700B WOPL Audition List

[jbeckva]

I think you can go to five, but be a lil mindful is all.

 

[Elite-ist]

Nice picture there, Ron. I've seen many pictures of that great Pioneer turntable of yours, but it may have been some time since I've seen a full-frontal of the rest of your system.

There seems to be a general consensus amongst members who compare the Phase Linear 400 to the WOPL 700 B, that most prefer the stereo imaging and tonal qualities of the 400 at less than 90 dB volume, then love how the WOPL 700 B reacts in the upper threshold of power delivery, where the tight control of lower and mid frequencies can give that realism of the "live experience."

Nando.

 

[Northwinds]

Nice picture there, Ron. I've seen many pictures of that great Pioneer turntable of yours, but it may have been some time since I've seen a full-frontal of the rest of your system.

There seems to be a general consensus amongst members who compare the Phase Linear 400 to the WOPL 700 B, that most prefer the stereo imaging and tonal qualities of the 400 at less than 90 dB volume, then love how the WOPL 700 B reacts in the upper threshold of power delivery, where the tight control of lower and mid frequencies can give that realism of the "live experience."

Nando.

Thanks Nando, I appreciate the kind words. My system looks like shit compared to your beauties but it does the job. I do see I have some fingerprints to clean up LOL and one of these days, put the slider back on the DSS-100. Someday I hope to have beautiful system again

 

[pennysdad]

My 2 Bob's worth on fuses.

Fuses on tweeters….. OK.
Fuses on anything else…. FORGET IT!

Why?

…. because, some people go to a lot of trouble and expense with speaker cables, (of course I don't), and then they stick this tiny teeny weeny bit of wire in series, and it makes folly of using 'super-cables' to start with.
Tweeters are almost made of the same wire that a fuse is, and so, the gauge of the wire/fuse is appropriate.
But the mids and woofs are a whole new ball game and like to suck power within the means and capabilities of 'standard' 32 gauge-ish figure 8 flex or similar. Once you reduce that to a fuse wire then all is for nought!

Think of it as a 2" water pipe reduced to a 1/4" water pipe (the fuse), then joined back up to a 2" water pipe. It just doesn't work!

…. or something like that.
Never really good with words this early in the day after I've popped my 'pill', but I hope you's get wot I mean.

 

[Skynyrd77]

You running fastblo's Jer? I think 4A is the limit for these 300w E-712's. The D9's with a 400w rating can handle a little more amperage me thinks. Sally trips the internals fairly frequently but never blew the main speaker fuse. Then again, I never just took the preamp volume knob and hammered like I just did

Porn shot, Sally is PISSED at me LOL. Sorry, I can't take glamour shots like Nando can with this lighting, you just get to see the meat and potatoes below

Jason, I scraped some of your DNA off the amp and am in the process of cloning you in the garage

I always leave my mark lmao. So I guess now there will be a couple of me needing WOPL 's!!!!

 

[BubbaH]

My 2 Bob's worth on fuses.

Fuses on tweeters….. OK.
Fuses on anything else…. FORGET IT!

Why?

…. because, some people go to a lot of trouble and expense with speaker cables, (of course I don't), and then they stick this tiny teeny weeny bit of wire in series, and it makes folly of using 'super-cables' to start with.
Tweeters are almost made of the same wire that a fuse is, and so, the gauge of the wire/fuse is appropriate.
But the mids and woofs are a whole new ball game and like to suck power within the means and capabilities of 'standard' 32 gauge-ish figure 8 flex or similar. Once you reduce that to a fuse wire then all is for nought!

Think of it as a 2" water pipe reduced to a 1/4" water pipe (the fuse), then joined back up to a 2" water pipe. It just doesn't work!

…. or something like that.
Never really good with words this early in the day after I've popped my 'pill', but I hope you's get wot I mean.

I have never fused my speakers. I always had a thought similar to what you described. Plus I knew I would be changing fuses all the time. The OM for the 1801 suggests fusing. My Yorkville speakers have light up crossovers, and a circuit breaker. When they are being driven too hard they light up, and if that isnt indication enough they trip if you keep going on them.

 

[pennysdad]

My Yorkville speakers have light up crossovers, and a circuit breaker. When they are being driven too hard they light up, and if that isnt indication enough they trip if you keep going on them.

If I recall correctly, the Bose 802 had light globes in them that lit up just after you blew the drivers clean out of their sockets….
I think it was supposed to be the other way round, but it just never quite worked out that way.

 

[BubbaH]

If I recall correctly, the Bose 802 had light globes in them that lit up just after you blew the drivers clean out of their sockets….
I think it was supposed to be the other way round, but it just never quite worked out that way.

Hahaha, didnt know the 802's had those. Never tried a pair of 802's but always wanted to. Its been a few years since I've had it to levels that light up the crossovers.

 

[Northwinds]

If I recall correctly, the Bose 802 had light globes in them that lit up just after you blew the drivers clean out of their sockets….
I think it was supposed to be the other way round, but it just never quite worked out that way.

I remember seeing flashes of light through the screens in the old 201 and 301 bookshelfs also

 

[Northwinds]

More thoughts on the 700B

It has been bugging me for days why I keep blowing fuses only in the right speaker. Finally figured the amp has uneven output between channels. When I got this, I immediately cranked both sides to the max on the amp. For a couple days, I've noticed the meters don't seem to be in synch so I decided to run the amp channels at half and that's when I figured out the deal with the right channel having a lot more output then the left. I have to turn the right channel back about a quarter back even further to balance the channels. You will never get to experience what this amp will do evenly with the channels maxed out. I am surprised that others who had the amp did not notice this anomaly

This is my only nitpick so far, great sounding amp, I want one and I would be quite happy with this specific one if possible someday

 

[Gibsonian]

Could it be your preamp is not driving the amp evenly?

Have you tried running it in direct mode (no gain pots)?

 

[Northwinds]

Could it be your preamp is not driving the amp evenly?

Have you tried running it in direct mode (no gain pots)?

My preamp is a Carver and it runs the 400s evenly. What do you mean direct? If you mean the direct switch, it looks like it might be bypassed. No volume unless you turn up the gain knobs. Maybe just a potentiator anomoly? Just turned everything down and tried again, same deal, about a 1/2" turn on the knobs difference brings the sound even and I am not blowing a fuse at same level as before. Again, not a big deal, I LOVE this amp, Sally has been sitting idle

 

[Gibsonian]

Yes, meant direct as in bypassing pots via direct switch. Odd it's been bypassed. I would've bypassed the pots and the switch.

Must be as you thought, one channel stronger than the other.

 

[Northwinds]

This is really a great sounding amp as it it, the FC upgrade must be pretty sick indeed. I don't think this poor thing has been shutoff since I hooked it up LMAO

I am about to open up the windows and do some yardwork with some Iron Maiden cranking

 

[Pure_Brew]

When I got the amp, I used a test CD with some pink noise to set the gains levels, so the meters were identical. I did not pay any attention to whether the gain knobs were actually the same after that. I believe they were about at 3:00. I may have turned them down before I shipped-can't remember. I also never touched the switch on the back of the amp.

i could have checked channel levels with an spl meter but everything sounded fine/centered to me.

 

[Northwinds]

I did not pay any attention to whether the gain knobs were actually the same after that. I believe they were about at 3:00. I may have turned them down before I shipped-can't remember. I also never touched the switch on the back of the amp.

i could have checked channel levels with an spl meter but everything sounded fine/centered to me.

When I got it, the right channel knob was turned back a little from the left. When I hooked it up, I maxed the gain knobs. I did not really notice this until fuses started blowing in the right speaker at very high volume, thats when I started studying the meters and discovered the right channel was slightly louder then the left

 

[laatsch55]

Surprised you can't hear it, open your window LOL

ANYWAY...

Trying to compare the 400 to the 700B is sort of fruitless. I could go through the corksniffer approach and test different speakers and music sources but in the end it will come down to this

I give the nod to the 400 just barely for overall sweetness of sound and soundstage so far but I think that is the FC talking there. The 700B has the headroom in it's favor indeed as well as what I believe to hear is a slightly fuller bottomend. It also has twice the power so no competition there. With the FC setup, it will shine just as bright as the FC 400s in sound as Lee has already raved about. I love them both, best damn amps on the planet

This amp just whispered to me that she likes it here and wants to stay, she's tired of being shipped around like a mailorder bride and she digs dudes with longhair that play Explorer's and drink Dr Pepper

She learned that from the Pig-------don't trust her, she'll jus break your heart...

 

[laatsch55]

Yes, meant direct as in bypassing pots via direct switch. Odd it's been bypassed. I would've bypassed the pots and the switch.

Must be as you thought, one channel stronger than the other.

No, one channel is not stronger than the other. One channel may be suffering from a pot or other connectivity problem.

Ron, post a pic of the back, can't remember if I gutted the direct/normal swirch on that one or not.

 

[laatsch55]

Yo!!

 

[Rex Everything]

I must be old school or summin as I just turned the gain knobs on the amp all the way up and let my pre amp do the work.....