Possible future products poll

[Arkless Electronics]

I have all sorts of possible future products in the pipeline... non of them ready for any sort of demo etc but some prototyped and some sketched out in CAD.
I'm looking for a bit of input from you lot as to what people would be most interested in, specifically what would you consider actually buying!?
Obviously there is a lot of unknowns here and people will quite rightly say they would have to try equipment before considering purchase. It's just to see what the front runner is and what would probably be a waste of time to develop further!

 

[stevec67]

In order:
1 - not really, I want any phono stage to be future proof, if I want to try a MC (I have one unused) then I want the phono stage to deal with it.
2 - Ooh, tasty.
3 - This is interesting too.
4 &5 - not interested in phones.
6 - Not really, it's been done, in any case I run a Garrard and even if I had a Linn/Thorens/etc I'd build a DIY Geddon.
7 - No. Why do I need these? I'd rather fit regulators to my stuff, or better PSUs.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

In order:
1 - not really, I want any phono stage to be future proof, if I want to try a MC (I have one unused) then I want the phono stage to deal with it.
2 - Ooh, tasty.
3 - This is interesting too.
4 &5 - not interested in phones.
6 - Not really, it's been done, in any case I run a Garrard and even if I had a Linn/Thorens/etc I'd build a DIY Geddon.
7 - No. Why do I need these? I'd rather fit regulators to my stuff, or better PSUs.

I can't see much point in the Armageddon... it doesn't regenerate a high accuracy and low distortion sine wave for the motor but just reduces the voltage fed to it, which is easily done in a proper TT supply anyway. It also doesn't offer speed switching!

 

[Arkless Electronics]

There's not much voting going on here folks... don't be shy

 

[sq225917]

A nice digitally controlled AC sped controller with all the bells and whistles, adjustable phase lag, adjustable voltage for each phase, broad range from 10-110v without step ups/down, ramp up and down adjustment, digitally controlled with nice displays and maybe the option to dial in other than just a straight sine wave.

Name your price.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

A nice digitally controlled AC sped controller with all the bells and whistles, adjustable phase lag, adjustable voltage for each phase, broad range from 10-110v without step ups/down, ramp up and down adjustment, digitally controlled with nice displays and maybe the option to dial in other than just a straight sine wave.

Name your price.

A rather limited market for that Si! PC controlled DSP probably the way to go....

 

[banjoman]

I'd be interested in a good quality reasonably priced tube MM phono stage or a hybrid MM/MC phono

 

[Arkless Electronics]

I'd be interested in a good quality reasonably priced tube MM phono stage or a hybrid MM/MC phono

To give a very rough "picking a figure out of mid air" guesstimate as to the pricing of those two, I'm thinking in terms of around £600 for the MM only valve phono stage and around £2000 for the higher end MM/MC capable hybrid.

 

[Darth Vader]

To give a very rough "picking a figure out of mid air" guesstimate as to the pricing of those two, I'm thinking in terms of around £600 for the MM only valve phono stage and around £2000 for the higher end MM/MC capable hybrid.

At that price you are up against some very stiff competition. I hope you have listened to some top record players through phono stages in the £2 - 4K region to see what challenges you may face. If you have and you can muster it then good luck with your enterprise. My own Brinkmann Fein at around £2K gives the TE Groove+ at £4K a run for its money.

Oh! And if your phono stage has some inbuilt preamplification with a volume control then it would be attractive (like my Fein) to those of us who have/want to do away with a pre-amplifier.

Cheers,

DV

 

[Arkless Electronics]

At that price you are up against some very stiff competition. I hope you have listened to some top record players through phono stages in the £2 - 4K region to see what challenges you may face. If you have and you can muster it then good luck with your enterprise. My own Brinkmann Fein at around £2K gives the TE Groove+ at £4K a run for its money.

Oh! And if your phono stage has some inbuilt preamplification with a volume control then it would be attractive (like my Fein) to those of us who have/want to do away with a pre-amplifier.

Cheers,

DV

Thanks DV. I am indeed planning to offer a volume control or even stepped attenuator as an option....

 

[Minstrel SE]

Great value products for the hard working man is what we need Arkless.

Giant Killers!! A brushed aluminium case and blue leds would be a bonus

 

[stevec67]

£2k is a lot of money, especially for an unknown brand with very questionable resale value. It's very much a leap of faith for the consumer.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

£2k is a lot of money, especially for an unknown brand with very questionable resale value. It's very much a leap of faith for the consumer.

This indeed is the problem.... I do rather wonder if I would be wasting my time making any high end products for just that reason.... I can certainly build stuff that will easily beat many other makes and at a lower price (I pay more for components as I can't bulk buy... But there's no distributor or dealer involved!). Then there is the erm.. exclusivity... and the fact that equipment can be customised to customers requirements etc.

It appears though that many are inveterate box swappers and care mainly about "what will I get back for this if I sell it in 6 weeks time".
Brand name seems to be all that counts to some, even if it sounds nothing special (or worse!)

I do hope though that some have different values, that they know excellent sound quality when they hear it, require longevity from their equipment and appreciate having something artisan built by someone who really cares... Someone and who can liaise with customers as to their precise requirements rather than just supply another identical box

 

[Arkless Electronics]

I didn't expect the electoral turn out that the Scottish independence vote was likely to deliver... but surely this is more important than the PPC elections!?

 

[Pac1]

This indeed is the problem.... I do rather wonder if I would be wasting my time making any high end products for just that reason.... I can certainly build stuff that will easily beat many other makes and at a lower price (I pay more for components as I can't bulk buy... But there's no distributor or dealer involved!). Then there is the erm.. exclusivity... and the fact that equipment can be customised to customers requirements etc.

It appears though that many are inveterate box swappers and care mainly about "what will I get back for this if I sell it in 6 weeks time".
Brand name seems to be all that counts to some, even if it sounds nothing special (or worse!)

I do hope though that some have different values, that they know excellent sound quality when they hear it, require longevity from their equipment and appreciate having something artisan built by someone who really cares... Someone and who can liaise with customers as to their precise requirements rather than just supply another identical box

Exactly so.

As a business venture, it may be lower risk producing a capable lowish cost valve MM phono, perhaps an equally lowish price MC gain stage with variable loading (sold separately) and save the higher end stuff for individual customer commissions.

There are relatively few GOOD lowish cost MM phono pres on the market. indeed I can only think of about 3, and that's hardly market saturation. As many know, there's no NASA secrets in RIAA circuit topology, so why there aren't more decent hard wired MM vale pres. I dont know. Could be a good niche to get into Jez.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

Exactly so.

As a business venture, it may be lower risk producing a capable lowish cost valve MM phono, perhaps an equally lowish price MC gain stage with variable loading (sold separately) and save the higher end stuff for individual customer commissions.

There are relatively few GOOD lowish cost MM phono pres on the market. indeed I can only think of about 3, and that's hardly market saturation. As many know, there's no NASA secrets in RIAA circuit topology, so why there aren't more decent hard wired MM vale pres. I dont know. Could be a good niche to get into Jez.

The lowish cost valve MM only stage was actually the front runner in my own mind before starting this poll....

I would love to take on individual commissions for high end custom equipment but there seems to be an insurmountable obstacle to this... in that by the very nature of a (probably) one off item, it doesn't exist until I've built it so there is no way anyone could try before they buy.... bins the light bulb on that one!
If anyone does actually want to order a pair of 100W pure class A monoblocks, without hearing them first, they know where to come... What no takers on that one?

 

[YNWOAN]

A nice digitally controlled AC sped controller with all the bells and whistles, adjustable phase lag, adjustable voltage for each phase, broad range from 10-110v without step ups/down, ramp up and down adjustment, digitally controlled with nice displays and maybe the option to dial in other than just a straight sine wave.

Yes that

 

[Arkless Electronics]

Me thinks I'm having my leg pulled on that one

 

[Pac1]

The lowish cost valve MM only stage was actually the front runner in my own mind before starting this poll....

I would love to take on individual commissions for high end custom equipment but there seems to be an insurmountable obstacle to this... in that by the very nature of a (probably) one off item, it doesn't exist until I've built it so there is no way anyone could try before they buy.... bins the light bulb on that one!
If anyone does actually want to order a pair of 100W pure class A monoblocks, without hearing them first, they know where to come... What no takers on that one?

LoL

No, of course it's impossible to sell something without having that something first, but it's sometimes a case of speculate to accumulate, so perhaps think of a product which could serve the higher end (ok...hands up, I HATE that term, so would like to re-phrase as "higher quality product end") really well and invest in building one. I'm sure a talented chap like you could come up with something quite special. Then there's getting as many who will listen to listen.

I've done that with my loudspeakers and I do have steady interest and sales under my belt since making that investment. Getting bums on seats and having a benchmark product to do comparisons with worked well for me. Just a thought.

 

[YNWOAN]

Me thinks I'm having my leg pulled on that one

Actually, you're not.

If you want to be able to make and receive custom commissions (and I can certainly see the appeal of that) then you must first have an excellent reputation for quality, reliability and communication - such is not easy to achieve, but very easy to damage...

I would also say that whilst it is fine from an engineering point to build a prototype in a biscuit tin you can't then just say to people they can have a fancy case if they want it. Many people can't imagine the fancy case without seeing it and at least as many don't realise they want that case until it's infront of them. Unfortunately, there is a good reason why so many of today's hi-fi companies are backed by venture capatalists.