Are these AS194 AS394 true to LM194 LM394 ?
Matched NPN transistor pair
Caracteristics look the same, price is reasonable, this looks too good to be true.
How come they are unknown at Octopart.
What do you think: True or clever fakes ?
Matched NPN transistor pair
Caracteristics look the same, price is reasonable, this looks too good to be true.
How come they are unknown at Octopart.
What do you think: True or clever fakes ?
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I see the AS194 394 available here: Cabintech Global Home
194 at a reasonable price and caracteristics much better than the THAT
194 at a reasonable price and caracteristics much better than the THAT
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Well it looks like they are being sold by a bona-fide business, not some eBay fly-by-night trader.
There is still the risk they are reselling fakes, not aware of it.
I just sent an e-mail asking where they get them from.
I found where they are manufactured: Matched NPN transistor pair
and there they mention two resellers in Russia.
I just sent an e-mail asking where they get them from.
I found where they are manufactured: Matched NPN transistor pair
and there they mention two resellers in Russia.
> Are these AS194 AS394 true to LM194 LM394 ?
JSC ALFA is the old Riga, Latvia. They were founded before many of us were born. Probably did military and scientific device production for the USSR. Re-branded and capitalized as the USSR changed/fell. It is entirely possible they have very fine 1990s semiconductor fabrication. Anybody who can make transistors can make dual transistors. The true '394 is a rather special device of very large area and like a hundred small devices pair-strapped to interleave any errors; tedious mask but no deep secret.
The existence of the Alfa part has been known in mike-amp forums for a while. I have not seen anybody get and test these devices. In mike-amp, Silicon cleanliness is critical; Alfa's diffusions could be worse or better than National's were back in the day.
JSC ALFA is the old Riga, Latvia. They were founded before many of us were born. Probably did military and scientific device production for the USSR. Re-branded and capitalized as the USSR changed/fell. It is entirely possible they have very fine 1990s semiconductor fabrication. Anybody who can make transistors can make dual transistors. The true '394 is a rather special device of very large area and like a hundred small devices pair-strapped to interleave any errors; tedious mask but no deep secret.
The existence of the Alfa part has been known in mike-amp forums for a while. I have not seen anybody get and test these devices. In mike-amp, Silicon cleanliness is critical; Alfa's diffusions could be worse or better than National's were back in the day.
There are other "forums". Add "transistor" to your search or you will drown in airline links.
GroupDIY - Index
GroupDIY - what will replace the LM394??
LM394 replacement? - Page 2 - Gearslutz (sorry)
LM394 is obsolete. What is the new ...? - Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
GroupDIY - Index
GroupDIY - what will replace the LM394??
LM394 replacement? - Page 2 - Gearslutz (sorry)
LM394 is obsolete. What is the new ...? - Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
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I've used well over 50 of the AS394 at this point, they are certainly available and have worked fantastically well in my applications.
Alfa Rpar is fairly well known in the synthesizer community for cloning a number of obsolete monolythic ICs used in sound generation and manipulation. I was kindly sent a package of preproduction samples a number of years ago, lovely ceramic package with gold pins. Looked great but production units are of course packaged in a PDIP.
I usually purchase them from another Latvian company, Erica Synthesizers. No formal plug here or association with them, just wanted to say I've had consistently good experiences with the company.
EricaSynths - AS394 matched transistors
They were selling packs of 10 for 22e + shipping - but I'm not able to see that option anymore unfortunately.
And since I last ordered it seems they added a higher spec version:
EricaSynths - AS194H NPN matched transistor
Alfa Rpar is fairly well known in the synthesizer community for cloning a number of obsolete monolythic ICs used in sound generation and manipulation. I was kindly sent a package of preproduction samples a number of years ago, lovely ceramic package with gold pins. Looked great but production units are of course packaged in a PDIP.
I usually purchase them from another Latvian company, Erica Synthesizers. No formal plug here or association with them, just wanted to say I've had consistently good experiences with the company.
EricaSynths - AS394 matched transistors
They were selling packs of 10 for 22e + shipping - but I'm not able to see that option anymore unfortunately.
And since I last ordered it seems they added a higher spec version:
EricaSynths - AS194H NPN matched transistor
Attachments
ALFA RPAR is a small IC company based in Latvia. They have been making reissue versions of chips that used to be common in analog music synthesizers in the 80's.
I have been using some of their chips in my DIY synth projects for a few years, and their line of reissue chips is still expanding. Everything that I have tried works as expected.
I started getting synthesizer chips from Cabintech when they were indeed just an Ebay seller. The web site appeared a few years ago. I have ordered chips and Vactrol copies from them a few times with no issues.
I have not tried the AS194 / AS394 parts since I have some SSM2212's (still being made and available from Mouser or Digikey) and wound up using the tiny PMP4201Y parts in my synth. I just copied the ladder filter from the "model D" clone made by a certain German company. It's the clone of a clone filter.
I have been using some of their chips in my DIY synth projects for a few years, and their line of reissue chips is still expanding. Everything that I have tried works as expected.
I started getting synthesizer chips from Cabintech when they were indeed just an Ebay seller. The web site appeared a few years ago. I have ordered chips and Vactrol copies from them a few times with no issues.
I have not tried the AS194 / AS394 parts since I have some SSM2212's (still being made and available from Mouser or Digikey) and wound up using the tiny PMP4201Y parts in my synth. I just copied the ladder filter from the "model D" clone made by a certain German company. It's the clone of a clone filter.