[rajacat]

I may be the brooding type but a couple of days ago my neighbor gave me some Heathkit W-5M monoblocks which immediately livened up my day. Hmmm....should I attempt to rebuild, mod or sell them? Does anybody here have experience with these vintage amps? They have the reknowned Peerless W-5M trannys and a nice open enclosure which would make them easy to work on.

--Roy

For some reason I'm having trouble uploading some of the photos.

[TheChairGuy]

They probably sound delicious, man 

Do they not work now to get at least a hint of them?  My audio brooding days mostly left when I traded an interconnect for some vintage Bell 6V6 monoblocks (only 10 watts), and prior to that got my first tube amps, a similar-aged Dukane (6CD6) 50 watt mono's.  If they sound at least half-allright now, saggy caps and all, they'll probably knock your socks off gussied up.

This was my reaction to the Dukane's.  My solid state monblock amps were on the selling block within a week of getting the Dukies - with no regret ever since.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=26640.0

I don't know where you live, but a very nice gentleman in Tacoma, WA, an AC member, is working on my Bell's now.  His work is impeccable, communication crisp, and price very, very reasonable to perk up those vintage babies. I don't know if he's looking for any more work (he has a day job that pays the bills) 

John / I'm not-at-all Bill O'Reilly / TheChairGuy 

[rajacat]

John,

If you could give me the Tacoma guy's email address or phone #  it would be appreciated. I live about 50 miles north of Tacoma in that liberal stronghold .... Port Townsend.

--Thanks,

Roy

[TheChairGuy]

RajaRoy,

PM sent to ya' there in Port Townsend  Cool coincidence that your so close.

I just looked up where you are - you are a bit remote, man, but I see almost straight shot down to Tacoma (as straight as any of your roads are from Port Townsend).  No wonder you're brooding...is there any sun ever there ?

John / USSSF / United Soviet Socialist State of San Francisco 

[Lyndon]

Roy,
You are one lucky guy to have received those Heathkits.

Here is a link to Sheldon Stokes who rebuilt his and writes about them.

http://quadesl.com/schematics.html

You have to look down all the vintage gear listed on the left, and you will see them.

Below is quoting from his website:

The Heath W-5M is a mono amplifier which is an implementation of the classic Williamson design. It uses a pair of 12AU7's in the driver section and a pair of KT-66 output tubes. The Power supply uses a 5R4 rectifier tube. This amplifier is a very good sounding unit. This is due to a number of factors. First, the power supply is very robust, with a large inductor and lots of capacitance. Second, the Williamson design is a solid performing topology. Third, the output transformer, made by peerless, is phenomenal. This amplifier like the others listed on this page, is a unique and very enjoyable unit which should provide years of audio enjoyment. As such, this amplifier deserves to be preserved. I designed a capacitor board which replaces the can capacitors and the extra axial electrolytic capacitors in the power supply.

[rajacat]

Hi Lydon,

Thanks for the link. That cap board would make it a lot easier for an amateur like me to refurbish these vintage monoblocks. I bet that they would be an excellent match for my single driver speakers.

--Roy

[RuSsMaN]

Delicious amplifiers.  I've had more than a handful, most recently a pair that I had completely rebuilt for a friend of mine serving overseas right now.  He can't wait to get back and listen to his Quads again on that vintage iron.

A lot of people like the W4's and the dual chassis W3's.  The W6 I never cared for, and the W7's are uber rare to find in any useable condition (and at an attainable price).  The W5 is where it's at.

Congrats!

Cheers,
Russ

[nodiak]

Congrats rajacat, those are nice! Look simpler than a 222c to work on for sure. Bet you can get them going. I went through Port Townsend awhile back - lots of wooden boats! Went up Hoh valley trail to Blue glacier, hung out with the mountain goats, great trip.
Don

[JohnR]

Gave them to you?! Wow, that is awesome. You owe it to yourself (and him!) to get them going in a nice little system

[rotcoddam]

These are great amps to rebuild. I use a pair for my primary system. Best mod I did to them was use Solen poly caps in the power supply insead of all the electrolytics. They're huge caps, but they did fit inside. I changed about every part inside and out. New rca's, binding posts, iec for power, fuseholder, coupling caps, the list goes on.  Well worth restoring.

[mihilli]

John,

If you could give me the Tacoma guy's email address or phone #  it would be appreciated. I live about 50 miles north of Tacoma in that liberal stronghold .... Port Townsend.

--Thanks,

Roy

Port Townsend aye?  I went to a blues guitar camp up there a couple years ago and then went to the Blues Festival afterwards.  Nice little town and beautiful country.  I did have a bit of a smile, lots of tye dye, ponytails (male), etc., I fit right in    Hope to get back there again sometime.

[rajacat]

John,

If you could give me the Tacoma guy's email address or phone #  it would be appreciated. I live about 50 miles north of Tacoma in that liberal stronghold .... Port Townsend.

--Thanks,

Roy

Port Townsend aye?  I went to a blues guitar camp up there a couple years ago and then went to the Blues Festival afterwards.  Nice little town and beautiful country.  I did have a bit of a smile, lots of tye dye, ponytails (male), etc., I fit right in    Hope to get back there again sometime.

Yeah, Port Townsend is like a big little town with lots happening year around. The place really thick with musicians and along with the Blues festival there is a Jazz Festival, a huge fiddle tunes gathering, quite a few local music venues and even a music store that has a nice vinyl selection. The Film Festival ended last week with Eliot Gould the guest of honor. All of these events are within easy walking distance of my house.

---Roy

[Listens2tubes]

They should sound incredible. What mods are you looking at?

[SET Man]

Hey!

    Wow! You sure got a very nice neighbor!  These pair look like they are in minty condition.... what a beauties!

    Yes, you should get it restored. You'll be surprised of what these old beauties could do 

Take care,
Buddy

[rajacat]

I'm considering a pair of these Sheldon capacitor boards http://quadesl.com/refurb/refurb_heathW5M.html. They have a good reputation and would make it easier for a neophyte like me to do the refurbishing by myself. It will be a good Winter project. My neighbor also gave me a Dynaco Stereo 70 too but I think that these monoblocks are more interesting.

[ab0ez]

Very, very nice amps.  With modern R/C components they will compete with any new production amps well into the kilo-buck range.  I can highly recommend the Sheldon Stokes cap boards.  The other route available is to replace the original caps with similar value high end caps and really make them sing.  I would love to hear your amps on my Altec A7's, my K-horns or my Cornwalls. 

[GMuffley]

Some of the best output transformers known to man are sitting on the W-5s.