The center... side three.

With a hurricane approaching I was excited to see the media mail show up today.

I lost power.  Luckily I was the first and it came back on quickly.  Time will tell the rest. 

I am spinning at 33 for the moment. 

power interrupt.

Too Hip To Kick It?

Both JJ and I are huge fans of Kickstarter. Is Kickstarter a fan of us?  Not so much.



In order to get things moving with the phono corrector we decided to try Kickstarter and offer up a few units at a reduced cost to get the EMIA ball rolling.  Ultimately the EMIA model has the units being sold through dealer network so the final price will need to take that into consideration.  However with all of our capital at risk we decided a few of the early ones could "squeak out the back door" at a reduced price to ramp things up.  We did need a means to draw a line in the sand to protect us in the future.

Kickstarter seemed to be the perfect venue to draw that line.  We jumped through all their hoops and they declined us providing a list of smaller hoops we needed to jump through.  We thought we did pretty well, hell JJ even played "Ed Wood" and uploaded a video!  Alas we were declined again.  They did do us the favor of allowing a public preview of the declined project so we ask you to take a peek and tell us where we went wrong.  (the video alone is worth the price of entry)

Our Kickstarted project.
 

Here is a list of the "special guidelines" we were required to meet.

• A functional prototype must be shown. If an adequate demonstration requires video, a video demo must be included in the project description or project video. Still images alone will not suffice.



check...

• Simulations of functionality and photorealistic renderings are prohibited. Products can only be shown performing actions that they're able to perform in their current state of development. No exceptions.

sure sounds like music to me... maybe a picture of the bling on the back panel would convince them.

• Detailed information regarding the creator's background and experience must be included in the bio or project description.

our bios say it all... anything more would be BS.

• A thorough manufacturing plan must be described. Details should include steps taken in the product development process up to the point of project launch as well as production and fulfillment plans post project success.

working prototypes.... done.... playing as I type.  delivery by Festivus is a promise not to be taken lightly.

• Creators can only offer one of a single item or one sensible unit of multiple items. For example, if you had a drinking glasses project, you could choose to offer 1 glass per reward tier, or if a set makes more sense, 1 set of 4 for each tier. You could not offer 1 glass in one tier and 4 in another tier.


check.  single item, single tier.  Do they really want to be a place to hawk $25 T-shits and $50 record bags?

Unfortunately, this project did not satisfactorily meet these requirements, which means we are unable to accept it. This isn't a judgment on the quality of this project, just a reflection of our focus.Ahh... Focus.  That must be it.

I guess that means we need to refocus and offer up the same deal here.  The quantity is limited to 6,  4 commitments are needed for the "deal" to go through.  As a plus since Kickstarter will not be getting their 5% the price is now $2400.

Comments below secure your place in line.  Private correspondence will hash out the details if needed.

peace,

us

The Anti-Audiophile rack...

.

so what to do when you have a bunch of gear?  Do you really want to look at all of that mismatched stuff?  I don't.  I will be completely honest and say that I would much rather have it all in a closet than look at it - yes, even Eimac tubes... To me, it keeps the focus on music and away from gear.  Are there exceptions?  yeah.. of course!  most turntables... the REL Precendent.. and my Marantz Model Twenty makes me smile... but now I have wandered off task... so I googled "ultimate audiophile rack"... and this kind of gave me the shivers:

So what to do if you have no closets and want easy access but no staring at nerd gear?  Well, you scrounge until you get lucky..  and lucky is what I must be... check out the Art Deco cabinets from Simplex! 

yeah...  I will need to customize it a bit... so that the right components are easy to get to... and the noisy and hot items are down below... but I can handle having this baby in my listening room... maybe some strategically placed mercury tubes behind those openings?  or Tungar field coil supplies?  or just a power switch and a classic jewel bulb as an indicator?

so I do have a couple.. one is spoken for... drop me a line if you are interested... I will post a follow-up when completed...

 

Peace,

Me

There's a new blogger in town...

I checked his credentials... apparently he really has owned damn near everything HiFi and Theatre related from about 1925 to 1975... he even sold "audiophile" gear in the 80's... I guess you have to know the enemy... but Dave and I are not scared of him... (Iain might be)... because we know that all you have to do is put on some James Brown and he loses all focus... but then, so do I... so maybe we need a Plan B?

The above shows how Joe normally dominates the conversation - with a WE24a to cheat!  I guess this is his new online equivalent...


Papa Joe's Blog:  www.JunkyardJukebox.com


Peace,
Me

audio as art.

This is by far the most beautiful cartridge I have laid my grubby paws on.  It only took a decade to find one... it doesn't work... but  someone circa 1954 "got it"

For those of you that thought that the Strain Gauge cartridge was an invention of the 70's, think again.

dave

how do you shrink metal?

Western Electric 16A update....

wow... pretty vertical pieces.... ahhh.... but... but... 

I have to be honest here... although I knew the 16a would be a formidable project, I was a little aloof and dismissed most of the work as just requiring labor as it was simple sheet metal, right?  wrong.  The initial impression from walking up to a 16a is that it is finished very simply and crudely.. and in many ways, it is.. but.. but... the more we looked, the more we realized it was very accurate.. very accurate... very smooth flares...

but we also noted a differing level of finish on the several examples we have seen up close... so we thought maybe the plans were just shipped around to regional metal shops.. but now, having tried to make some of these parts ourselves, we are convinced that at least the horizontal pieces were stamped... under very high pressures... there is no other way to get the flare that smooth...

so those of you who want to follow along in the geekery, here is an example of a section:

see that upturned lip of just under an inch running the length of each side?  yes.  that one... well, if the panel were flat, you could just take it to a sheet metal break and bend it.  but because this piece is helical, the lip must stretch on convex turns and SHRINK on concave turns!  how the heck do you shrink metal?  yes, I know stretchers and shrinkers exist.  But they are crude.  inexact.  there is no way to get this level of accuracy, much less repeatability, with a shrinker.  You have to use brute force over a die.  so in the name of doing this thing properly... so that every one will be the same... and so that each will flare smoothly... we are making dies... old school.. the proper way to build this...

but until we finish that, here are some pretty vertical pieces...