[audio philestine]

Watered? Whiskied, Rummed, Ginned, Vodka'd, Brandied, even Beered but not Watered.

I seem to to recall Mr. Stoddard publicly recommending "the Scotch mod" which is missing from your list (unless as a sub-category of Whiskied...)

 

[jimmers]

Mine have a little incandescent bulb in there and no clear way to get them open.

I think mine do too, don't know where they are since I re(dis)organised some of my electronic preciouses.
The link is for LED ones (white standard).
I especially wanted the low temp white bulbs, not LEDs, for the vintage look.

 

[Paladin79]

Ah, someone else sent me that link and thought they were blue. I do believe some with blue lights are shown below on that link. Anyway search Ebay, if they exist, they may well be there.

 

[Pandahead]

Wow, when did this happen? I have looked for ORT in past years. The only thing affordable was scavenged and those weren't that cheap.

Now there are millions of them from China. I just checked my eBay app...and in blue!

Put 'em everywhere! Hook 'em to the espresso machine!

Thanks!

 

[Paladin79]

Like most anything now, they come from China, and the prices should continue to be low unless the tariffs kick in. I already have a lot of blues going on including patinated copper, so I went for some contrast. Thus edison bulbs and yellow meters. Most all of my solid state amps are black though, I am not sure the Valhalla 2 was produced in that color so it is the only silver piece inside my headphone cabinet.

If any of you get some of the Chinese VU meters, I have worked with a few sets so I have a pretty good idea of the setup, I have it down to about 15 minutes now. The bulbs in the meters I use do not have the look of an LED.

 

[r2muchstuff]

This, or a similar Asgard DM

 

[r2muchstuff]

Asgard 3 could become a Class A headphone Power Amp which would integrate into a Saga or Freya system, or any other system with a pre amp functions.

 

[TomSix]

There's a huge contrast between designing gear in a one-off fashion, either for personal use or for an individual client, and on the other hand designing a piece of gear for production and sales to a larger public. Both types of design undertakings have legitimacy, but the divergence in approach and priorities is worthy of consideration.

In one-off design, one has the freedom to use rare and/or limited supply components (such as vintage audio transformers, obscure NOS tubes, etc), unusual materials and unorthodox construction (often labor intensive) techniques. It can be a lot of fun, and gratifying to build something singular and unique.

On the other hand...

When designing for production, a whole slew of additional imperatives and considerations emerge: The longer-term availability of individual parts ( and avoiding the need of parts which can only obtained via one or two vendors ); The crucial importance of efficiency/ease of assembly in the overall design (time really is money!); The repeatability/ stability factor of having a design which "wants to work correctly" and not requiring tweaking, critical individual parts selection etc; Reasonable failure-proofing so foreseeable minor owner/user foibles/ mistakes won't result in melt-downs or explosions; The importance of rationalizing/harmonizing the BOM of a design with other products being offered: How many parts can be selected (resistors, capacitors, nuts, bolts, other hardware etc) from existing in-house supplies so as to keep the parts inventories as streamlined as possible?; Aesthetic congruity: designing the unit to aesthetically meld with one's chosen "house style" without clashing; Can it be profitably built at a price which is comparable (ideally, competitive) to similar products on the market?; And yes, one must meet all of the requisite safety, environmental and other regulatory standards too --whew!

So yeah, to design a competitive, successful audio product which is reliable and safe, which actually makes money and builds the manufacturer's reputation in the market place --there's a whole lot of real work involved beyond just designing a circuit which sounds awesome.

Likely much of the above will seem obvious to many. Hopefully not too pedantic --just submitted as a little food for thought ; )

 

[Paladin79]

There's a huge contrast between designing gear in a one-off fashion, either for personal use or for an individual client, and on the other hand designing a piece of gear for production and sales to a larger public. Both types of design undertakings have legitimacy, but the divergence in approach, priorities, considerations is worthy of consideration.

In one-off design, one has the freedom to use rare and/or limited supply components (such as vintage audio transformers, obscure NOS tubes, etc), unusual materials, and unorthodox construction (often labor intensive) techniques. It can be a lot of fun, and gratifying to build something singular and unique.

On the other hand...

When designing for production, a whole slew of additional imperatives and considerations emerge: The longer-term availability of individual parts ( and avoiding the need of parts which can only obtained via one or two vendors ); the crucial importance of efficiency/ease of assembly in the overall design (time really is money!) ; the repeatability/ stability factor of having a design which "wants to work correctly" and not requiring tweaking, critical individual parts selection etc; reasonable failure-proofing so foreseeable minor owner/user foibles/ mistakes won't result in melt-downs or explosions ; the importance of rationalizing/harmonizing the BOM of a design with other products being offered: How many parts can be selected (resistors, capacitors, nuts, bolts, other hardware etc) from existing in-house supplies so as to keep the parts inventories as streamlined as possible?; Aesthetic congruity: designing the unit to aesthetically meld with one's chosen "house style" without clashing; Can it profitably be build at a price which is comparable (or ideally, competitive) to similar products on the market?; And yes, one must meet all of the requisite safety, environmental and other regulatory standards too ---whew!

So yeah, to design a competitive, successful audio product which is reliable and safe, which actually makes money and builds the manufacturer's reputation in the market place -- there's a whole lot of real work involved beyond just designing a circuit which sounds awesome.

Likely much of the above will seem obvious to many. Hopefully not too pedantic -- just submitted as a little food for thought ; )

Very well said. The only thing I would add is that every now and then, an engineer or designer comes along whose equipment stands the test of time and was production equipment. This could be Dynaco, or Marantz, or Linn but at the time of initial production, the product was so well designed, and in some cases so reasonably priced that most anyone could afford it yet today it is sought out because of technical excellence and scarcity increases the value. No one lives forever and oftentimes companies change hands, or patents, and we look back on what a company used to be, while they enjoyed their hour in the sun.

I could never disagree with someone named Tom, it is my name as well.

 

[33na3rd]

This could be Dynaco

Schiit reminds me very much of a modern reincarnation of Dynaco, and I mean that as a compliment.

 

[Paladin79]

It is possible, wait 30 years and find out. David Hafler is no more but some of the designs live on. At one time they sold more speakers than anyone else. Klipsch is a similar company but maintaining the passion and drive is never easy. We are also in a global market, many companies buy parts offshore now just to compete.

Some folks in Maryland carry on some of the work of David Berning, and so it goes.

 

[jimmers]

Nicely put.

... Hopefully not too pedantic --just submitted as a little food for thought ; )

deisgner?

 

[TomSix]

Nicely put.

deisgner?

Yes, I've been known to do a little of that...

 

[Paladin79]

I have not worked with designers, mostly just engineers, technicians, and assemblers.

I have worked in electronics long enough to realize what I do not know. I do not know a lot, but some things I know very well. (I borrowed that quote). I have done enough in electronics that I get bored with certain parts and concentrate more on aesthetics. Perhaps I am a designer now.

This is a Schiit thread and they produce good products at a reasonable price. Little more needs be said.

 

[TomSix]

Paladin79 Quote:

"This is a Schiit thread and they produce good products at a reasonable price. Little more needs be said."


And, we should surely add: they are successfully doing it in the USA --particularly noteworthy