[doobooloo]

And the funny thing is, mine says RH2701 on the back, although in the auction it said RH2702.

aarrggg...

 

[KTpG]

Has anyone here had experience with wkleung on eBay? he sells the Alps and I REALLY want to buy one... but am afraid to buy from HK. I must pay via money order and am scared to purchase... is the transaction painless anyway? Can anyone provide a walkthrough?

 

[doobooloo]

The guy I bought from is being really nice about this whole issue. He said he would check the authencity of these pots with Alps and that these are what are on the market and stuff... And he said he would refund the entire cost (including shipping) so I'm really glad about that.

Only if these pots had that stepped-attenuator consistency...

 

[mhamel]

Well, I ordered 12 of these from Mr. Leung, and all of them are the RH2701 variety, containing no resistors.

I e-mailed him and asked if I could exchange them for the RH2702 variety, and he claims they are "exactly the same except for the stickers."

I followed that up with pics of the RH2702 opened up and the link to the original supplier that was posted earlier in this thread. He hasn't responded yet.

Lesson learned, I guess.

-Mike

 

[Squalish]

Curiouser and curiouser.

It seems that a seller on ebay has finally realized that a specific lot aren't potentiometers, and is now selling them with a pic of the casing off.

[size=medium]$[/size]
The guy is based in Australia, and the opening bid is AUD30(USD19.80), with a BIN of AUD50(USD33).

I inquired about his stock, suppliers, etc, and he responded:
Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Taylor <scray AT ozemail.com.au> Hi , I have a few still in stock about another 30 units. I can not guarantee an endless supply , or the source. So can only offer what i currently have in stock. How many do you want . I also have more tube preamp tranformers coming and one suitable for tube power amps at prices you cannot beat. Cheers Chris

 

[tropicalcb]

Ive recently bought one of these pots from chris Taylor on ebay...and it is very very good( I wouldnt know him if he jumped out of my cornflakes so I'm not flogging his agenda for him).....so who actually gives a rats whether its a name brand or not.
The resistors in mine are a mixture of metal & carbon film...actually the carbons look identical to the little midgets in my TEAC X-2000 R2R, and there are no qualms with the sound quality of that big ol beautiful mother of machinery!!.
To the bloke who got a bunch of the RH2702 for U$6 each...I'll buy them off you!!...I paid AU$25 +postage and I reckon I got a bargain. In my not very humble opinion they make better sounds than either the original blue alps that Old colony had..(veiled sound)...and the black beauty, which was a nice sounding standard pot...(but like most things boutiquey in audio, hyped to the ****house by people who spend more time playing with their pudds than listening) It was even carbon track not plastic I think. or even some of the better Bourns and allen Bradley mod pots Ive used on mostly valve equipment.
I actually think it will get better with age and lets face it, does anyone really think its mechanical integrity will go belly-up before we build the next u-beaut piece of equipment!!
cheers...........cb

 

[4fatcatz]

With all this excitement I had to order a pair myself.
We'll see what comes in the mail. I am fully aware that they
are not going to be real ALPS (i have used several blues,
and they dont look like this). I got mine off ebay
from "audiotronincs_hk" The description states "stepped".
I wouldnt mind getting the version with the resistors.

Since this is an old thread would anyone that had the
"stepped" version comment on it's reliability and
how it sounds?

4fatcatz

 

[KTpG]

While on the subject of Alps pots/stepped attenuators...

I must ask- the Black Beauty is also good, right? I was browsing parts Connexion and founf the following, which sparked my interest:

Alps Black Beauty

and the Noble pot

This is surely not an Alps stepped attenuator for $50... but if it was, that'd be nice. What are some opinions on these? I also hear Noble is good... (Headroom uses them, don't they?)

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by 4fatcatz With all this excitement I had to order a pair myself. We'll see what comes in the mail. I am fully aware that they are not going to be real ALPS (i have used several blues, and they dont look like this). I got mine off ebay from "audiotronincs_hk" The description states "stepped". I wouldnt mind getting the version with the resistors. Since this is an old thread would anyone that had the "stepped" version comment on it's reliability and how it sounds? 4fatcatz

I don't think it is real Alps ! I can found this V.R in China market in around US$3/Pcs. I had some sample on hand. It had no sound quality problem but mechenical is not very good ! Sure ! It can use but not smooth only.

 

[CaptBubba]

So if you switched the volume around a bunch, they would fail quickly?

I suppose with a "imitation" part, there would be little or no reliability information avalible, like a mean time before failure number.

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by CaptBubba So if you switched the volume around a bunch, they would fail quickly? I suppose with a "imitation" part, there would be little or no reliability information avalible, like a mean time before failure number.

I'm not sure it will fail after How many times turn ! I only feel it little losse after few turns !

 

[tropicalcb]

maybe there's a couple of different versions, as someone said a while back. Mine is a very good "fake"...it is an RH2702 100KA x2...thats whats printed on the back and theyve certainly done a good match on the alps typeface, but I no longer have anything to compare to. The mechanical build and feel is very good...(perhaps a little tight as you go through the detentes)...as is the soldering of the resistors. I would reckon the assembly is good for at least a couple thousnad turns, but maybe a lot more. Also remember you are listening to series resistors not carbon, cermet or plastic tracks....I wouldnt mind getting another one or two to experiment with extracting the MF resistors and making all carbon film....better still would be carbon composition but the case is too small. The elektor SRPP valve preamp project from about 1986/87 has a diy ladder diagram with resistor values for mono & stereo 100K volume and balance. Actually the line stage of that pre was my h/phone amp for years with Beyerdynamic DT880's...and a very nice combination too!!
Joe, is yours marked as per the above on the back??
Does anyone know if the type I'm talking about is still available for U$6...the australian ebay pots version like mine is AU$50 to buy with a $30 starting bid...
cheers...........cb

 

[4fatcatz]

In response to the Noble pots...
So far I have used 8 mono pots (dual volume controls)
and have a used stereo pot in the drawer. I have no complaints
about Noble at all. I like them very much. I cant hear any
difference between a true blue Alps and these but the applications were different in each case. Again, I like the Noble
pots very much.

You cant go wrong with either one...a real Alps or Noble.

 

[joe_cool]

I thought everyone knew about the fake Alps pots. See this.

 

[Gojira]

I just ordered a couple of the 100k Cixi Zhenwei (fake Alps) attenuator pots from audiotronics as well. Couldn't resist with all the hype

. I specifically requested the ones with the resistors inside and I even sent him the photo from the Aussie's auction showing the circle of resistors inside. The guy I talked to in email acknowledged that he would be sending the "resistor network" pots! How exciting. Hope that's what I actually receive. I'll let everyone know what happens.