Howard, how on Earth, am I to talk about technical details when I am criticized for product identity, cost, ease of repair, personal attitude,...? I would LOVE to discuss circuit details, in general, but I can't even get started.
I must say that I don't like to release the complete circuits of my own personal products, such as the CTC Blowtorch or the Vendetta Research SCP-2. I just don't want CLONES of my design made by others, and trust me, there have been attempts.
This goes back more than 30 years ago, when I made my first master recorder for Mobile Fidelity. They wanted the schematics too, and threatened to sue me, IF I did not release them. Later, I found that they wanted to CLONE the design, and so it goes.
I must say that I don't like to release the complete circuits of my own personal products, such as the CTC Blowtorch or the Vendetta Research SCP-2. I just don't want CLONES of my design made by others, and trust me, there have been attempts.
This goes back more than 30 years ago, when I made my first master recorder for Mobile Fidelity. They wanted the schematics too, and threatened to sue me, IF I did not release them. Later, I found that they wanted to CLONE the design, and so it goes.
Once upon a time I saw an ad in Sound and Video Contractor magazine (SV&C) in which a guy advertised his expensive speaker wire. Of course he didn't pretend that it worked any better than what contractors ordinarily use, his sales pitch was based on the fact that it was what a contractor's high end customers expect to see based on what they buy for their own sound systems at home.
Professional sound system contractors supply equipment that must offer top level performance, reliability, servicability, availability and good value for money. This is why they stick with names like Crown, QSC, and JBL. When Bryston bids a job, you can be sure they take a sharp pencil and will compete head to head against the others. They know that when they bid to professional sound engineers, they're in a market that cannot be easily fooled. Commercial amplifiers are often just minor variants or essentially identical to what the same manufacturers offer audiophiles. The packaging may be slightly different so that audiophiles who see them won't feel they were cheated by what they bought at high end salons for their own use. BTW, I am not in that business in case you are guessing although there are times when I'm on projects where these systems are parts of a larger project. I have dealt on occasion with the A/V consultants, system integrators, and equipment vendors.
First of all you still have to trust in somebodys ears finally as it is still a subjective evaluation, even in a controlled test.
BTW, as we are in fact only rejecting the "null hypothesis" due to the statistical criterion, we still have to show that no other effect was the reason for the result, to be able to establish the alternative hypothesis, which means that there is a audible (sound quality) difference existing.
That´s why negative controls are so important.
The ITU-BS.1116 mentioned for example especially switching clicks or pops as a possible confounder; these clicks and pops or other artefacts are a constant nightmare in controlled audio tests.
And, the test data available shows that listeners do not per se listen better or more reliable in a controlled test.
Obviously there are a lot more bias mechanism at work beside the "peeking bias" which can lead to false perception/answers.
It seems that training under test conditions does reduce the influence of these other bias mechanism which raises the question if the "peeking bias" could be really the only bias that can´t be controlled, even after/with extended training.
I for one have no problem with your personality or your preamplifier. If you can sell these things and make a profit on them based on advertising alone, more power to you. Lots of things made money that way, pet rocks for example. As for your preamplifiers, I don't even understand them although it's not for lack of trying. Where I come from, engineers must explain and defend their designs not only to their customers but often to their customers' engineers before anyone invests money developing their ideas or buys their products. That doesn't appear to be the case in this market, at least the high end consumer segment of it.
As was pointed out in someone's posting some pages ago, the real acid test of this type of equipment is not A against B but A against A shunted. I have no idea how your designs would stack up in this test or against the competition in this kind of test but I'll bet in blind testing, there are many other ideas that would do very well, some of them far less expensive and far more practical.
Soundminded, 'Some minds are too full, to learn more.' This is your problem.
Your opinions are different from mine, yet you persist on coming here and 'doing my inventory' as if you were an independent 'expert' in audio design, and custom product development.
Please, SM, for everyone's sake, settle down with an inexpensive IC based design and pursue your dream, whatever it is. It is CERTAINLY not 2 channel hi end stereo, that I do for a living, yet you lump it in with sound contractors, etc. By the way, MANY of my amps are used by the same sound contractors. Why is this? Are they crazy? Perhaps the amps have been designed and adapted for this job? Why don't you look up the Parasound A-21 and A-23 power amps and see for yourself?
Your opinions are different from mine, yet you persist on coming here and 'doing my inventory' as if you were an independent 'expert' in audio design, and custom product development.
Please, SM, for everyone's sake, settle down with an inexpensive IC based design and pursue your dream, whatever it is. It is CERTAINLY not 2 channel hi end stereo, that I do for a living, yet you lump it in with sound contractors, etc. By the way, MANY of my amps are used by the same sound contractors. Why is this? Are they crazy? Perhaps the amps have been designed and adapted for this job? Why don't you look up the Parasound A-21 and A-23 power amps and see for yourself?
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I feel your pain, once I moderated a listserve for the WXYC staff to address their technical issues. Without getting into details, let me just say it turned into an inefficient and sad way to communicate, so I dropped it and went back to individual personal emails. I am no psychologist, but some people are different on a public forum than they are in person. Some lose any useful point by being pedantic, some just vent. I just ignore all but the technical stuff myself, I have enough intrigue in my personal life.
I for one prefer that you do not give out complete circuit details. I may just be more lazy than others, but when given a complete solution, I have no drive to figure it out for myself. DIY spans a wide range, from kit builders (people who want the schematic and a PCB) to others who want to discuss arcane details of, oh I dunno, JFET circuit design. I thought this particular forum was the latter. Just talk about what you want to, and let the rest fall where it may...
Howard Hoyt
CE - WXYC-FM 89.3
UNC Chapel Hill
www.wxyc.org
1st on the Internet
I feel your pain, once I moderated a listserve for the WXYC staff to address their technical issues. Without getting into details, let me just say it turned into an inefficient and sad way to communicate, so I dropped it and went back to individual personal emails. I am no psychologist, but some people are different on a public forum than they are in person. Some lose any useful point by being pedantic, some just vent. I just ignore all but the technical stuff myself, I have enough intrigue in my personal life.
I for one prefer that you do not give out complete circuit details. I may just be more lazy than others, but when given a complete solution, I have no drive to figure it out for myself. DIY spans a wide range, from kit builders (people who want the schematic and a PCB) to others who want to discuss arcane details of, oh I dunno, JFET circuit design. I thought this particular forum was the latter. Just talk about what you want to, and let the rest fall where it may...
Howard Hoyt
CE - WXYC-FM 89.3
UNC Chapel Hill
www.wxyc.org
1st on the Internet
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So 99.999% are idiots ?? There is a "middle ground" , many superb preamp circuits abound , some use IC's - some discrete. I have both a parasound p/HP850 AND a HCA800 to tinker with , curious to see the "JC influence" with the designs.They are above the typical OEM's in quality at first look.
DON'T pick on the 5532 !!!
I see NE5532's everywhere in my commercial "pro" equiptment , from the chinese junk up to the vintage QSC's ... they last .... but I would not use them in my preamp.
Now , you won't even find a decent op-amp ...everything ,including the op-amp is integrated into the DSP IC followed by 2 SMD transistors as OP. (like the typical "audiophile" sound card).
OS
I don't quite understand your excessive negative stand.
And what if someone can or will have it fixed, does that alter anything for you ?
How many Violet J72/J109/K147/K389, All-Black or Green/Black J79/K216, Roederstein Resistas, Holcos, RelCaps, or Signal DST's would you like me to show you to justify a change of opinion?
(Mr Curl, it take that as Mr Crump single-handedly assembled the No2 to No37)
Look Ma, even the powersupply case is name tagged =>
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"By the way, MANY of my amps are used by the same sound contractors. Why is this? Are they crazy? Perhaps the amps have been designed and adapted for this job?"
Unless those contractors' customers were audiophiles buying for their own personal use, I'll bet those Parasound units were "priced to sell." Corporate America (and other corporations too) doesn't waste money on buying and building stuff at unnecessarily high cost because that money could better be spent on exec bonuses who will use it for their own private indulgances...such as expensive sports cars, mistresses, and....high end audio equipment for their own use.
So you didn't include lightning protection in your preamp. How could you have overlooked such a vital detail as that?
I'll bet in China they could crank these out like cookies for a hundred a pop if they thought there was a market for it.
Actually the process is too boutique, more likely they would rebrand J310's and J177's at .6 cents each and sell them for $2.
Not quite, which shows your lack of perspective and understanding of what is IN MAKING a Blowtorch. You might as well say that they could make a Bentley for $2500. A bit off, unless you are someone so isolated from reality that you cannot understand or respect the cost of quality. Of course, for $100, Steve Eddy might give you a passive design, almost as good in function as a CTC Blowtorch. Go for it! We might call it the Steve Eddy passive CTC Blowtorch replacement thread.
John, i have the greatest respect for your Vendetta and Blowtorch designs and whould not try to solder on them without your advice and permission. To clarify my situation, i have not had any of your designs in my lab but i get sometimes requests if i can repair stuff like that or if i know somebody that does that. Why the customers do not contact the manufacturer directly ( like you ) i do not know. JJ contacted me and told me that he whould sell the Blowtorch someday because of the obsolete Fets. I then asked him to contact you if i could help in case of repair. I thought it whould be stupid to sell a Blowtorch out of this reason.
Typically we would deal with no contractor that would not release full documentation, they are expected to have all IP patented on their own. We once had someone offer to "improve" a critical test head except we had to agree to keep it a black box and promise not to peek (or try to repair!). He was politely shown the door.
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There are much worse, have you looked up the 1 piece price of a 3.3GHz quad core Pentium?
The process is now virtually obsolete and high speed SOI bipolar processes have gotten to the point where the performance can be had by brute force gain bandwidth. So what, we move on. The audio community might not believe in these basic principles but some industries move forward and some don't.
I'm working on ultra-low power heath care monitoring now (xDSL margins have eroded to an appalling level), we are not getting any younger. I might save your life yet.
BTW, not me, but we have a 1uA three axis gyro for pacemakers, "I fell down and...."
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Joachim, JJ is ALWAYS changing his stuff, and he WILL sell the CTC sooner or later. He is a VERY difficult customer, watch out.
Scott, I could NOT even get the beta peak or a curve of the beta of the npn transistor in the output stage of your AD797 from YOU. Company secret, I think, so YOU make me laugh out loud!
When a designer sells a specific design that includes intellectual innovation, he knows that it is subject to 'reverse engineering' by others. Why do you think that MARK LEVINSON potted the JC-1 and JC-2 modules? For fun? NO, to keep you and others from easily getting at it. Scott, you told me yourself how you 'spy' on other designs by removing the case and looking. Remember the Raytheon 5534?
I keep MY intellectual knowledge intact by NOT publishing schematics of my very best custom designs, until the design cycle is complete, or to give payback for not getting a royalty from their production.
It is true that legally, I had to ultimately produce a schematic for Mobile Fidelity, BUT I would have fixed the unit personally, IF anything went wrong. Nothing went wrong, they just 'faked' a problem so that they could get the schematic for free. And so it goes.
However, everyone who is over 21 years old looking in on this website, do you notice the 'high moral standard' taken by some here, criticizing me and my business practices?
Anyone out there with some REAL business experiences want to vent them here?
Scott, I could NOT even get the beta peak or a curve of the beta of the npn transistor in the output stage of your AD797 from YOU. Company secret, I think, so YOU make me laugh out loud!
When a designer sells a specific design that includes intellectual innovation, he knows that it is subject to 'reverse engineering' by others. Why do you think that MARK LEVINSON potted the JC-1 and JC-2 modules? For fun? NO, to keep you and others from easily getting at it. Scott, you told me yourself how you 'spy' on other designs by removing the case and looking. Remember the Raytheon 5534?
I keep MY intellectual knowledge intact by NOT publishing schematics of my very best custom designs, until the design cycle is complete, or to give payback for not getting a royalty from their production.
It is true that legally, I had to ultimately produce a schematic for Mobile Fidelity, BUT I would have fixed the unit personally, IF anything went wrong. Nothing went wrong, they just 'faked' a problem so that they could get the schematic for free. And so it goes.
However, everyone who is over 21 years old looking in on this website, do you notice the 'high moral standard' taken by some here, criticizing me and my business practices?
Anyone out there with some REAL business experiences want to vent them here?
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Sure have. My business has been a partnership for the past year or so.
So you were reimbursed later?
If so, then why did you say "I personally had to pay for the airfare (about $1100) to and from Singapore as well as airport costs, each way" instead of what your share of the cost was?
Trusting customers in what respect? You mean trust a customer to cough up $600 for shipping charges after the unit had already been repaired and sent back to them?
Sorry, no, I would not trust customers to do that.
What has that to do with anything?
You were lamenting that the CTC "lifetime" warranty cost you "many thousands of dollars" to honor.
Well, the first example where Bob forgot the screws was an example of honoring the warranty. But that didn't cost you "many thousands of dollars."
The second example wasn't an honoring of the warranty in my opinion, unless your warranty said "We'll repair your CTC product and replace other damaged equipment even if the cause of that damage was some other manufacturer's defective or poorly designed product."
If it did, or even if it didn't but you paid for it all anyway, then all I can say is that I'm damn glad I don't have your "business experience." I wouldn't be able to stay in business very long. But then, neither did CTC.
I guess it wouldn't be from a team that apparently didn't have a quarterback at all.
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