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So I bought the Willsenton R-800i

After I bought the Klipsch Cornwall IVs recently it became apparent quite quickly that to make it really shine it needs a tube amp to drive it. (For me at least.) After doing some (=endless) research, considering the options (budget, shops nearby carrying models I´m interested in, etc.) and also asking around on this very forum I decided to go for the Willsenton R-800i. None of my friends here shares my excitement for audio stuff or even has a comparable system, so what´s now in my living room is the one tube amp I know. And I´m delighted. Together with the speakers it gives the music the presence and glow that I so desired.

Of course I can tell that there´s more potential in this amp and I already exchanged some of the stock tubes. There are more on the way and I can´t wait to test them. For now my financial means are a bit limited so I´m not ordering Western Electric and Takatsuki 300Bs just for the sake of comparing them. In fact I´m waiting with those a bit and go for the others first.

Searching online I find a lot of information on English language forums. Somehow tube rolling is not discussed as much on the German forums I checked though – and out of curiosity (and because they were pretty cheap) I went for both West- and East-German ECC83s and a fairly random mix of other tubes from the US and the Soviet Union. I´m waiting for them to arrive and not being able to read about some of them it raises my curiosity how they will sound. Maybe crappy, maybe not so bad, maybe even very good. I´ll see. Tube rolling will take some time and I don´t mind. The amp is there to stay for quite a while.

There´s an exhaustive thread on the Willsenton amps and fitting tubes here but since I found people´s comments on this forum so helpful I´m looking forward to hear from you. I´m open for tube recommendations and would like to hear anyone´s experience with the Willsenton R-800i. Or maybe someone has questions?

As for the tubes:

805 – stock replaced for Cossor
300B – stock
6SN7 – stock replaced for Sylvania GTBs, waiting for Fonon NOS (Soviet, 1979, a bargain for 10€)
12AX7 – stock replaced with current Mullard model, waiting for West German ones from AEG and Telefunken, East German ones from RSD and Funkwerk Erfurt (both used) and also Sylvania JAN 5751 NOS (a military model)
5U4G – stock, waiting for RCA NOS black plate and Svetlana NOS „Coke Bottle“

chmaiwald

Showing 2 responses by atlvalet

atlvalet
46 posts
 

My previous post about my "unbiasable" R800i: https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2493681

So, in searching for someone who can update my Audio Research LS-5 mkiii, I have also found someone who can take a look at my r800i...Scott Frankland...who came highly recommended by a member here who has an LS-5 and said Scott worked some magic on his unit: https://scottfrankland.com/

I have pinged Skunkie a few times, but she’s not fond of either the weight or the 1000V. So, off to Scott it goes (in January). He’ll be upgrading any resistors and/or caps that need it and giving it a full go through. I’ve also alerted him to the issues Skunkie pointed out with the R8 (which I have currently sitting in as a replacement for the R800i) in case there are any commonalities.

Once I get it back, I’m probably selling the R8. It has upgraded Russian PIO caps...but I’m in a slightly smaller space. If I sell the R8, my Bluesound N130 w/Teddy Pardo LPS, and my Gustard X26 Pro (along with a few Hafler DH500 amps I’ve lost interest in modding), I can upgrade to a used HiFi Rose 150B, which I’ve had my eye on for a bit. I’ll assume the DAC in the 150B is at least comparable to the Gustard. This gets me a better piece of kit to pair with my R800i, which I like better than the R8 (even though I really like the R8). But the R800i makes the ProAcs magical, whereas the R8 is simply great.

I’ll probably pick up one of the newer R8’s at some point down the road, but my urge to get the R800i fixed and upgrade to the 150B basically trumps everything else.

atlvalet
46 posts
 

@jbhiller wrote:

"I wonder if the 800 has the same design issue as the R8--Skunkie Designs found that it was missing a resistor on the bias pots.  If the pot wiper gets sticky or otherwise malfunctions, it could let full bias hit the tube and blow it.  

This is giving me incentive to flip my 100lb beast over and open her up to have a look.  I have been lazy. I don't want to lift it and I'm not motivated to find my little tool I use to bleed volts off of the capacitors before poking around."


So, I have an R800i in my office system and I just realized a channel was out. One of the Gold Lion 300B's (right channel) went bad. Put the Willsenton stock 300B's in and went to adjust the bias and...wow...both channels are super high. In fact, the left channel won't go below where the Dolby symbol is. I am assuming that's above 120ma. (I used to be able to adjust them to where the "0" is).

Could this be that pesky resistor/bias pot issue? I've reached out to China HiFi for advice.

Also, has anyone opened one of these up to look at cap upgrades, etc? I'm the kinda person who wants to do everything as long as someone is in there.

Also, I live in a mid-sized city and have no idea if the techs are any good here. Anyone have a reco? Willing to ship the amp.

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