From what I have seen, most of the money goes into the amplifier chassis, transformer, PSU etc - the actual board is around 10% of the cost. Procuring them at affordable rates may b e the challenge. I for one have plenty of amp boards lying around, but can't afford to put them into a good chassis - the cheap ones are ugly black boxes and the good looking ones are pretty expensive.
There are always issues, but I am quite sure, we can resolve all of them. If Norge and others can sell for 15-20K, we can get good chasis done. Leave that part to me.
Also, are we looking at a discrete design or a gainclone/T amp ? if its the latter - there are plenty of designs floating around which we can adapt, or do we have the skills to do better? If its the latter, the chinese offer plenty of boards, which members have already had some degree of success with, the only problem being the SMD soldering and T amp boards would be pretty much unrepairable at the hands of most of us.
This has to be decided by the person who manages the amp design. I want the amp to be simple, dependable and easy to manufacture. In terms of support, I am not even looking at repair. If an amp fails, we just replace it.
I personally would like someone to cook up and amplifier chassis with a silver front panel, big VU meters (like a 70's amp) and an assortment of aluminium knobs, so that you can slap in an input selector pcb, preamps, power amp, transformer & power supply PCB's and have a nice amp ready to go.
I aim keen to keep the costs down. A genuine person who is looking for a good sound, does not need any of that. The amp should have a single LED display on/off status. We can add a lot of gimmicks in the Android RC, including volume bar, source selected, etc.
The target is a low cost good design , right ? When there are so many proven designs available why "design" another one ? You can't reinvent the 'wheel' !
I already mentioned we can work with existing designs. The only issue will be can we replicate it, and can we get the PCB design legally? If those are met, and the sound quality is approved by our golden ears, why not?
Selling to members of HFV isn't a business ! Before you know what's happening the 'miscellaneous' costs will catch up , making it a tough proposition.
I am not looking at this as a business. It is more to bring more people to enjoy music as close to audiophile standards as we can. All of us keep salivating at international designs and products. Let us work to bring some small part of that to India itself. We have the brains. We just need to stay together and committed as a small group to manage that. I have lots of ides for later. If this venture moves well, we can introduce a number of products. And, believe me, we can beat every amplifier manufacturer out there.
Chinese assembled boards will be available far cheaper than you can ever make them. What about warranty ? Replacement of defective units ? Local service people etc. It isn't as simple as it looks when you start thinking of "manufacture" .
I am not interested in Chinese products. We can assemble better products at about the same costs or even lower. I want to assemble a unit that will not fail. If it fails, we just replace it. I am keen to see we have demo units in 4-6 major cities. The people who will have the demo units will act as local contacts.
Will you pay the 'techie' guys commercial rates for their " intellectual time " or do they do it for 'free' ? As a DIY effort will they be able to devote enough time for this ? Doing it for oneself is one thing, doing it to 'make money' is something completely different !
In the begining, no. When we start making some money, yes.
Currently we have mentioned DIY boards that sound good. Remember these are also available in local markets though they don't have enough publicity. They would also cost less than the Chinese units I think as many parts are cheaper in the retail market. I've never understood how that works.
Metal work is always expensive . Even the Chinese ones.
Once it is confirmed that some commercial kits do sound good , it would be time to compare low cost commercial amps with these and pick the best out of what's available. I think there should be many local kits ( which we don't see advertised !) that are just as good , as they use the same or similar circuitry ! So some search in the local markets would produce interesting results.
Do remember that local companies like Pulz, Norge, Sonodyne have low cost amps that are possibly as good as these good kits . No one has compared them so far. Might be time to do that and really determine how good they are. Possibly they have been underestimated so far for a number of reasons. I will be least surprised if some use the very same chips we are talking about !
Pulz, Norge, Sonodyne are all commercial ventures. Their focus is to make money. Our focus is different. It is to deliver amplifiers at affordable costs, that will sound excellent. Pulz and Sonodyne amps are expensive. Pluz was never able to succeed in the home audio market. They make money in the cinema market. Only Norge may have executed what I have in mind, and they stayed small. I do know there are lots of local companies, but all of them have started catering to commercial 'filmi' markets.
I dont think my objective has been understood well. Essentially I am looking to assemble DIY kits inside professional cabinets that can be made available to HFV members. Once the kit is tested and accepted, we will use external resources to 'manufacture' in small numbers. I am looking at multiple price points with differential features and sound quality. I have no intention of going commercial with this in the beginning. If Non-HFV members want it, I have no issues. But essentially it will sold online through HFV. As we progress, we will decide what to do next. I am looking at a four man team - amp designer, parts and BIN experts, and 1-2 testers.
Any volunteers?
Cheers
