Purist Preamp US In Home Audition Tour

Harmon · « **Reply #100 on:** 12 Nov 2003, 07:11 pm »

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. You are a barrel of laughs Nathanm.

Curt · « **Reply #101 on:** 21 Nov 2003, 03:29 pm »

A quick Purist tour update:

The Purist will be in Charlotte for a brief pit stop, receiving a quick check-up and a new shipping carton.

The tour schedule, and progress, can be found on page 4 of this thread:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=4402&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

The tour is taking a long time, one week for each audition, I do hope everyone is still with us. ptn is next in line for an in home audition.

TNT audio will be posting a follow-up review of Purist revision 1.01, I have been told it was submitted and we are just waiting for it to be published on their website.

That's all for now.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #102 on:** 21 Nov 2003, 05:38 pm »

Quote from: Curt

...I do hope everyone is still with us...

i'm still here ready and waiting!

dogberry · « **Reply #103 on:** 21 Nov 2003, 06:55 pm »

I'm ready to go!

jqp · « **Reply #104 on:** 3 Dec 2003, 03:45 pm »

I got a surprise call from Curt on Monday around lunch time. The purist was in Charlotte for a checkup/repack, and he wondered if I would like to audition it early (I am way down on the list)! I made arrangements to get it and left work early to beat traffic.

Look for part 1 of my review this evening. I will compare it to the Norh ACA preamp playing Steely Dan's Aja (if you don't have this CD get it).

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #105 on:** 3 Dec 2003, 04:29 pm »

JQP,

You will either be exceedingly pleased with what the Purist does, or be beating your head against the wall looking to upgrade your components and cables to match it's excellence.

It's just whistle clean...it adds nothing. You only hear everything else in the chain...and that can only be very rewarding or irritating.

Me, I'm bloody irritated.......but all the same happy to know that this terrific little component cost so little by most of our standards.

Look forward to 'hearing' your take on things.

Curt · « **Reply #106 on:** 3 Dec 2003, 06:07 pm »

I pulled the Purist back to NC for a check-up (after many auditions), to see how it was weathering the tour and here is the report from Charlotte:

<snip>

Curt,

Although the Purist checks out excellent and is in good physical condition,
you may not like the condition of return packing.

1) The unit boxes Styrofoam ' end ' pieces were missing.
2) The internal boxing was not sealed.
3) The purist was shipped ' up side down ' stressing the transformer mounting.
4) The power cord was missing.
5) All the foam peanuts around the Purist box in the outer protective box were missing. There was more than three inches of empty box or ' rattle ' space, above the inner Purist box.

There are no marks on the Purist.
There is nothing loose in the Purist.
Top cover has been removed and screws were tightened too much,
caused paint to bulge around screws ( two places).

Larry
<end snip>

Wow

Guess I called it in at the right time.

The good news is that the Purist is in great shape for the miles, the bad news is even though we send out detailed shipping directions to each person (when it's time to ship the Purist to the next address) it appears some don't follow those directions or possibly don't read them.

Since there has been so many auditions we are not interested in how or where these shipping issues happened but, only in trying to make the next group more aware that following the directions is important, especially if we are doing 25 back-to-back auditions.

We will be shipping the Purist back out on Monday with fresh packaging materials and a new power cord. It will soon be going to the west cost and we are hoping it will be able to do the whole west cost trip without a pitstop back ti Charlotte

I think we can do it if we are careful.

nathanm · « **Reply #107 on:** 3 Dec 2003, 07:10 pm »

I can take responsibility for ONE of those things; getting rid of the $%@^$*% peanuts. Foam peanuts are evil.

They have no business protecting anything near as heavy as this. All they do is make a mess everywhere and piss me off. You can't pack them tight enough to stop a heavy object from shifting around. Even if you could, once you remove the item getting the peanuts back in where they were originally is a futile proposition. They are only good for light, fluffy items, not 20 pound preamps. Form-fit polyethylene foam is the only way to go for something that's gonna be going in and out of the box like this. Styrofoam is good too, but it breaks. You can't beat the closed cell foam, it's the cat's ass.

All the foam chunks were intact when I handed it over to Brian, but the peanuts were put out to pasture. Sorry, but it had to be done. If there wasn't foam already in there I wouldn't have removed them. A cut-to-fit foam encasement is the only way to go on that package.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #108 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 09:21 am »

nathanm... audition number nine.........number nine........number nine...........number nine..................number nine........................

Curt · « **Reply #109 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 12:52 pm »

Nathan, I would never have guessed that you could have had anything to do with the shipping issues, you seem so straight, like a guy who follows the rules to the letter. What a surprise!

As for double boxing using peanuts for fill, I have been shipping products this way for 15 years with no problems or damage to date but, I will be happy to give your suggestion all the weight it deserves when considering possible future changes to our shipping methods.

Perhaps I will use the cat's ass, for fill, next time I ship to you (because I wouldn't want to piss you off again) haha...

I will admit peanuts are a bit messy but when double boxing many different sized inner boxes as a daily routine custom packaging is cost prohibitive.

A big thank you to those who hung tight with the peanuts even though they may have pissed you off

After all it was all done in the effort to protect the preamplifier IRD loaned you for your in home audition.

BTW, we didn't put foam between the inner and outer box. That must have been added later as some of the fill got compressed or lost. We suggested adding something (wadded up newspaper which works well as fill) if things got loose.

Anyway all joking aside, for the rest of the tour, please make sure the next audition receives the Purist in the same condition and packaging as you did. Nobody wants to get excited then find out they don't have a power cord or that a transformer broke loose and their audition will be delayed.

jqp · « **Reply #110 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 05:11 pm »

My review (initial impressions so far) is here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=6458.msg55367#55367

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #111 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 05:52 pm »

Curt/Nathan,

I've found 'pigs ass' to pack better...a little more fat in there. Curt, not sure if they have the same pig breed in Thailand that works best.

nathanm · « **Reply #112 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 06:21 pm »

Doesn't need to be molded special, just need 4 chunks that fit together like so:

At least for a demo model reusable packing makes sense.

"It's the cat's ass" came from, ironically enough, the first "audiophile" guy I ever met - the father of a guy I knew in school. Once some friends and I were over at his house and he was showing off his system. He said, and I quote: "Now this here, this is the cat's ass!" I've been using the expression ever since.

I also recall the phrase "the cat's pajamas". In any case, it describes thee same thing; something which is really great and as good as it gets. Like many expressions it makes no literal sense, but hey I didn't make this stuff up!

Curt · « **Reply #113 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 08:16 pm »

Nathan, I was pulling your chain. I got a good laugh out of that cat's ass comment, I hope you did too.

The fat pig's ass crack (pun intended) was pretty funny too. Nice work ChairGuy.

Your drawing looks good (the artist in you) but it is a bit over simplified.

Your missing the top and bottom foam pieces and all of the foam pieces would not be the same thickness. It would be dependent on the outer box size compared to the inner box size.

At Buffalo Electronics we ship 20,000 LBs of products per year, all in boxes around this size, we use peanuts because they work and are easy to use.

BTW we use the green anti-static type of foam peanuts, they cost more but they are the best and are very easy to work with unless your pissed off.

********************

For those wondering about the tour packaging:

The Purist comes in its own box with four pieces of custom fit foam, it is perfectly protected on all sides, the power cord is in a pocket cut into the foam. This is our standard Purist packaging.

The outer box (we double box to keep the Purist box in new condition) is whatever box we have that's slightly bigger than the Purist box.

The outer box does get roughed up from shipping and needs to be changed every so often (maybe every 7-8 auditions from our recent experience) with whatever box is readily available at that location.

A replacement box can and usually will vary in size (from the original BE used) so the fill needs to be more flexible than fixed size pieces. This way the exact outer box size becomes less important and easier to find.

With a 23 LB box that has a 250 sq. in bottom area, it calculates out to 9/100 ths of a LB per sq. in. This is a perfect application for using foam peanuts as fill.

Some peanuts should be put in the outer box first then the Purist box inserted then the rest of the peanuts around the edges of the Purist box and on top of the Purist box. The Purist should roughly be in the middle of the outer box.

If a few peanuts get lost or compressed and the packaging seems loose, we recommend using wadded up newspaper inserted here and there to tighten the fit.

This is simple packaging that can be repaired or adjusted by anyone.

********************

Nathan, I do understand trying to find a better way and thanks for the suggestion but I hope you now know why we went the way we did.

A better choice might be custom molding (like nOrh ships its speakers) the fill between the inner and outer box but then if the box needs to be changed were back to square one. All things considered I prefer the peanuts for their flexibility.

Putting the packaging design aside for a minute, it does seem that you should not have removed the peanuts without having something else to take their place. The important issue was protecting the Purist.

Now that everyone understands the packaging we are using and why, we might be in good shape for the rest of the audition tour

Monday the Purist goes to ptn in Oregon then its down the west coast.

nathanm · « **Reply #114 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 08:34 pm »

I see your point, but there's also inflatable bags, bubble wrap, that thin foam sheet stuff, brown paper wadding...all less annoying than peanuts for multiple journeys IMO.

I didn't ship it anywhere though, I handed it physically off to byteme. I felt the foam blocks were an adequate buffer betwixt the inner and outer cartons. The outer box was pretty trashed in any event. What happened to it after that I don't know. If he felt the airspace was particularly vexing I would've happily fetched the peanuts and reinstated them.

Curt · « **Reply #115 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 09:01 pm »

Quote from: nathanm

I see your point, but there's also inflatable bags, bubble wrap, that thin foam sheet stuff, brown paper wadding...all less annoying than peanuts for multiple journeys IMO.

I see your point too, you really don't like peanuts.

Peanuts don't bother me, only the ones that get static charged and stick to everything. I'm not sure if others even care about the packaging.

We will stick with the original packaging design to finish this tour and discuss packaging again before another tour kicks off.

I was going to ask you to change the box, before I told you to ship to the next audition (the guy before you told me it was due to be replaced), but you passed the Purist on before I got the chance.

MaxCast · « **Reply #116 on:** 4 Dec 2003, 10:20 pm »

The biggest issue with peanuts and multiple shipments is that the outer box has no strength. So when UPS stacks a 60# box on top is gets smashed. A one time shipment this is okay put the multiple shipments of a tour is too much for peanuts. I love nOrhs packing with that expandable stuff.

Anyway...enough about packaging...

Curt · « **Reply #117 on:** 16 Dec 2003, 07:49 pm »

It looks like the Purist will soon be on its way to CA, Randog has the next audition. ptn is traveling and has passed for now.

I will be emailing Randog to confirm the audition.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #118 on:** 16 Dec 2003, 11:31 pm »

Quote from: Curt

It looks like the Purist will soon be on its way to CA, Randog has the next audition...

Yeah, baby!

looking forward to the purist...

Carlman · « **Reply #119 on:** 17 Dec 2003, 12:11 am »

I requested to be on the list in a PM last week... Is there a list you can post so we can see where it is where we stand in line?

Thanks,
Carl