Posting pics of my new Amp, the mighty Wilsenton R800i!!!
Mighty for a couple of reasons - it weighs a back breaking 42 Kilos and despite being Class A SET Tubes, produces a welcome 48W + 48W. High power was especially required in my case as I have a number of low sensitivity speakers.
What prompted the purchase? Earlier this year, I acquired a pair of Spendor Classic 2/3s and when I'd auditioned them, they were being driven with a Luxman 509ax-ii which was a Class A amp. While it didn't get me at first go, coming back home and listening to my own setup, which at the time was the Dynaudio Excite X14 powered by the Cambridge Audio CXA81 and WIlsenton R8, i realised that while it did a quite a few things better, the refinement and sweetness in the sound was missing.
Fueled by my hubris, i convinced myself that with the skills i've acquired over the years, i'd manage to eek out much more from the Spendors. I say skill because it is not always the equipment but rather how well you manage to set it up. And manage to set it up i did, at least to my ears. And while it sounded very good, it was still missing the refinement and sweetness that I'd heard earlier while auditioning.
By the process of elimination, the logical conclusion was that it was the Luxman and its mere 20 watts per channel of Class A power in combination with the Spendors that was responsible for that sweet sweet sound and not the latter by itself.
A couple of months passed before i got a message from one of my trusted dealers that he was getting a consignment of Wilsenton R800is to these shores. Seeing that it was Class A and with a colossal 48W per channel for said topology, i booked my piece and tucked in for the long wait hoping that my gamble would pay off.
The parcel arrived a week ago and pretty late at that on a day i happened to be alone and rather worn out due to being on my feet for most of its duration. Said fact of being alone and worn out mattered cuz the wooden crate the Amp arrived in turned out to be a near immovable object. Nevertheless, i mustered the courage and soldiered to peel back the packaging layer-by-layer. First to go was the sack cloth cover which required no more than a pair of scissors. Then came the most daunting step of them all or so i thought - the wooden crate which was nailed a little too meticulously. Not having access to a crowbar initially seemed like a setback but I did have access to a hammer and with a good ol' walkaround, figured that removing a single side of the crate would be sufficient. A bit of elbow grease, a Chai break and two more layers of cardboard packaging later, the amp was finally revealed sitting in the foam padding which is when it struck me, the damn amp was more than 60% my body weight. Supporter in place (if you know what i mean
) and a mighty heave later, the cat was out of the bag which had to wait till the next day as i had a very early morning to attend to.
Having sorted out business, i made a beeline home as early as i could the next day. First on the menu was the Dynaudio Focus 160 (84db Bookshelfs).
At the outset, those 48W x 2 managed to push the 84db sensitive Dynaudio Focus 160s to well over 92-93db in bass heavy tracks from EDM/Hip Hop genres and the like (measured with a UMIK-1 in REW).
But then again, so could the CXA81. So the real question was, did the gamble pay off?
I'm stoked to answer it with a resounding "YES"!
While i expected the Amp to sound better than my existing amps, what I wasn't prepared for was the quantum leap in SQ. When i first powered on the Amp, even without any burn in, the sound was incredibly refined and i was greeted with a huge soundstage that extended very wide and not only was deep but also projected sounds forward when the song so demanded. This was a surprise as the CXA81 and Wilsenton R8 were already very good in this regard.
The second thing that struck me was the depth to the sound and by that, i don't mean the placement of instruments in the soundstage. Rather, it was each note that had more depth as if whole new layers of texture, detail, nuance and dynamics had been revealed. The treble was even more present than the CXA81 but was delivered with such delicacy and refinement that it never once managed to sound bright. The litmus test is always Rock and Metal and it was a pleasure to listen through the R800i as it never sounded harsh while preserving all of the excitement and attack in the songs.
The third thing which i noticed with the amp was the instrument separation. Everything is well spaced in the soundstage and you can hear each note without having to really lean in and listen. It also brings background notes to the fore which are otherwise very easily lost in the medley of sounds emanating from the speakers.
But what really got me was that everything seemed to sound interesting through it, even at low volumes. Songs which i wouldn't bother about were suddenly being added left right and centre to my various playlists. In fact, I don't remember a time when I've added these many songs in such a short span of time. This amp has that intangible which is often referred to but most can't put a finger on - PRAT. While the CXA81 is already good in this regard, the R800i takes it to a whole new level. Every note feels like its being timed right and it manages to infuse a foot tapping quality to everything i've played through it so far.
The build quality is top notch and several orders higher than competing products of a similar price category i've come across, a fact that came as no surprise since I already had the Wilsenton R8 which is also built like a tank and beautiful to boot, if i may so so myself.
The next speaker i tried them with was the 92db Quad S-5 Floorstanders and all I can say for now is that I'm smitten with the combination, so much so that I've not managed to change over to the Spendors yet - The Quads and the R800i are a match made in heaven. I'll post further impressions after having sampled it with a few more speakers.
Pics of the events as they unfolded.
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