Agree about the KEL.I have one myself.I find it a real giant-slayer.I've heard commercial stuff costing in the thousands that didn't equal this amp.Pretty much impossible to beat for the money IMHO!
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Agree about the KEL.I have one myself.I find it a real giant-slayer.I've heard commercial stuff costing in the thousands that didn't equal this amp.Pretty much impossible to beat for the money IMHO!
On the WD front:
i didn't have A CLUE about building electronics. everything you have heard about WD is true. They help you every step of the way and the forum will always help you out. check,check,check and check again. then wait for the smoke and bang!
on my first project - a kit6550, i had a dry joint and wired up all the valve bases wrong:confused:. but when i sorted it out and that rich valve sound came out of my speakers - it was a fantastic feeling of achievement.
hence the phono3 and the WD25ts
DO IT !!
More WD...
I'll second all that's been said. I've never built a WAD kit but the newer WD ones are a pleasure to do.
In fact, if anyone want one but doesn't want to do the building, I'll do it for free!... I enjoy that sort of stuff so much I wouldn't want a penny! :)
Cheers....
One caveat I've heard regarding the KEL.Apparently the WAD ones are superior to the newer WD ones.I'm told they changed the supplier of the output trannies for a cheaper inferior version.
Oooh....if I ever decide to give valves another whirl I'll give you a shout! The thought of me getting my fingers anywhere near several hundred volts of DC is a little too scary a prospect.
Interesting point re the TX's in the WD amps vs the earlier WAD ones. I wonder if anyone can clarify this?
Edit: Just found a pic of a little trio of amps I had a year or 2 ago...
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...mps1small1.jpg
The A21's another amp I shoudn't have got rid of... :(
What a coincidence! I have two of those amps still.
Oi, Richard, I asked you a question earlier about belt-drives vs. direct-drives! When you've got a moment, like ;)
Marco.
Regarding the KEL,I can't substantiate my comment except by saying more than one person has told me this.Whether the output trannies were actually changed or not I don't know for sure.The people who told me have heard for themselves though!
Hi Ali,
Certainly WD changed suppliers for all Tx's on all their kits after they bought out WD. The emphasis on the change was to go for better quality! I can't comment on what you've said because that is the first I've heard of it unless this is some confusion around the early WAD KeL84's that I think used torroidal O/P Tx's. They got better when they introduced the EI Tx's, but that was long before WD were on the scene.
We used the latest version at the Heathrow Show for a while. I was gobsmacked at it's capability. We were in a 90m sq room and through the WD25TXL's it coped very adequately! Not bad for 15 watts.
Anyone pondering getting into DIY could not go wrong with this little kit. It punches way above it's weight and is just £500 which for high end sound......yes, that's what you get, is an absolute bargain. As a learning kit it is ideal because the circuit is on PCB so it's soldering by numbers. Easy to do and as said above, there is a shed load of willing help if problems are encountered both here, on the WD website and of cause from WD themselves. It doesn't stop once it's built. You then have the option of revisiting, upgrading and even selecting replacement components so you get the exact balance you need for your system. If anyone is thinking of going in this direction and has not explored DIY before, this kit is a no brainer. I challenge anyone to buy one and then claim not to be satisfied!
Best wishes,
Greg
Hi Greg,
Well I can't really comment as I've not heard it for myself,but a couple of people who have heard WAD and WD KEL's both told me the same thing.I can say I'm dead happy with mine(WAD) it's pretty much unbeatable for the money IMHO.