Blimey, I can't believe I've only just read this thread! The problem, it seems to me, is that a number of subtly differing issues are being discussed simultaneously and, therefore, it is difficult to come to a holistic conclusion.
As far as I can see (though I freely admit to no experience in this area) the supplys made by 'biskit a', prior to his Teddycap clone, did not use Teddyregs (please feel free to correct this statement though). If this is true I don't see how they can be classed as copies; no more than a Teddycap is a copy of a Hi-Cap - they both do the same thing (essentially) but in differing ways.
Prior to this thread I don't recall anybody posting any claims that the Teddyregs were not (essentially) the intellectual property of Teddy Pardo - this is a separate issue. Certainly, as Teddy states, the recent group buy was authorised on the premise that they would not be used for commercial gain.
The value for money issue is another one altogether. The whole problem is that 'value for money' is very much dependent on the buyer and is entirely a subjective issue. As an example, let us consider the recent NJ 321 and 729 boards; these are professionally laid out and made and I 'purchased' fully built ones from Flatpopely (beers this weekend mate) for very little over the cost of the bits - essentially, zero profit. By any standards (that I know off) this is 'good value for money' but it is not a commercial reality (not that Flatpopely ever thought it was). If these boards were sold by Naim, as an upgrade, they would certainly have to cost very much more (quite probably 5X). Andrew (Flatpopely) already has a business so these boards did not have to pay the rent, his mortgage, his living expenses, his profit, cost of maintaining the production facility, cost of equipment, staff costs, pension costs, marketing costs, dealer mark-up etc. He simply looked at the raw cost of the bits (to him) and added a few quid to make sure he didn't end up making a loss on them.
'biscit a' feels that a 'Teddycap' is poor value for money and by the standards of the NJ321/729 boards it is. However, Teddy is not making a couple for enthusiast mates; he is making them to sell for profit (he does not claim otherwise). If you look inside a Hi-Cap you see a rather nice case, a big transformer, a couple of big capacitors and about a dozen resistors etc. - certainly the raw cost of these bits is absolutely nothing like the retail price of the finished unit. Yet, for many, the sonic result makes it 'good value for money'. If we now consider the Teddycap we see an 'off the shelf' plastic case', a medium sized transformer, a small bank of capacitors and a handful of resistors etc. Certainly the cost of these bits is also very much less than the retail price of this unit. However, it is also approximately half the price of a Hi-Cap; if some (not necessarily us) are happy with the performance/price ratio of a Hi-Cap then what does that mean for the 'value for money' of a Teddycap, irrespective of the profit to component cost ratio?
