PDA

View Full Version : Demise of WD.


Ali Tait
21-07-2010, 12:24
It's been posted on the WD forum that they will cease trading as of today.A great shame IMO,but I guess it's a sign of the times.
Mike
21-07-2010, 12:28
I think it's been 'on the cards' for a while... Shame.
John
21-07-2010, 13:29
Yes a real shame Sad news indeed
DSJR
21-07-2010, 15:31
Is that why Peter Comeau left when he did?

Darned good amps. What a huge shame.....

Is there anything left to take over?
Clive
21-07-2010, 15:38
Is that why Peter Comeau left when he did?

Darned good amps. What a huge shame.....

Is there anything left to take over?
I think it's more that Peter got the opportunity in China to oversee manufacturing for a big brand so he didn't have time to keep WD going. They lost their transformer manufacturer a while back but the real killer is that for kit companies to survive they need new kits to provide sales impetus, some people in the WAD days built every kit. There won't have been the margins to pay someone to work on development and run the show. If they could do that role they might as do what Nick Lucas did - set up hifi collective.
Spectral Morn
21-07-2010, 16:08
Sad day :( indeed but as others have said it has been on the cards for quite a long time now.


Regards D S D L
DSJR
21-07-2010, 16:22
I wouldn't know where to start, but Sowter Transformers make all sorts of different types, including a set for an RIAA phono stage.. The kit ain't cheap (£450 approx) and there's a board to source and other bits, but HiFi dave once heard a transformer based amp from input to output and rated it really highly (I'm right aren't I Dave?)
Ali Tait
21-07-2010, 16:39
Aye,but the difficult bit is getting a good transformer at the right price in order to make a profit selling the kit.
Techno Commander
21-07-2010, 18:15
I know a gut that does very nice transformers.

I asked him about audio transformers and he stated they could mechanically bind the laminations to prevent any buzzing, apply an extra layer of binding between the promary and secondary coils and pot the centres (or whole transformer if small).

Cost for a 500VA transformer was approx £40 if buying 2.
pure sound
21-07-2010, 22:06
Unfortunately there is no money in supplying kit valve amplifiers.

It takes almost as much time & trouble to pick & pack the component parts so they don't become damaged in transit as it does to simply build the amplifier & send it safely ready built. Then there is the requirement to man a help desk and to offer to put right failed attempts' some of which are horrendous!

And the end user expects to pay perhaps 1/3 of what it should retail for.

Been there done that.

If you do want to build your own, do a little research, find a circuit that ticks the boxes & then buy the parts from Bluebell or Hifi Collective or even ebay.
Ali Tait
22-07-2010, 05:51
Also,there are very cheap Chinese valve amps around,some of which are actually quite good.A UK based kit company has no way of competing against that I think.
lurcher
22-07-2010, 07:45
I think the post about the cost of making a kit is spot on. I made exactly the same comment to Mo last night. Its simpler and cheaper to build the thing yourself than to produce the instructions, packaging and after care needed to sell as a kit. The little remote control board I did for HiFi Collective was originally considered as a kit of parts, but it was just not worth doing that way. Sad but true.

Maybe the only way of doing it may be to just make the major items available (case, transformer set, PCB) a circuit diagram and a document and leave it at that.
hifi_dave
22-07-2010, 09:23
I wouldn't know where to start, but Sowter Transformers make all sorts of different types, including a set for an RIAA phono stage.. The kit ain't cheap (£450 approx) and there's a board to source and other bits, but HiFi dave once heard a transformer based amp from input to output and rated it really highly (I'm right aren't I Dave?)

Many, many years ago, my friend Be Yamamura loaned me an amp he had constructed using hand wound x'mers constructed from lunatic materials and windings of very pure copper. Not silver as better sounds were made with ultra pure copper, we discovered.

The circuit used an i/p matching x'mer, a step up x'mer, one transistor (might have been a pair) and an o/p x'mer. The transistor was powered by a couple of car batteries.

I can still hear this amp in my mind. Crystal clarity, holgraphic images and so much air and space as if the room walls had been taken away. Nothing since has approached it, though Tim De Paravicini made a similar amp back in the 90's which sounded wonderful.
DSJR
22-07-2010, 12:02
I suppose what we need is someone who can supply or recommend pre-drilled cases, a supplier for the right transformers, a list of components available from..... with part numbers, and a circuit board available for the standard models to aid construction. Not a party supplying the whole thing, but a list of suppliers for the end constructor to use to make up a set of parts....
Techno Commander
22-07-2010, 12:14
HiFi 2000/modu shop (http://www.hifi2000.it/default.asp?Langid=1) will do pre drilled cases if you supply them with a drawing. These are probably the best value aluminium cases I have seen anywhere.

Tiger Toroids (http://www.tigertoroids.co.uk/index.html) will make anything you want and their prices are very good. If you want very high spec and minimum quantities they are the people to talk to.
lurcher
22-07-2010, 14:44
Tiger Toroids will make anything you want and their prices are very good. If you want very high spec and minimum quantities they are the people to talk to.

Useful link thanks. But not everything is suitable for doing with toroids.
Techno Commander
22-07-2010, 16:05
I believe they do square frames as well.
DSJR
22-07-2010, 16:59
Sowter do custom frame transformers too.

If Shane or anyone from the WD forum are looking in, perhaps something may come out of this, circuit boards etc....
Ali Tait
22-07-2010, 17:40
Looks like Dave Cawley may be taking over WD.Good news if so,but nothing is set in stone yet.
pure sound
24-07-2010, 12:20
SP Wound components sell 'sets' of transformers to make certain of the schematics on their site. Cases & components aren't hard to find.

http://www.spwoundcomponents.co.uk/index.php/audio-applications/
DSJR
24-07-2010, 12:33
Looks like Dave Cawley may be taking over WD.Good news if so,but nothing is set in stone yet.

I really hope the prices won't increase any more as a result..
Dave Cawley
24-07-2010, 14:15
I hope not too!

Dave
swampy
24-07-2010, 15:00
Brian over at DiyHS has had the same issue when I last spoke with him. Kits are getting harder to sell and he has moved into selling more parts. Also he said that factory costs have jumped 3x so all kit prices have jumped up.

I only paid £500 for my dual monoblock Billie 300B kit with quality parts and tubes a few years back !! You have no chance of that price now in any kit.