[spartan2]

I wonder if anybody has heard from Paul Hynes lately. I have been trying to contact him both by phone and email for weeks with no success. Paul, are you there?...

[ted_b]

After a simple check with his profile page it shows Paul was on AC Friday evening (his time).  I'm sure he'll see this. 

[Paul Hynes]

Hi Spartan2,

Sorry you are having problems getting through to me. If you are telephoning from abroad or using a UK telephone with the number withheld, it will not be answered. There are now so many calls coming from International and UK cold call centres and scammers hiding their telephone number I have had to make the decision not to answer them as it wastes so much of my time. There is an answer phone on the telephone line and if I am in the office I will pick up if you start a message related to audio. If you do not start a message your call will be ignored.

If you are not receiving e-mail replies it may be because a spam filter is blocking your mail. E-mail is scanned for malware and suspicious mail is blocked. If you suspect this is the case send me a PM on Audiocircle as I check my inbox every few days. I will keep an eye on my in box for a message.

Regards
Paul

[spartan2]

OK, so I'll try you again tomorrow! Thanks.

[jtwrace]

OK, so I'll try you again tomorrow! Thanks.

Unless it's something personal why not ask here?  It might interest some of us too. 

[spartan2]

I give up trying to call... I think you're right, I should post my questions here.
So can you please let me know what are the differences between the various supplies, particularly between the SL5 and the SL7?
Also, you mentioned on your email that the delivery time would be 25 working days for the SL1. Does that apply to the other supplies as well?

[Paul Hynes]

Hi Spartan2,

The normal lead time (time from order to shipping) for the SR1 is typically 25 to 25 working days and for the SR5 and SR7 power supplies are in the region of 35 to 48 working days. Working days are Monday to Friday excluding personal holidays and statutory national holidays. All products are built to order and the materials for your orders are ordered following payment. This means that the lead time can be affected by material shortages at the time I order them. Other things that can affect order lead times, that are beyond my control, are weather conditions preventing shipment inward or outward or causing power outages. The Western Isles can suffer severe Atlantic storms up to hurricane force, especially in the winter. It can take a while to repair the Island infrastructure. Also personal illness can affect lead times.

The SR1 is a low powered shunt regulated power supply designed for use with digital signal processing equipment. In the same size case as the SR1 I produce the SR3, which is a more efficient series regulated power supply designed for all applications (both analogue and digital) within it’s power rating. The SR5 power supply is a larger power supply than the SR3, with a custom manufactured mains transformer and several circuit upgrades over the SR3. The SR7 has a larger mains transformer than the SR5 as well as more energy storage and further circuit upgrades.

Essentially these power supplies just get progressively larger with lower output impedance, greater current delivery and better sound quality. They are all customised for specific applications covering a wide range of options. This is why I have not currently published a general spec for the power supplies, although this may change over the next year as the business progresses. My products are tailor made to suit customer’s equipment. For this reason I spend time in discussion with customers prior to them placing any order. This is to ensure that I recommend a product that is suitable for their needs and provides a very real upgrade in sound quality for their system. I give a 56 day return if not satisfied guarantee on all my products. There have been no returns of SR3, SR5 and SR7 power supplies at all. Zero! I have had one return of an SR1 power supply over four years ago where the customer felt an improvement in his system was there, but not enough that he wanted to pay for. Since then no SR1 power supplies have been returned under the dissatisfaction guarantee nor have any regulator products either.

If you want further information I will be pleased to help but do bear in mind that I am very busy at present so you may have to wait for an answer.

Regards
Paul

[spartan2]

Great, that was a fast reply. From now on I'll contact you here if that's OK.
There are a lot of caveats to your delivery time though. I'm not sure what to make of it. Do you have an express fee?... 
Is the regulation doen with tubes or silicone? I understand the bigger transformer being used in the sl7, but are you saying that the regulation circuit is different or that there are more stages? Do you use film caps or electrolytics? Are there any internal pictures of these supplies that you can send me? What are the prices of the sl5 and sl7? And should I assume a 3 months delivery time as the absolute maximum (without counting wars, earthquakes and other force majeure things)?

[spartan2]

Also, can you tell me the VA of the transformers used in the supplies? I don't really need that much power, so perhaps the sl1 would be sufficient. And considerably faster to get too!

[Paul Hynes]

Spartan2

Build to order is entirely different from “off the shelf”. With off the shelf the product will either be in stock and easy to ship quickly or out of stock. Build to order has a much longer process for completion. Aside from the physical build there is the admin that has to go with it, the general business admin and the large amount of time spent in e-mail discussion with many orders. My business is essentially a one-man, plus part time office help, business at present (although this is going to change next year). Currently I make everything myself, by hand, one item at a time. This is the busiest time of the year in audio with many orders placed every week this can rapidly expand the time scale of the build schedule as each product takes a finite amount of time to make. Essentially there is a queue and this is dynamic depending on the level of orders at any given time.

Then there are the logistics of acquiring all the materials for each order. Component distributors are not holding the stock levels they used to, in these times of Global Recession, and it is quite possible for components to be out of stock with all the distributors at once as the manufacturers are not manufacturing at the levels they were before the recession.

My world is not on a precise timescale. Many things can delay production and I do not currently have the manpower resources to plug the gaps that can develop due to outside forces. I used to just quote a fixed time scale but when this was inaccurate people used to get annoyed with me for shipping late. This is why I now give customers the full picture so they understand the logistics of build to order before they order. If you are the type of person that wants everything by return, I would prefer to politely tell you to go somewhere else to spend your money, as build to order may not be for you. Whether you will get the same level of sound quality improvement elsewhere off the shelf is a good question, but it’s your choice and you are the one who has to live with the results of your decision.

If you are given realistic expectations from the start of any build to order business relationship the path is less stressful for all concerned.

There is currently no possibility of an express fee service as orders are booked into the work schedule in chronological order and I do not have any free time outside my work schedule for additional work.

The regulator designs are silicon based discrete designs (no performance limited three terminal regulators) as I can approach the ideal voltage source, much closer than I can with valves, by using silicon. I am not against valves and I use them myself for signal processing. They just have their limitations for certain applications.

Transformers used are :- SR1-24VA, SR3-50VA and 60VA, SR5-100 or160VA depending on application, SR7-250VA and higher depending on application.

The SR3, SR5 and SR7 use the same regulator circuit topology with enhancements as you move up the range. The SR1 is a different circuit topology as it is a shunt regulator. I fit high ripple current low ESR electrolytic capacitors in the power supplies. These are essential to achieve a decent level of energy storage. I have some internal pictures of some of my custom versions of these supplies. Contact via e-mail and I will send them to you.

From 30th November the SR5 with the 100VA transformer will be £450 and with the 160VA transformer will be £525. The SR7 is £650. DC leads are extra.

Incidentally for the current SR5 group Buy I decided to fit the 160VA mains transformer to ensure that the power supply would be more or less universal for the Mac Mini. This was made possible by the quantities I have been able to order. The group buy price is currently £350. When the SR5 group buy offer runs out on 30th November, the same version after 30th November will cost £525, so it is an exceptional buy at the moment.

I cannot quote accurate shipping times as the carrier transit time often varies considerably from their advertised time also it often takes an additional period of time through forwarding agents from the Western Isles to the mainland carrier network. This can add up to 5 days.

I would say that normally 75% of orders are shipped out in the expected lead time, but that does leave quite a few that are delayed for various reasons past the expected lead time. You have a 1 in 4 chance of a delayed order so I am not going to give you any absolute guarantee with this. I am a “tell it how it is” guy. I know a man who makes very fine acoustic guitars to order. If you want one of his guitars you will have to wait for around two years. He cannot make them any faster but people wait because the guitars are so good. As I said before if you do not want to wait, go somewhere else. If this is the case there is no need for further comment.

Regards
Paul

[spartan2]

I guess I'm sorry for all the questions. I didn't think they were going to upset you so much. As for the delivery time, I was just asking... that's all. Let me just say that I  have no idea what you mean by you being a "tell it how it is guy"...  I never read or heard a more convoluted reply to a product inquiry. What's so wrong in wanting a more precise delivery estimate for a power supply costing 800pounds? Does that make me an "impatient person"? I must be missing something here. In any case, I'm very out indeed!

[Paul Hynes]

Spartan2

I do not mind answering questions. To be frank, I did not know what to make of your post number 7 in this thread particularly the comments in brackets. Perhaps I misread what was an attempt at humour. Lead-time seemed to be a big issue for you and that’s fine but you did ask about it, so it is an issue that could not remain unanswered. Being a “tell it how it is guy” is self explanatory, as I have clearly stated the current situation with lead time, and the circumstances that can affect it. That is just being thorough. I realise that this goes against the marketing handbook.

I recognise that build to order is not ideal for many, and this way of working is perhaps “old school” in the fast moving world of today, but this is how it is at the moment.

For everyone else reading this thread, I decided it would be a good idea to spell out how the current business model works, so everyone knows where they are with build to order.

Plans are in place and progressing to change how the business works. Additional manufacturing facilities with a faster lead-time will progressively take over the administration and manufacture of the product range over the next two years.

This will allow me to take a development seat and begin the production engineering of all the designs I have had to place on hold during the last few years due to pressure of work.