Created in 1995, the Wavac brand remains relatively discreet in Europe due to its niche positioning: that of very high-fidelity tube products. From its relatively extensive catalogue of amplifiers and preamplifiers, we now have the Wavac TA-805m pair of power monoblocks, paired with the Wavac PR-Z1 preamplifier, a pair as incredible for their musical precision as for their outstanding dynamics.
Headed since 2016 by Yasunori Matsuki, the Japanese company based in Yonezawa in Yamagata prefecture, a few kilometres from Fukushima, confidentially manufactures some of the world’s finest amplifiers and preamplifiers every month.
Wavac TA-805m: a pair of monoblocks to celebrate the purchase of Tango
Opened with the MD-805m pair of power blocks, priced at €16,800, the manufacturer’s catalogue has been expanded in 2019 with an improved version, called the TA-805m, priced at €25,800. The result of Wavac’s takeover of the Tango transformer company, the new blocks take advantage of a revised assembly diagram to incorporate two of the brand’s large transformers, which mean that the two tubes around the output tube have to be reworked.
Starting with the master tube, this is, as the model name suggests, a direct-heat 805 triode tube, a very powerful reference capable of developing 50W per channel in class A. For the other two, rather than the 6Y6GT and 12AX7 of the MD-805m, the TA-805m implements a KT88 tetrode from Russia’s Gold Lion on its proprietary interstage circuit, as well as a small 12AT7. Direct or transformer coupling virtually eliminates capacitors in the signal path, with the result that there is no passing interference. Noise is further minimised by a mains input filter followed by a multi-element filter and a direct-coupled filament power supply.
In appearance, the TA-805m leaves the lamps to the fore, integrated into a chassis with a champagne-coloured 10 mm aluminium top plate. They are protected by a glass pane, which can be covered by a grille if you wish to prevent access from above and avoid getting burnt by the tubes when they are hot.
Behind this is a small metal cube and then the two imposing Tango transformers, which partly explain the weight of 28 kg per block. Each part of the TA-805m stands on its own four feet, so its use is reduced to its simplest expression: that of a pure power amplifier for loudspeakers. On the front there’s a large Power button, a triangular gain adjustment knob, and on the back a mains socket, a single RCA input and three speaker terminals, one negative and one positive at 4 ohms, the other at 8 ohms.
Wavac PR-Z1: The ultimate preamplifier
Solidly protected in an aluminium chassis with 10 mm side plates and an even wider front panel, the Wavac PR-Z1 is the result of a rethink of the PR-T1 to offer a preamplifier that is a little less extreme, yet almost as perfect. The main difference with the PR-T1 is that the PR-Z1 is no longer in three, but in two chassis, because while it retains the separate TR-B1 transformer (now in its TR-B1z version), it integrates the power supply directly into its primary chassis, whereas the larger model offsets it with a PS-X2(T) case.
Also only available in champagne, as if Wavac had validated Accuphase’s precepts without question, the PR-Z1 is the perfect companion to the TA-805m blocks, which are built to the same high and ultimate quality by hand. Firmly supported on four aluminium feet, it can be easily dismantled by unscrewing its lower grille, to reveal an airy structure from which the cables are not afraid to show themselves.
Pure double-mono on the preamp side, the architecture integrates two cards on which are embedded two pairs of JJ Electronic ECC-82 tubes, protected by sheaths, while two transformers in metal blocks are dedicated to the XLR inputs and outputs. On the other side of the unit, a power supply card features large capacitors. At the rear, a central socket connects the amplifier to the separate TR-B1z transformer, then two pairs of outputs are used to connect the power units, one via an RCA terminal, the other via a balanced three-pin terminal.
The inputs offer three pairs of RCA and two XLR, optionally convertible into five pairs of RCA, perfectly separated on the left and right sides of the unit. On the front panel, a large potentiometer is located on the right, while three knobs are used to manage the balances and inputs. As an option, next to the large power button, under the green LED, a small LED can be added to enable use of a remote control, reduced to its simplest form: black and rectangular with just two buttons.
The set up
Relatively compact, the Wavac TA-805m and PR-Z1 amp-preamplifier pairing is a masterpiece that deserves to be installed on a top-of-the-range hi-fi cabinet in a room or living room dedicated mainly to music. On its own, it’s easy to use, but the fact that you get much more out of it when the tubes are hot, combined with the fragility of the tubes – a risk if you don’t want to use the grille to cover the glass – means that this 40,000-plus euro system needs to be treated with care.
When you invest in this type of product, it’s not to integrate it into a room that everyone passes through, or to connect a video screen to it, but to be faced with an ultimate music transcription system, with the same approach as when you enter a concert hall to enjoy a concert.
For our listening session, we were unable to collect the three units plus the preamplifier transformer, so we listened to them in the only place we could find them in Paris: Concert Home. Firstly on EgglestonWorks Kiva and TAD Evolution 1-TX loudspeakers, the preamplifier, which is almost new and therefore not yet perfectly broken in, has already produced an extraordinary sound. But to confirm its characteristics, we listened to it again two weeks later, this time on Eggleston Works Emma Evo and ATC SCM100 PSLT.
Each time, whether using a B.Audio source or an Auralic Altair G2.1 (very good but eight times less expensive than the pair tested), the results showed the ultimate level to which the Japanese manufacturer could bring us.
The sound
With the Engström amplifiers (Lars blocks, see VUmètre no. 42; Arne amp, see VUmètre no. 46) and Jadis (I300 amp, see VUmètre no. 45), we recently put the spotlight back on a number of 300B tube-equipped devices and reminded you of the splendour of the triode in the aeration and warmth of the sound. With the Wavac TA-805m, these characteristics are undoubtedly present again, but the most striking features, this time thanks to the 805 tube, are first and foremost the power and dynamics!
As soon as we tried the first track, a Diana Krall reference, which is our usual test track, the singer took to the stage with a sublime presence, incredible naturalness and absolutely perfect note-holding. So we found all the whispering that is possible to hear, but even more refined and lively than we knew.
To get the Kiva into our ears, we had already plugged in the Accuphase E800, whose beauty and restrained power of 50 W per channel created by transistors, with work against noise and distortion at reference levels, we know. But with the Wavac, admittedly three times more expensive, the immediate impression of having won over every possible component bursts forth in a matter of seconds. The enormous dynamic range of the blocks, also 50 W per channel in pure Class A, instantly unfolds the most vivid music, from Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ to ‘Dies Irae’ from Verdi’s Requiem.
Added to this is a perfectly accurate soundstage, with no quest for anything other than realism, perfect placement of all components and instruments, and amplified width with the loudspeakers most capable of creating depth, led by ATC. Never hampered by the power of any of the associated large columns, the pair of TA-805m develop, thanks to the PR-Z1 preamplifier, timbres of the utmost realism, full of nuance and colour, with a palette of harmonics limited quite simply by our own auditory capacities.
The guitars and basses are played as if we were right next to them, superior to the sound available in most concert halls, here enveloping to give the impression of an all-encompassing image, even though it comes from just two points facing us. The breathing of the orchestras on the large symphonic masses allows the silences to be understood at ultimate levels, for example in Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony by Mravinsky (Melodiya), or in Sibelius’s 4th by Kurt Sanderling (Berlin Classic).
The hyper-expressive music benefits from a splendid foundation, always present to provide total fulfilment. The attacks are almost too blunt, visibly more brutal than on the models from the 833 triode brand, but with a tension that can’t fail to impress with every bow or timpani stroke, as well as being perfectly suited to rap, R&B and electronic music.
Our conclusion
The life of a hi-fi tester brings many wonderful discoveries, sometimes for a few hundred euros, sometimes for several thousand. But when it comes to the ultimate, despite the untouchable nature of these products for a significant proportion of music lovers, we have to admit that we remain fascinated by the reproduction capabilities that humans have achieved. We’ve had these impressions recently with Linn or CH Precision sources, or with the models mentioned in this article; now they’re coming to us with Wavac amplification, a real discovery from a Japanese manufacturer as discreet as it is marvellous.
With all the constraints inherent in tubes, the first of which is waiting for the equipment to warm up, the TA-805m monophonic blocks and the associated PR-Z1 preamplifier form an impressive pair of realism and perfection, which makes it easy to understand why some people are prepared to spend the price of a nice car on a high-fidelity system. Sublime in their warmth, dynamics and purity of texture, the Wavacs offer the ultimate package for enjoying every second of music.
Author: Vincent Guillemin
Technical sheet: Wavac TA-805m
- Origin: Japan
- Price : €25,800 (the pair)
- Dimensions : 260 X 280 X 460 mm
- Weight : 28 kg
- Analogue input: 1 x RCA
- Power : 50 W per channel
Technical sheet: Wavac PR-Z1
- Price : €17,900
- Dimensions : 460 x 95 x 483 mm
- Weight : 17 kg
- Power consumption : 60 W
- Signal-to-noise ratio: >95 dB
- Frequency response: 10 Hz-80 kHz
- Harmonic distortion (THD) : > 0.5% (5 V)
- Intermodulation: < 0.01 % (19 kHz+20 kHz)
- Impedance :
- Inputs: 75 kilo-ohms (RCA & XLR)
- Outputs: 10 kilo-ohms (RCA & XLR)
- Analogue inputs: 3 RCA; 2 XLR (5 RCA optional)
