Handwound: Buyer Beware!!!

[EWBrown]

I have been waiting over ten weeks since hamdwoundtransformers greedily took my money. Still no transformers, and they just ignore my e-mail inquiries. So, I have had to turn it up a notch or two, and send them a rather strongly worded warning, that if I do not have the transformers in hand on May 27th (which will be three whole months), that not only will be posting very negative feedback, I will also be lodging a formal complaint with e-bay, and will be contacting the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General. They choose to ignore me, and play games, I will be playing hardball. :x :x :x :x :x

So, buyer beware!!!!! Stick with trusted and honest suppliers lihe Hammond, from Angela Instruments or AES. At least they DO deliver, in a timely manner.

/ed B in NH

[Shannon Parks]

I had high hopes a year ago when Handwound came around. I just de-linked him.
He coulda been a contenda - instead he's a pretenda.

Shannon

[EWBrown]

I had found HWT while doing an e-bay search for "Dynaco" even before finding this great site, so I fell into the trap blindly. I did finally get a response, just yet another "promise" that he will ship them out "this week". For about the sixth time.... Yuh....

I looked into rec.audio.tube and found a few threads about HWT, and most were not very positive, from complaints of long shipping delays, poor quality product, and at least one poster thought that these allegedly "handwound" transformers came from some sweat-shop in China, as the construction quality was poor, the use of sub standard wire, and non-standard colors, and that his power transformers buzzed like "a Norelco shaver on a really bad beard". And that what was ordered was often not what one (eventually) received.

I also found this site while doing an E-bay "Dynaco" search a few weeks later. If only the other sellers were so fast and responsive, and had such quality items!


/ed B in NH

[DG]

With all the pressure this joker is under .... and i'm reading about it "everywhere" .... I hate to say it, but if product does ever arrive, ones got to seriously wonder about it's quality now. The guy obvioulsy can't even come near to handling the orders. Has no right to offer them on ebay without being able to deliver immediately ..... let alone offering then anywhere and not even coming close to his promise times. I'd just be worried that either he is frantically slapping these things together by this point or farming them out to who knows who to build for him ....... arrggghhhh .... what a debacle. I'm truly sorry some of y'all got caught up in it. I feel for you, honestly!!!

[EWBrown]

I see from some recent feedbacks, that HWT actually CAN deliver in a very timely manner, some Dynaco replacement output and power transformers were delivered in just two days. Maybe that is all he can supply, and the others are being "queued up" until he gets a large enough order for the alleged sweatshop in Asia to grind them out...

He has until May 27th to deliver, else I am going to become his worst nightmare, the customer from hell...

/ed B in NH

[EWBrown]

After I dropped HWT the "MOAB" of all e-mails, I finally may have gotten some results. He says they were shipped out May 22, and even gave me a UPS tracking number. I guess the squeaky wheel does get the oil, after all... :twisted:
But then the fat lady hasn't sung yet, or even entered the stage. :shock:
Stay tuned, we'll see if it was worth the wait and all the hassle.
From now on, it's Angela Instruments or AES for all my orders, no more nocturnal aviation outfits.
These xfmrs will undergo all sorts of severe testing before being connected to a DIY35 board, that's for darnsure.... One can't be too careful. :?: :!: :?:

/ed B in NH

[EWBrown]

WEll, they *FINALLY* arrived.... Actually look fairly decent and well built. The proof of the pudding will be how they perform.

I also had two SE outputs and a power transformer "pending" for about 4 weeks, they all arrived in one big well packaged box via UPS ground.

So I guess I can't whinge too much about the other xfmrs, they arrived within the advertised time frame.

One other bidder got his Dynaco power and two OPTs in just 2 days, so i know they can do it.

Mounting appears to be 2" X 2 1/4" otherwise similar to Hammond 1650Fs.

The SE OPTs are HUGE, about 10 or 11 pounds each. 10K primary, Sec tapped for 4, 8 and 16 ohms. These ought to beat the heck out of the little OPTs I have been using on my SV83 SE amps. They will definitely be overkill for these relatively low power units, later they will get dedicated to somethingf with 845s or 211s, once i get it figured out and glom onto some of these - I have one possible source nearby.

/ed B in very rainy, cloudy and coolish NH

[Shannon Parks]

Ed,
Let me know how you like them once you give them a listen.
BTW, if your stereo 35 ends up sounding trashy, I'm just gonna blame your transformers. JUST JOKING!! :D :D :D

Shannon

[EWBrown]

THe SE trannies from HWT work very well with the SV83 "Decware" circuit, though they are definitely overkill for this lower level of power.

They are larger and a lot heavier than the Hammond 272FX power trannie.

The original Decware OPTs are fairly small, will fit inside the 10*6*2 chassis, 9300 ohm primary, 6 ohm secondary. THese giants are 10K primary, 4 / 8 / 16 sec, I set them up for 8 ohms, they are louder and
fuller sounding. But then they are rated at 25W using 211s or 845s,
not weeny wittle SV83s.

The first "35" is using Hammond 1650s, the next will use the HWTs, will be interesting to do a side-by-each (as they say around here) comparison.

/ed B in NH

[Martin]

I'm looking forward to the result of the comparison.

[cdatubes]

Hello Shannon!
I have just built the ST-35 clone and it sounds fantastic!
One feature I really like is the separate bias for each tube.

HWT is a company I will never use again,
I purchased a pair of ST-70 replacement transformers just for back up and after waiting over 4 months I realize now that I will never receive them.
I did purchase 2 power transformers last year as I wanted a more stabilized power supply for my 2 ST-70's.
It took a month apart for them to go down and just quit.
Although they look great, The quality aspects are indeed lacking. :?

From now on AES, Uncle Ned or Angela Instruments for my Transformer
needs in the future.

I am looking forward to seeing your new projects and will purchase another set soon.
Thanks again Shannon!
You are a class act!
Best Regards
David

[EWBrown]

I finally got the 25W HWTs on a DIY-35, and they are excellent sounding, at least as good as the Z-565s and Hammonds. I have yet to do a simultaneous side-by-side comparison, but I am fully pleased with them.

Now if only they would get their thumb out and get that shipping and delivery down to a reasonable time frame.
I notice that they no longer have an E-bay presence, but their site is still active and updated regularly. The listed prices are favorable as compared to Hammond at both AES and Angela. THe E-bay prices were often significantly lower, especially near the end of their E-bay career. :?

/ed B in NH

[Ty_Bower]

Does anyone have any photos of these Handwound transformers? It seems the company has been dead long enough, but I'm worried there might still be a pair of their transformers floating around eBay. I don't want to accidently step in one.

[TerrySmith]

Usually the end covers were painted a grey hammertone, that would be a first clue.

As slow as that guy was, there can't be that many of them out there. And at such a high failure rate, 50 to 75% are dead by now!

[Shannon Parks]

I wonder if anyone ever built his electrostatic speakers?