Then don't you say a word to someone choosing Styrofoam to make chassis because it's the craftsman/designer and not the material, ok?
Trouble? There is no trouble. If someone recommends or not recommend something, it's a trouble?
It's fairly obvious, that you haven't got the slightest clue about working with tube amps. When building it, testing it, modifying it and ...etc, sparks and things toasting is not unheard of.
Are you sure? Don't you think you should wait longer to pass such judgment?
Ease of production.... ok. That acrylic resins impregnation of wood sounds like a good way to dimensionally stabilize wood. I wonder how easy it is. I think I'll try that in my backyard tomorrow.
Your reply to me about getting the facts right was after I posted this:
Do you see a mention of "wood is a hassle", "that wood has no benefits over metal', "wood doesn't conduct heat" in that post?Talk would suffice as far as the choice of chassis material goes. Wood is combustible, prone to drying and cracking when subjected to heat (repeated on & off), it doesn't transfer heat much (good for handles if one moves the amp around daily) but there are better materials if insulating is the intent. Some are desiring its surface appearance but if the the system sounds good, the listener would be engulfed in music, not the looks of their amp. It would only add to the distraction.
Please get your fats right.
I've destroyed a screwdriver and drill bit while working with wood...
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My initial post in this thread was about the choice of material, not so much about the appearance of amp. Given the subjective nature of aesthetics, it's hard to put numbers in its level of quality. Having said that, if one material takes more time and money to achieve the level of visual appeal and stability (one want's a lasting beauty I suppose) than the other, why not divert the time and money to easier way to achieve it and pass the savings to something else like sonically appreciable elements. After all, aesthetics is subjective so it has wiggle room.
Ladies, ladies!
Curb your emotions please. This is such a great subject - chassis design, lets not get into pillow fighting. There is so much to learn in this department from some participants here, so please lets not waste their time. Just my friendly advice - do not argue with Magura in this department, if you look what he did in the past projects you will easily realize that he knows what he is talking.
Now, back to the subject. It is difficult agreeing what looks good and what doesn't. Different tastes are good thing. If we all like the same, life would be boring. That is why someone likes wood, someone pure metal, and some don't care. We are weird creatures, prone to be easily fouled. Sometimes based on look we will change our opinion on how good it is. Perception is the name of the game. Advertising is just for that purpose.
I belong to the unfortunate group that care very much how good it is and how does it look. When it comes to looks it is art and fashion. Just think of the consumer products from 50s and 60s and how much our taste evolved. It was good looking before, but now is considered out of fashion.
The preamp we are talking about I find great looking and well designed, but little bit unemotional sort of too clean. It is still very good looking. I like this balanced approach, kind of asymmetrical symmetry - much better than centered small tube on the top in some preamps. It is hard to design big flat surface and un proportional small tube. From that perspective designer did very good job.
I also would like to feel it, touch it and feel the weight. I would love it if it is solid, heavy and made out of thick aluminum or even better milled out of solid piece. Hope not some thin flimsy material. That is one benefit of wood, it is warm and feels good on touch, makes us feel good. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. The new MacBook Pro I am typing is kind of a same approach like the preamp we are talking about. Solid milled piece of aluminum. It is a celebration of metal and it is designed and executed to the perfection. It would be funny if it has wood on it, don't you think so? It is same with audio gear, it is good in some designs to mix materials and it looks really bad in some other situations.
To Magura's point execution really depends on who's doing it. Typical DIYer has much harder time completing the work in aluminum than in wood. They simply do not have of what is take to do it, and from that point wood is much better choice. Fire hazard, crackling because of the heat... are really not an argument. If you really come to that point that the would on the amp front panel is catching fire, that would be most likely when everything else in your house is on fire as well.
So lets see some other great designs that you consider inspirational. Please post.
Curb your emotions please. This is such a great subject - chassis design, lets not get into pillow fighting. There is so much to learn in this department from some participants here, so please lets not waste their time. Just my friendly advice - do not argue with Magura in this department, if you look what he did in the past projects you will easily realize that he knows what he is talking.
Now, back to the subject. It is difficult agreeing what looks good and what doesn't. Different tastes are good thing. If we all like the same, life would be boring. That is why someone likes wood, someone pure metal, and some don't care. We are weird creatures, prone to be easily fouled. Sometimes based on look we will change our opinion on how good it is. Perception is the name of the game. Advertising is just for that purpose.
I belong to the unfortunate group that care very much how good it is and how does it look. When it comes to looks it is art and fashion. Just think of the consumer products from 50s and 60s and how much our taste evolved. It was good looking before, but now is considered out of fashion.
The preamp we are talking about I find great looking and well designed, but little bit unemotional sort of too clean. It is still very good looking. I like this balanced approach, kind of asymmetrical symmetry - much better than centered small tube on the top in some preamps. It is hard to design big flat surface and un proportional small tube. From that perspective designer did very good job.
I also would like to feel it, touch it and feel the weight. I would love it if it is solid, heavy and made out of thick aluminum or even better milled out of solid piece. Hope not some thin flimsy material. That is one benefit of wood, it is warm and feels good on touch, makes us feel good. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. The new MacBook Pro I am typing is kind of a same approach like the preamp we are talking about. Solid milled piece of aluminum. It is a celebration of metal and it is designed and executed to the perfection. It would be funny if it has wood on it, don't you think so? It is same with audio gear, it is good in some designs to mix materials and it looks really bad in some other situations.
To Magura's point execution really depends on who's doing it. Typical DIYer has much harder time completing the work in aluminum than in wood. They simply do not have of what is take to do it, and from that point wood is much better choice. Fire hazard, crackling because of the heat... are really not an argument. If you really come to that point that the would on the amp front panel is catching fire, that would be most likely when everything else in your house is on fire as well.
So lets see some other great designs that you consider inspirational. Please post.
I can see where they made some cost effective design choices. But the knobs do look strange to me. Here is a sketch of an alternate design (I think I saw it somewhere, so I am not claiming any creativity). I would like to hear feedback. The knobs are a little smaller than the height of the chassis and they are set higher than the center line. This allows adjustment from the top. They are deeper and recessed into the chassis; which unfortunately would be significantly more expensive, but I like it.
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All this talk of costs reminded me of this GEICO ad when I saw your sketch.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
lol - heres the thing - in diy, I don't build it to please you. I build to please me.
I like the basic clean lines of the piece in the op, but I wouldn't build like that myself since I lack the skill in the materials and the patience to gain the skills. IMHO, if its being produced as a complete kit, that isn't diy anyway - its a short form commercial offering.
Horror of horrors, I build with wood as an integral part of the case. I DEFY you to get it to combust in the context of its normal operation and even within the context of abnormal operation. Spark and arc all you like, but the 0.5A fuse is going to give out before the case combusts fatally.
Wood is a reasonable insulator, aesthetically pleasing to most people (good WAF especially), cheap, easy to work, carbon-neutral, can be done as a one-off or production, provides an interesting counterpoint to the look of metals and plastics, is scalable, can be finished in a huge variety of coatings, or not, and when it has finished its useful life in this setting, will burn in my fireplace and provide heat.
Try that with your plastics and exotics.
Its only in the last 30 or so yerars that metal and plastic finishes have taken over from timber. Given the age of the technology I work with, it possibly a homage to the past that drives the woodware look.
But even after all that, I still admire the look of the designs that have a clear clean individual appeal regardless of materials used
I like the basic clean lines of the piece in the op, but I wouldn't build like that myself since I lack the skill in the materials and the patience to gain the skills. IMHO, if its being produced as a complete kit, that isn't diy anyway - its a short form commercial offering.
Horror of horrors, I build with wood as an integral part of the case. I DEFY you to get it to combust in the context of its normal operation and even within the context of abnormal operation. Spark and arc all you like, but the 0.5A fuse is going to give out before the case combusts fatally.
Wood is a reasonable insulator, aesthetically pleasing to most people (good WAF especially), cheap, easy to work, carbon-neutral, can be done as a one-off or production, provides an interesting counterpoint to the look of metals and plastics, is scalable, can be finished in a huge variety of coatings, or not, and when it has finished its useful life in this setting, will burn in my fireplace and provide heat.
Try that with your plastics and exotics.
Its only in the last 30 or so yerars that metal and plastic finishes have taken over from timber. Given the age of the technology I work with, it possibly a homage to the past that drives the woodware look.
But even after all that, I still admire the look of the designs that have a clear clean individual appeal regardless of materials used
The original poster noted the minimalistic approach. While this design take will work quite well with the Ipod/MP3 set, it wont appeal to most anyone here. WE are the cutting edge of circuit AND esthetic design. All aspects of design past AND present are considered and implemented in our designs. The bulk of the commercial consumers for gear are now oriented toward the youth. I would bet anything 90% of youth purchases think those funny looking "lightbulbs" don't have any integral function................all those flashy lights and all, baubles, baubles.
____________________________________________________________-Rick.....
____________________________________________________________-Rick.....
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I agree 100% percent with what aardvarkash10 said, specially the line - I don't build it to please you. I build to please me.
Some people got irritated by the wannabe comment, they got it wrong. I wasn't talking about diyers work; but some live in a constantly ego trip. Hey I'm finishing a PP amp and the wood is bowed already.
As long as it pleases you who cares?
BUT a good designer is valuable and a lot of commercial amps look amateurish.
Some people got irritated by the wannabe comment, they got it wrong. I wasn't talking about diyers work; but some live in a constantly ego trip. Hey I'm finishing a PP amp and the wood is bowed already.
As long as it pleases you who cares?
BUT a good designer is valuable and a lot of commercial amps look amateurish.
Good guess, but the colors I chose are nearly random. I am practicing with Pro-E for my new job. It is very frustrating compared to SolidWorks and this severely impacts my ambitions for modeling and photo-realism. Which is to say I threw it together and that was my first pick for color.
I have seen this knob design (dimensional configuration) before, and I am not afraid to "steal" the idea. I wish I could give credit, but I don't remember the source. Still for the foo-foo (and paying) stereo crowd; would this design work?
By the way, I am not a professional industrial designer, nor a wanna-be. However in the 90's I was drafted to be an audio industrial designer along with my mechanial engineering duties. I have a friend who now wants me to help with audio I.D. for a startup. So I am a "don't wanna-be"; but it is fun and I keep getting suckered into it.
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