Wright combo in the house

[dubai2000]

Careful readers might have noticed that I couldnt resist temptation and bought Chris Robinsons Wright/AES combo when he decided to upgrade to the Horus amps.

Let me start by saying that Chris was without any doubt the most caring seller of any audio equipment I have bought so far. He not only had the patience to wait for me getting ready to purchase his amps, he also packed them very carefully and was altogether most helpful.

-Chris, it was a pleasure dealing with you and hopefully well meet face to face in some not too distant future!-

But now to the amps. These are some reactions I passed on to Chris once they were in my house:

- When I got the amps yesterday I connected them to the MX-110 and let

everything warm up. I put on the first two CDs - but somehow things weren't

very promising. Yes, the amps were playing, but the sound was almost

sterile, not much of colour, soundstage was okay - but altogether nothing

special.

Looking at the Wrights I noticed that I had installed the 5692's. Well,

perhaps that was the problem? Putting in the Sylvania's helped a bit - but

we were far from home. Hmmmmm, would I have to send them back? (Chris had offered taking them back all the way thanks, but theyll stay - LOL)

Next step: changing the preamp. First observation - I didn't have to open up

the volume pot as much as with the MX-110 (which was certainly wider than

with my Mc 225) and suddenly there was life/drive in the sound. Clearly

getting the AE-3 was a must! I still had a pair of 6SN7 VT231, so I placed

them in the AE-3. Yes, now there is a soundstage with a nice front-back

perspective. I shall be trying the 5692's in the Wrights tomorrow - we'll

see how that goes.

- After having thrown all kinds of music at the Wrights I must say that the amps are growing on me! They are more neutral than I thought, but also very natural bette: they seem to

be nicely balanced - somehow quite right but in an unspectacular way. Bass,

mids, top end - everything seems to be there without emphasising one sector.

What I also notice is that the size of instruments(I am thinking of Dave

Brubeck's piano in a live recording) is pretty realistic. Drums are nicely

pronounced and timbres of violins are clearly distinguishable. So all in all

rather positive first impressions. It's to early to compare it to my vintage

gear (I am talking about my MX-110/Marantz 8B combo) - right no,w I have to get used to the Wrights/AES combo first.

- I should be in bed by now, but I simply had to put in another hour of

listening to the amps. They are so very clean and grain free. You certainly

get a lot of space around performers. The bass I have not commented on,

because first I wanted to know if there is enough of it - answer: yes. The

quality I shall be testing next.

- It seems that the 5692's are doing the trick! In comparison with the

Sylvanias they produce this amount of air around the instrument which I call

magical. The Sylvanias strike me as producing a slightly more compact stage,

but also a tad more colour, a tad more bass. Ideally a tube should do both,

but for the time being I am all for the 5692's.

What I find fascinating is the complete lack of grain and the flow of music.

As one reviewer wrote:' one is pulled into the music quite quickly and very

thoroughly'. Listening to music in this combo opening one's eyes by the end

of a piece can almost be a shock - no, the performers aren't there, one is

back on one's listening position facing amps and speakers.

So all in all I am thrilled. Setbacks? Well, no amp is perfect and good as

the bass is, for a real powerful/room-shaking organ one needs some sub

support, but this kind of signal isn't on every CD/LP.

-Another really interesting experience (apart from tube rolling) is comparing

preamps: my step-father is turning 75 this year and although he isn't as mad

about audio gear as I am, the family decided to look for a preamp for his

active Spendor BC1/A speakers. I had a look at ebay and found (and

eventually scored) a Wright WPL10V preamp (which includes a phono stage).

Being curious I had to connect it to the 3.5's. Surprisingly the combo seems

to sound slightly more muscular than the AE-3 (which in turn might be

slightly more airy). So now I'll have to decide which preamp will end up in

his house (though we could always swap). So in a sense this is an ideal

situation: one set of power amps, but two possible preamp contenders.

- Good news: the hum has been reduced considerably. (One amp exhibited a rather considerable hum which got less when placed on soft rubber feet, but was still bothering me) I had contacted George Wright who suggested to have a look at the screws of the power transformer and....bingo, that was it. On one amp they were really lose, so tightening them has reduced the hum to a bare sign of life (i.e. amps are on) LOL (or perhaps a bit more when everything is silent at night but not really an issue anymore).

Otherwise the amps are simply seductive indeed!!! I can hardly force myself

not to listen to them (and get on with that part of my work which needs to

be done at home). I agree that the Wright pre-amp is a great match for the

3.5's. The sound seems to become faster/ more direct without taking anything

from the airiness/three-dimensionality of the power amps.

So you can see that I am really very happy about my purchase and cant wait trying those AVVTs which should be on the way by now, but that will be another story...

Wolfram

[Chris Robinson]

Very nice compilation of your daily dairy entries! For a man whose first language is German, your command of the English language is excellent! Sehr gut I thank you for your nice compliments, but you were equally as nice to work with and always very easy to talk to, even on the phone!

I was concerned with his initial reports that things weren't quite right or perhaps my ears were just bad! However, with the mating of the 3.5's to the AES and ultimately the Wright pre-, it seems things have settled in very nicely. This is great to hear. I think you'll really like the AVVT's from Jac ... just give them a few weeks to settle in. I didn't have time to try mine with the Wrights before they left, but I love how they sound in my new JFL gear.

Maybe you could upload a photo of your set-up when you have a moment?

It's nice to have such an international family up here on the Klipsch board, which is probably the nicest group of people I've ever met in one place.

[Deang]

Hi Wolfram -- if you can live with some of the limitations, SET is immensely pleasurable. There is a "see through" quality that only the best push-pulls can get close too. Ironically, these push-pulls also share some of the same limitations as SET -- though not in as great a degree.

You might consider keeping the two Wright pieces you have together. The reason I say this is that George Wright probably voiced both circuits together. You know, finished one piece first, then used that one to listen to the other after completion -- then together for final tweaks. I think you will have the "Wright" sound if you keep them together.

[sunnysal]

congrats wolfram! I second dean's motion to consider keeping the wrights together, as they will have synergistic points that should be considered. keep us informed as they settle in. warm regards, tony

[Guy Landau]

Hi Wolfram,

Enjoy your new setup .

Guy

[dubai2000]

Thanks everybody for your nice words. Yes, I'll be keeping the Wrights together, especially as i want to give the phono stage a try (but that has to wait until my MM cartridge will arrive).

The AVVT's arrived this afternoon and although my time was limited I had to give them a try. My initial findings: deeper and cleaner bass, even more extended soundstage, a bit more transparency (see-through-quality), no trace of harshness (remember we are talking about new tubes). So does one have to spend so much on different tubes? Well, the RCA Black Plates are really fine tubes indeed and one can be very happy with them (!), but we all know that the final inches are always the hardest, so for the added quality of reproduced sound.........I'd say they are worth the extra outlay (funds permitting).

BTW: Dean, which limitations do you have in mind?

Wolfram

[Chris Robinson]

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On 7/15/2003 5:56:51 PM dubai2000 wrote:

BTW: Dean, which limitations do you have in mind?

Wolfram

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I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that most nay-sayers of SET are concerned with bass limitations, quickness and plain old "guts". I can understand that view, but I must say that I never heard that with the Wrights. They are very quick with high-efficiency horns (read: Klipschorns or Lamhorns) and for their size, they articulate very well.

Since enjoying the WPA 3.5's for a year or so, I think the benefits are very appealing to my ear. The midrange is wonderful, the high end is smooth, and the bass is very well defined. This is maybe not the perfect gear for head-smashing high vol tunes, but I'm not sure what is since I don't listen to it (jocularity intended)

I think the AVVT's are great tubes when carefully selected (Jac does this well), and I couldn't be happier with what I'm hearing with these 2A3's. The sound is so good it's almost scary.