Wadia RECENT developments

egidius

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Feb 13, 2011
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..well that's exactly what I want to find out!!
Here is what Wadiabias writes on the parallel thread why Wadia:
Here is a reason not to buy Wadia. Wadia has been shut down as of Dec 15th. We were called in and terminated except for skeleton crew.

Fine Sounds has decided to move Wadia to Minnesota. The entire staff except for 1 has been let go.

I have posted in the Wadia Forum a polite question for a statement. As a customer I believe our interest lies as much in the products as in the people making them. I actually think that's where "the best" comes in.
 

ack

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May 6, 2010
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I believe this in reference to a recent change of owner, who's allegedly moving production out of Michigan...
 

mep

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Is there anyone left at Wadia from the original company or is it just a name that ia being sold?
 

Roysen

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From what I have learned Wadia has hired Jim Kinnie as their head technitian. He used to have the same position from the original company. Wadia has also appointed a new CEO from 3M. The old CEO John Schaefer has been moved up to the board of the owner company (who also owns Sonus Faber and Audio Research). Wadia will now share facilities with Audio Research.
 

JackD201

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More consolidations. I wonder how this will affect the dealership structures.
 

mep

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From what I have learned Wadia has hired Jim Kinnie as their head technitian. He used to have the same position from the original company. Wadia has also appointed a new CEO from 3M. The old CEO John Schaefer has been moved up to the board of the owner company (who also owns Sonus Faber and Audio Research). Wadia will now share facilities with Audio Research.

Yeah, but who is designing their circuits and coding the software?
 

Roysen

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As I wrote, they have hired Jim Kinnie as the head technical honcho. He used to have that position when Wadia started up too. He is the one behind the Digimaster filter among other things. Steve Huntley from GNSC praises Kinnie very highly.
 

Roysen

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Does anyone know if it is business as usual at Wadia now or if they are not ready after their move yet.
 

Emre Üçöz

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As far as I heard they will come with new products and designs and everything will be build in Audio Research facility. Somehow we will see synergies between AR and Wadia products I suppose.
 

krell_man

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I was at Wadia yesterday morning . . .

I live about 5 hours from Wadia's current location in Saline, Michigan. I have one of the early S7i players that have the old current conveyors, the current ones are supposed to be noticeably better and currently available as an upgrade option for those who have the older players.

I drove up this weekend so that I could take my S7i in to have the current conveyors switched out. It was much easier and safer than sending it to them, and it was a nice three day trip for my wife and me. Sunday we drove up to Kid Rock's hometown in Clarkson and ate at the Union Wood Shop that Kid Rock took Guy Fieri to on the TV show "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives". They buy and process the meat onsight, and it was ones one the best meals my wife and I have ever had.

I arrived at Wadia Monday morning at 7:00 with my S7i, and met with Brett, who started working on my S7i right away. About eight o'clock everyone else came in, including John Schaffer. I'd originally met John at the Detroit Audio Fest two or three years ago.

I spent the morning with all of them, and everyone one was extremely nice and helpful as Brett and one of his fellow servicemen swapped out my current conveyors and serviced my player. They thoroughly went through my S7i to make sure that everything was just right. It is one of the first S7i players sold, so they wanted to make sure that it was still performing to the original specs, which it was.

John told me that the current conveyor upgrade would be immediately obvious when I put it back in my system. He said that he was surprised that I hadn't gotten them sooner since they are a very good upgrade. I told him that I hadn't even heard about them until the post by Cathealer on Audiogon when Egidius and Inpieces mentioned them. John said that Wadia wasn't really promoting or pushing them, but he thought that word of mouth was spreading the word. The current conveyor upgrade, if you have an older S7i the original current conveyors, is $600.00 ($300.00 each) plus labor.

I didn't put the S7i back in my system last night when we got home because it was too late. The five hour drive was tiring with the road construction going on now that the weather is nice. I set it up this morning and turned it on. I'll sit down and listen to it tonight after work.

As far as your original question: where is Wadia right now? Wadia has been relocated to Minnesota for almost all functions including production of new products and back office support. They are still retaining the facility in Saline for some service work, and for some of their engineering needs. The building in Saline, Michigan is for sale, and some are still there right now like I stated. No one said when they'd all be moving permanently, and I didn't think to ask since I was there with my S7i and enjoying my time with everyone.

Chuck
 
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egidius

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how many s7i do we need? Many!!

I live about 5 hours from Wadia's current location in Saline, Michigan. I have one of the early S7i players that have the old current conveyors, the current ones are supposed to be noticeably better and currently available as an upgrade option for those who have the older players.

thanks for your report..
Indeed, I have noticed the difference immediately! A great player noticably better, who'd have believed it.
But what I find curious, sorry to ask: Do you really own two S7i? I'd thought you had one completely modded to the ultimate by Peter Israelson? :confused::b
 

krell_man

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Egidius,

The Ultimate is not literally the ultimate. Peter took it way beyond anything that anyone, as far as I know, has taken the S7i. But, as Wadia said, it would be hard to really upgrade the 9 series because of the physical size constraints of the four chassis.

Peter built a 40 pound outboard power supply, which allowed him to get the transformers out from behind the transport and also removed a lot of RFI/EMI interference from the rest of the components in the chassis.

He then proceeded to replace or add items to the existing circuit boards to achieve the sound that he wanted. But again, he was limited to the existing placement of the circuit boards and the physical size of the chassis. He said that he could take the S7i quite a bit further, but it would require a 3 inch extension to raise the height of the chassis. So, in the overall scheme of the upgrade, the upgrade of the current conveyors were not needed to achieve what and where Peter wanted to go with it.

Your question is indeed a good question, the answer is another question, did the new current conveyors add enough to either the stock S7i or the upgraded S7i that they should have also been changed out or were the original ones enough? Wadia actually had to place spacers on the circuit board in order to lift the right current conveyor up enough to clear Peter's upgrades, and then place a strip of foam on the top of it because it was touching the top plate of the chassis.

But the new current conveyors are a good upgrade that I highly recommend to anyone who has an older 381i or S7i. Am I able to hear more of the new current conveyors effects because of the rest of my upgrades, or am I hearing the same improvement that you are hearing? I don't know.

Send me an email at charlesadavisjr@msn.com when you get a minute.

Chuck
 
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egidius

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Egidius,


But the new current conveyors are a good upgrade that I highly recommend to anyone who has an older 381i or S7i. Am I able to hear more of the new current conveyors effects because of the rest of my upgrades, or am I hearing the same improvement that you are hearing? I don't know.


Chuck

I completely agree - to be honest, it is for me a decision based on reason (surly not ;) ), that I think a Wadia S7i should be enough. Within this reasoning i recommend having the SC upgrade done!
 

MarinJim

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Feb 2, 2011
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I have a S7i build date of 6/2011. Is that considered a newer or older build date?
 

krell_man

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Dec 16, 2011
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It's been over a month since Brett originally told me, but I think that he said that the Swift Current current conveyors are in any S7i built from Jan. 2010 on.

I have posted a picture of the old current conveyors on my system page on Audiogon for anyone who questions which ones they have. My name is also "Krell_Man" on Audiogon. I didn't take any pictures of the Swift Current current conveyors, but they're drastically different looking. They stand about an inch tall and their legs look like the tall and thin legs on a crane.

Chuck
 
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MarinJim

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^ Thanks Chuck.
 

krell_man

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I just opened up my S7i and saw that the date that it was manufactured was March 2010. So, it appears that the date that Brett told me was all S7i players made from Jan. 2011 on have the Swift Current current conveyors, not Jan. 2010 that I thought that I remembered.

It's easy to pull the lid off and check for yourself to be sure though.

Chuck
 

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