A wild idea, a victory lap, need your help with a book

Dear friends,
I have been on this Forum for awhile now, and have received some very sage advice. Thank-you. Now, I'm asking for more.
I have a small book or long article in mind, featuring Bob at VTA, Roy at Tubes4HiFi, and also some others. Ty Lashbrook comes to mind, as do Don Sachs, Jim McShane, Jeff Jacobs, Dave at Vinyl Nirvana, Andy Bowman, Peterw . etc., etc. Focus is on Dynaco junkies.
I would travel to each shop, stay a half-day, do a photo shoot with my new bride, and quick interview, and be gone.Consider it an audio honeymoon.
Working title is: Absolute Audio on the Cheap. I'll prolly make that sexier but it will have to do for now.
So, ideas? What am I missing here?
No PMs, please. Let's keep this baby open. And prepare to be invaded sometime this summer.
Cheers,
David

Awesome =]
Wish I could help - was a camera man. If there is a need for funding - Patreon it! I'd pitch in

That's very cool idea. Good luck.

Bob Latino wrote:

Thank-you, Sgt. Schultz.
No, not looking for funding, Roy D. I'll self-fund.
What I'm after, seriously, if you could visit every good tube audio mom'n'pop on your bucket list, who would it be?

Sexier?
A friend of mine call this, um, hobby?, obsession?, affliction?,
with all due pride of course,

"Traditional Luddite Audio"

Now that's sexy!

Tom wrote:Sexier?  
A friend of mine call this, um, hobby?, obsession?, affliction?,
with all due pride of course,

"Traditional Luddite Audio"

Now that's sexy!

Tom, No, that is way too esoteric. Perhaps amend to neo-Luddites and toss our wooden shoes into the mix.
I'm leaning towards Cheap H-Fi for Idiots.
What I really need is a list of folks who've never advertised in The Absolute Sound but still make hand-made good stuff.

It is  a fun and daunting undertaking I think .  Kind of like going out on a report - you'd  have this basic premise and idea of  what it was and what you needed and  we'd go out to  get 'the' story and actually following stuff through you find  so much more and then  most of the work was post.. then going back out again to get what was missing to get it into the shape you by then figured was what was needed to get things across.   Picking a few well known amps like the ST-70 and  starting at the factory  then  out towards VTA   etc and from there to a few well known modders   I think you will have enough material to be busy whittling away at it all for quite some time from what little I have sampled from the community so far ^^  I suppose one name that jumps out at me would be Will vincent..
https://www.google.nl/search?q=will+vincent+dynaco&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP5vCV_YbZAhUQDewKHRo6AoAQ_AUICigB&biw=1745&bih=964#imgrc=_

Dave & Spouse would be quite welcome here. There are conditions, of course:

a) Must like and appreciate dogs and cats. In all, there are two of each, to a total weight of about 180 pounds, 100 of which is the big Golden, and about 28 of which is the Scottie. The rest is divided amongst the two cats.
b) Must understand that the house, while not large enough to require a map, is large enough to get lost. We think we have a house guest that is around somewhere - little trails of breadcrumbs and such - but we are just not sure. Put another way, there is plenty of room.
c) I need a bit of warning. My surgery is on April 4, so the weeks immediately around that time are blocked. It is really no more complicated than getting a wheel bearing replaced, and it is my second hip - but no matter how it is calculated, I will not be a fit host.
d) Not being sure of general timing, I am going to recommend, very strongly, that this pilgrimage reach into this region be coincidental to the Kutztown Radio Show being May 11/12 and September 14/15 of 2018. There WILL be much Dynaco on the hoof at this location.

http://www.dvhrc.com/kutztown.html

Peter W. wrote:Dave & Spouse would be quite welcome here. There are conditions, of course:

a) Must like and appreciate dogs and cats. In all, there are two of each, to a total weight of about 180 pounds, 100 of which is the big Golden, and about 28 of which is the Scottie. The rest is divided amongst the two cats.
b) Must understand that the house, while not large enough to require a map, is large enough to get lost. We think we have a house guest that is around somewhere - little trails of breadcrumbs and such - but we are just not sure. Put another way, there is plenty of room.
c) I need a bit of warning. My surgery is on April 4, so the weeks immediately around that time are blocked. It is really no more complicated than getting a wheel bearing replaced, and it is my second hip - but no matter how it is calculated, I will not be a fit host.
d) Not being sure of general timing, I am going to recommend, very strongly, that this pilgrimage reach into this region be coincidental to the Kutztown Radio Show being May 11/12 and September 14/15 of 2018. There WILL be much Dynaco on the hoof at this location.

http://www.dvhrc.com/kutztown.html

Peter,
Dogs & cats? I flog mine routinely whenever they say McIntosh. We're a bit deficient on animal weight at the moment having lost Chase The Big Dog, but are getting a red heeler for a wedding present which should balance the scales with yours. We have several large units here.
Kutztown in September sounds like a great target date. We'll be in Alaska in May anyway, attempting a honeymoon. Only month it doesn't rain or worse up there. Juneau, Anchorage, Sitka, Homer, etc. Staying out the Interior: more bugs that Windows 10.
What are the vectors to Kutztown? Flying out of GEG, I don't see Kutztown on the sectionals or WACs, but will bring a little vig and fly commercial.
Good luck with the busted wheel.
This could be fun (not the wheel part). See you in September.

[quote="deepee99"]

Peter W. wrote:
Peter,
Dogs & cats? I flog mine routinely whenever they say McIntosh. We're a bit deficient on animal weight at the moment having lost Chase The Big Dog, but are getting a red heeler for a wedding present which should balance the scales with yours. We have several large units here.
Kutztown in September sounds like a great target date. We'll be in Alaska in May anyway, attempting a honeymoon. Only month it doesn't rain or worse up there. Juneau, Anchorage, Sitka, Homer, etc. Staying out the Interior: more bugs that Windows 10.
What are the vectors to Kutztown? Flying out of GEG, I don't see Kutztown on the sectionals or WACs, but will bring a little vig and fly commercial.
Good luck with the busted wheel.
This could be fun (not the wheel part). See you in September.

Kutztown. Hmmmm... Allentown is the nearest airport, and can handle large jets. Next closest is PHL - and if you are renting a vehicle, from PHL to Allentown is about 84 miles, or so, and they are easy miles at that. You would also more-or-less pass our house, so I would strongly advise going via PHL, and saving large bucks over puddle-jumpers to Allentown.

Kutztown is a 'big deal' affair, and I generally camp out in the field behind the venue (free), arriving Thursday afternoon and leaving Saturday afternoon. There are numerous B&B and similar options nearby (it is a college town), but you should consider making your reservations NOW, as there are thousands of visitors to the show, and several hundred vendors - just enough of whom require real beds, and not air mattresses in a tent. Look up the DVHRC site - much detail is given.

Great idea, Dave. Are you considering any international destinations? Calgary, for example, just to pick a totally random city for no particular reason.?

Tube Nube wrote:Great idea, Dave. Are you considering any international destinations? Calgary, for example, just to pick a totally random city for no particular reason.?

Noob, I intend to go to Nelson, B.C. to invade Don Sachs. Are there any boutique builders in Calgary?

Oh I see. You're limiting your interviews to the luminaries. That makes sense.

Let me know when you're going to be there -- I'll plan to drive out, if there's room in your itinerary to meet me for coffee or lunch or something.

I'll drive. Or, perhaps fly. :-0

Tube Nube wrote:Oh I see. You're limiting your interviews to the luminaries. That makes sense.

Let me know when you're going to be there -- I'll plan to drive out, if there's room in your itinerary to meet me for coffee or lunch or something.

I'll drive. Or, perhaps fly. :-0

Oh, by all means, take the Maule. We'll meet you at the ground-loop.

I might comment on the suggested title : Working title is: "Absolute Audio on the Cheap."

The subjects we discuss here is not by any means Cheap , but very much Absolute Audio.
The amps that dynaco built was not designed to be cheap , they were designed to be efficient with
money. Cheap is where one takes any available shortcut and in the process sacrifices some of the
properties.
VTA amps is not sacrificing sound quality, neither do they spend money for no good reason, instead
the reuse good ideas and incrementally makes them even better, while keeping resource usage down.

" Precision " is a better word then cheap here.

[quote="Tube Nube"]Oh I see. You're limiting your interviews to the luminaries. That makes sense.

He is considering visiting here, a dim bulb....

A hah! Well, I can only jump to another conclusion that he's avoiding me because he knows I'll invite him to go flying, and that's a prospect that scares him. Yes, I may be the cure for those who have never feared flying before.

;-)

Tube Nube wrote:A hah! Well, I can only jump to another conclusion that he's avoiding me because he knows I'll invite him to go flying, and that's a prospect that scares him. Yes, I may be the cure for those who have never feared flying before.

;-)

Never bent any metal in flying days, and not anxious to now Might be kinda fun though!

Dave, As you know, I have almost perfected the ground loop, if I do say so myself.

Good Idea!
I'm from Trinidad in the Caribbean and new to this forum, but not new to electronics, been an avid audio enthusiast as long as I can remember, which started me off on the engineering side of electronics over forty years ago. Long story short, I am about to literally "pull the trigger" on a VTA ST-120 (like in a couple hours ) and I am already impressed withe how Bob responds to my many questions .....without further rambling, I am wondering how I can assist with your book project (given the logistics), maybe I can chip in a couple bucks if needed? ....that's the ez way I know

hey, let's just all go to Trinidad on a "business trip" and get it all done in a couple days! I'm in . . .

Pack plenty of whites.... the sun really shines there, and don't forget the blues, ( get a hole case) if your "batteries" running low.

......and be prepared to drink copious amounts of Rum!

The proverbial "trigger" was pulled today on the ST-120 with all the bells and whistles! Can't wait to build it and hook it up to my Altec VOTT's. Starting off with a set of 6550's from Bob and will probably roll towards Gold Lion KT-88's with a NOS Mullard 12AU7 in the middle.