Someone on WhatsBestForum asked this morning if Wadia had moved to Minnesota yet. I just visited Wadia yesterday in Michigan.
I live about 5 hours from Wadia's current location in Saline, Michigan. I have one of the early S7i players that have the old current conveyors, the current ones are supposed to be noticeably better and currently available as an upgrade option for those who have the older players.
I drove up this weekend so that I could take my S7i in to have the current conveyors switched out. It was much easier and safer than sending it to them, and it was a nice three day trip for my wife and me. We drove up to Kid Rock's hometown in Clarkson Sunday afternoon and ate at the Union Wood Shop that Kid Rock took Guy Fieri to on the TV show "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives". They buy and process the meat onsite, and it was ones one the best meals my wife and I have ever had. They even make their own ice cream there, individually at the time of order.
I arrived at Wadia Monday morning at 7:00 with my S7i, and met with Brett, who started working on my S7i right away. About eight o'clock everyone else came in, including John Schaffer. I'd originally met John at the Detroit Audio Fest two or three years ago.
I spent the morning with all of them, and everyone one was extremely nice and helpful as Brett and one of his fellow servicemen swapped out my current conveyors and serviced my player. They thoroughly went through my S7i to make sure that everything was just right. It is one of the first S7i players sold, so they wanted to make sure that it was still performing to the original specs, which it was.
John told me that the current conveyor upgrade would be immediately obvious when I put the S7i back in my system. He said that he was surprised that I hadn't gotten them sooner since they are such a good upgrade. I told him that I hadn't even heard about them until the post by CatHealer on Audiogon when Egidius and Inpieces mentioned them. John said that Wadia wasn't really promoting or pushing them, but he thought that word of mouth was spreading the word. The current conveyor upgrade, if you have an older S7i the original current conveyors, is $600.00 ($300.00 each) plus labor.
I didn't put the S7i back in my system last night when we got home because it was too late. The five hour drive was tiring with the road construction going on now that the weather is nice. I set it up this morning and turned it on. I'll sit down and listen to it tonight after work.
As far as the original question: where is Wadia right now? Wadia has been relocated to Minnesota for almost all functions including production of new products and back office support. They are still retaining the facility in Saline for some service work, and for some of their engineering needs. The building in Saline, Michigan is for sale, and some are still there right now like I stated. No one said when they'd all be moving permanently, and I didn't think to ask since I was there with my S7i and enjoying my time with everyone.
Chuck
