$...
 
Sep 27, 2013 at 12:13 PM Post #84 of 122
   
I was pretty excited about it to, until I found out that it only does 8W into 8 ohms, and that's with the most powerful tube type... 
 
With the projected price being over $10k for one monoblock, that's just absurd, regardless of the tube swapping feature or how good it sounds. Monoblocks are for speakers, not headphones, and the fact that you can get 1kW into 8 for just under $1500 elsewhere absolutely killed my interest.

 
I would say 8 W into 8 ohms is sufficient for many people.
 
The price tag is certainly high, but it is nothing compared to so much of the stuff out there in hi-fi land.  When you have people dropping $200k on a pair of speakers, these amps seem downright affordable.  This hobby has rarely been interpreted as being for the frugal set.  'Course, you won't catch me dropping 15 large on any amp, but the IDEA of the amp is certainly appealing to me!  YMMV.
 
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Sep 27, 2013 at 3:39 PM Post #86 of 122
There is always the 20 watt $59,900 Audio Note of Japan tube amp up on Audiogon.....5 whole watts per 300B! yeah!
 
Sep 27, 2013 at 3:55 PM Post #88 of 122
I was mainly commenting about price. $15k>$60K either way you are getting into rarified gear for most people. 8W, 20W or 1KW it is still costly regardless of the quality.
 
(Of course, with the right Lottery numbers.... 
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 ) 
 
Sep 29, 2013 at 6:02 AM Post #90 of 122
Of course you can buy better performance for the money, that's not the point. This is the kind of product you buy if you don't really care for audio performance, instead you care about bragging rights.

It's design is a little chinese for this market and the tube swapping is not really needed either, I don't see the potential customer obsessing about tubes, it's more about what's the most expensive tube you have? - give me that one.

And I don't really see it as a hit with stuffy older hi-eff speaker aficionados, it's more for the new money customer, the one that comes from the digital age and spends his life tethered to his smartphone so he's already using headphones.

Now all that's needed is an iphone 5s gold edition for 25k and Sennheiser launching a limited 'Steve Jobs' edition HD800 for 5k. :)

On a more serious note, I predict price increases and the cheaper products disappearing from the Woo Audio range, especially if this amplifier sells.
 

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