[WyldeBlue]

Wow, that is really rough, I'm sorry to hear that. Depending on what order the preorders ever go out I'd be more than happy to swap spots with you if it means you get yours sooner.

That's mighty neighborly of you, but I'm in a very zen place about my condition and am simply doing what I can to re-prioritize the things in my life that I want to focus on...despite how much I love this hobby, I definitely need to do better about playing with the wife and kids rather than my toys! Besides, I wouldn't want to snatch away someone else's enjoyment--who knows, it might be another 5 years before my Realiser rolls off the assembly line! I kind of figure "we" are all in this together; hopefully we'll all be able to get ours sooner rather than later. But the offer means a lot--seriously--it's part of why I really enjoy this community. Thanks again...

 

[mrtim6]

I requested one (preorder refund) three years ago before deploying to Kuwait and before the whole pandemic hit—I didn’t get one then even given some pretty extenuating circumstances. I wish you better luck than me but I don’t know as I’d be very optimistic given how many of us are also in the 5+ year club! Hopefully James and co. will prove me wrong someday as even after all this time I would still rather join the happy owner’s club.

WyldeBlue I hear you, obviously your personal situation warrants a speedy delivery over mine for sure. Like you I was prepared to wait, however my patience is wearing thin due to the continuing lack of any meaningful update.

 

[esimms86]

Thanks for asking. Yes, I did get a reply back then, but like so many of us, it was a retread of the familiar "we've still got a few Kickstarters to fulfill and then we'll start plugging away at the preorders--you should have yours by [insert date later this year/early next]." So...at this point, given the fine print of the deposit/preorder, I'm simply biding my time patiently for any updates (which admittedly come WAY too infrequently for my tastes), and what I hope will be an eventual delivery on the order I paid for in good faith.

Seriously, though--I share the frustration of many on this board, but I really don't want to sling any mud around--I have nothing but high hopes that James can keep the lights on while getting supply and assembly issues back under control and eventually start generating the kind of profits, positive buzz and compelling user experience that this product seems to warrant. But it is definitely hard to keep any sense of optimism after so long--I was diagnosed with lymphoma back in 2020--as grim as it sounds, I'm honestly worried now that the cancer may take me before I finally get a hold of finished product and my wife will be left trying to figure out what the Hell I was thinking way back in 2016 when I placed my order.

I was saddened but, to be honest, not surprised to read your post. I’m certain that I speak for others on this forum in extending my best wishes for your health going forward. Looking at your signature it’s clear that this hobby has brought you great joy over the years. I say that your post does not surprise me simply because you must represent untold other A16 customers whose, thus far, 6 year waits have coincided with declines in their personal health and well being. I sincerely hope that the Smyths are able to get the A16 out to you and others like you sooner rather than later.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

That's mighty neighborly of you, but I'm in a very zen place about my condition and am simply doing what I can to re-prioritize the things in my life that I want to focus on...despite how much I love this hobby, I definitely need to do better about playing with the wife and kids rather than my toys! Besides, I wouldn't want to snatch away someone else's enjoyment--who knows, it might be another 5 years before my Realiser rolls off the assembly line! I kind of figure "we" are all in this together; hopefully we'll all be able to get ours sooner rather than later. But the offer means a lot--seriously--it's part of why I really enjoy this community. Thanks again...

If I had any say in this, I would want you to be placed at the very front of the line.

 

[OCC7N]

Anything new with this. Europe availability?

 

[GeorgeA]

If you read a few posts back, you’ll learn that “There are a few kickstarter orders outstanding and no preorders have been shipped. The last kickstarter shipment that I know of was December 2020. Kickstarter fulfillment got up to somewhere around #289.” (@Camano’s Post #13,822)

The most comprehensive answer you might get is from James Smyth (contact: james@smyth-research.com). In addition, Smyth Research works with two business partners in Europe, one in France (https://av-in.com/pages/about-us) and the other one in Germany (https://for-tune.de/smyth-research/).

 

[Camano]

My "silent preset" problem has gone away after I installed 2.11 with factory reset and reprogrammed. I left the first 4 (factory) presets alone and made a single preset on 5.
My preset 5 consists of the Surrey room with the center channel replaced and my HPEQ. The A16 now powers up working on preset 5, and my problem with losing sound whenever I paused my Tivo Bolt has also gone away.

(I did make my own PRIR using the 2-speaker method but it had some issues and I had been slowly replacing speakers in that PRIR with Surrey ones anyway. Someday I'll try making my PRIR again).

 

[GeorgeA]

I’ve also installed 2.11 firmware with factory reset and redone the listening rooms and presets. My presets #6 and #8 consists only of listening rooms with virtual speakers for various listening modes from my own PRIR files. The other available presets are untouched (factory default). The no sound issue occurs only when my Realiser A16 unit is turned on and either preset #6 or #8 are loaded. The issue doesn’t occur when I pause my player.

 

[Sanctuary]

My "silent preset" problem has gone away after I installed 2.11 with factory reset and reprogrammed. I left the first 4 (factory) presets alone and made a single preset on 5.
My preset 5 consists of the Surrey room with the center channel replaced and my HPEQ. The A16 now powers up working on preset 5, and my problem with losing sound whenever I paused my Tivo Bolt has also gone away.

(I did make my own PRIR using the 2-speaker method but it had some issues and I had been slowly replacing speakers in that PRIR with Surrey ones anyway. Someday I'll try making my PRIR again).

I was actually planning on posting my own results sometime in the near future, after another user had a chance to test this out to see if my solution had worked for them, but I may as well post now.

For me at least, it wasn't a matter of having 2.11 or not. The issue started with the firmware my unit shipped with (I believe it was 2.05) and persisted through the next two updates. Previously, I would always have presets 16, and 1-8 customized. After a full restore, the problem would go away, until I customized some presets (usually 1-2 at first). Then it would happen without fail, 100% of the time I would power up the unit. Essentially, as long as I had it on a default preset upon initialization, I'd get sound, but since I wasn't going to listen to a default preset, I'd still end up having to switch presets anyway, so I would just power off/on with my customs.

Recently, after another full restore, I've not had the problem once yet. This could just be a freakish streak of luck, but I very much doubt that's the case. The difference this time is that I've left 16, and 1-2 alone for now. So far, while only customizing 3-6, I've not encountered the error yet and it's been a little over a week of daily use. Also, if it makes any difference, each preset that gets modified also gets a uniquely customized listening room as well, but the listening room number that gets modified seems not to make any difference.

I thought it might be either the number of presets that was the problem, or specific presets that might be the issue. Another user said that they were using presets 1-4 and having the issue, so either it's just entirely random among units, or I'm thinking it might be something with the first two that will cause problems for most users.

edit: To be clear, I did a full restore after previously installing 2.11, even though it was mentioned that a full restore was not necessary for that update. I still had the issue until my latest restore.

 

[VandyMan]

Speaking of fixed issues... I wanted to mention that all of the problems I reported here with the A-16 and the Apple TV 4K went away when I bought a new TV. The old TV was a 12 year old Sony and the new is an LG OLED C1. Same A-16 firmware (2.05). I guess this illustrates why it is so hard to fix HDMI issues.

 

[mrtim6]

Hi everyone especially those who are Kickstarter backers still waiting or preordered backers. I had an update from James Smyth I thought I’ll post it here for everyones benefit:

email starts below this line:

Thanks for getting in touch, It's nice to hear from you.

Despite having taken deposits for Realiser A16 pre-orders in 2017-2018, as of April 2022, we have yet to begin delivering these units and we sincerely apologise for this. While Kickstarter A16s did start leaving our factory in mid-2019, our plan was to finish shipping Kickstarter units before commencing with pre-order units and at the time we expected this to occur sometime late 2020. Unfortunately, even before we had completed the Kickstarter shipments, due to severe semiconductor supply problems brought on firstly by a fire at the AKM manufacturing plant in Japan and secondly by disruption caused by the pandemic, manufacturing of the A16 has been reduced to a trickle and more recently, brought to a complete standstill. Delivery of the MDS APM110, MDS HSR41T, FPGA, ADI DSPs, ARM processor and various AD convertors that we use in the A16 design are on a long lead time, some being quoted by the manufactures as far as 2024. However, as the pandemic subsides, we expect these delivery times to improve.

Since the A16 is our only product, cash flow has been heavily impacted and company overheads have been cut back to the absolute minimum to try and ride out this unprecedented situation. Unfortunately, this has required us to sell the few A16s we have managed to put together to new customers at full price to keep the company from closing its doors.
Our intentions are still to deliver the pre-order A16 as and when the semiconductor supply problems are worked out. Industry analysists have suggested this should be resolved by the end of 2023. Hopefully it will be sooner.

Regards
James

 

[mrtim6]

Link here provides information on the APM110 decoders;

https://0395410.netsolhost.com/mds/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/APM-datasheet-2nd-Gen-Rev5.pdf

 

[shmau]

There are rumors (and if not true I may be making them worse by repeating them) that MDS is not in business anymore. Their domain has expired and allegedly they don't answer the phone anymore either. So, worst case many companies may have to re engineer.

 

[JonFo]

There are rumors (and if not true I may be making them worse by repeating them) that MDS is not in business anymore. Their domain has expired and allegedly they don't answer the phone anymore either. So, worst case many companies may have to re engineer.

And I'll nip that rumor right in the bud, as it is false.

They are in the midst of changing their domain:

NEW MDS INTERNET DOMAIN

MDS is in the midst of transitioning over to a new web domain of mds-av.com. Please excuse delayed updates to this site while under reconstruction.

Taken from that new website.

If your old domain is worth $500K and is not from some universally known direct-to-consumer business, and your little OEM shop needs cash flow, guess which asset goes up for auction?

Smart business move.

I doubted they would go under; way too many products use their boards, Theta, Storm Audio, etc.

 

[Dixter]

I can understand the hardware issues are out of their hands but that should not hold up the software development or the update to the manual ???