Our governor Arnold Schwarzenegger applies this principle to state parks. All we would have now, a wild nature, and cavemans living there. Darwin's theory. State parks did not survive in a global economy environment.
I guess a shipload of tube manufacturing equipment will be going to China at scrap metal prices soon. I was just reading in Scientific American where the Chinese did not bother to do underground nuclear testing in the 70s-90s. They just let the fallout fall wherever it blew. Now it's estimated that 1.4 million Chinese died from horrible radiation poisoning, worse than Chernobyl. Well, billions more left still. If you have to compete globally against that, you better make sure your products are too heavy to ship across the Pacific.
Absolutely, I hope that small craft production of specialised parts grows and thrives as more people decide they want something different from the prevailing monoculture! Potential for comparatively low investment creating interesting jobs.
I was just commenting on the previous poster's somewhat fatalistic acceptance that it is not possible to manufacture valves on a small scale basis, specialising on a few key types.
All tube production today is on relatively small scale as compared to the thermionic past. The process so far has not lent itself well to automation which is why most tubes are produced in low cost labor environments. Expo-Pul probably builds no more than a few million tubes per year and I suspect they are the largest producer by far. (That of course is a totally baseless SWAG..
) Obviously there is enough demand to make it worthwhile to answer it or no tubes would currently be in production - and I think this is very likely to continue. Interestingly most of my EE friends no longer regard this technology as being quite as crackpot as they once did, and all of the very best purveyors of the technology I know actually are well grounded EE types.
It is no longer regarded as completely obscure and mysterious and I have relative strangers asking me about purchasing modern tube gear to replace their ailing old SS gear on a regular basis. More people I meet seem willing to accept the premise that tubes might be a worthwhile choice for reproducing music despite their known issues.
not sure if this is relevant, but particularly in light of what kevin intimated in an earlier post......
I did read that Blackburn's problems had nothing to do with tube markets, but more to do with a contract for CRTs having fallen through with China(where they still use CRT TVs)
I might be wrong but I think the new tubes were more of a hobby/sideline to Blackburn(at least for the initial period) and they were still busy with their main product line....until recent deals fell through...
Ed
I did read that Blackburn's problems had nothing to do with tube markets, but more to do with a contract for CRTs having fallen through with China(where they still use CRT TVs)
I might be wrong but I think the new tubes were more of a hobby/sideline to Blackburn(at least for the initial period) and they were still busy with their main product line....until recent deals fell through...
Ed
Good point and I read the same thing as well, but in the relatively near term my feeling is that the cathode ray gun business was not going to be viable so although this may have been regarded as a sideline business I think in the long term it would have likely been their only one.
The fact that the collapse of a single deal helped do them in probably says that they were hanging on by a thread. (One of my employers ended the same way..)
The fact that the collapse of a single deal helped do them in probably says that they were hanging on by a thread. (One of my employers ended the same way..
)You mean they followed the precedent set by the US in the 40-60s when they finally reached the same level ?
You can't have reliable results regarding the efficiency of your arsenal unless you test in actual circumstances they are going to be used. Underground tests are merely an approximation, as is playing with SPICE when it comes to amplifiers. Amplifiers ? Oh, right, this is tube forum afterall
I read with interest, and yes - some sadness. But it appears to have been predictable.
I am puzzled that a grim view of the valve future seems to exist, even though this firm has produced only/mainly ECC83s apart from their other business? 'Down here' we seem to get most of our supplies from Russian manufacturers and some Chinese, and occasionally NOS (preferred, of course - but the cost!). Our total national demand must be minute compared to global; most of that goes to disco's/guitar guys (about 95% according to our main importer).
Comparing glass to SS here, we feel that glass supply will be diminishing, while on the sand side (SS?) one finds an alarming increase of fakes on our market. Thus some beleaguerment from both sides - the latter being the more perilous at present. It is ironic that when looking for 'the real thing' one seems to have to import directly - now more so with SS than with valves!
I am puzzled that a grim view of the valve future seems to exist, even though this firm has produced only/mainly ECC83s apart from their other business? 'Down here' we seem to get most of our supplies from Russian manufacturers and some Chinese, and occasionally NOS (preferred, of course - but the cost!). Our total national demand must be minute compared to global; most of that goes to disco's/guitar guys (about 95% according to our main importer).
Comparing glass to SS here, we feel that glass supply will be diminishing, while on the sand side (SS?) one finds an alarming increase of fakes on our market. Thus some beleaguerment from both sides - the latter being the more perilous at present. It is ironic that when looking for 'the real thing' one seems to have to import directly - now more so with SS than with valves!
Well, the prinicple isn't applied, it just happens. Personally, I think the Tech Tube products were a joke. The marketing guff making a virtue out of the horrendous microphony of thier designs was just great too.
I have no idea why anyone into 'HiFi' would be willing to pay a premium price for this nonsense. Then again, I haven't heard an open loop SET amp (the tube head's holy grail) that hasn't sounded coloured (hey, lots of objectionable IMD comes with all that "warm" THD) and rubbish (compared to a well designed SS with tonnes of NFB), so perhaps there is something wrong with my ears.
But that is probably a little off topic
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At the risk of starting something
let me point out that the USA tested 1054 nuclear devices, of which about 300 were atmospheric, compared to a measly 45 tests by China, 23 of which were not underground.If anybody died of horrible radiation poisoning, they died of fallout from American bombs.
OT:
I just saw the Sci. Am. article in the library, so I don't have it handy to quote. But as I recall, the whistle was blown by a Chinese doctor in the province X, who noticed an enormous increase in odd cancer deaths there. The C government their won't let him back into the country or let foreign scientists into that province. But some managed to get in clandestinely and retrieve copies of the gov. medical records and take radiation measurements on the ground. They said the average radiation level in the province was the same as the rooftop at Chernobyl. The Chinese tested some 300 MT bombs there each of which easily exceeded the fallout of all other N. testing programs combined.
New Mexico is quite clean by comparison.
I just saw the Sci. Am. article in the library, so I don't have it handy to quote. But as I recall, the whistle was blown by a Chinese doctor in the province X, who noticed an enormous increase in odd cancer deaths there. The C government their won't let him back into the country or let foreign scientists into that province. But some managed to get in clandestinely and retrieve copies of the gov. medical records and take radiation measurements on the ground. They said the average radiation level in the province was the same as the rooftop at Chernobyl. The Chinese tested some 300 MT bombs there each of which easily exceeded the fallout of all other N. testing programs combined.
New Mexico is quite clean by comparison.
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New Mexico is clean because American bombs were tested in the south pacific.
I don't see "China" anywhere in this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_tests#List_of_most_powerful_nuclear_tests
I humbly suggest that the Scientific American article you cite exists only in your imagination.
I don't see "China" anywhere in this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_tests#List_of_most_powerful_nuclear_tests
I humbly suggest that the Scientific American article you cite exists only in your imagination.
Scientific American July 2009
Turns out it's even online:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=did-chinas-nuclear-tests
I only glanced at it at the library before, so I'm reading it again.
I would suggest that your Wikipedia article has been edited by the Chinese. Easy to do. Or the figment of someone's imagination.
I remember when the intense clouds of radiation were detected crossing the Pacific in the 70s, it made the headlines here and the US govmnt even made some complaints about recklessness.
Turns out it's even online:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=did-chinas-nuclear-tests
I only glanced at it at the library before, so I'm reading it again.
I would suggest that your Wikipedia article has been edited by the Chinese. Easy to do. Or the figment of someone's imagination.
I remember when the intense clouds of radiation were detected crossing the Pacific in the 70s, it made the headlines here and the US govmnt even made some complaints about recklessness.
That is an interesting article.
But if you notice, the article says the Chinese tested 3 MT bombs.
That is significantly smaller than 10-15 MT bombs that America tested in the atmosphere.
Tests such as: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo
I guess the thing that really ticked me off, is that you guys are so quick to pick on other nations, when the lions share of nuclear contamination on this planet is thanks to the USA.
Just think about it - you guys tested 300 nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. No other nation on earth comes close.
But if you notice, the article says the Chinese tested 3 MT bombs.
That is significantly smaller than 10-15 MT bombs that America tested in the atmosphere.
Tests such as: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo
I guess the thing that really ticked me off, is that you guys are so quick to pick on other nations, when the lions share of nuclear contamination on this planet is thanks to the USA.
Just think about it - you guys tested 300 nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. No other nation on earth comes close.
On this forum is it ok to go way off topic and engage in finger pointing and political fights? Is it ok to argue over which countries are responsible for various alleged mis-deeds of the past?
I tried to find the rules but don't see where they are listed. I’m not being sarcastic. I’d really like to know.
I tried to find the rules but don't see where they are listed. I’m not being sarcastic. I’d really like to know.
That's a good question and one for a moderator to determine. This conversation should probably be relegated to the "everything else" category.
Gentlemen, lets just talk about audio. There are more appropriate forums in the net about bombs or politics.
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