Woo Audio Amp Owner Unite

[Badas]

On Woo's FB page:
 
We're working on something new to show you at New York Audio Show.
 

 
Hhhhhmmm, Looks like a portable tube amp to me. Nice.

 

[Stereolab42]

  On Woo's FB page:
 
We're working on something new to show you at New York Audio Show.
 

 
Hhhhhmmm, Looks like a portable tube amp to me. Nice.

 
I would be all over that like a cheap suit.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

  I would be all over that like a cheap suit.

 
We are equally as excited.    We''ll have two prototypes at CanJam for everyone to see and hear. 

 

[Stereolab42]

Staring at the open space on my desk at home where my WA22 used to be, trying to figure out how I'm going to fit a WA5 there. I will manage somehow. Luckily my exaSound e22's solid-state headphone jack is world-class so I'm not hurting too much in the meantime.
 
My WA6-SE at work continues to impress me. It's simply the most fantastic tube amp you can buy for $1200. Great SQ and a dead-silent noise floor even with the cheapest eBay driver tubes (although my favorite is still the Tronix 6EM7s). And I absolutely love the build quality, it looks and feels like something far more expensive than it is. Plus it has immense amounts of power, I don't dare pull the volume knob past 1/4th on modern music on my Audeze LCD-XCs, which are not overly sensitive headphones. For someone who doesn't have a lot of patience for fussing with tubes and who doesn't want to spent a lot this is a fine endgame amp, when paired with a great DAC.

 

[roskodan]

glad to hear it's, the wa6-se, silent with the xc, cos actually i found the x quite sensitive, so if it's really dead silent with the xc than it's really an achievement
 
hopefully the pairing with the midrange k701/712 will live up to the hype propagated by some members here on head-fi, cough, cough

 

[Stereolab42]

 
Gratz but I am even more sorry for your wallet now.  300Bs will cost a bit more to roll

 
Ugh, you aren't kidding. The best 300Bs all seem to start at $700 a pair. I ordered my WA5 with the normal Sophia mesh plates, but I want at least one endgame pair of 300Bs. SERPs are $1200 which hurts, but on the plus side I already know I like Sophia tubes. It seems a lot of people like the EML 300B mesh, which are a more reasonable $800. Of course I can also order these:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Western-Electric-300B-Tubes-Matched-Pair-or-Matched-Quad-NEW-OLD-STOCK-/221541702450?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3394ea1b32
 
(Or not.)

 

[joseph69]

   
Ugh, you aren't kidding. The best 300Bs all seem to start at $700 a pair. I ordered my WA5 with the normal Sophia mesh plates, but I want at least one endgame pair of 300Bs. SERPs are $1200 which hurts, but on the plus side I already know I like Sophia tubes. It seems a lot of people like the EML 300B mesh, which are a more reasonable $800. Of course I can also order these:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Western-Electric-300B-Tubes-Matched-Pair-or-Matched-Quad-NEW-OLD-STOCK-/221541702450?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3394ea1b32
 
(Or not.)

Holy Schiit!!!
Thats ridiculous!

 

[koiloco]

   
Ugh, you aren't kidding. The best 300Bs all seem to start at $700 a pair. I ordered my WA5 with the normal Sophia mesh plates, but I want at least one endgame pair of 300Bs. SERPs are $1200 which hurts, but on the plus side I already know I like Sophia tubes. It seems a lot of people like the EML 300B mesh, which are a more reasonable $800. Of course I can also order these:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Western-Electric-300B-Tubes-Matched-Pair-or-Matched-Quad-NEW-OLD-STOCK-/221541702450?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3394ea1b32
 
(Or not.)

yup! now you know...Tube pricing was one of the reasons I didn't go with the WA5 or the LE cuz I knew I couldn't justify getting top tubes for the amp to realize its full potential.  

 

[longbowbbs]

Using those tubes would be like owning a $10,000 bottle of wine.....How do you decide to use them (Or drink the wine) since they are finite resources?

 

[Silent One]

To collect or enjoy? I'd strive to do both - use two and preserve two if I were sitting on a Quad set.

 

[bbophead]

  To collect or enjoy? I'd strive to do both - use two and preserve two if I were sitting on a Quad set.

But wouldn't that be uncomfortable?

 

[TonyNewman]

   
Ugh, you aren't kidding. The best 300Bs all seem to start at $700 a pair. I ordered my WA5 with the normal Sophia mesh plates, but I want at least one endgame pair of 300Bs. SERPs are $1200 which hurts, but on the plus side I already know I like Sophia tubes. It seems a lot of people like the EML 300B mesh, which are a more reasonable $800. Of course I can also order these:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Western-Electric-300B-Tubes-Matched-Pair-or-Matched-Quad-NEW-OLD-STOCK-/221541702450?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3394ea1b32
 
(Or not.)

 
I am in a similar position with my WA5 and 300Bs. I am burning in a set of SERPs right now (have about 100 hours on them).
 
They are a big step up from SEP 300Bs, more detail, more soundstage and lot more extension at both ends (particularly the bass). I'm not sure they are worth the $1200 asking price, however they certainly sound good in my WA5.
 
I have not tried the EML 300Bs - I was tempted, but the relatively poor performance of the EML 274B mesh rectifier put me off. It is a decent tube, but to my ears it is clearly outperformed by a 1960s Mullard GZ32 costing around $80 and about half the size (important in the WA6 where space is at a premium). That really isn't good enough for a new production tube costing around $270 IMHO. That makes me think twice about going for the EML 300Bs.
 
Any WA5 owners out there who have tried both the SERPs and the EML 300Bs that can give some insight?
 
I am having some success with the Pavane new production tubes. Running the T2 grey bottle CV181s (really 6SN7s) in my WA5 and WA6. After several bad experiences with NOS driver tubes these are performing very well. Burning in some Pavane WE274B replicas now - only about 60 hours on them - but so far these are also performing well in both my WA5 and WA6. That led me to take a leap for the Pavane WE300B replicas. I don't expect the replicas to duplicate the sound of the vintage WE300B, but I am hoping for a decent sounding tube that gives a taste of the mid-range WE magic that audiophiles rave about.

 

[Stereolab42]

Tony, I did some searches on this thread and among the positive votes, also saw multiple complaints that the EML 300B meshes lack bass. Of course there are lots of complaints elsewhere that the NOS WE 300Bs lack bass and treble, so I don't know what to think. Darn 300Bs are expensive enough I can't just half-ass things and order multiple pairs and hope to score a bullseye, like I can for 6SN7s or even rectifiers. I need to get it right the first time, sigh.

 

[Stereolab42]

  But wouldn't that be uncomfortable?

 

[TonyNewman]

  Tony, I did some searches on this thread and among the positive votes, also saw multiple complaints that the EML 300B meshes lack bass. Of course there are lots of complaints elsewhere that the NOS WE 300Bs lack bass and treble, so I don't know what to think. Darn 300Bs are expensive enough I can't just half-ass things and order multiple pairs and hope to score a bullseye, like I can for 6SN7s or even rectifiers. I need to get it right the first time, sigh.

 
I hear you. Trial and error is bad enough with driver tubes and rectifiers - with flagship 300Bs it is prohibitively expensive.

 
The SERPs and Psvane WE300B replicas will be my last 300B purchases for a long time (I hope) so I tried hard to make the best choices I could. There are not that many options out there for 300B new production tubes.
 
I thought about the Takatsuki 300Bs, but the high price and difficulty in obtaining them put me off.
 
I thought about the EML 300Bs, but my EML 274B mesh experience put me off.
 
That left only the SERPs and Psvane WE300B replicas.