Where do all the clone projects go?

[blitz1856]

Just curious.....I've read some of the threads on people selling Aleph boards for DIY projects and some of them have been production runs into the hundreds. Doing a search of the classifieds I've seen just a handful of completed projects being sold in the last year. Do people tend to keep all their old projects, even if they move on to a newer one?

Just wondering because I saw an ad on Agon a few weeks ago for an Aleph 30 clone and that got me to doing some research on all the DIY Alpeh projects out there, yet the finished amps seem fairly rare.

Thanks,
Mark

[mpmarino]

Personally, I just leave them laying around so people have something to stub their toe on. Also, it's fun to try and vacuum around them.

Also, it's fun to swap them in and out to hear differences with different speakers, music etc.

I think most of us like to keep the things we love close by

[d to the g]

Most of the time I see that the prices that I'd get for an old project don't even cover the components, much less the work I put into a project. If that's the case, I'd rather keep it.





On the other hand, my wife is pushing me to get things out as we're adding another member here... I can only keep one turntable, and I've moved some of my gear into our son's room. He is going to have a rotel cd/passive pre/gainclone/mission speakers setup for his lullaby system. (I heard that baby's like reggae, which justifies a solid setup in my opinion)

[Magura]

When it comes to the Alep-X clones, most of the boards never turned into actual working amplifiers.
The same goes for most other groub buys of boards for power amplifiers.

People tend to forget that the board is the cheapest and easiest part in most cases, and when they find out that it takes from about 1000UDS and up to build an AX clone or the like, they just leave the boards in the drawer.

Magura

[moe29]

circuits are fun to build and get working... it's the damn case that always does me in. I HATE building cases!

[gearheaddruid]

I have a box I keep smaller old projects in. I sometimes rob ideas/parts from them. I have more amps than I can use but keep building new ones. some day I will probably sell some of them. I now have the ability to machine my own chassis so things have gotten more interesting as far as projects.

[Vix]

Originally posted by moe29
circuits are fun to build and get working... it's the damn case that always does me in. I HATE building cases!

When I did an upgrade from my Zen V3 to V9 I used the same case, same heatsinks and PSU. On the outside, it's the same, but inside, it's a different beast.
It occupies the same space, except that I have a better amp now. And it was much cheaper, too, since most of the hardware was there. On the downside, I can not do A-B comparison, but I don't really care, V9 should be at least 10 times better

Vix

[Babowana]

Originally posted by Vix


When I did an upgrade from my Zen V3 to V9 I used the same case, same heatsinks and PSU. On the outside, it's the same, but inside, it's a different beast.
It occupies the same space, except that I have a better amp now. And it was much cheaper, too, since most of the hardware was there. On the downside, I can not do A-B comparison, but I don't really care, V9 should be at least 10 times better

Vix

I did the similar, from F1 to Babo Zen ^^~
Babo Zen controls my speakers better ^^.

[blitz1856]

Thanks. I figured people probably don't like to part with their own hard work and I can certainly understand the low price issue -- after all the low price I saw on Agon for the Aleph 30 ($500 something) is what got ME interested. I hadn't really considered that a high percentage never get completed but that makes perfect sense.

Well, at any rate, I have an AKSA 100N+, but I'm adding stereo subs with an active crossover and suddenly I'm wondering if a lower powered class A Aleph wouldn't be perfect for just 80hz on up as the AKSA is probably overkill. My speakers are fairly ineffecient Ellis 1801s, but my limited understanding is that the Aleph 3/30 is fairly gutsy for it's modest power rating.

[Tarasque]

I sold a couple of projets in the past. Most of the time the people interested are DIY enthousiasts that hassitate to start a project of magnitude. These are also the persons that recognise that the avarage build quality of diy apms by far exceeds the vast majority of commercial amps. In itself this is not so hard to understand. If you realize that, in order to make profit, the cost base of a commercial amp needs to be about 10% of the consumer selling price.

Sometimes you meet fun people...I sold my mini-A monoblock's to a medical professor. He loved the performance and the finnish and payed over 1000USD for the set. If I calculate the efficiency, I have earned about 2USD per hour...Wow!

Compare that to my normal >100USD/hour salary and you realize there has to be something els...

Yes....It is FUN to put this stuff together and experiment.






PS: Sorry Nelson...I it was not so much fun to build amps myself, I would buy them from you!