Rushton has bought a RADAR to detect members who don't comply with his rules. It's all about shutting down the Willsenton thread that has over 300 pages as its detracting from his paying sponsors. This must be killing him that this amplifier has gained the audience it has, ALL FOR FREE. I hope people keep it up.
Stereonet should be renamed "Willsenton Audio". The brand doesn't even appear in the brands list but doesn't have too. They got 300 or more pages of free plugs and advertising which is unprecedented for a forum that heavily polices self promotion of any local brand.
Ironically there is a review of the Audio Research i/50 integrated valve amp on the same forum which is pretty much a similar product to the Willsenton Audio except it sells for $10k vs $1500 for the Willsenton Audio. For the price Audio Research are charging for the phono preamp option alone you can have one Willsenton Audio integrated amp ! Go figure.
Once the chinese start making these products it then becomes a race to the bottom which is why I am hesitant to get involved at this level anymore and focusing my efforts elsewhere. I have seen it happen with DAC's, preamps, amps, DSP etc
It's too bad that he killed off the local industry by pitting one vendor against another and watching them fall like dominoes. They all but died under his watch and he thought he was on the gravy train with his advertising bureau plugging selected imported brands and now the chinaman is stealing away market share of those brands by stealth and right under his nose too. It's a case of what goes around comes around
cheers
david
