A great new owner for World Designs

[bikerhifinut]

I'd just go for a blank front panel, happy with the switch on the rear. Can't see the need for a potentiometer on the input of a power amp.

Originally Posted by bob orbell

Hello to our new owner of WD, first thanks to Dave for saving WD and welcome Matthew.
Matthew, over the past ten years or so, I have built many WAD kits and even more WD kits, I still have many in my collection in constant use.
This is a sugestion to make the kits (in my opinion) better and more professional, power amps, and integrated amps, lets have a power switch on the front, remove the volume control from the front panel on power amps and have a small hole in the top with a plastic bung and fit pot under the hole, adjust with small screw driver.
Pre Phono Psu, all need more fixings to back panel to stop the panel from flexing when connecting and disconnecting.
I did all these things to my kit at the assembly stage and fell it is worth it.
Best of luck BOB

[pre65]

Rear switch is probably better wiring wise.

[vinylspinner]

Blank front plate for the WD88 would be brilliant, been after one for ages, good idea about the extra screws in the pre3 / phono 3, too flexible when removing tight phono plugs, I modded mine as well.


Nigel

[BOONDI]

Originally Posted by pre65

Rear switch is probably better wiring wise.

IEC Switch combined with fuse and IEC connector.

All in one SEE !

Cost about £12 per unit in singles.

Much cheaper in multiples....

Only one hole to drill in the back panel tooooo

:p

[pre65]

Any updates yet ?

"Many things will happen in the next month or so, probably one of the first will be a fantastic sale of all of the audiophile capacitors, the like of which you will never have seen before, or see again. The offer will be quantity and time limited, so be sure to watch out for it."

[BOONDI]

Tell me more good sir if you please... links for instance????



P.S. I saw those connectors with power and fuse and switch all in one for £12GBP and they are now in stock at rapid components....

I am having two of them for a couple of custom headphone amps based on the WDHD3 v3 circuit boards.

I thought about buying a dozen or so and going it alone but buying through WD and etc.

I notice that WD no longer seems to exist and am not sure about this project anymore....

Never mind there are plenty of other buisnesses out there that will help me....

Shame I love my WD stuff but if it is no longer a going concern then neither is my idea.....

Hmmm now gonna check out rapid to buy them......

Shame WD did not order a shed load and sell them at £15 posted each, they could double the initial outlay very quickly by this type of sale....

Same with OS con caps, which are no longer being made....

I suggest that WD buy a few thousand and store them so that when the become unobtainium WD will still have backup stocks.

Same with all the parts. Don't just sell them as kits, sell the public all the kit parts at a sensibel price and you are set for the future.

When you get a new amp or etc then make all the spares available as well. Don't just offer a john kit build service, have a parts dept and spares supplies in a big shed somewhere that can go about filling the cheap orders and parts and a base to demo the fully built kits...

Remeber quality parts supplied at a reasonable price is where it is at, as these parts are designed to last.

This makes the retail value on second had items a much better proposition and leads to a desire to upgradeitis....

A role that should be considered is the upgrade path, as this too supports the sales of custom parts.......more money for WD.....

Therefore WD should offer a basic kit, an upgrade kit and a Smokin all out modded kit with about £200 of difference between the top and bottom rung of tyhe upgrade path.... and the path starting about £550 or so....another way to look at it is this..... what the bits cost plus 20% for profit..... Thats a good bottom line to start with.

If a secondhand model is purchesed for about 200 to £300 then the cost of spares to upgrade it should cost about £100 to bring it up to the first upgraded kit specification and about £200 -300 dependant on the designs to turn it into a killer.

This will be best served to the public as the official WD upgrade path put together by the amp gurus that are on the scene.....

[NickG]

I would look at this sort of thing instead of £12 worth

http://www.rapidonline.com/sku/Cable.../66201/23-3238

All your points about the future make perfect sense, and did probably 7 years ago as well. But the suggested directions you talk about are already populated by companies that have occupied and settled into that space. WAD used to work in conjunction with HiFi World, so that the mag provided advertising and funneled potential customers towards WAD. Audio Note have the same idea with their kits, but they use the brand name Peter Q has built up to mean they are not dependant on any one source of advertising to push people towards them. IMHO the other group of people who would historically buy from WAD were those that wanted a high quality amp, but didn't want to pay £3k to Conrad Johnson or similar. The flood of cheap kit from the far east has taken up that market at prices that are untouchable by a company with UK based costs. Ok the quality of some of the imports is variable, but the price is unmatchable. I think the the biggest killer is that when you look at the work and investment needed to produce a amp kit, get the build documented to a level that most can built it, pack and sell the kits, and then provide support and hand holding. The extra cost of producing it as a kit is MORE than it would cost to just build the thing and sell it ready made.

Sorry if thats all negative, I go back a long while with WAD, and I wish I could see a way it could flourish, but I personally can't, and the only asset it use to have was this forum, and that seems (despite the best efforts of folk like Richard and John who have stuck with the place through thick and thin) to be being pushed into a death spiral now.

I used to post here 10 years ago, it was a good community, it created a lot of good feeling and I have met a lot of good friends because of it, but the basis of that community was having new folk come to the place, buy the kits build them, ask for help, talk about upgrades, and the place worked well. Then the first change in ownership happened, and the first thing that happend was the introduction of new kits dried up, it didnt stop altogether, but there was clearly an attempt to sell cheaper kit for the same price. That then started to fail, then another change of ownership happened, and that seemd to try and add a high level of control and professional standards to the products, but in doing so, removed many of the reasons for building them in the first and took the forum furter out of the loop ironically by providing a better back up service, so the folk on the forum were less involved in helping new folk out, so the forum was sidelined. Next to no new products were introduced in that time, despite much talk and prototypes. I think possibly because the the owner didnt believe in the "its good enough, lets let folk build it and see how it goes" ideal it had in the WAD days, it was more about building a brand, but I think in that process, the sprit was lost. Then that was gone, Dave came in, and kept the place going, but I don't think he has/had the time to devote to the place, and the bottom line of making it at leat break even still wasnt any simpiler. Now we have another change in ownership coming. I do rearly want this to work, and I want it to succeed, but I can't see anyway of it making any money or even breaking even. In which case all that is left is the forum, but without the kits the forum needs to find another reason to exist, and I can't see any signs of that, if anything the possibility of the kits being commercially produced are holding the forum back because the forum is being forced into being a PR arm of the kits to come.

Long ramble, sorry, but its nothing I wouldn't and havent say directly to folk about how I feel about WAD/WD's past and future.

[colin.hepburn]

Yep I would also like to see WD rolling again
I will most likely get hung by the other members here for suggesting this but solid-state runs way I do remember some voting for a WAD SS Class a Amps so couldn’t WD consider adding this to the product list as I remember WAD did have a 45watt I think SS Class a Amp what about a DAC or ss preamps as a tick over product

[Richard]

Good comment Nick and I largely agree but am a little more hopeful.

In any business, if you do the job as well as the competition you will get a proportional slice of the pie. If you do it better you will get more and vice versa. Otherwise we'd have no new businesses, but it can be difficult and I'd liken WD to a small shop trying to compete against Tesco, there may be a niche.

The forum itself costs very little to run as you know and has existed now for quite a while simply for the members, anyone passing by, or with old WAD/WD gear. Great benefits are its small size, local membership, and politeness, albeit a bit eccentric sometimes That means I can log on and recognise folk and meet a steady stream of new folk without getting lost in the size and complexity of many of the international bbs. There's always someone passing here who will help.

Of the future, I think Dave hopes to promote it in HiFi World and aims to keep it family-friendly. He has had it over a year remember and it's only of late that the rules thing has come to a head with a couple of incidents which I hope are behind us and those concerned are back on board. The rules aren't perfect or even correct, we can all see that, but they are an attempt at levelling the playing field and giving some pointers if need be. I imagine they'll get clarified/ammended from time to time. To almost all the regulars they will make no difference whatsoever

[NickG]

In any business, if you do the job as well as the competition you will get a proportional slice of the pie. If you do it better you will get more and vice versa. Otherwise we'd have no new businesses, but it can be difficult and I'd liken WD to a small shop trying to compete against Tesco, there may be a niche.

I am not saying its not possible to set up a company in the UK to design, sell and support DIY hifi, and I agree there is a customer base out there that would buy such a service. What I am saying is that I don't think its possible to do all that AND make a profit.

To do what you suggest, sell against Tesco, you have to offer something Tesco doesn't. I don't know what that would be in this case. Others with more innovation may well do so, and I wish them luck, but I don't think its happened here since the original WAD split.