[Silent One]

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Sometimes, I evaluate my rig's status and where I'd like to go and contemplate starting over. Complete with a loud...
 

Felix is my favorite vintage avatar or yours. Kaboom! )
 

 
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I'd forgotten you'd run with Felix for a while!

Agreed... it's my favourite non-mostly-naked avatar of yours.

 
To my brothers-in-audio arms: I'll stick Felix in the rotation next opening...

 

[Pudu]

Much obliged.

 

[Silent One]

What, wait...mostly nekkid naked? On what day?! 

 

[Ultrainferno]

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I managed to get twenty 2399 Chatham/Tung sol tubes (equals 5998 Tung Sol). 4 are already spoken for so 16 are left, if you're interested pm me for prices and info.
First come, first serve. I have a USA distributor as well to save on shipping costs.
 
U.

 
05 Tubes left!

 

[Pudu]

I managed to get twenty 2399 Chatham/Tung sol tubes (equals 5998 Tung Sol).
...
10 Tubes left!

For any of our new woosies (newoosies?), this a very good price on a much coveted tube. At some point everyone wants to take these for a spin. It will take a bit of luck to find these from another reputable seller at anything like this price - there a number of people on ebay asking ridiculous amounts for these things. When I sent Jack Woo a question about tubes a long while back he replied "Tung Sol 5998 is one of the best you can find; however, it is a rare find."

Just don't want anyone to mistakenly miss out on this terrific opportunity that our fiery friend has arranged.

 

[Yiannis1974]

Hello everyone
 
 
This is my first post in this forum. I have been reading this thread for a long time and needless to say I was very impressed with Woo Audio amps. About 4 weeks ago and after tons of research, I went ahead and contacted Jack. I ended up ordering the WA3 which got delivered about 2 days ago (I live in the UK). I was so excited to receive the amp but to my huge disappointment, problems turned up as soon as I connected it (as a preamp to my power amplifier).
 
I basically get loud crackling / popping sounds coming from my speakers. This sound is intermittent but irregular (happens between intervals of 30 seconds to 2 minutes). The WA3 volume is at zero and the speakers still emit these sounds. It is worth noting that they are loud enough to be painful to my ears. I can play music and I can hear music just fine but the cracking / popping loud sounds are also there.

Some more information about how I connected the amplifier:
Sonos Connect > RCA interconnects > WA3 input
WA3 output > RCA interconnects > power amplifier inputs
I am using the Audioengine P4 speakers (banana plugs)

I made sure the valves were correctly placed and I waited about 5 minutes after switching on the WA3 before switching on the power amplifier.

I even tried using a different power tube just in case it was that causing a problem (I replaced it with a new 6080 I have). Unfortunately the loud noises were there.
 
As a last resort I tried disconnecting the amp from the source and the problem persisted. I even swapped the driver tubes and the problem is still there (intermittent crackle / popping from both speakers).
 
Strangely, there is no problem when I connect the headphones. They sound wonderful.
 
Needless to say I am very disappointed, especially after eagerly waiting for the WA3 for 4 weeks.
 
I am concluding that I have a faulty unit. Unless anyone has some other suggestion?
 
Many thanks

 

[rosgr63]

Yianni,
 
Welcome to head fi.
 
You may have faulty tubes.
Do you have access to a tube tester?

 

[Yiannis1974]

Hello rosgr63
 
Thank you very much for your response, I greatly appreciate it . Unfortunately I don't have a tube tester so I would not be able to check.
I was able to rule out the power tube as I have a spare 6080 (new). I swapped the one supplied by Jack and the problem remained.
 
I get the loud noises from both speakers when using the WA3 as a pre amp connection while there is no problem when using headphones. I am no expert (far from it) but I am thinking that if the tubes were faulty, I would be getting the same problems when using the headphones?
 
Thanks

 

[Ultrainferno]

Quote:

I managed to get twenty 2399 Chatham/Tung sol tubes (equals 5998 Tung Sol). 4 are already spoken for so 16 are left, if you're interested pm me for prices and info.
First come, first serve. I have a USA distributor as well to save on shipping costs.
 
U.

 
5 tubes left!

 

[hodgjy]

My WA3 is also an extremely noisy amp.  It's just the nature of the WA3, if you ask me.  Lovely amp, but highly disappointing at times.
 
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Hello rosgr63
 
Thank you very much for your response, I greatly appreciate it . Unfortunately I don't have a tube tester so I would not be able to check.
I was able to rule out the power tube as I have a spare 6080 (new). I swapped the one supplied by Jack and the problem remained.
 
I get the loud noises from both speakers when using the WA3 as a pre amp connection while there is no problem when using headphones. I am no expert (far from it) but I am thinking that if the tubes were faulty, I would be getting the same problems when using the headphones?
 
Thanks

 

[Yiannis1974]

Hello hodgjy,
 
I could tolerate the humming as background noise... The problem I am experiencing is something else altogether though. More like sudden loud crackling and popping sounds that are quite uncomfortable to the ears. The music mutes momentarily when they occur...
 
I wish the problem was just background noise...

 

[Ultrainferno]

Sounds like a tube problem
 

 

[rosgr63]

Yianni,
 
You are most welcome.
 
To me the first thing before else is to make sure your tubes are OK.
 
Do you have a spare set of driver tubes?
 
It's true, if there was a tube problem the headphones would reveal it.
But crackling and popping is usually a tube related problem.
 
There's a few people in UK with nice AVO testers that could test your tubes.

 

[Clayton SF]

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There's a few people in UK with nice AVO testers that could test your tubes.

I own a few tubes that test OK on my tube tester but also crackle. Maybe the problem could also be dirty pins?

 

[grokit]

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Originally Posted by daverich4 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I am using a balanced source but I've not been able to come up with any information on whether the WA22 balanced outs make any difference. 

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It is my understanding that the W22 needs a balanced source for full performance but for the output it does not matter what you use since the same level power is available for single ended as well. I would think a re-cable may make more of a different in this situation.

 
John is correct, the output is officially the same SE and balanced. But there are still valid reasons to try a balanced headphone cable out of the WA22:
 

1. Some headphones respond better to balanced cabling than others, ie an HD800 improves more than an HD600
2. If the headphone has modular cable connections, it's worth a try for the improved ergonomics, customization, and arguably cool looks compared to many stock cables
3. Personally I wouldn't bother if the headphone is hardwired but some have reported good results, again it depends on the headphone
4. Balanced cable connections don't short-circuit like TRS connections do, so there's no real reason to turn the amp down when plugging/unplugging a balanced-cabled headphone (but I still do)

1. Balanced audio cables are less noise-prone over long distance runs than SE cables; this is the original justification for their existence

 
 
 
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Sometimes when the sun is just coming up and lighting the treetops in an orange glow it looks like the world is warming up it's tubes to start the new day.

 
Nice!  A pleasant thought.  Happy Monday.

 
Yes! A nice view to look at, and nice words to describe it!

 
 
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Sometimes, I evaluate my rig's status and where I'd like to go and contemplate starting over. Complete with a loud...
 

Felix is my favorite vintage avatar or yours. Kaboom! )

 
X3, bring Felix back!