wyred4sound amps

GreggD - "I just don’t want W4S to be a victim of their hype. It’s a great amp for $1500, but it’s still an amp for $1500."

I'm all for level-headed cost comparisons but isn't one of the advantages of W4S amp pricing that they dispense with a) retail distribution and b) expensive, attractive casings? So if you compare a W4S ST500 at $1500 with a unit like the AudioResearch 300.2 with a sale price of $4000, you need to discount the AR unit for the dealer mark-up and the attractive case, the prices are in the same ballpark (although I would guess the AR is still more expensive on an apples-to-apples basis, maybe by $500-750).

Jult, good point.

I do not adhere to the idea that price dictates performance. It may or may not for various reasons some of which you identify.

You can take a great expensive piece put in teh wrong system and sound crappy or you can take a less expensive piece that is well designed and executed put it in the right system and exceed the expectations of most. The devil is in the details.

I had the 125 wpc amplifier driven by a hevily modded Airtight tube preamp, a modded Alesis 9600 CD player/recorder going out to Von Schweikert VR5 HSE Anniversary speakers. I used some locally (auto cable engineer) made copper cable (excellent by the way)out to he speakers.

The W4S has a very clean, clear, and exceptionally smooth sound. Loads of detail. It does not, however, sound like either solid state or tube gear. I have described the W4S as pathologically smooth; it is also the opposite of big-hipped, juicy and lush tube sound.

I ultimately sold the piece because, despite it's positive attributes, it just did not awaken my inner soul. I have a class D amp right (100 wpc) made by a local audiophile in my system running the same copper cable out to Magnepan 1.7's; they have been outfitted with Enacom speaker filters (a dramatic, immediate improvement in bass solidity, upper end sparkle, and detail) and the amplifier has a pair of Dakiom's on it. The system sounds magical; I thought thye amp did not have enough power for the Magnepans. My immediate reaction to the very obvious improvements the Enacom speaker filters made was that the Mags are very RF sensitive as the Enacoms. I don't remeber if I ever ran these tweaks though on the W4S amplifier.

"pathologically smooth"

I would say that is a reasonable description of the BelConto ref 1000m Icepower amps I use also. And I would mean it in a good way.

Mapman, I also meant my description of pathologically smooth (very silky) in a good way as well. That along with the pristine clarity makes for some interesting sound from the W4S amps.