Wm goes Thermionic

wadia-miester

wadia-miester

Mighty Rearranger
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
6,026
Reaction score
0
Location
Beyond the 4th Dimension
Well who'd have thought it eh? Valves in the house :D
Wm has been hard at work of late constructing some new amplifier prototypes, and been looking for a nice match pre wise.
Well I've tried one or 2 units, some typicaly valve others A-typical.
Now a few of my clients have these and use them to great effect.
After procuring one of these (Modified new unit), initial impressions are very favourable, lovely balance of dynamics, flow & life (a-typically valve sound).
Nice mids, full but tightish bass, good groove too.
Matches well with power amp transpancy.
More mods in the offing..................Wm

Minimax%20004.jpg



Minimax%20005.jpg
 
Garmt, a newer twist on that idea, IT's not in the first system league but its very good, nice mix of sweet powerful control sounds, that plays music, are you Alex from north of the border btw? Wm
 
Is that Minimax preamp good then? Been thinking of trying it with the Tact SDA power amp - which didn't impress when bi-amping alongside the SDAi integrated.

I got a really good result with an ARC LS7 preamp into the PS Audio HCA-2 late last year. Valves + class D could be good.
 
Its more akin to the ARC stuff, but more groovy, I bought it half modded already, though I'll be doing the job properly next week :)
But In stock trim its pretty good too. Blake Audio has one (If you run the wadia direct into the Class Wm unit :D its better, but then it bloody well ought to be LOL !!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
you cant really knock them for 500 notes can you?

what happened to using the Wadia direct into the pwr?
 
Chris,
I didn't pay that much mate. The wadia is still powering the the mono's just fine as well as the small stuff (The Wadia can run both outputs at the same time, so in essence I have 2 systems running, just swop the speaker cables into the ospreys over 2 sets running parallel), I'm just fine tuning it thats all.
It'll go back in the bedroom/PC squeezebox system after evo. Wm
 
Steve,

I've tried 10+ valve pre's ranging from £1k to £12k, the best so far have been the The grounded grid (modded and this baby) so far with very minimum mods, they're spanking £6k units quite nicely. (The total cost on these so far is £850). T.
 
also the consonance basie is similar to a minimax in layout and design
and the glasshouse pre I have in is very good but different

its amazing the valve pre's you can get if you're willing to DIY
 
Fear not Chris those Hovaland musicaps will be consided to the Free view box next week, some proper components going in, along with a rewire and some decent sockets and few 'odds and sods' though its tight in there :D I also bought it complete assembled NEW (modded).
Just need some advice on the valves now 1 times 6x4 and 2 times 12AU7's. T.
The cost I quoted was for the Pre & the power amps combined
 
Nick, I feel bringing that particular box would be some what wasted on you.(I would also like to point out, my Vampiric slaughtering days have now ended, so my stock of fully customed fashioned silver crosses/Bullets (Hollow points of coarse :) ) & 5 gallon packs of Holy water are at an all time low, so I would need to replenish first & as you know full well, that sort of equipment doesn't grow on trees) Your single mindedness to improve your system, which is half flawed at its inceptual point with your own vision of greatness is akin to seriously overkill dellusions of grandeu in a pint pot.
That is not to say, It can't be resuced oh no, though to achieve its Bio-trouser full quantum induction partical acceleration to God like status, it will need a little wash & brush up.
That particular box has been designed for music lovers of all tastes, for you it would be a waste.
Before we commence I would request a FULL spectral sweep of the room with an RTA or similar equipment & send me the Plot so I can study it along with a full room diagram & measurements.
After then, I feel we could move forward (provided you can handle sunlight now?) Wm ("Sloppie" is purely for those Grimsby fishermans types that carry an lp12 under one arm & a copy of the flat responce under the other & discuss the hoppiness of hook norton ale on a Saturday eve at the local Cat Weasal & firkin. they inhabit PFM, as the term Slop Monster they coined for Big US Iron which they hate)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Latest posts

Back
Top