New record for amp price? $350k!?!?

[WmAx]

Introducing the Wavac SH-833 monoblock amplifer. One pair for the bargain price of $350,000.00 USD:

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/704wavac.1.jpg

http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/704wavac/

Now, is this a record price?

When I noticed this price, It just floored me.

Frankly, for this price I would be expecting solid gold faceplates and my indicator lights made by placing the lights behind very large valuable gem stones such as emeralds(on light) or rubies(for cllipping indiciators). :-)

-Chris

[RGA]

I love the reviewer's rationale

"There's nothing outrageous about spending a million bucks on a painting or a vintage automobile. Nor is there anything wrong with dropping 350 big ones on a pair of amplifiers—as long as you're not robbing banks or selling your sister into slavery to raise the cash. Car buffs and art collectors never complain about astronomical prices, but it seems audiophiles have a big problem with such a genuine luxury good as a $350,000/pair of amplifiers."

Well yes there is something wrong with blowing this money on whether on a stereo or a car - if you're from a socialist perspective - and a big reason people like to hate the Western world with it's gross waste while people are starving to death. But then we're all guilty of it to some extent and what's the point of killing yourself at a job if you get no reward.

It presents a subbjectively good sound but measures less well apparently. Hey it's only money right.

[skeptic]

The Stereophile reviewer Michael Fremer said;

"In the bridge of the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin' " there's a flute solo that, if you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times. Me, I've heard it a million times. Yet when I heard that flute through the SH-833s during one of my many "I wonder what that record sounds like through these amps..." sessions, I was taken by complete surprise. I literally sat up, taking notice of that flute as never before."

"What had always been a thin and familiar-sounding, dismissible shadow of a disconnected flute floating just above the music bed suddenly became a compelling performance by an actual human being standing there blowing air through his lips. The SH-833s reproduced the sound of the flute with more of the tonal, textural, spatial, and presentational cues heard when you hear a flutist performing live."

"That's what the SH-833 did with every instrument or voice it reproduced. It made everything seem more alive, more real, more pure. Was it the truth, or a euphonic coloration? If it truly sounded more alive, more convincing of reality, does it matter? Do you really think that hard, brittle-sounding amplifiers that measure "perfectly" are giving you "the truth"? I can't answer that question."

Well, I guess all of his other amplifiers are just junk. But I'll bet most of them probably cost under say $70,000 to $80,000 so what would you expect? Cheap is cheap, junk is junk. If you won't put out the big bucks, you just have to settle for thin floating flutes in the Mamas and Papas. Which brings up an far more interesting question. What kind of man reviews a $350,000 audio amplifier listening to the Mamas and Papas? This is typical and helps explain why I have such utter contempt for Stereophile Magazine. That's what he's stuck on. That's what he listened to. That's what he chose to write about in his review. Please, somebody send that man a Sony boombox. That's where his musical tastes will meet his equipment needs.

[WmAx]

All this guy really needs for bliss, it seems, is a nice noise-free equalizer. I have not one doubt this is a DBTable amplifier...

Please, feel free to laugh:

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/WAVacFIG01.jpg
Stereophile text: Fig.1 Wavac SH-833, 8 ohm tap, frequency response at 2.83V into (from top to bottom at 80Hz): simulated loudspeaker load, 16 ohms, 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 2 ohms (1dB/vertical div.).

This thing has 5 ohm output impedance on the 8ohm tap!!! Still very bad, but not quiete so, 2.6 on the 4ohm tap.

-Chris



The Stereophile reviewer Michael Fremer said;

"In the bridge of the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin' " there's a flute solo that, if you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times. Me, I've heard it a million times. Yet when I heard that flute through the SH-833s during one of my many "I wonder what that record sounds like through these amps..." sessions, I was taken by complete surprise. I literally sat up, taking notice of that flute as never before."

"What had always been a thin and familiar-sounding, dismissible shadow of a disconnected flute floating just above the music bed suddenly became a compelling performance by an actual human being standing there blowing air through his lips. The SH-833s reproduced the sound of the flute with more of the tonal, textural, spatial, and presentational cues heard when you hear a flutist performing live."

"That's what the SH-833 did with every instrument or voice it reproduced. It made everything seem more alive, more real, more pure. Was it the truth, or a euphonic coloration? If it truly sounded more alive, more convincing of reality, does it matter? Do you really think that hard, brittle-sounding amplifiers that measure "perfectly" are giving you "the truth"? I can't answer that question."

Well, I guess all of his other amplifiers are just junk. But I'll bet most of them probably cost under say $70,000 to $80,000 so what would you expect? Cheap is cheap, junk is junk. If you won't put out the big bucks, you just have to settle for thin floating flutes in the Mamas and Papas. Which brings up an far more interesting question. What kind of man reviews a $350,000 audio amplifier listening to the Mamas and Papas? This is typical and helps explain why I have such utter contempt for Stereophile Magazine. That's what he's stuck on. That's what he listened to. That's what he chose to write about in his review. Please, somebody send that man a Sony boombox. That's where his musical tastes will meet his equipment needs.

[mtrycraft]

I love the reviewer's rationale

"There's nothing outrageous about spending a million bucks on a painting or a vintage automobile.

We agree, once again. Mark it in your book :)
I wonder how much this amp will appreciate in price over the years? :D


Well yes there is something wrong with blowing this money on whether on a stereo or a car - if you're from a socialist perspective - and a big reason people like to hate the

Really? Is this a big reason? One only has to look at those socialist places and see if they don't have such extravagant objects. Palaces, castles, etc.

Western world with it's gross waste while people are starving to death.

They are starving because they just cannot succeed? Or, they are repressed from trying and succeeding? Maby it is the governments at fault there. Oh, yes, perhaps a look at those places too for the exesses of the powerful? You think they live in tents?

But then we're all guilty of it to some extent and what's the point of killing yourself at a job if you get no reward.

Exactly.

[mtrycraft]

All this guy really needs for bliss, it seems, is a nice noise-free equalizer. I have not one doubt this is a DBTable amplifier...

Please, feel free to laugh:

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/WAVacFIG01.jpg
Stereophile text: Fig.1 Wavac SH-833, 8 ohm tap, frequency response at 2.83V into (from top to bottom at 80Hz): simulated loudspeaker load, 16 ohms, 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 2 ohms (1dB/vertical div.).

This thing has 5 ohm output impedance on the 8ohm tap!!! Still very bad, but not quiete so, 2.6 on the 4ohm tap.

-Chris


Looks like you don't need to know anything about EE, just dazzel them with beauty and cost.

[mtrycraft]

Introducing the Wavac SH-833 monoblock amplifer. One pair for the bargain price of $350,000.00 USD:

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/704wavac.1.jpg

http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/704wavac/

Now, is this a record price?

When I noticed this price, It just floored me.

Frankly, for this price I would be expecting solid gold faceplates and my indicator lights made by placing the lights behind very large valuable gem stones such as emeralds(on light) or rubies(for cllipping indiciators). :-)

-Chris

That's an expensive book end:D
Is it collectable?
What can it do besides glow that nice color?

[E-Stat]

Introducing the Wavac SH-833 monoblock amplifer. One pair for the bargain price of $350,000.00 USD:
Although I am a tube fancier, I have never understood the SET thing, much less on this grandiose scale!

rw

[skeptic]

The measurements of this amplifier show that by any conventional methods of evaluating audio amplifier performance, this is one of the worst performing amplifiers I have ever seen. This raises many questions about what audio amplificaton is all about and how we judge the success or failure of audio amplifiers to perform their function. As a purely electrical device for performing a purely electrical function, this amplifier would seem to be clearly a failure. However, the reviewers comments suggest that this unit has a valuable functional use at least for him. We are unfortunately relying on the subjective evaluation of one reviewer (whose opinions in my mind are of highly dubious worth or credibility) connected to one pair of loudspeakers. That the extreme frequency response distortion of this amplifier may compliment the distortion of his loudspeaker system by being to a degree its inverse is entirely possible. Achieving an improvement in this way is of course the most unpredictable, most expensive, and least controllable method possible. It is virtually impossible for me to come to any conclusion based on this review. The performance claimed by the listener is diametrically opposite in the extreme to what the measurements show with only a slight attempt to reconcile them.

The design also points out the extreme design limitationss inherent in the SET type amplifier presumably with no negative feedback. Damping is awful. Frequency response is awful. Distortion is awful. Undistorted maximum power output is very low. Hum and noise are marginal (in comparison to state of the art solid state amplifiers.) And of course cost is astronomical. One thing worth mentioning about the measurements is the technician's concern about the amplifier's electrical stability. He implies that under certain conditions it could go into spontaneous oscillation which would be of course catastrophic.

It was also disappointing that the packaging did not adequately protect the amplfier from damage in shipping, not in one instance but in several. Also, given the very high cost of this amplifier and its unusual nature, its warranty seems unreasonably limited.

[mtrycraft]

. However, the reviewers comments suggest that this unit has a valuable functional use .


Why did I overlooked this possaibility. A paper weight :D