john westlake products info

[smithie]

hi all
im wondering if anyone has info,dates,prices etc on john westlakes up and coming products ie transport,dac,amps etc.
i keep seeing mention of them in posts etc but nothing confirmed.
i did send john a email but alas i got no reply...anyone got any inside info,dates as i dont want to miss the boat when they do become avaliable!
many thanks
smithie

[smithie]

hi
i guess by the no response that for what ever reason these products aint happening.
can anyone give me some ideas on a good sounding transport,either as a kit,or something that responsed well to mods,old or new...just after a decent transport,one that plays cd and cdr.
on another note does anyone know if its possible to tap somewhere in a dac to give me a digital output as i need one to hook up to my cd recorder!
failing that can i add another spidf output on a cd player and just piggyback the connection onto the exisisting output or will that screw the signal up
any help/opinions would be of great help.
all the best
smithie

[JohnW]

Hi Paul,

I'm very sorry that I missed Emailing you a response earlier, I have a hard time to keep track of Emails, and when I'm traveling my Internet connections are sometimes not the best... I’m currently on a REALLY slow CDMA Internet connection.

The products are still very much “happening”, however as the products are being produced in China – everything takes a little longer. By February I will be based full time in China at the production facilities to speed things up.

A positive side to the delays (mainly cased by casework issues), the products have been further developed and improved.

I will Email you a couple of pictures of the first units – the CD transport & Digital amplifier. The CD transport well also Clock-Lock with your ISOmagic DAC.

Hold on to your ISOmagic, as its HDCD digital filter IC can be fitted to the Digital amplifier - as the PMD100 is no longer available, this will be a very limited "Special Edition" option.

With 44.1 & 48 KHz the HDCD PMD100 is still the very best digital filter.

John Westlake

[tubenut]

Hi JW

Are you at liberty to tell us what brand name tag will sit on the face of these new products? Cambridge again?

Is the digital amp you speak of true digital like the TACT Millennium and 2150 and 2175 or an SDA with AD converters on the input?

Regards
Guillaume

[JohnW]

Hi Guillaume,

The amplifier will be fully digital as the TacT - the basic unit will not have Analogue inputs - an ADC board will be available for Legacy inputs at extra cost.

The brand name is being kept "secret" at the moment; until it is fully registered in the major markets - I can say that it will not be Cambridge... unfortunately they did not want to pay the asking price....

It’s possible the products could be launched under another well known band, as I have several potential avenues open. However, these are really “Statement” ground breaking designs, very much as the Pink Triangle Dacapo was 15 year ago - and are very much labors of love. Due to the parts costs (ECL logic etc) the only way they can be sold at a reasonable price is via direct Internet sales – so I’m ruling out standard “Brands”.

From a casework perspective, the brand does not matter much, as the company Logo is CNC Milled into the front panels and can be rapidly changed.

John

[PMA]

Hi John,

are you thinking about hi-res formats?

Regards,
Pavel

[tubenut]

Hi JW

Very exciting. I always really liked your digital stuff for the money.
I really like the Tact stuff so anything in that direction is exciting. Would you look at internet sales from one central point, cutting out dealers and distributors or decentralised, ultimately making the distributors in certain regions the dealers as well?

G

[JohnW]

Hi Pavel,

The Digital amplifier supports all current formats including DSD, the "Input receiver" is contained within the main system FPGA and can be upgraded via a simple software download to any future format - so long as the input stages can handle the Data speed (the Coax inputs are good to at least 100MHz).....

If we don’t speak before, may I wish you and your family a very happy New Year

John

[JohnW]

Hi Guillaume,

I'm very glad you appreciate my designs,

The new products will be initially distributed from central warehousing based in Europe & Hong Kong - I don't have any plans or intention to support the US market.

Due the very high component cost (even when produced in China) - and the desire to sell the products no higher then GBP £495, direct Internet sales route is the only option - the dealer's typical markup of 40% would kill the product.

John

[smithie]

hi john
thanks for all the info.
how many products will there be?
is the dac a amp/dac combo? just trying to work out what the volume knob is on the dac pic and of course the total cost of the whole system.
will these be a limited run or will you produce as long as demand is there!
many thanks
smithie