Singlepower question

[acs236]

Each time I hear sacd lover's MPX, or Edipus's PPX Slam, I reall like them. But I pretty committed to not getting a tube amp because I pretty much don't want the tweakability a tube amp provides -- switching tubes, spending lots of money on NOS tubes, not being able to find tubes that sound exactly like what you had before, etc. I just know it would drive me a bit nuts. So....

Does Singlepower have plans or has it ever considered making a solid state amp?

[ayt999]

Mikhail has, but not sure what happened to that. I've never seen it in person, but I've heard favorable comments from CD44hi who had a prototype model (he still might have it?).

also, if he were to ever sell it, it won't be under the SinglePower name but rather GoldPoint from what Mikhail told me a while back. as you probably already know he owns both companies, and I suppose he wants to stick only with tube amp products for SinglePower.

[Guest sacd lover]

He has all kinds of projects. He just needs some time to bring them to market. The SS amp he has done is MOSFET based and very warm and powerful sounding. I think he may even have a balanced SS prototype already built. The next time we have a meet I will see if he has a prototype he would be willing to let us borrow.

[CD44hi]

I have that SS prototype.

Whether this solid state amp will see the light as a product in the singlepower line, is anyone's guess. I think at this point Mikhail has his hands full with the current production models. It is my guess (but not a wild one at all) that trying to bring more items into production at this moment could be a big distraction. But this is just pure speculation on my part. I think he has other projects developing in the back burner, but again, it may just be a priority thing as to when things will hit the market...

It is a nice, smooth sounding amplifier. I use it frequently in my work rig. It works wonderfully with the HF-1 by the way. It is not an extremely detailed amplifier, but it is very musical. Not fatiguing at all. During one meet at Hirsch's when we had the Headroom visit in the Maryland area, I had the opportunity to compare it to the "Destop with Reference module" amplifier. It faired very favorably with this amplifier. It was a matter of taste and preferences IMO. I did not have a chance to compare it to the bigger headroom amps. I think there may be pictures of that amp in that meet thread on the other forum.

[darkless]

Mikhail should definitely hire more skilled people so his amp business will benefit. The present delivery times on custom builds are, well, pretty long.

It would also give him more time to think up new creations.

[Dusty Chalk]

the problem with hiring more people when you are in a niche market, where orders go up and down widly through the year, is that you still have to pay them when orders are down.

Not if you work that into the contract. Or if you hire on an as-needed basis. Of course, that makes it harder to get quality help. Harder, but not impossible.

[acs236]

What about hiring engineering students as contractors? Or perhaps engineering wouldn't be the best group to hit, but I bet there is such a labor supply out there.

[Dusty Chalk]

What about hiring engineering students as contractors? Or perhaps engineering wouldn't be the best group to hit, but I bet there is such a labor supply out there.

I would think EE's would be fine -- especially if they've been through a few lab classes.

[GoRedwings19]

I would like a chinese manufacturer to come in and compete with the likes of SP and RSA and headamp. Why? To raise the bar to the next level.

While US based manufacturers can't compete on labour costs it would make them designnew products which would offset the labour costs.

We have already seen an influx of amps and sources which offer the budget end of the market a slice of high end sound.

[aerius]

I would like a chinese manufacturer to come in and compete with the likes of SP and RSA and headamp.

<insert obligatory Bada PH-12 comment>

[ayt999]

<insert obligatory Bada PH-12 comment>

6NS7's rule, yo.

[nmculbreth]

I know this is only semi-related but I don't think spending a ton of money on NOS tubes is necessary for the amp to sound good.

I was fooling around with the gain tubes in my MPX3 recently and I was shocked on how good the ElectroHarmonix 6SN7 sounded. To my ears the EH sounded better than the highly regarded Ken-Rad VT-231 and was only bested by Sylvania VT-231. I wish they had a touch more warmth in the midrange but I was really impressed with the clean, natural sounding treble and a punchy bass. The EH 6SN7 ranks up with the SED EL34 as my favorite current production tube.

[ayt999]

I really like the SED winged-C's in the Blue Hawaii. much better than the Valve Art or EH's. although those are the only ones I've tried since EL34's are fairly expensive and don't last too long. I hope I'm not missing out too much, but I don't feel like spending the money on NOS EL34's like I've been doing with the 6SN7's.

[ayt999]

surely you meant 6NS7.

no, I meant 6SN7 like I've posted.

[nmculbreth]

I really like the SED winged-C's in the Blue Hawaii. much better than the Valve Art or EH's. although those are the only ones I've tried since EL34's are fairly expensive and don't last too long. I hope I'm not missing out too much, but I don't feel like spending the money on NOS EL34's like I've been doing with the 6SN7's.

I've had the chance to compare the SEDs to the uber expensive Mullard XF2 and large bottle Sylvania 6CA7s and the SEDs compared very favorably. The SEDs sounded very close to the Mullards, there is no way I could ever justify spending 10x as much for the XF2s.

[ayt999]

The SEDs sounded very close to the Mullards, there is no way I could ever justify spending 10x as much for the XF2s.

that's good to hear. thanks for the info.