Continuation... OK, so one of my old time favorite buds was able to make it by last night, Henry. Of course I had told him of the WOPL! He has been collecting for many years longer than I and has a pretty damn sharp ear. He would not call himself an audiophile but believe me he is. He is very, very picky about how he believes a system should sound. He has a 1000 at least pieces of equipment in storage and a dedicated building for nothing but listening and keeps walls of thousands of LP's in there temperature controlled. He has another room in his house with nothing but audio set up in that room. Yes, that's an audiophile is you ask me. He is not all that equipment brand picky. He does not care what brand name it is so much or how much it costs. He wants the sound he is looking and will not put up with a piece of gear that he thinks should sound a certain way and does not that's for sure! So, I let him sit down in the perfect seat right between the speakers and told him run the show. Play anything you want. He is also quite the skeptical person I want to add that. He has to hear it for himself. I watched his face as he went through song after song. LP's, CD's, FLAC and MP3 files. He started off with a grin because he really liked the look of the amplifier with the black face and silver underneath with the LED's. I had soon give a shit if an amplifier has meters or flashing LED's myself in fact I find them somewhat distracting some times I even cover them (not so far on the WOPL) so I do not have all that going on while I listen. He loves the big meter amplifiers. (He just went day before yesterday to Normans up in Atlanta and picked up his Macintosh MC-2205 from a complete restoration. New filters and all. 1000.00 restore and he bought all the parts and brought them up there with him. ) He kept listening and listening, for hours. Song after song his grin became the biggest smile I ever saw. So, when it was about time for the evening to end I asked. Well, what do you think about it? He said the same exact things that my other friend and I said... Black background. Its totally quiet. Not a picky amp at all. Plays perfectly at low or high volume. Its not one of those amplifiers that you have to play certain recordings on or it sounds like shit. All recordings sound great. Sounds that you really could not make out in the background are now musical instruments. Cymbals sound like cymbals, toms sound like toms. He told me that he never knew that James Taylor had two Cello's playing in the background of one of his songs. Said he never heard them before. Always sounded like noise back there but could not make out what instrument it was. JP my other Hi Fi friend verified that and he is a trained musician. Said that the music sounded more realistic, like the performance was in the room. Not so much like a recording. Last comments were. " I think I am going to sell the Macintosh. Why have a rebuilt amplifier when you can have one of these that's brand new and sounds like this. " He was thoroughly convinced that the WOPL was the best amplifier he had ever heard. Now it's not just me, but two other audiophiles have listened to the amplifier and all say the same. This was on Christmas day mind you. A Festivus we definatley had. I guess now that under my breath I have to say that I am an audiophile. Listening on Christmas day with the other guys was as important as celebrating Christmas with our family! Of course it was after family dinners and all. Anyone who has one has to admit it. May be its not a dirty word after all?
