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S_cervin, how much more would you pay for an AVA amplifier option of an inch thick ingraved faceplate?My anodizer could even do one in color with a high res portrait of my face on the faceplate. Or even a photo of a Minnesota fishing lake, or an Elvis picture with huge dark eyes. What do you need to keep you happy and how much extra would you pay? $200, $500? We can do it if there is a real demand.I guess our problem is that we think the goal is the music. Yes, I own a Rolex, actually three of them I know a $10 Timex keeps better time, but they are jewelry, the only jewelry I own, and I don't really care if they keep exact time or not. But with audio components, I much more care for them keeping sound than looking great, and would rather charge my clients for the sound quality rather than more money for the jewelry aspect too. My advice, save your jewelry money for the Rolexes.By the way, if Jim Salk offered the HT3s in unfinished external grade plywood for half price, I bet he would have lots of sales of them. Black paint and sticky back wood grain vinyl wrap is cheep.Regards,Frank Van Alstine
Quote from: avahifi on 29 Oct 2009, 02:19 pmS_cervin, how much more would you pay for an AVA amplifier option of an inch thick ingraved faceplate?My anodizer could even do one in color with a high res portrait of my face on the faceplate. Or even a photo of a Minnesota fishing lake, or an Elvis picture with huge dark eyes. What do you need to keep you happy and how much extra would you pay? $200, $500? We can do it if there is a real demand.I guess our problem is that we think the goal is the music. Yes, I own a Rolex, actually three of them I know a $10 Timex keeps better time, but they are jewelry, the only jewelry I own, and I don't really care if they keep exact time or not. But with audio components, I much more care for them keeping sound than looking great, and would rather charge my clients for the sound quality rather than more money for the jewelry aspect too. My advice, save your jewelry money for the Rolexes.By the way, if Jim Salk offered the HT3s in unfinished external grade plywood for half price, I bet he would have lots of sales of them. Black paint and sticky back wood grain vinyl wrap is cheep.Regards,Frank Van AlstineThanks for the offer, but can I have my holiday family picture instead? It would have high WAF To be honest, move the red glowing power button to the back if it can be packaged and give me a plain black faceplate and you are in business. My system doubles as a HT and the lights are a problem. I have removed them from my current amps. I guess my problem is the red/orange power button They also must pass the wife since it is not toally my room. Your amps do sound great! Have you looked into the latest blue manufactures use? Blue is associated with understanding, protection, safety, and peace, and it is considered the ?safest? color for use globally, from a marketing perspective. It can help promote restful sleep, spiritual awareness and even, supposedly, intuitive powers. Blue has proven to be soothing and relaxing. Car manufacturers are using this color for interior themes because of this. Would a plain faceplate with moved power button be cost neutral?
The only sarcasm I see came from Frank. No one wants a one inch thick front panel, let alone a nature scene or Frank's face etched on it. The average thickness of a very nice aluminum front panel actually falls in the 6mm - 8mm range. I prefer basic but nice panels, and eschew overly massive or excessively machined ones, such as Bolder, Pass Labs, etc. Once that panel has been CNC cut, adding some countersunk holes, a simple small milled design element, etc. to it, is marginal in cost. But a simple smooth face is fine, and a nice silkscreen logo adds the personalized touch, differentiating it from another brand. As far as bright front panel lights, some buyers may not like them, but they are a no-no for home theatre and many wives. You can't please everyone. I could buy an AVA amp, even with it's non-IEC captive cord, but the front switch light and lack of 12V trigger does give me slight pause. When it comes to preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers however, I will choose one that has remote input selection and HT bypass in an off state. That's not negotiable for me. Frank has chosen his design criteria and will likely stick with it. I would go so far as to speculate that he doesn't want more sales volume. That could require a larger space and more assembly labor with no guarantee that profits will be greater or even guarantee that they won't decline a little. So with his devotees and word of mouth, he can continue making his product and a living. I saw no sarcasm from s_cervin, only an attempt at some humor based on Frank's sarcasm, the rest was observation and a simple question. Steve
I did a little more digging, and this the face plate that I saw (amp on the bottom). The other picture I saw was a bit blurry and you could only see the switch and a small section of the matt black, and semi gloss areas.Seeing this pic though I'm not sure which is the new look.
In 2007 at RMAF Frank had the prototypes in the above picture. It was his response to inquiries about faceplates. All the combinations were there, gold on gold, gold on black, black on gold, and black on black. A brushed plate over a textured/matt plate. He had a survey at RMAF that asked for preferences, but there was no definitive "winner". I preferred the gold on gold. Interestingly, after the show when he offered up the prototypes for sale at his cost, I couldn't justify spending the money ($200 a unit, for both plates and I have 3 units). YMMVI'm pretty sure at the Oregon get together your seeing Jim's gear that got the "proto-type" treatment back in '07.
Quote from: funkmonkey on 30 Oct 2009, 04:30 amI did a little more digging, and this the face plate that I saw (amp on the bottom). The other picture I saw was a bit blurry and you could only see the switch and a small section of the matt black, and semi gloss areas.Seeing this pic though I'm not sure which is the new look.I think the bottom one is the new look. You can see close-ups in the Oregon GTG wrap-up thread posted here:http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59584I understand Frank's reason for not including certain options by default. For example, the remote control. Sure, he could include it in all configurations and simply charge an extra $300 for everything. Why doesn't he? Because not everyone wants/needs a remote. For those people, it's a pretty nice savings.
This is fine, because these are the compromises made to maintain his price.
Quote from: s_cervin on 30 Oct 2009, 09:49 pmThis is fine, because these are the compromises made to maintain his price. Frank admires quality craftsmanship, both aesthetically and functionally, and the UltraValve is a testament to his craftsmanship.
Ultra 550 amp and Ultra preamp shipped today It will be interesting to compare to my Anthem amp and Intregra preamp.
UPS shows that the amp and preamp have been delivered
I'll try to post a review / comparision soon. I might move it over to the AVA circle though.
What's your address. JK