Operation 'Grand Slam'

Commenced this afternoon with the full Backing of Colonel Voodoo, all proceeded to plan, and stage one of the mission complete.
A more than satisfactory outcome was achieved and all desired objectives obtained (with Honours) Wm

 

Bring it on !

:gatling:

 

Phase 2 of the mission is a closely guarded secret that only the Colonel is privvy 2, Myself just a mere underling, and carrier of the cheese wire, 3 lbs of semtex and a large black box with a 'w' insigna on it, I know nothing, I just push buttons and abuse Timpy on a not so regular basis these days

 

How does he feel about this?

 

Tone - can we have the non-Enigma encoded version please?

Michael.

 

Ok, skip tally ho

The new wad is making very good progess, and better than first projected (surprising), some new idea's been implemented & crickey they don't arf make a difference Skip

 

How do you know they made a difference? Doesn't seem to have even made it through the door (nevermind onto the rack) before you're MOding it!

 

You see mo, it's like this, for most people a stock wadia is more than suffient, just like a/p speakers are just suffient and no more, some of us wish to expand on it. Having owned an identical model a while ago, I can identify, it strengths and weakness, and know how put them right.
The sound before was not in the same league as now. ,and will continue to improve over the next 7 days, with more interesting additions Wm

 

After all yesterdays shinnanigans, I still managed to complete Phase (sic) 2 of Operation grand slam, Not a big time spend, a mere 2 hours, but I tried something different, with the clock & signal lines, don't know why I didn't think of it before, but it really does some nice things to the sound, more psu tweeks & sheilding techniques, the Wadia is starting to really make some nice sounds now, hopefully next week should see the finial installment on the upgrade front for this project.
Wm

 

Oh, I get it. You're some sort of super being above the mere MOrtals that "most people" buying wadias are

The bit about you've owned an identical MOdel, was all i was after

 

Now Now Mo

You see for some, buying something is just the start, be it a Wadia or an X reg Ford Fiesta. In both cases it goes something like this.

Open her up and look for what's not inside. Cheap Clock? Fit a new one (Cheap stereo- fit a new one with graphic and sub in boot). Cheap PSU? Upgrade it! Even better if you can make something out of raw materials and sticky backed plastic (ergo Cheap seats? Fit some bucket jobs from Halfords prefereably in dayglow blue!).

Cheap power chord? Get a cryo treated triple sheilded unit. Even better make one! (again if the Fiesta has basic exhaust, fit a shiny f**k off bake bean tin on the back)

The list of mods in both cases is endless and can really make the owner proud of his/her acheivement in creating a truly unique product based on a fairly ordinary box. And the veteran tweaker will never stop be it new feet and dampening compounds or those wicked 17" alloys what look like Beemer ones!

Then there are of course those of us who buy something that just lets us listen to music.

 

Nothing wrong with that. I didn't say there was I was only asking if he'd given it much time before doing the MOd's.

 

Time for an update, now things have had time to settle in, further incursions into 850 territory, yeilded more smile factors, further to all the power supply mods, digital reciever chip enhancement, all the 5v rail decoupling caps, main digital rail fitted with custom super regulator, and the opamps in the balanced stages replaced with A/D 8065 and 825's in the single ended stages, and all analogue caps replaced with b/gates o/cons.
A few of the guys heard her a couple of weeks ago, before the above mods, so things have moved on a fair way since their visit, However I'm especialy pleased with the results on this one, and justified my choice in the 850.
Done now for about a month, then the last session at the end of Jan, how does she sound, well quiet simply the most complete all round sound I've had at Wm towers, by a long margin, and again the sound of the first 24 bit players proving to be a force and half to be reckoned with. Tone

 

Firstly, I wanted to thank gracious hosts WM and Timpy for showing us (me and ju2002) the results of 'op grand slam' aka wadia 850/1? mods, and also an insight into the latest omiga cable, the new high end outlander (hope I got that right, Ive necked 2 pints hic!). Not least of all thanks for yummy steak sandwich!

The new Wadia has great body without sacrificing top to bottom detail. Its got the thwack that WM loves, and is almost as revealing as his old CDP combo, but with a little more in the warmth section I feel.

An even greater suprise was the new Omiga analogue interconnect we heard. To fully qualify the scenario, we swapped between an early liberator (I believe) and the top of the range outlander. In WMs SYSTEM the difference was chalk and cheese, and the difference was not subtle. The Outlander was a significant upgrade.

I would describe this cable as highly detailed and powerful with a 'tight' bottom end. In this particular swap, it suited Tonys system far more than the liberator IMO.

If you dont mind spending significant sums on cable, if you already have very very high quality components, and if you are looking for something which is detailed and powerful with a very extended top and tight bass = here it is.

I think you need to get everything right first in terms of components, or you may not hear what its doing, or be buying a cable with the wrong tonal balance for your final choice of components. That said, those in that lucky position already should hear this I feel.

Tone, youd better make a few more mate.

Chris

NB Thanks to Ju2002 for making the trip also,

NNB I only spent 16 in FOPP! quite proud of that... got 4 albums too..

 

Chris I'm Impressed mate , Timpy & me took a Bet on £25 sir, glad you enjoyed you lunch time detour, the cable thing wasn't really planned, however, one thing the cable you like, you listen to last time (honest, it was the prototype at that stage), so it's the cdp thats come on (, what albums did you get BTW. T.

 

ah, you misunderstand me boss, the CDP has definately come on as a certainty.... however the new cable to the liberator is a greater difference (from my memory only) than the old CDP to the new one... it really was ''night and day'' possibly the biggest difference Ive ever heard between 2 interconnects.

Lucky u has both, so big grins I hope!

I got - Fila Brazilia 'jumper leads' ? for 5 on LP
Finlay Quaye 'dunno?' for 1 quid on LP !!! its CLASS aswell. now playing.
stevie wonder 'music of my mind' 5 quid CD
acoustic 3 (compilation of acoustic music, ju2002 reccomendation) 5 quid CD.

Ju came away with 1/2 the shop!!! oww!! but some serious bargains also.

have a great weekend
cheers
chris

 

first of thanks for chris for doing the driving and introducing me to the wonder that is fopp. not a good place for someone with poor impulse control still i got 10 cd's for 59 quid so not too bad (i'm trying to convince myself ok?)
next thanks to tony for the usual high standard of hospitality, i'll second the compliments on the steak sandwich.
quite a lot has changed since i last heard tony's system. not least the meadowlarks now sound like one speaker instead of a badly integrated sub / sat (they 'only' had 100 hours on them when i last heard them!) and he's gone to the 850 and all omiga wires. the new system certainly has the thwack and organics that you'd expect tony to demand in his system but i felt it was a little forward on some (admittedly shoddy) recordings. overall though i could happily live with his system as it stood.
when the other cable was substituted the top end smoothed out (but lost a little detail) and the bottom end again lost a bit of detail but became a lot more fruity and rounded. on balance i think i enjoyed the 'lesser' cable more but agree that the 'better' cable was better - if that makes any sense. ideally i'd have the detail of the 'better' cable with the enjoyment of the lesser - and i believe tony and tim are working on something to achieve this to sit between the 2 cables, i've just got to convince them to whack some din plugs on it
All in all i had a great day out listening to some good music on some top kit. thanks to everyone involved.
cheers


julian