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SET Asylum: REVIEW: WAVAC Audio Lab EC-300B Amplifier (Tube) by HakanCezayirli

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REVIEW: WAVAC Audio Lab EC-300B Amplifier (Tube)

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Model: EC-300B
Category: Amplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price: unknown
Description: 300B SET Amplifier
Manufacturer URL: WAVAC Audio Lab

Review by HakanCezayirli on April 19, 2011 at 13:01:56
IP Address: 178.233.254.31
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for the EC-300B


I would like to use this opportunity of sharing with you my thoughts on three Wavac components. They are the Wavac PR-T1 Pre Amp, the matching LCR-X2 Phono Stage and the EC-300B single ended triode Power Amplifier.

Do you remember the opening lines of the Star Trek television series? "Space, the final frontier!" This line is how I can best sum up the joy and beauty of these components, for the amount of musical space displayed by this system is truly
outstanding.

For many years here in England I have been a friend of Dave Ruffell, who runs a renowned HiFi shop on the south coast of England called Heatherdale Audio. A few months ago, Dave became the importer into the UK of Wavac equipment. This provided me with the opportunity of not only visiting an old friend, but to use and play at length with some of Wavac's finest components. In particular I was interested in hearing the EC 300B amplifier.

It may the baby in the range, for Wavac's most famous amplifiers are based around the huge SH-833 valve. But for some time I had been hearing very good things about their smaller but big hearted little brother. I have owned for several years the PR-T1 pre and LCR-X2 phono stage, so this would be a great opportunity to hear all three components used together.

Some HiFi dealers behave as if they are actually selling spare parts for cars, for their knowledge is not based on a solid audio foundation. Dave has a great audio back ground, for he used to run a recording studio between 1969 to 1978 and even now some prized Japanese pressings of his records are available, which reflect his talent and abilities.

Dave has built a great listening room within which he can demonstrate an interesting combination of equipment. He is really proud of the Wavac line of components, as he should be.

They have a great reputation for sound and build quality. The original circuits were developed by the late Nobu Shishido. However, the company is now lead by Yuzuro Ito, who is a well known Japanese sound engineer.

Wavac itself is a subsidiary of the Sigma company, which I believe has it's main speciality in the building trade! Well, let us get down to business and look at the individual components starting with the PR-T1 line pre amp.

Take a 70mm thick solid block of aircraft aluminium weighing 15kgs and machine it on a CNC lathe. Spray it gold and you end up with something that you would expect to find on Mount Olympus, being used by Zeus as part of his personal sound system!

Wavac have chosen not only to build a separate power supply, but the mains transformer is also separated into it's own box in an effort to produce the ultimate reduction in magnetic noise.

The pre amp itself uses one very large silver knob for volume (no remote control here!) A centre control for selecting one of the five line inputs, the first two of which are balanced with proper coupling transformers, are followed by three others which use phono input connectors. The two little control knobs to the right provide fine adjustment of the left and right gain.

In use, they always stayed upright, but if you ever need to adjust the balance of your system, this is a very accurate way of doing it.

The gain stages are handled by 2 x 12 AU7 / ECC82 valves per channel. All four of which have their own spring loaded gold coloured metal cans which help provide the ultimate isolation. The power connectors joining the transformer box to the power supply and then onto the PR-T1 itself, are well, let us say, that the word "industrial" sums them up.

You know there is no rocket science employed inside this device, just good solid mechanical and electrical engineering. You really feel as if you have spent your money on a high quality product.

What does the pre amp actually sound like? I can only tell you my own personal story. For some years, I owned a Kondo M77 pre amp. I sat in my ivory tower looking down my nose at people who did not own something as rare as this beast. What a fall to earth I had the day I had the opportunity of comparing my pre amp directly against the Wavac.

Porsche and Ferrari are two different cars, with different driving experiences. Which would you prefer? Well, all I can say after hearing the two together, is it fair to compare them? For me personally, I had to sell my Kondo as soon as possible, to buy this wonderful beast.

The best way to describe the difference, was the fact that I felt I was a huge step closer to the musical event. How many tired old clichés could I pull out to describe the difference. Forget those, to me, the Wavac left me with a larger smile when listening!

Having owned the PR-T1, I now wanted to buy their matching LCR-X2 phono equaliser. Wavac have again chosen to use the same heavy gold chassis, containing the gain stages, with separate power supply and power transformer.

Actually, you cannot mix and match the power supplies between the pre amp and phone equaliser, for they have a different current output, but look exactly the same.

The phono pre amp itself has one central silver knob, with four positions. Moving magnet and moving coil, high, mid and low. Many of us know of the problems of loading a moving coil cartridge. It is not just a question of gain, but also of impedance. The Wavac gives you the opportunity of easily listening to different gain settings for your cartridge. One of them always seems to sound better than the other.

When I used my Dynavector DRT-XV1s, I preferred it on the maximum gain setting which related to the lowest loading. Even with this high gain, there was very, very little background noise and absolutely no hum whatsoever. The circuit used by Wavac is based on a MU-Follower. Whatever is going on inside, it certainly seems to work.

Listening to a variety of other phono stages including those made by Boulder and Kondo revealed that yes, the Wavac was as an individual, a little more lush. But don't you want to dance with the most beautiful girl in the room?

The circuit is based round 6D J8 / ECC88 valves and I had hours of fun "tube rolling". Of course it is the old story. On some records, I preferred Mullards and on others I preferred RCA's !

And now, to what I consider to be "the piece de resistance". It is ridiculous to say that the EC-300B amp is a bargain in the Wavac line, but I believe it truly is.


There is a whole world of amplifiers built around the legendary 300B power triode. Thousands of years old and used by the ancient Egyptians when the Pharaoh was laid to rest ..........only joking! I am sure everyone knows that the 300B has been around since the audio dawn of time.

However, what Wavac have done with this tube is truly remarkable. Have you ever seen a more beautiful chassis? I cannot remember seeing anything as well made for a long time.

The secret of most valve power amps lies within their output transformers. However, Wavac have gone one step further in using what they call ITCC. This stands for Inverted Interstate Transformer Coupling. Essentially, it does away with using capacitors when joining the input stage to the driver stage. Does it actually work?



Well yes, in this case it absolutely does. One of the problems when using just one 300B per channel to overcome is power. You can only get about 10 watts output from one valve, but the first few watts are probably the most important.

The speed and clarity of the single ended triode can usually only come into it's own when using a high efficiency speaker. In an earlier age this would have been less of a problem.

Many modern loudspeakers usually present themselves as a highly reactive load, so aggressive in fact that many low powered valve amps, have their frequency response altered by the huge load of a modern complicated cross over circuit.

I remember driving my pair of Marten Coltranes with a Kondo KSL Kegon. Rated at 20 watts output per channel, this great little integrated amp just ran out of steam so quickly. The biggest problem was the ohms law interaction. Low bass was really elevated and tubby. In no way was the amp at fault.

On a kinder load loudspeaker the amp sounded wonderful. Another lesson in matching! It is a shame, for there is something really magical happening in the world of low powered valve amps. To enjoy them, we just have to choose a suitable speaker. Remember it is not just their efficiency rating you should check, for loudspeaker manufacturers play with phase angles and impedance curves to tweak their products.

Many speakers require a huge amount of current to be available from an amp as well as needing a vary low output impedance and large damping factor to 'wake up'. This just is not within the scope of low powered single ended triodes.

BUT, what happens when you do get the matching right? Ahh well as they wrote on very early maps of the unexplored parts of the world ' THERE BE DRAGONS !' and real magic can happen!

In more recent times, quite a few manufacturers have started making loudspeakers that are more efficient with a much more straight forward load. When assessing the 10 Watt per channel Wavac, we used a pair of Tannoy Sterling loudspeakers.

They were, combined with the Wavac, a match made in heaven. Ok, we have looked at the equipment individually. What does it all sound like as a system together. Well, as an analogue source, I used a Mysonic Eminent cartridge, mounted onto a Graham arm, which was fitted to a very early Blue Pearl turntable. For a digital source, I used a variety of CD's and in particular, my recent recording of a chamber orchestra in Venice.

It was this recording which helped me unlock and pin down the secret of the Wavac sound. Every system is known for a particular trait. With Wavac, it is air and space.

What is going on here? Well, on many other systems, I find that you have to listen through what the system is doing to reach the musicians. With Wavac components, everything appears to be more relaxed. It is as if your brain needs to carry out less processing and can therefore concentrate more on the musical event. The acoustical space that instruments are recorded in can reveal a lot about the music that we are listening to.

After I came back from Venice, I took my recording to several importers here in the UK, using the opportunity to listen to a wide variety of systems. I have to say that through the Wavac based system, I felt that I experienced the most satisfying musical event.

My own Soulution gear certainly provided a higher resolution sound. However, I found that I was constantly analyzing the position of the microphones, the musician's performance, the choice of cables I had been using etc etc...

When listening through the Wavac system, with it's modern implementation of a very old circuit, I was enjoying more the performance of the Venetian musicians.

What system would I like to listen to if I wanted to escape this modern world, with its hectic lifestyle? Well, I absolutely would want to visit my favourite musicians within the Wonderful World of Wavac!

Mike Valentine

For pictures and original Turkish review please visit: http://www.stereomecmuasi.com/cihazlar/sayi27/wavac_1.htm


Product Weakness: Price, More in article
Product Strengths: Sound. More in article


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Wavac EC-300B
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Wavac PR-T1 and LCR-X2
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Blue Pearl / Graham Phantom/ Eminent
Speakers: Tannoy Sterling
Cables/Interconnects: Various
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Classical, Jazz
Type of Audition/Review: Dealer Demo




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Topic - REVIEW: WAVAC Audio Lab EC-300B Amplifier (Tube) - HakanCezayirli 13:01:56 04/19/11 ( 4)