Here is the update on the TPB.V1 Tube Buffer TOUR.
First, the bad news. On Friday our CNC laser died hard. Looks like a combination of a toasted power supply and the controller board doesn't look good either. That means we are dead in the water in terms of engraving our front/rear panels. We are also about a week behind getting our panels anodized. The anodizing is just a matter of another week but getting the CNC laser back up and running is going to be a project. We have to rebuild it basically. The model we have is no longer supported plus it was marginal to begin with and a bit undersized for our needs. I've ordered practically a whole new system of components including new power supplies (2, one for the laser and one for the stepper motors & controller) and a new controller. If all goes well we'll be back up and running in a couple of weeks bigger and better than ever. But this CNC outage is going to delay the release of the buffer because we can't produce finished product without the CNC laser. Argh!
Now for the good news. The tour is going to proceed regardless of the CNC issue. To do so we're going to use the ugly prototype unit. Raw aluminum front and rear panels. Enclosure box with a hole in its side. Go ugly or go home. We are clearly not going for style points here so it's all about the sonics. Oh, and while I'm referring to the tour unit as our prototype unit it does have the actual final production boards/parts internally. But it has none of the upgrade options. No upgraded plate voltage super regulator. No Vishay foil reistors. No V-Cap coupling caps. If you end up liking it as it, it can only get better with the upgrades.
I still need name, address, phone and email for the 2 tour participants below. Sent you both a PM as well.
orientalexpress
mitch2
As soon as I have those addresses I'll finalize the tour routing. I plan on shipping out the buffer prototype unit this week.
Forward!
Morten