Hi Jonathan,
I have about three to four dozen Sound Lab customers, and most have never had any problems. I have a friend in Las Vegas whose 17 year old Sound Labs still work fine and have never had anything done to them. There have been times in the history of the company when the quality control of the insulation material on the stators (which Sound Lab buys from suppliers) has been inconsistent, resulting in arc-through and requiring repairs. Sound Lab has taken care of every one of my customers who has had a problem.
Many if not most of the problems people have with Sound Labs arise when a used pair is shipped without the proper crating. I'd say over half of the problems I hear about arise from this scenario.
A year or so ago Roger West and a team of chemical engineers developed a new, much more durable insulation material that also has much better dielectric properties. The reason for his undertaking the development of the new insulation material was twofold - first, to improve reliability; and second, to improve efficiency. The new material has been incorporated in Sound Labs produced this year. The result is no insulation breakdowns except for when the speakers were damaged in shipping. The new insulation material also allows an increase in the number of stators and a higher operating voltage, so the efficiency is significantly higher than before (I measured a 9 dB improvement in sensitivity when I changed the cores in an older pair of A-1's).
I'm quite confident the big Thor amps with 8 EL-34's will drive the Sound Labs. That's the output tube complement of the Wolcotts, and Thor does not skimp on output transformers or power supply. And with the higher efficency and more friendly impedance curve of current generation Sound Labs, they can now be driven by a much wider range of amplifiers than before.
So while your cautions may be valid if the customer is purchasing an old pair of Sound Labs, a new-build pair is in several ways a very significantly improved animal.
I have about three to four dozen Sound Lab customers, and most have never had any problems. I have a friend in Las Vegas whose 17 year old Sound Labs still work fine and have never had anything done to them. There have been times in the history of the company when the quality control of the insulation material on the stators (which Sound Lab buys from suppliers) has been inconsistent, resulting in arc-through and requiring repairs. Sound Lab has taken care of every one of my customers who has had a problem.
Many if not most of the problems people have with Sound Labs arise when a used pair is shipped without the proper crating. I'd say over half of the problems I hear about arise from this scenario.
A year or so ago Roger West and a team of chemical engineers developed a new, much more durable insulation material that also has much better dielectric properties. The reason for his undertaking the development of the new insulation material was twofold - first, to improve reliability; and second, to improve efficiency. The new material has been incorporated in Sound Labs produced this year. The result is no insulation breakdowns except for when the speakers were damaged in shipping. The new insulation material also allows an increase in the number of stators and a higher operating voltage, so the efficiency is significantly higher than before (I measured a 9 dB improvement in sensitivity when I changed the cores in an older pair of A-1's).
I'm quite confident the big Thor amps with 8 EL-34's will drive the Sound Labs. That's the output tube complement of the Wolcotts, and Thor does not skimp on output transformers or power supply. And with the higher efficency and more friendly impedance curve of current generation Sound Labs, they can now be driven by a much wider range of amplifiers than before.
So while your cautions may be valid if the customer is purchasing an old pair of Sound Labs, a new-build pair is in several ways a very significantly improved animal.