[Nuance]

Well said, funkmonkey.  If I was single, I'd buy Frank's stuff in a second, though.  Like I said, I just want features and sound quality.

[s_cervin]

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

Thanks 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?

[Art_Chicago]

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

Thanks 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?

Well, I find this sarcasm neither funny nor clever. Frank's point is solid.

[srb]

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 Boulder, 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

[Art_Chicago]

 

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

How about this shit : 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.


I am sure large scale brands provide remote controls. Again, if you read Frank's message, the sound comes first.

{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.}

[Nuance]

All right, take it easy guys.  Frank prides himself on sound quality, and I think its safe to say he succeeded.  If I was single I'd d buy his gear.  There are ways around no HT bypass, as he noted.  My true issue is they don't pass WAF.  But if he has new faceplates, then that will solve my number 1 issue.  I'd like to see pictures of them. 

 

[funkmonkey]

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.

[Mr_Superstar]

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.

I think the bottom one is the new look. You can see close-ups in the Oregon GTG wrap-up thread posted here: This gear is Jim's which has some of the "test" face plates.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59584


On a side note, I actually like and prefer the way the AVA gear looks. I want something plain that's not going to distract me when watching TV/Movies. The power switch on the back might be nice, but I can see the function of it being on the front. It would be annoying to have to reach around back every time I wanted to use my system.

I 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.

Note: I do not own any AVA gear, yet. I'm still trying to talk my wife into letting me spend a bit more $$$... The transcendence 8 preamp & insight 240 are on my wish list...

[martyo]

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). YMMV

I'm pretty sure at the Oregon get together your seeing Jim's gear that got the "proto-type" treatment back in '07.

[jsalk]

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). YMMV

I'm pretty sure at the Oregon get together your seeing Jim's gear that got the "proto-type" treatment back in '07.

This is correct.  Frank was "market testing" some concepts, but I think he decided to stick with what he had.  The Oregon gear was mine and had some of these test faceplates.

- Jim

[Srgtfury]

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.

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=59584


I 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.

For me, and I suspect several others, gear without remote control, or, in this case, some option for automatic power up with an audio signal input, is very desirable.  I know there are workarounds, such as a switched AC power source via something like Crestron automation, but I, for one, am a bit lazy in this regard, I guess.  While that may not be AVA's market, an add on option for non hands on control might expand the market.

THank you very much

Fury

[s_cervin]

Fellas,

I wasn't trying to offend anyone, but merely suggesting a look for a personal build since Frank asked how much I would pay for "bling" on an amp.  Frank tossed in a little humor and I tossed it back all in good fun. Please don't look any deeper than that.

It sounded like Frank would be willing to build a one amp if someone was willing to pay and I was asking in the forum so others would see if in in fact would do this.  I suspect I'm not the only one who feels these amps offer superior performance, but not the highest in the looks category.  This is fine, because these are the compromises made to maintain his price.  I was also wondering if he had looked into any new colors for the power light since just about eveyone has done so and there are facts that back up the color choices made.  Maybe the current switch sounds the best and that is as good of a reason as any and supports his business model.

That said I'm looking at options and will consider AVA if adjustments can be made to satisfy the wife.  I'm currently looking into an AVA DAC since that is placed outside the room, but the PS Audio Perfectwave sounds like a winner with the I2S input from a modded Duet.

SC

[oneinthepipe]

This is fine, because these are the compromises made to maintain his price. 

I can't speak for Frank, but I don't believe that Frank thinks of this as a compromise.  I think that Frank clearly stated that audio components are not jewelry, and I don't believe that Frank intends to manufacture audio jewelry.  Regardless, Frank admires quality craftsmanship, both aesthetically and functionally, and the UltraValve is a testament to his craftsmanship.

Frank is a 1st class guy.  I have seen one of his beautiful Rolex watches; a gold and steel Oyster/Datejust model, I believe.  He also drives an Audi S6.  He buys great stuff.  He builds great stuff.  As he said, however, he is not in the jewelry business.  BTW, I was also a recipient of the jewelry "discussion" when I mentioned how much I liked to look at my Super 70i, since upgraded to a U70.

[s_cervin]

This 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.

Agreed, those are the best looking products AVA makes.

[avahifi]

First, a motor driven precision remote volume control is an option on all of our preamplifiers.

Second, you can "turn off" the indicator lamp in our power switches by disconnecting and safely insulating one of the leads to it.  Call me for instructions and take great care to do this safely.

The high inrush current power switches we use (80 amp inrush surge capacity) for long term reliability come only with the red lamp, no other choices available.  We could use a separate LED, but it would cost a few bucks more and require a rework of both the inner main chassis and faceplate, along with a bit more circuitry to support it. We tend to avoid things like this that do not buy you better sound for the money.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[coke]

Ultra 550 amp and Ultra preamp shipped today 

It will be interesting to compare to my Anthem amp and Intregra preamp.

[martyo]

Ultra 550 amp and Ultra preamp shipped today 

It will be interesting to compare to my Anthem amp and Intregra preamp.

Congrats 

Let us know what you hear.

[coke]

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.

Now I have to decide if I want to get the oppo-83se when I order a new blu ray (within the next 2 weeks), or just get the standard 83 now and an AVA Ultra DAC sometime next year (possibly march or april would be my best guess)    

[martyo]

UPS shows that the amp and preamp have been delivered 

What's your address.    JK

I'll try to post a review / comparision soon. I might move it over to the AVA circle though.

Bring it on over.   

[coke]

What's your address.    JK

 

lol, that is a lot of money sitting outside, but I order stuff all the time and have never had any issues.