anybody have/hear Wolcott with dynamic speakers?

While I really enjoyed the Wolcott's on a pair of Maggie's, I hated them on the MAXX's. Very diffused sound.

Disclaimer: I am a Wolcott owner and use them to drive Magnepan 3.6Rs. I had an opportunity to listen to them before purchasing them with a pair of WATT/Puppies. To me it was a dissappointing combination. Jtinn's use of the word "diffuse" pretty much sums up my impressions with the Wilsons. Henry Wolcott voices his amps with an eye for them to drive the Soundlab and Magnepan panel loudspeakers.

As to their reliability - they are very well built, and use the EL34 tube. They also have an auto-bias feature that biases all eight tubes each time the amp is powered up, then takes itself out of the circuit. This keeps your tubes at optimum and also allows you to replace tubes as needed, without having to replace with matched sets (unless of course you want to). The Wolcott amps are capable of producing lots of current and prodigious bass, even with difficult loads like the Magnepan.

While I would not claim to speak of the synergy the wolcott would have with the Genesis line, never having heard it, I was not overwhelmed with the Wilson pairing. Most Wolcott users are panel speaker owners. Before investing (a new pair ain't cheap), I would try to get the amps into YOUR room, with YOUR speakers.

i heard the wolcott amps with a pair of maggie 3.6s. there was nothing diffuxe about the sound.

the presentation was very clear, detailed and fast. the amp sounded like it could have been a solid state design.

i don't see why there would be a problem with cones, but since i have not such a combination i can't offer an opinion.

I have now had the oppotunity to hear the Wolcott with my system, including Genesis V,s. I am not quite ready to do a review of what I heard, yet I am able to report that the result was sufficienty good to have me buy these amps. They are quite special. I would encourage not only ribbon/electrostat owners to seriously consider them. My system is Esoteric P700(modded),Zanden 5000mkii, First Sound Presence mkii, Wolcott P220 mono's(previously the exceptionally good Cello Duet 350) and Genesis V, and 3-way Muratori,s (an exceptional Australian made speaker).

Watt Pups and Quad 63s sounded turbo charged with the Wolcotts...two thumbs way up

I've also heard the Wolcotts with Wilson WATT3/Puppy2. Thought it was one of the best combinations I've been around that included the Wilsons.

Have always longed to hear the Wolcotts with a pair of Merlins, Coincidents, JMlabs, Audio Physics, etc.

I heard Wolcott on Dynaudio Confidence C4 in comparison with Theta Digital Citadel solid state amplifiers. Wolcott sounds amazingly similar to Citadel and both are excellent amps. I don't know if Wolcott sounded more like solid state or Citadel sounding more like tube. Both exhibited excellent tight bass control while providing that airy three dimensional sound. I would give Citadel a more neutral detailed sound while Wolcott sounded warmer and not as detailed. What one like's better is a matter of taste. For me, I preferred the sound of Citadel. By the way, Wolcott is single ended even though it has XLR balanced input. You can tell because switching back and forth revealed that Wolcott had about 6 db less gain than Citadel which is full balanced design. While I think this has nothing to do with sound quality but it does give you the feeling that Citadel can drive speakers to larger volume with dynamics than Wolcott can. In certain situations when speakers are on the cold and analytical side, I would opt for Wolcotts.

My above post indicated that I was using the Wolcott P220 mono with wide band transformer and bias circuit upgrade to drive Magnepan 3.6R.

I can now report that I am very happy using the same Wolcott amps to drive Kharma Ceramique 2.2 loudspeakers, a much more efficient load than the Magnepan. Bass control is excellent, very tight and well extended. The midrange magic that the Kharma is famous for is there in spades too.