A cheap amplifier!

[SCIDB]

Hi,

A mere snip at £329,000

It's the Wavac SH-833. a 150 Watt Single Ended triode mono blockamplifier.

Interesting looking piece of kit. I wonder what it sounds like. Has anyone heard any Wavac stuff. It's now got UK distribution.

http://www.audioacoustics.co.uk/wavac/power%20amp/wavacsh-833.html

SCIDB

 

[Sheva]

329K ? Is that just for the one ?

 

[SCIDB]

Hi,

I understand the price is for a pair.

SCIDB

 

[cjr]

SCIDB wrote:

Hi,I understand the price is for a pair.

SCIDB

A pair of handcuffs to go with the straitjacket SCIDB.

.

 

[Miller-8]

Hmm, I might wait til they start appearing second hand on eBay.

 

[griffo104]

This amp got reviewed in Stereophile about 18 months ago. I know it weighs something stupid and they had trouble sending it off for the technical measurements as the guys car suspension was in a bit of bother.

The bulk of those boxes are the power supplies from what I can remember of the review, and although it sounded good, as it should for the money, there weren't that many superlatives being thrown around.

 

[rockmeister]

I'd rather have a house, a Ducati on the drive and a pair of audionote monoblocks in the living room for the same money.

 

[rockmeister]

or, you could have 3018 of these

 

[musicbox]

I think I read about it a couple of years ago, and its distortion measurements were unbelievably bad and very strong doubts were cast on its claimed power output.

 

[notaclue]

Come on, fellas, they may be expensive but they are a bargain. Stereophile said so...

"Yes, $350,000 is a great deal of money to pay for a pair of amplifiers. In fact, it's a great deal of money to pay for a luxury car: you could buy an Aston-Martin Vanquish and pocket around 100 grand. It's a fair price for a small summer home, but it won't buy you much, if anything, painted by Picasso

[...]

Yet people pay millions for a Picasso. From that perspective, these $350,000 amplifiers are a bargain"

See? It stands to reason. Anything that costs less than a Picasso painting is a bargain.

 

[TIU]

I'd rather have 32,900 albums.

 

[griffo104]

notaclue wrote:

Come on, fellas, they may be expensive but they are a bargain. Stereophile said so..."Yes, $350,000 is a great deal of money to pay for a pair of amplifiers. In fact, it's a great deal of money to pay for a luxury car: you could buy an Aston-Martin Vanquish and pocket around 100 grand. It's a fair price for a small summer home, but it won't buy you much, if anything, painted by Picasso

[...]

Yet people pay millions for a Picasso. From that perspective, these $350,000 amplifiers are a bargain"

See? It stands to reason. Anything that costs less than a Picasso painting is a bargain.

In relative terms like that he does have a point. People do spend money on those things - although an Aston Martin Vanquish WITH a Linn hifi in it and a few thousand in the pocket does sound tempting....

I have no problems with dumb ass priced objects like this amp - someone must want one, otherwise they wouldn't have made it, and I suppose if they sell 5 of them they'll think it was worth the effort.

We need people to do things like this and if any of the thinking trickles down and improves more affordable gear than it's a good thing.

 

[murray johnson]

Couldn't agree more.

I'll bet there are several beneficial features in many of our cars that were originally tried out in very expensive F1 or similar racing cars. I don't begrudge Ferrari or Renault making those. They'd probably make one for me if I gave them enough money!

I'd just be interested to hearhow good (or not) these are.

There will be customers for them. There are people around for whom a price tag like that is irrelevant. Why they'd buy them is more interesting, for their sound, kudos of ownership, for the looks who knows?

 

[JonR]

griffo104 wrote:

We need people to do things like this and if any of the thinking trickles down and improves more affordable gear than it's a good thing.

Yep, Naim have got something similar going on with the 555 CDP and their new Naimnet range of products. Irrespective of how successful these high-end products are themselves, the knowledge they have gained in designing them should trickle down into their more affordable ranges, making it good news for traditional and budget customers alike.

*** Ducks frantically and runs for cover ***

 

[murray johnson]

Hi Jon,

I think Naim do it the other way round. They start with their basic CD player and then just throw big transformers, caps and a few extra regulated supplies into it. There isn't any new technologyper se. (unless you know differently) I can't see Ferrari incorporating many of the design features of the Fiat Punto into one of their F1 cars butI suppose it might happen.

 

[earl of sodbury]

SCIDB wrote:

Hi,A mere snip at £329,000

notaclue wrote:

...."Yes, $350,000 is a great deal of money...

I note that the Exclusive To HiFi 1:1 dollar to pound conversion rate has, as usual, been employed

:grrr:

:grrr:

 

[meninblack]

earl of sodbury wrote:

SCIDB wrote:

Hi,A mere snip at £329,000

notaclue wrote:

...."Yes, $350,000 is a great deal of money...

I note that the Exclusive To HiFi 1:1 dollar to pound conversion rate has, as usual, been employed 

:grrr:

:grrr:

 

 

Yeah, bastards! If they used a fair exchange rate and charged £195,000 I'd have a set like a shot. £329,000 is just a bit too expensive.