Hello!
Well, 'News' is maybe a bit of an exaggeration but there is a change coming. Starting in October the TAP pre-amp will become the new Music First Pre-amp. For those not familiar with their products MF Audio is an extension of Stevens and Billington - who wind the TVC's for us and others as well. Their website is:
http://www.mfaudio.co.uk/The new TAP has worked out really well for the first round buyers - a couple comment's were:
"The new preamp is beautiful and working flawlessly. It is amazing at just how pure and transparent this unit is. We are astounded every day. "
And from a previous user of a NOH silver TVC pre-amp:
"I think more should know about how good your TAP is! In this world of insane audio prices, I truly feel that your latest product is a Best Buy and should be at the top of any audiophile's list. I continue to be amazed with how good the TAP sounds in my system"
I am really happy myself with both sonics and the added operational smoothness and functionality over my previous pre-amp designs. Back to the MF Audio connection. Quite some time back I discussed with MF Audio ways of adding a remote to their design. We could have just done a motorized switch like I did in the NOH but once the new TAP modules were done this kinda felt like using an 'old news' design. The TAP modules offer so many features just not possible with the older motorized solution. Another option was to just put the TAP parts into a different box for MF Audio to sell - but that just felt kinda wrong...... So we decided to join up and both offer the same design under the MF Audio nameplate.
The design will be the same - the marking on the front will change but that is all. Because MF Audio has sold mostly via resellers the price will likely need to rise a bit - this is why some time back I removed my original pricing from my website. If you have already contacted me about getting one then the original pricing will still be used for your order. Additionally I have arranged with S&B to allow orders received in the next couple weeks time to be sold at original pricing - so anyone who was considering ordering but who has not e-mailed yet does not see any increase in prices. Final pricing for orders after that timeframe are just being worked out now. We both are trying hard to keep the cost as low as we can.
I will soon have a few other designs for the DIY world including:
- The TAP-X diy version for home brew projects using the TAP parts.
- The FLEX Pre-amp case that can be built as a traditional Hardwired TVC (using the parts from the NOH pre-amp)
- The TRIK Controller - a separate TAP control unit - particularly usefull for DIY projects - more to come on that next week.
- The PRM1 controller - a very small front panel controller for retrofit and DIY applications.
- A series of alternate cases and enclosures including cost effective resistor based modules and a few input board options
I will have pics of all these in the next week or so. These above DIY parts will still be available direct to keep those costs as low as we can.
I Hope covered most details - please post questions as they come up!
Thansk!
John