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An open letter to George Wright (a Mono 10 review)


3dzapper

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Letter I sent to Wright sound:

Mr. Wright,

I have to tell you how much I am enjoying your amplifiers!

I bought a pair used from Ronnie Thackery of Carolina Audio and am using them with Mark Deneen's new Blueberry pre-amp and Klipschorns. The clarity of the mids and highs I expected from a 2A3 amp but, the lushness and power of the bass without muddying them up is a wonderful feat! These amps are able to deliver the Moody Blues or Rolling Stones "live" at 100 db or sublimely convey Nora Jones or Dave Brubeck at 75 with equal ease. Thank you.

Rick Warren

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On 4/16/2004 7:32:47 AM mdeneen wrote:

These must be quite good based on your description. I am wondering, do you think you are staying more or less in the "A" region? Do you sense any identifiable difference at low vs. high output? My guess would be that with Khorns you probably never get out of the "A" region as far as midrange and treble are concerned. Anyone else here have these? Very neat little amps, albeit a bit spendy for me.

mdeneen

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I wouldn't think that the Khorns are straying from the Class A area wven at the higher SPLs except for short transients. 100db = less than 1/2watt continous and represents the high average reading on the fast setting of my RS analog meter, The quieter passages are lower and the meter is not fast enough to measure the true peaks of fast transients. The Moody Blues 1969-72 albums are, I think, a great test for amp performance. The dark bass lines from both the bass guitar and synthysizer will over power the higher freq's on an amp with a lesser quality power supply or will not be as dark as recorded or what was presented in a live performance in that era.

Two things I did to the Wrights since I got them are: 1st I changed the teeny 1mF epoxy dipped coupling caps for some large F&Fs I had around( I'll show a pic later. 2nd the 2A3 tube, with it's huge plate, is subject to feedback in the bass region if not isolated even on a heavy stand on a concrete floor. (something I figured out after I got these amps). I raised them up on Sims Labs Limbsavers ( like sorbathane material with a larger base than shaft). This eliminated the feedback problem.

My listening session last night revieled a weakness in my system though. Three of the four corners around the Khorns are concrete, the fourth is plaster over sheetrock (1+" thick) over 2x4 into the area under the entry and stairs about 6'x8'x5'). This wall/enclosed area acts like a drum resonating at whatever frequency it is tuned to. One of my next projects is going to be to put a sheet of plywood over the studs behind the bass horn and filling the void with sand. I'd use concrete mix but that might be too messy for the wife.

Too exoensive Mark? $1925 on Wright Sounds web site. About the same as a BB. Griffinator has a more powerful version with better ascetics for a bit less than $3k in his line. I am hoping to hear that version in Indy this summer. In a world of five figure high end audio 2k isn't bad.

Rick

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Yea this does sound like great amps for most people that want the best of all worlds. Get the sweetness of the all triode 2A3 and the prowess of push pull to 20 watts ! Really cool. Also a very simple and easy design to tweak from the pictures ! What did you have to spend for these Rick ?

Craig

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Just to clear something up from his specs they are 10 watts RMS with 20 watts peaks this is not a 20 watt amp. Not trying to dump just make things clear on how specs are done the Mark III's for instance are rated from Dynaco as 60 watt RMS and 120 Watt peak this does not make them a 120 Watt amp. Still just the same I bet this coupled with the BB is a awesome setup with the Khorns.

http://www.wright-sound.com/specs/11

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mono102.jpg

Next I have to do something for the WAF. I figure walnut side panels and a transformer cover with a polished brass front plate and brass toned mesh for the top and sides will look nice. She likes the polished brass plate I put on the front of the Jolida's tranny cover. I cut part of a door kick plate to fit then bent the contour to match.

Boombox.jpg

Rick

post-12829-13819254011684_thumb.jpg

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Guest Anonymous

Zapper,

Congrats, I understand Wright makes SSWWWEEETTT sounding amps...I showwed a picture to my wife a month or so ago, and it seems she had the same feelings as yours....not good lokking enough. It's hard enough to get a great sounding amp, and now it seems we need to get a great looking/great sounding amp2.gif I guess the saying is true, behind every great man, there is a woman2.gif heh heh heh

Enjoy for a long time

Smilin for you10.gif

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"It's hard enough to get a great sounding amp, and now it seems we need to get a great looking/great sounding amp"

Smilin,

You forgot, in your case powerful amp! As in 1gigawatt! I can hear the calls from the houses on your street now "There is this loud boom,boom,boom, like from a punk's car, and every time it happens the lights go dim!!6.gif6.gif9.gif

Rick

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Rick, thanks for reinforcing my listening impressions of the Moody Blues albums from that era. Terry and I wanted to listen to his Moondogs for a much longer time, but he had to pick his son up after a Little League game, so he had to run. He thought the Blueberry/MC 240 was the closest higher power tube setup he had heard that could creep close to the detail and seperation the Moondogs supplied with a 6SN7 based preamp system.

He hates the Moody Blues albums up til Seventh Sojourn, yet he loved EGBDF with the Blueberry/MC 240. Definition and seperation were his two takes on the Blueberry setup. I'm really glad with these results, because I desire to go down that path without sacrificing too much power and headroom if possible. Maybe I've already reached the end in achieving that goal.1.gif

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The Wright power specs are much clearer on the initial product page:

"The amp runs Class A pp to about 6 watts, Class AB1 through 10 watts, and Class AB2 up to approximately 20 watts peak"

George seems to consider it a very positive feature of his designs that his low impedance driver stages facilitate the Class AB1/2 capabilities.

Nice looking amps. Plenty of opportunity to tweak to one's concept of perfection.

Leo

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On 4/16/2004 11:17:45 AM NOSValves wrote:

Rick,

How does that Jolida sound with the Promedia speakers
9.gif

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Craig, Quite honsestly I was suprised how good they sounded on the Jolida. I've got them upstairs now on a Technics SS amp. Not even close!

Tony,These amps are the cat's meow, your JFLs are it's purr!

Some day I hope to score a nice set of 2A3s. The Sovtek single plates are nice but from what all of you say about RCAs etc... I picked up a set of Valve Arts just so I have some back-ups. I got some English 6SL7s to try branded Zaerix.

Dave,That is my favorite era for the MBs. I think I'll play "In Search of the Lost Chord" now just for kicks.

Rick

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