WAD Phono II

anyone use this / have any experiene with it? how does it compare with the graham slee range or the dynavector p-75?

 

Not heard it but would be an interesting choice. You could also consider quite a few other things at that price, the Loricraft Missing Link can be had 2nd hand if you search, the Dyanavector P-100 can also be found second hand at about £400. Don't forget as well pieces of kit like the Ear phono stage and the Tom Evans Microgroove. When we tried the Loricraft and P-100 against the Whest, there wasn't a clear winner, but we all decided that for what it cost new, the Loricraft was the champion. There's a thread over on PFM called the Phono Stage Spirit Quest. Could be worth your while looking it up.

 

I built one recently and rate it very highly.

You also need to buy the PSU II which makes it a £330 phono stage kit but it was easy to build.

Typical open, fluid tube sound and low noise into the bargain.

I posted as review with full build pics over on PFM - just search 'WAD Phono II'

Rob.

 

What is it like regarding background noise, hiss, gain etc. I've been looking myself at the WAD kits for years now , but have put off taking the plunge. Not too sure what their s/h (re-sale) value would be like if it didn't work out, and £330 isn't eaxxctly small change....

 

I think they're fantastic, loads you can do with them, extremely quiet, miles better than the EAR imo and miles better than the ISO I had (possibly have) too. I'd expect to pay a lot of money to beat it

EDIT: Sid- its a MM stage so if you want gain you need step-ups, I've got some 13dB/26dB ones by Lundaal. Also putting battery bias onto the first tube (and second I spose if you really wanted MASSIVE gain) also boosts the gain significantly. Its literally just a case of replace the resistor which runs from the tube pin to earth with a AAA battery.

 

i saw that there is a step up transformer option with the wad, that gets built into the chassis.

i'll have a look at the pfm write up, thanks for that. i figured that the build it yourself route was likely to be better pound for pound than a pre built unit. i also liked the idea of going tube with the phono stage.

i have been following the spirit guide thread with great interest... just waiting for more updates!

 

I too have built a WAD Phono. I have upgraded the signal resistors and cartridge loading resistors to vishays. There's also a 3.18uS correction that I've implemented - (4 resistors)

Put it this way, I'm more than happy with it. Theres plenty of people on the WAD forum who are very knowledgeable if you can't get it working. there is also a build it service if you don't want to take the plunge with a soldering iron. Personally I think building it is half the fun.

Some people reckon its better than an EAR 834, but never having heard one I can't say one way or the other.

You'll get hiss at full volume, but the PhonoII is very quiet indeed.

regarding the MC xformers. 10:1s are supplied, it's simply a case of two capacitor shaped cans with some wires. two go to the phono inputs, theres a couple of earths and the outputs go to the board. you also will probably have to change the cartridge loading resistors. normally a 47k is supplied, but as many MC carts require a 100R load you need to change those resistors for (cartload x stepupsquared). so for a 100R cart with 10:1 stepups, 10k is the required value (if its a 47k MC, then you would need 4.7M. if you want to experiment with cartridge loading resistors then a couple of through pins on the board is the answer and tag the resistor on to those.

 

it would be to match a shelter 501. i haven't as yet looked to see what loading it needs. had been thinking about a graham slee elevator to match my gram amp 2se, but it seem the WAD is a complete solution for considereably less.

where is the best place to get vishay-dales?

don't you get some hiss at full volume with most phono stages?

 

I get big hiss at LOUD volumes with my Microgroove + and I had heard that was supposed to be quiet, but it's not intrusive at all at normal listening volumes. Hiss and other noises aren't really things to be concerned about with vinyl are they, unless they really detract from the music ??.

Paul

 

The bloke at Loricraft said it would be easy to make a silent phono stage, trouble is you can't make a good sounding silent phono stage.

 

i think when you're amplifying anything that much, it's going to be hard to make it silent....

 

Get vishays from RS. Yes you can't really have that sort of gain and not get some noise out of it but as phono stages go the WAD is v quiet.

Lordsummit: you could always stick a LP filter on that cuts off at 4K

 

I'm very happy with it thanks

 

Hi,

Terry knows a lot abot Garrards, but perhaps not quite as much about phonostages. It is actually trivial to make good sounding quiet Phonostages, the solution is to combined transformers and Valves.....

Ciao T

 

Care to expand?

 

That as may be but he certainly knows how to make a very fine sounding one. The Missing Link is a wonderful piece of kit that anyone who's heard it finds astounding for the price it costs

 

I'd assume using a low gain tube stage and getting most of the gain from step ups?

 

Hi,

It is reasonably hard to make a noisy and/or bad sounding MM Valve phonostage. Adding a suitable MC Stepup Transformer gives nearly noiseless gain. Works of course just as fine for Solid State.

:JOEL:

Ciao T

 

i was under the impression that (depending on the transformer quality and correct load matching) there could be issues with roll off at the frequency extremes... as all ways there is more than one way to skin a cat. have to admit this does look interesting though.

 

Hi,

Only if the transformer quality is poor.

True, but just for fun, if you take a pair of TX-103 set to the correct stepup/gainmatch for your cartridge (say a 10R/0.25mV one which will need 1:20 stepup) and an ECC83 input phonostage (like my "Valve El Cheapo) which has on average around 20nV|/Hz input noise above 100Hz you get a noise level pretty equal to the best straightforward solid state circuitry at around 1nV|/Hz.

IF you take such very high transconductance valves as I use in my "Big" Phonostage (eg. the E810F/7788 @ ~50mA/V) you get much lower valve noise and beating really fancy pants solid state circuitry is no longer that difficult.

Ciao T