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.
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.