2021 Apr 16 - Jason Stoddard - imminent demise of Mjolnir 2
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sch...bable-start-up.701900/page-5012#post-16300706
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Hey all,
I'm back in California for a while, so I figured I'd give you an update.
First, we are producing speaker amps like crazy--you'll be seeing the backorders shrink for Aegir, Vidar, and Ragnarok 2 over the next week or so as we get caught up, and the intent is to eventually get to 1-3 day shipping for all speaker power amps. This would be a first for us--these products have almost always been 7-10 days.
Second, we're building black Freya+es and seeing if anyone wants one to help clear those backorders (lots of silver orders, silver tops we are still waiting for.)
Third, we're increasing capacity again, adding additional runs at new Utah PCB assembly houses to help meet demand.
All of this stuff should help get us out of the deep backorders, get us shipping more consistently, and allow us to fully open some channels (distributors, Amazon). But again, this takes time, and it also requires no surprises in planning. There have been a lot of surprises lately, though things seem to be getting better as far as the supply chain goes.
Finally,
I must announce the imminent demise of Mjolnir 2. As in,
it will be dropped from the product line with no planned successor.
"Why? Why are you doing such a terrible thing?" you might ask. "I always liked Mjolnir 2!"
So did I. I still have one at home.
But there's several problems with Mjolnir 2, not least of which is that the performance of Jotunheim 2 is now so good--in a smaller, more convenient amp. Also, Mjolnir 2 uses complex transformers that are hard to get right, have long lead times, and can be variable. So it's going away.
"Will you ever do something like Mjolnir 2 again?" you ask.
As of now, we don't have a Mjolnir 3 on the books. I've played with ideas, including ones you expect (tube hybrid with Nexus and Continuity, which did not work because the tubes can't match precisely enough, and a differential operational point servo "fought" the other operational point servos, resulting in unreliable start-up) and some you probably didn't (back to solid state with relay volume and two card slots, or a differential version of Coherence, both of which weren't all that exciting).
And, here's the thing: Mjolnir 2 is huge. Any Mjolnir 3 would either be (a) the same size, not desktop friendly, or (b) a weird size that doesn't match everything we make. I'd love to go back in time and make all the "large midsize" gear not as wide, but I don't have a direct line to any rogue Time Lords. So that means we're stuck with a size that may make sense in a rack, but not so much on a desk. That's probably one reason why Mjolnir 2 was, ahem, less popular than it might have been.
So, say farewell to Mjolnir 2. If you already have one, don't worry--we'll still service and repair them for the foreseeable future (hell, we're still repairing 10+ year old Asgards to this day).
And if you want one, you have a small window to pick one up before they go away. Though honestly, after living with Jotunheim 2, it's really hard to justify. But then again, I'm cheap...and I like my desk space.