So I bought the Willsenton R-800i

Yespoke33, but that's a different amp, the less expensive kt88 one  which is also supposed to be very nice.

@2psyop Probably some would argue that „organic“ and „pure“ may be a contradiction, but I think I know what you say. And what @sns says goes for me in the same direction: Event though tube amps have their particular characteristics such as the warmth it doesn´t mean that it can´t handle all kinds of music that have very different sonic signatures. Maybe my comment on tube amps not being able to handle super clean style (such as Alva Noto) or something else was uninformed. And I´d be happy about that. Thanks for the correction! This changes the position of my goal posts. I´d be happy to achieve a warm but still linear sound that doesn´t let its qualities clash with music that may not need them.

Because the setup will not play vocal jazz only. My taste is also pretty broad, from Renaissance Choir Music to Chaotic Hardcore, from Ambient to Classic Rock and so on. So it has to retain some kind of neutrality while being tubey. This tube rolling adventure is about finding out to exactly what extend this can achieved.

@philgo01 All I can say is that whatever question I had was answered within half a day or a day via email. They also asked after I bought if everything arrived safely and if I was satisfied. The amp came double boxed with heavy foamy plastic inbetween. An info sheet inside said that with improved packaging they pushed the return rates because of transport damages to (as far as I remember) about 1%. Returning would definitely be a hassle but somewhere I read they were very helpful once it happened to someone. But yeah, China is not downtown.

@noromance I´m not exactly sure what you are referring to here. As I said my reference is the old Rotel I own, which it easily outperforms. Comparing to other tube amps was impossible. Going to other cities, numerous shops with different setups and rooms, probably even on different days to check out other amps that fit my criteria seemed not a desireable way to compare amps as neutrally as possible. Maybe you see that differently, fair enough. Sure, I could start with a smaller tube amp to get a feel for it. But as I mentioned before, I´m impatient, if this is the right word here. Why not go for the real deal right away. The Willsenton is cheap. Of the models I narrowed my choice down to it was still the cheapest while getting the best reviews. And cheap in this case means no dealer round the corner. It´s something, a gamble you might say, I have agreed on by buying straight from China. And that´s not something I´d recommend to everyone. It´s just what I did. And do I know that it is the best tube amp? I don´t. Does it make me happy and feel like I made a good choice? Definitely.

@ibmjunkman Thanks for the hint. Being able to speak german, english and polish already gives me quick access to far too many offers. I saw that hifishark.com automatically scours some Italian websites. So I may even buy a tube or so from there in the future.

That gives me the idea to set up a tube website list. I came across so many websites ever since I started getting into the topic, I definitley have no overview. I forgot the url of a dealer that just put up NOS tubes on his blog once s/he got new stock in. Let´s see.
There are some nice tube comparisons on websites, blogs and in forums. I wish they were all as extensive as this one about 6SN7s.

@poke33 Thanks for pointing to this, but it´s about the R8, not the R-800i model. They come with a considerably different choice of tubes so there´s only so much info I can take from this. Like what he says about 6SN7s.

philgo01, for those of us with trepidations regarding service after the sale, if you buy these amps through Amazon (including the smaller brother R8 which I've been eyeing after hearing it drive some Lintons), you can buy a 3-year electronics warranty for about $160.  Likely worth it in the long run I'd think, just for peace of mind.  All the reviewers say these Willsenton integrated amps are built every bit as good as the also communist China made Primaluna Evos.  Due to their popularity, Willsenton had to move to a larger factory space recently. Of course, Primaluna has a brand name recognition among "audiophiles" so resale percentage value would perhaps be higher, however if you are only caring about sound quality, the R800i (or the R8) might make sense - with an American company warranty. 

 If one can purchase a legitimately backed extended 3 year warranty for 160.00 USD this is good news and reassuring. It seems that from reviews and word of mouth the Willsenton amplifiers are a quality built product. 

I find it very interesting they can offer a 805 (DHT) output tube that requires high voltage circuit/power supply/transformer and driven by another DHT 300b in pure class A at this price point. And do so in a presumably very reliable package. That’s quite impressive. This is an ambitious undertaking.

Beyond the far more common class AB tube amplifier using pentode type tubes in a push-pull circuit.

Charles

charles1dad,

From everything that I've read I'm hoping that it will be a good match. The x250.5 was so highly praised at the time, and I had several sets of speakers to try it with, but with all of them it sounded thin and transistory compared to my vintage Mac 2105, but that was a very different animal. I will let you know how it goes.