The sound was rather noisy and the imaging was messy and rather veiled. Bass was bloated and could not dive as long as it could. A lot of steps had been taken and it brought significant improvements. Still, there were something wrong with the setup. It did not sound that "high end" considering the price paid for the system (>U$200K we think).
Since the Wavac PRT1 never had its' tubes changed, we decided to give it a try. The stock unit were unknown until we opened up the unit. It was JJ. We ordered a batch of Siemes E82CC, long plate, triple mica NOS, matched quads and gave it a go.
The changes in sound is just substantial - deeper and more natural bass, veil is removed, soundstage deepens, tonnes of details revealed, vocals are warmer, clarity improved significantly. Now it sounds like a U$200K system.
After this change, the improvement was so significant that owner asked if we can upgrade the tubes and components inside Wavac PRT1 as well as his Wavac 300B and 805 power amplifiers! Well, that's for another time. We still have his EL84 push-pull power amplifier to complete and other customers' projects to finish before we can come back to his amplifiers again.
Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:
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| Chassis milled from a solid block of aluminum |
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| Some red wine to add flavors to the sound |
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| Internal of Wavac PRT1 |
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| Tango Output Transformers (we think) is used at output stage |
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| A bunch of JJ ECC82 are retired. |
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| JJ ECC82 tube |
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| Tube covers |
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| Tubes rolling. |
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| Siemens E82CC inserted |
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| Observing the components used in Wavac PRT1 |
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| Capacitors used in Wavac PRT1 - certainly we have lots of room for improvements! |
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| Input transformers (we guess, cannot see inside) for Wavac PRT1 (botom left) |
On top of the tube roll, we've brought a secret weapon along too - a pair of J&K super-interconnects (RM1.2K a pair).
- improved signal-to-noise ratio and interference rejection
- high frequency shielding
- shielding at bents (soft shield)
- optimized cable capacitance and inductance, matched pair
- meant for high speed transmission
- extreme flexible body
- multi-core cabling technology
This cable performed so well that 2nd pair were ordered to connect from Wavac PRT1 to Wavac EC300B and Wavac MD-805MK-II power amplifier to biamp his Acapella Campanile speakers, in replacement of his super expensive interconnects that cost many times over this J&K interconnect.
J&K Audio Design
6/7/2015
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