Willsenton R8 KT88/EL34 x4 Tube Integrated AMP Power Amplifier Headphone

[henry4841]

Has anyone any experience with this amplifier. Stellar reviews on Amazon. 

[mike stehr]

"Pure hand-made, the whole machine is welded with scaffolding."

 

Must be a tall amplifier...

[OO1]

tx for letting us know about this Amp  , @henry4841 

[Curious_George]

On 4/13/2022 at 8:13 AM, henry4841 said:

Has anyone any experience with this amplifier. Stellar reviews on Amazon. 

 

Are you in the market for a new amp Henry?

[henry4841]

No, just browsing what Amazon has for sale. All my tube amps are ones I built myself. Honestly do not know how many I have right now. 

[Idontknow]

Yes, I’ve compared this. Very nice but extremely bright and detailed sounding. Not the best match if you’re using Heritage speakers IMO.

[TMD3Q]

I’ve tried purchasing this from Amazon 3 weeks ago. Still have not received it. They said it was shipped, lost, then shipped again (expeditiously they said) with the same UPS # which makes no sense to me. If I don’t get it by Friday I will cancel. I really hope I have not wasted the past 3 weeks trying to get it. Others received it in 2 days. Very frustrated!

[tigerwoodKhorns]

On 4/27/2022 at 5:23 AM, Idontknow said:

Yes, I’ve compared this. Very nice but extremely bright and detailed sounding. Not the best match if you’re using Heritage speakers IMO.

 

Did you try different tubes? 

 

I saw some reviews on this amp and I do not get it.  They all rave about it, but in more then one review they say that it gets harsh when pushed too hard.  My experience with tube amps has been different.  When pushed too much (it has been a very long time, I had a Scott 222) it just went flat.  Not harsh, just ran out of steam on K Horns. 

 

I don't see myself ever turning an amp up past say 95 db (85 is really my limit) but why would a tube amp get harsh?  Kind of defeats the purpose or one of the purposes doesn't it? 

[Idontknow]

People have this notion that tube amps are warm. I don't know why so many people think this. Some are bright, brittle and harsh while others are warm and sweet. It is well known that these Willsenton R8's are very analytical sounding. By comparison the Decware Zen is sweet and warm. Many of these new amps coming out of China are very analytical sounding because that's the newer trend filling the rooms right now. Listeners who start out get really impressed when they first hear all these intricate details and maybe some will go on preferring it that way, I don't know. I listen for many hours at a time, so I prefer a warmer and sweeter sound over longer listening durations.

 

My friend owned the R8 and he had aftermarket KT88 tubes for it and we spent some good times listening to it. It was very powerful and had lots of current. We were listening to it alongside a modified Dynakit ST120 solid state using open baffle speakers of all sorts from Lii Audio. You can see it in some of my videos below. The issue is that it really wasn't a great match for open baffle IMO because open baffle speakers are already extremely analytical and detailed sounding. As a result, we were finding greater pleasure listening to the modified Dynakit ST120 solid state matched with them because it was a warmer amp. The problem is that end-users need to know more about what they are trying to match a product with and they often don't. They just hear a review that it's good. Good with what?

 

Don't get me wrong, the R8 was a nice amp, but like most of these products, they get marketed through these famous YouTube channels by reviewers who have spent no time reviewing more esoteric amplifiers and I think the reason for this may have something to do with subscriber counts, related to commissions from more popular company brands. 

 

I have a friend who has only 5000 subscribers who reviews products for a different hobby and he brings in between $3000-$4000 a month from it because any sales linked from his channel get him commissions from the company's who sell them. My point is that most of these reviewers know nothing about more esoteric amps, so people just go on seeing those popular reviews and parrot what others say. Just because something is popular doesn't necessarily mean it's actually a great thing. There are things that are amazing that few know anything about and that's the problem with this audio industry as a whole. 

 

[amped]

Check out Skunkie Designs Electronics on YouTube. The Monday Monologue addresses some of this...

[tigerwoodKhorns]

@Idontknow Thanks for the response. 

 

I am not looking to buy one of the Willsentons.  I was just wondering why a tube amp would get harsh if pushed too hard as tubes are 'supposed to' clip softly.

 

I also do not understand setting up tube amps to sound analytical.  I have heard VTL systems that sound very analytical and wonder why not just use a good SS amp that does not require re-tubing. 

 

I recently bought VRDs and I am (will be, have not turned them on yet) using all Mullard tubes as I want 'tube sound' when I use this amp.  I already have SS amps elsewhere so why would I try to duplicate that? 

[Idontknow]

I'm not sure why a tube amp or any other amp would sound more harsh the higher it was turned up. Maybe it has something to do with the efficiency of the speakers it's used with. We experienced no such thing with the R8 or any other. It played the same sound signature regardless of the volume being low or high. There may be some guys into tech with a better answer. 

[henry4841]

4 hours ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

I already have SS amps elsewhere so why would I try to duplicate that? 

My thoughts exactly. PP tube amps sound very much to me like a good SS PP amplifier. Not a bad thing by any means if ones needs a lot of power but wasted on our Klipsch speakers that operate mostly on less than a watt. The good thing is one can have really excellent sound that is as good as a 5 grand SS amp. 

[82 Cornwalls]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:04 AM, Idontknow said:

People have this notion that tube amps are warm. I don't know why so many people think this. Some are bright, brittle and harsh while others are warm and sweet. 

 

My friend owned the R8 and he had aftermarket KT88 tubes for it and we spent some good times listening to it. The issue is that it really wasn't a great match for open baffle IMO because open baffle speakers are already extremely analytical and detailed sounding.

 

 

I have heard many open baffle speakers and they (just like box speakers) are no different than what you state about tube amplifiers.

[Idontknow]

6 hours ago, 82 Cornwalls said:

 

I have heard many open baffle speakers and they (just like box speakers) are no different than what you state about tube amplifiers.

Could you explain. Not sure what you meant. Open baffle speakers are very revealing. 

[tigerwoodKhorns]

On 2/21/2023 at 4:05 PM, henry4841 said:

My thoughts exactly. PP tube amps sound very much to me like a good SS PP amplifier. Not a bad thing by any means if ones needs a lot of power but wasted on our Klipsch speakers that operate mostly on less than a watt. The good thing is one can have really excellent sound that is as good as a 5 grand SS amp. 

Really good SS is not expensive if you look under the right rock.  I want the VRDs to have the mellow 'tube sound.'  Don't know if I will be successful but I have SS amps for the analytical / detailed stuff, and even the mellow stuff.  Musical Fidelity A308CR power and pre, and a Ayre 3-V (which test horribly, is rolled off on top and sounds great) both have that 'tube sound' - I bought the Musical Fidelity gear a long time ago on Kevin Deal's recommendation to get maintenance free 'tube sound.'  it was very good advice.  

 

Other good SS on the cheap - QSC PLX amps (Just had a guy with $10K Pass amps and very difficult speakers be very impressed by a 2402), any old Classe Amps, Musical Fidelity, even Denon THX certified receivers (the AVR 5800).

 

EDIT:  This is a tube section, not trolling here, just replying.  I have a few tube amps so I like both SS and tubes done right.