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[Ronny]

Paul Frindle wrote on Wed, 12 October 2005 19:11

bblackwood wrote on Tue, 11 October 2005 16:00 Here's some of the stuff I thought interesting... The Shadow Hills rack - dunno how this stuff sounds, but it looks like a bakelite factory projectile vomited on a rack. May sound kewl, but easily the most poorly laid out gear I've seen in some time: OMG is that an EM84 magic eye indicator I see on the top left hand side!! Where in heavens do they come by those things these days?! I'm astonished

They stocked up on knobs back in 1973.

[Riccardo]

Steve,
did Doug mention if he was going to do all the controls stepped on the VT-7?

Cheers.
Riccardo.

[bblackwood]

Riccardo wrote on Thu, 13 October 2005 05:42

Steve, did Doug mention if he was going to do all the controls stepped on the VT-7?

He told me he had had a few requests and would do it, though he wasn't sure of the cost yet...

[Peter Reardon]

Bob Olhsson wrote on Wed, 12 October 2005 10:52

I was profoundly disappointed by the feel of the knobs on the Shadow Hills rack. Oversized knobs on cheezy pots. Sort of like silicon implants...

Hi Bob,
The pots without the pull switches are NOS Allen Bradleys, but I will put any pot in there you want.
 The switched ones are Alps reverse audio tapers. All the switches are grayhill.  Switches for the stepped  option are elmas.

Peter Reardon

[ammitsboel]

Peter Reardon wrote on Thu, 13 October 2005 15:21

Bob Olhsson wrote on Wed, 12 October 2005 10:52 I was profoundly disappointed by the feel of the knobs on the Shadow Hills rack. Oversized knobs on cheezy pots. Sort of like silicon implants... Hi Bob, The pots without the pull switches are NOS Allen Bradleys, but I will put any pot in there you want.  The switched ones are Alps reverse audio tapers. All the switches are grayhill.  Switches for the stepped  option are elmas. Peter Reardon

Well, that's not exactly cheezy pots I would say... not the best but definitely not cheezy.

[Bob Olhsson]

They felt like Allen Bradleys. Daven knobs on Allen Bradley pots was my point.

You can still get the real deal: http://www.shallco.com/audio.html

Sorry to give you a hard time but why just look cool when you could be cool?

[ammitsboel]

Bob Olhsson wrote on Thu, 13 October 2005 18:13

They felt like Allen Bradleys. Daven knobs on Allen Bradley pots was my point. You can still get the real deal: http://www.shallco.com/profile.html Sorry to give you a hard time buy why just look cool when you could be cool!

You got a point there!
But Bob, you should know that having a big pot doesn't do it all!!

I like the fact that they use nickel iron transformer cores.
They are of course several levels below our top range of silver wired nickel iron transformers  

[Peter Reardon]

No problem Bob,
I'll just have to change from five to six rack spaces, to make room.
Peter Reardon

[masterhse]

Guys -

Thanks for posting these updates/reviews. I couldn't make it out this year due to scheduling, but it almost feels like I was there after reading this.

I was especially interested in the status of Soundblade.

[Samc]

I'll try again, how does a piece of gear that nobody has heard/tested/used get an excellence award?  Can anybody answer this question for me?

[Ronny]

Samc wrote on Wed, 19 October 2005 04:46

I'll try again, how does a piece of gear that nobody has heard/tested/used get an excellence award?  Can anybody answer this question for me?

What product and excellence award are you talking about specifically?

[bblackwood]

Samc wrote on Wed, 19 October 2005 03:46

I'll try again, how does a piece of gear that nobody has heard/tested/used get an excellence award?  Can anybody answer this question for me?

From the PraAudioReview website (concerning last yeear's awards):

Quote:

Each year at the Audio Engineering Society convention, a select group of audio professionals peruse the aisles to find the latest and greatest pro audio gear. Sequestered in a secret location, the judges then nominate and vote on their choices for the coveted PAR Excellence Award, based on the following criteria: - Innovation - Value - Performance Eligible gear must be new for this AES convention, and must be scheduled to ship by June 2005. Of the hundreds of new products introduced since the last AES show, only 35 were given the PAR Excellence Award.

[Ronny]

Brad, are these evaluations made on the floor, or do they sequester with the finalists gear and evaluate in a more proper setting?

[bblackwood]

No idea, but I assume it's on the floor.

Before anyone gets bent, read the criteria again...

[Barry Hufker]

From my own experience, NOT with PAR, I know these things are extremely informal.  Like us, they walk the aisles, ask a few questions, make a few notes and voila!

I once met a similar person (again, not from PAR) who had to write a similar article.  He asked me what I liked of what I saw and I told him.  I had never even met him before and that was good enough for him and became his answer.

I am confident these things are tied very heavily to advertising.  That is certainly the case with "Mix's" blogs they emailed this year.  If you advertised in the mag, you got covered in the blog.  If not, you didn't.

PAR and Tec Awards are largely without merit as far as I can see.  Tec Awards are a way to increase manufacturer advertising in the mag.  When you send in your "ballot," it is a quick and painless method of market research.  Manufacturers get an "award" that is supposed to "encourage" the prospective buyer into thinking this product is somehow superior.

I can see how it might be similar with PAR.  "We will give you a PAR Award if you advertise with us." Or, "We gave you a PAR award how about advertising?", etc.

I can think of at least one TEC Award winner whose product never even got to market before "winning" the award.

Barry