True, and I thought about that, but...
There is a relatively small market for 5-8 watt tube amps made in the US. I suspect the majority of folks trying out tube gear for the first time are buying Chinese stuff through Amazon, etc. Those who are more serious and/or experienced with this gear make up an even smaller niche of the audio market. In that respect, one would only reasonably buy so much inventory.
If my primary concern were performance/$, I wouldn't mess with tubes at all. I'd probably build one of Douglas Self's solid-state amp designs. I'd probably just purchase his boards, since that'd be cheaper than making my own.
Instead, I make tube amps. Seems more fun to make amps that cost more, perform worse, and have parts that glow in the dark. It isn't a cheap thing to do, but what else am I going to do with my discretionary funds? Fix up a car? Now that's a real money hole.
What I really dislike is the snake oil salesman that sell components that are said to improve performance but really don't. Sadly, the placebo effect convinces people that there is an improvement (that never seems to be measurable!) and the snake oil salesmen make absurd amounts of money for what they offer. Kind of makes me mad when I see that.
Instead, I make tube amps. Seems more fun to make amps that cost more, perform worse, and have parts that glow in the dark. It isn't a cheap thing to do, but what else am I going to do with my discretionary funds? Fix up a car? Now that's a real money hole.
What I really dislike is the snake oil salesman that sell components that are said to improve performance but really don't. Sadly, the placebo effect convinces people that there is an improvement (that never seems to be measurable!) and the snake oil salesmen make absurd amounts of money for what they offer. Kind of makes me mad when I see that.
Some published specs......
"RIAA response accuracy - within 0.8 dB from 30Hz - 15Khz."
That's from my moderately priced Technics receiver.....
It's funny, but this bloated-price EAR preamp doesn't list or mention RIAA accuracy at all.
And out of curiosity, I've searched high and low already.
Why is that??
"RIAA response accuracy - within 0.8 dB from 30Hz - 15Khz."
That's from my moderately priced Technics receiver.....
It's funny, but this bloated-price EAR preamp doesn't list or mention RIAA accuracy at all.
And out of curiosity, I've searched high and low already.
Why is that??
It's curious when there are phono stages costing 10x to 30x as much that this is getting so much vitriol. There are mains cables sold that cost more than this.
Spec wise all EAR phono stages are 0.2dB on RIAA.
A couple of things to note on the cost
1. Hand made in England. Not pick and place in China. This is worth something to some people
2. Designer DNA. TdP has had a long and varied career including studio electronics. You are buying into that.
3. Customer service. At least in the UK you can still drop off an amplifier for repair by the designer.
This all has a value to the target market. You are not the target market!
I hate to think what you would say about a 50k phono stage...
Spec wise all EAR phono stages are 0.2dB on RIAA.
A couple of things to note on the cost
1. Hand made in England. Not pick and place in China. This is worth something to some people
2. Designer DNA. TdP has had a long and varied career including studio electronics. You are buying into that.
3. Customer service. At least in the UK you can still drop off an amplifier for repair by the designer.
This all has a value to the target market. You are not the target market!
I hate to think what you would say about a 50k phono stage...
I have tube amps, chip amps, and class D amps. I prefer the sound of my tube amps. That's my opinion.
The phono preamp in my system however, is a design copied right from the TI data sheet for one of their better quality audio opamps. The entire phono stage is mounted INSIDE the turntable, a mid grade Technics SL-D2 direct drive that I bought new in 1980. My attempts to put the phono stage inside the head shell turned out to be the "bridge too far."
Some people spend more on their car than I did on my house....let them, it isn't my money. If you want interconnects made from refined Kryptonite, because YOU believe that they sound better, and you have the money, go right ahead. My interconnects came from Radio Shack and my speaker wire came from Walmart!
I totally get and understand your argument here, but you picked the wrong example to make your point. Yes it's expensive, but not enough to be insanely so. There are probably plenty of over $10,000 tube phono stages to mock, should have gone after one of those.
(I know Luxman has a $6000+ one)
My thoughts about the high end are much like comparing Ferrari and Lamborghini to everyday cars. Somebody does actually buy them,
And advances in performance and technology made by companies like them eventually decades-later are integrated into the run-of-the-mill cars we all now buy and become commodity features.
There's no debate that everyday consumer-grade sound equipment far exceeds that what was available 35 years ago, part of that is because companies did the research to provide that spec to the high end, did it enough times and with enough success that it's now an easy and established art for integration into the lowliest products.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Inc.| Audiophile Vinyl, CD, SACD
First thing you see on the front page is their 2 track master tape deck (or one of them). check the dials. Yup, that's Tim's logo. It's a phono stage to sell to people who like vinyl. Knowing that one of the most well known mastering outfits use his equipment gives a buyer a warm and fuzzy.
Oh and I met Tim once. He's a total petrol head. My kind of guy in fact.
First thing you see on the front page is their 2 track master tape deck (or one of them). check the dials. Yup, that's Tim's logo. It's a phono stage to sell to people who like vinyl. Knowing that one of the most well known mastering outfits use his equipment gives a buyer a warm and fuzzy.
Oh and I met Tim once. He's a total petrol head. My kind of guy in fact.
With apologies to C. S. Lewis:
“It would be better to live under robber barons ( edit: audiophile snake oil salesmen ) than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's ( edit: audiophile snake oil salesmen ) cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
“It would be better to live under robber barons ( edit: audiophile snake oil salesmen ) than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's ( edit: audiophile snake oil salesmen ) cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
I have a good friend that, despite being a great guy, seems to have a weakness for audio sales patter.
Hes just bought a new head amp, if I recall it's a Sim Audio HA430 or something.
It was so costly that he wouldnt tell me how much. I googled it.
Now all I can say is, why would anyone???
Sometimes I wonder if we really exist in some sort of Matrix.
Hes just bought a new head amp, if I recall it's a Sim Audio HA430 or something.
It was so costly that he wouldnt tell me how much. I googled it.
Now all I can say is, why would anyone???
Sometimes I wonder if we really exist in some sort of Matrix.
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There are also fancy boxes full of fancy parts that are garbage circuits built by morons. One I had in for repair a few years ago was a $4500 preamp with phono. The linestage was just a choke loaded paralleled 5687. The ground buss was tied to the chassis at both ends. SNR was about 60dB, and there were other issues as well. This preamp was stuffed with fancy caps though, trying to look like something worth the price.
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