[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you saying that you suspect there are Head-Fi'ers, in collusion with Mikhail, making money off of this debacle? God, I hope this isn't happening, but with this kind of money involved, you never know.

NO, no one is saying this. It's silly to even bring up behind-the-scenes allegations like this. Mikhail has long used a similar trick to deflect criticism (alleging there's a conspiracy of competitors against him). Don't fall to that level.

And yes, for the most part, the bulk of SinglePower's amps did/do sound good. It's Mikhail's various unethical business practices that deserve to be exposed to the light... the lying, the shoddy construction, etc. To keep that material hidden just does a disservice to potential purchasers. Mikhail has begun to behave especially strangely in the last two years, but he's been using lies to wiggle out of tight situations for a very long time (e.g. all the bogus claims he had filed patents for his amp designs in 2003). Eventually, character issues like this grow into something more.

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilS /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some guy named Bush and some guy who helped OJ murder his wife are two of the people involved I think. I think Mikhail also is involved with Madoff in some way. Geez, get a grip people.

I didn't say I thought this was happening, I asked if this is what he thinks.

 

[immtbiker]

To sacd lover (Earl). It's good to see that you dropped the "Particularly Cool Head-Fier's" which was in your sig, and was comprised of people who owned Singlepower amps.
I give you credit for finally dropping that.

Secondly, as I had stated earlier in this thread, that until all is resolved, that Mikhail should not be allowed to attend any meets, which is free advertising except for the National, where a table must be purchased to help pay for the meet.

I truly feel that Mikhail should not be allowed to attend the National, with all that has happened in the last year.

My 2¢.

 

[markmaxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif To sacd lover (Earl). It's good to see that you dropped the "Particularly Cool Head-Fier's" which was in your sig, and was comprised of people who owned Singlepower amps. I give you credit for finally dropping that. I had stated earlier in this thread, that until all is resolved, that Mikhail should not be allowed to attend any meets, which is free advertising except for the National, where a table must be purchased to help pay for the meet. I truly feel that Mikhail should not be allowed to attend the National, with all that has happened in the last year. My 2¢.

Did I miss something? Where did Earl ask if Mikhail is welcome to head-fi meets? (I agree with you Aaron)

 

[immtbiker]

Sorry if I conveyed the wrong message.

They were two separate points. I fixed it now to avoid confusion.

 

[mulveling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif To sacd lover (Earl). It's good to see that you dropped the "Particularly Cool Head-Fier's" which was in your sig, and was comprised of people who owned Singlepower amps. I give you credit for finally dropping that.

I think it's incorrect to assume that's what the list was for. He added me to that old list way before I owned any Singlepower gear, after we wrapped up a mutually beneficial & friendly deal on a Gilmore amp.

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wodgy /img/forum/go_quote.gif And yes, for the most part, the bulk of SinglePower's amps did/do sound good.

I'm not denying that they sounded good...... but LOTS of amps sound good. The difference between good and excellent really can come down to "suggestion, groupthink, cognitive dissonance and shame" as earwicker suggests.

From my short time in this hobby, it seems that Singlepower invokes those things much better than any other vendor. And you constantly see stories of how smooth a talker Mikhail is, and how he is "such a nice guy".

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulveling /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think it's incorrect to assume that's what the list was for. He added me to that old list way before I owned any Singlepower gear, after we wrapped up a mutually beneficial & friendly deal on a Gilmore amp.

Yes, definitely not what that list was for. I was on it for some bizarre reason, and I have not and will not own any Singlepower gear.

 

[mmwwhats]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I truly feel that Mikhail should not be allowed to attend the National, with all that has happened in the last year.

If I were Mikhail, I'd be outright afraid/embarrassed to attend seeing how people on this thread feel (myself included). I'm not suggesting that anyone would do something violent or even physical, but getting booed and confronted in public cannot be good for business.

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif To sacd lover (Earl). It's good to see that you dropped the "Particularly Cool Head-Fier's" which was in your sig, and was comprised of people who owned Singlepower amps. I give you credit for finally dropping that. I had stated earlier in this thread, that until all is resolved, that Mikhail should not be allowed to attend any meets, which is free advertising except for the National, where a table must be purchased to help pay for the meet. I truly feel that Mikhail should not be allowed to attend the National, with all that has happened in the last year. My 2¢.

Sorry, you are making an erroneous assumption .... my list was not composed of people who owned SP amps. My list was composed of my friends or people I thought made noteworthy contributions. I dropped the list because most of them are rarely around anymore.

I still have eight older SP amps that work fine and sound great. I still have people who ask me questions about them frequently .... probably every other day on average .... and usually about tubes. I had a person do so today .... raffy. The amps that I have are production models with few options = mostly stock. The amps that seem to be giving people fits are these high end one offs and/ or the electrostatics. Which is why I have a problem with all these statements SP has always been poorly built, unreliable etc... etc... that is simply not true.

But, I have no clue what is going on since I bought my last new SP, an Extreme, in January of 2007. I still recommend some of the older amps like the PPX3 SLAM if bought used. I have three PPX3 SLAMs (two used board amps) .... I like them so well. I still like my older P2P Supra amps (bought used) best. But my newer board build PPX3 SLAMs, which I guess arent so new anymore (2005 or 2006) and my stock Extreme (January 2007) have been bullet proof. What is happening now is a mystery to me.

Some of my very best friends have been caught up in this situation and that clearly bothers me. To be specific, Tom Hankins introduced me to the SP amps and convinced me to buy one back in January 2004, IIRC .... and you have seen his posts. Purk has had trouble. I found out this weekend another good friend, kmcdonou, is still waiting for his amp upgrade after 2.5 years. Others paying obscene amounts of money for custom builds are receiving broken amps, amps that soon stop working or nothing. This makes no sense whatsoever. Clearly something is amiss and needs corrected immediately. What can you say but the obvious .... this current state of affairs is wrong in every possible way.

 

[grawk]

I don't recall anyone ever using the burn in bugaboo WRT single power amps. That's reserved for another emperor's new clothes builder that's popular here.

 

[bhd812]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark_h /img/forum/go_quote.gif I cannot believe people continue to defend the man after those photographs?

it has happened before, which probably is what kept SP in business and got everyone in the pickle they are in now.

The group of people who did it before would rash and bash the competitors and when the threads where deleted they would rip on the mods here. the group always would convince newbies on the forums to stay away from one and go with another maker..mostly SP. of course either side was/is never an angel the major difference now is this stuff we read today is from the SP owners themselves. owners of SP amps would tell me at meets about problems like this but would never post about it on the boards, not sure why..maybe cause they wanted to sell the amp and not lose their butt.

of course the group and the fanboys faded overtime and so did the fights (man those were the days!).

speaking of which i Give Icra lot's of credit for posting and coming out with it, you might of lost the Resale value but you might just save someone else from the headaches later on by reading and LEARNING from your posts.

IMMT: not sure cause i never barred anyone from coming to a meet, but Mot's are not members so maybe people throwing meets should take a vote or something..
it does not surprise me to see what's in those pics but then again look at my states governor..

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulveling /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think it's incorrect to assume that's what the list was for. He added me to that old list way before I owned any Singlepower gear, after we wrapped up a mutually beneficial & friendly deal on a Gilmore amp.

Correct - I know Blutarsky was on the list and he didn't own a SP amp either.

Blutarsky is still on my list though, as is Sherwood, wiatrob, Luminette, Asr, mrarroyo, Skylab, HiFlight, Jamato8, namaanf and plaidplatypus. BTW, none of them have SP amps except Skylab - can he stay on my list of cool head-fiers? Wait, I have an SP amp, do I have to remove myself now?

In defense of why I have an SP amp - In my case, I was at a head-fi meet in July and listening to a Meridian CDP and Headroom balanced desktop with HD600 with plans to buy a balanced amp. I was tired of listening to my HD600 from the APogee XLR out. I listened to the "Transparency" and didn't like it one bit, while the ES-1 wasn't as good with Lambda Signature as my Woo GES prototype (but better with O2 I think, and great with the HE90). But, towards the end of the meet Mikhail tried to convince me after 10 or 11 requests to listen to his "new 2008 rev Square Wave XL balanced amp" and I finally acquiesced. I had originally ignored it because of the dual volume knobs and lack of other features like the HR. I listened and loved it with my balanced HD600 and Apogee mini-DAC (later I was able to upgrade the WA6 to a high level of SQ as well).

He claimed the demo unit was a modified upgraded version, with blackgates, and he claimed it would sell for about $1500-1700 new but it was a used demo and he offered it to me for $850 (now selling this model for $1249). After my sob story of being disabled and unemployed, Mikhail only charged my credit card for $690, which I think was very generous. Maybe he's had other acts of generosity that have gotten him in trouble financially now (how much does a plane ticket to Tom Hankins cost), or they were a form of penance for causing other customers bigger trouble?

The amp does sound very good and having done some side by side comparisons with a few other people it is on a similar level as my maxed WA6 and Blutarsky's Zana Deux or Melos SHA gold, and slightly better than Mulveling's Gilmore Reference (formerly plaidplatypus's). It is good enough to be a person's only amp, and maybe that (and his winning personality) is why people keep going back to SP for more amps. I know mine will never go up for sale, but I do worry about the rattle in the plastic power brick sometimes...

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't recall anyone ever using the burn in bugaboo WRT single power amps. That's reserved for another emperor's new clothes builder that's popular here.

Subtle as always, grawk

 

[immtbiker]

OK, I stand corrected. It seemed quite coincidental that each time a new name was added to the list, after the original list had started, that they had just purchased a SP amp.
Perhaps it was just coincidence.

 

[immtbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't recall anyone ever using the burn in bugaboo WRT single power amps. That's reserved for another emperor's new clothes builder that's popular here.

I guess it that was inevitable, that this other manufacturer would have have been brought up in this thread, out of the blue.
What's important here, regardless of coy insinuations, is that the builder that you speak of, has consistently delivered the products as promised, on or close to on-time, with fit and finish that are galaxies above the pictures that we see here (with or without burn-in). He may not have the charisma and soft speaking abilities of said person in question, but his products, regardless of difference of opinion, are solid and seaworthy. Not too many have gone back for repair. And (poster puts up USS Enterprise shields), many here will say that his amps sound pretty darn good.

But why bring it up except to throw chaos and mayhem into an already "Armageddon-like" thread?