Let me relate an amusing story.
More years back than I care to remember, I was at a Residential College in Adelaide, South Australia, studying Chemical Engineering. A friend at the College, Peter Wright, was studying third year EE, and very interested in audio. He was one cool dude and rode a CB350 Honda which he'd rebuilt himself. One evening in his room he played his latest amp to me - a Class A design inspired by Linsley Hood. This was back in the phono days, of course, and his preamp was a straightforward, discrete circuit - but the sound was marvellous. I don't even remember the speakers!
I carefully inspected the amplifier. It was point to point wiring, in a shoebox. There were a couple of smallish tagstrips, but the rest was just interconnected components. A bloody shoebox for God's sake!! The four output devices (3055s, no less) used two extruded heatsinks, ran very hot, and the fully discrete circuit was a 3D ratsnest of some grinning, electronic parody.
This taught me three lessons. One, proper functionality is possible despite an appalling layout, and this is a principle I exploit for prototyping. Two, no circuit is fully acceptable, particularly from a safety standpoint, until the metal work is completed and it's a sealed box. And finally, that Engineers hate doing metalwork. It is just too basic, too rudimentary, to be taken seriously....... Besides, it's hard work!
But the market teaches us all otherwise. In life we soon learn that every book is inevitably judged by its cover; and right or wrong, this is the standard. We (me too!!) ignore it at our peril.
I have seen amps made by Propstuff, Rythym Willie, and Jules, and indeed many of the Oz AKSAs. Almost every one of them is a work of art, particularly the three just mentioned. I'm really flattered by this; builders realize the amp is very good indeed and like to clothe it in appropriate attire. I would like to see Seano's amp one day - I have come to like his persona and I'm sure his amp would be most appealing......
Cheers,
Hugh
