"One big honkin' knob"

For any of you who might be pining for an old-fashioned variable loudness control...
http://www.deliciousdecibels.com/the-delicious-one.html

6275759.jpg

Looks like the waiting list may be infinite, though...

Comments

  • Tony M
    Tony M Posts: 11,009
    I don't know... :#
    Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.
  • FestYboy
    FestYboy Posts: 3,861
    I was down like Charlie Brown... Untill I saw the price :o:#:'(:s I don't think I have that invested in my entire living room and garage rigs.
  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,124
    So is it basically a passive preamp???
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,558
    For $700 I would gravitate toward other options instead. Better quality source, upgraded speaker cables/ICs, etc.
  • rpf65
    rpf65 Posts: 2,127
    You guys are forgetting that Chief Tonologist, Alberto, is personally calibrating each and every one, and including an inspected by Alberto signed certificate of calibration greatness.

    That alone has to be worth something to autograph collectors.
  • Tony M
    Tony M Posts: 11,009
    700 for a variable bass enhancement . I don't know. :/
    Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.
  • deronb1
    deronb1 Posts: 5,021
    I thought this was another Russ bashing thread...
  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,124
    deronb1 wrote: »
    I thought this was another Russ bashing thread...

    Uh, I don't think we need to be talking about others knobs, just sayin' :s
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 6,646
    It's not hard to tell what demographic the ad copy is aimed toward. :o:D
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    lightman1 wrote: »
    Got yer knob right here!

    I knew it.... from the first time I met you you looked like you knew your way around a knob job
  • FestYboy
    FestYboy Posts: 3,861
    Takes one to know one? :p

    I got your back, Russ!
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    Careful mr brokeback :p
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    One delicious knob...

    wait, what?


    :|
  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,288
    I got one when he was just coming out with them on AA back in.... I think 2014 . It is 100% passive and it does a good job. Alberto is a nice guy as well as a huge sound / music fan and on several audio boards.

    This doesn't work like a typical loudness button. It is quite different and it did work without adding anything artificial sounding. It did help take out some harshness from poor recordings without sounding fake.
    Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300, Audioquest Thunderbird Zero Speaker Cable, Tyler Highland H2, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited November 2017
    erniejade wrote: »
    I got one when he was just coming out with them on AA back in.... I think 2014 . It is 100% passive and it does a good job. Alberto is a nice guy as well as a huge sound / music fan and on several audio boards.

    This doesn't work like a typical loudness button. It is quite different and it did work without adding anything artificial sounding. It did help take out some harshness from poor recordings without sounding fake.

    That's cool to know.
    In all seriousness, the description implies (well -- I infer from it, more to the point) that the gizmo is a more sophisticated (albeit passive) network than the usual Fletcher-Munson style loudness compensation. Wonder if there's some aural crosstalk "tuning" going on with it, too? ;)

    Seems to me it would be straightforward to feed signals into it and suss out what it does to them (at least in the sense of amplitude vs. frequency given input frequencies at fixed amplitudes).

    For crosstalk thingy -- feed some signal into one channel and look for some signal in the other one! :)

    I'm just spitballin' here -- for all I know there may be reports out there on how it works (I haven't looked). I just found the ad copy on the site to be quite amusing. It is too bad that the lower-cost version hinted at on the site apparently never saw the light of day.

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    Tone controls seem to be makin' some sort of trendy, hipster comeback.

    From Bruce Rozenblit's Transcendent Sound newsletter, received yesterday:
    New Product: The Fixer is Here!

    This is something completely unlike anything in the lineup. It is a unity gain line stage that has volume, balance bass and treble. That's right, tone controls. The purpose of the fixer is to correct for deficiencies that exist in many systems. Most rooms are not perfectly acoustically balanced. Many times, you don't want to sit in the middle of the room. With the balance control, a proper acoustic center can be obtained.

    Many recordings are too hot in the treble or have too much bass. Some speakers need just a bit of bottom end punch. The Fixer gives you the ability to correct these problems too. Now I tried many different configurations of tone controls and they all garbaged up the sound. This design does not affect the sound when the controls are at 12 o:clock. The tone section is an active all tube design. The controls can be adjusted to gently change how your system sounds. They don't hammer it. The bass begins operate at 300 Hz, rises to a maximum boost/cut at 50 Hz and then levels off. The treble begins at 2000 Hz and rises to a maximum boost /cut at 10,000 Hz. They are essentially shelving controls. The maximum boost/cut is +/- 10 dB.

    The Fixer is dead quiet. The bandwidth is flat from 15 Hz to 400 kHz. That was not a typo. It goes out that far. All the clarity of the music is preserved. The sound is close to The Masterpiece in quality. It's not the same, but it is not intended to be. The Fixer serves a different function. It corrects for problems. The Masterpiece is best sound possible, and it drives headphones. The Fixer can be added to any system since it has unity gain. The kit price will be between $500 and $600 with tubes. It uses one 12AU7, one 12AX7 and one ECC99.
  • Wardsweb
    Wardsweb Posts: 899
    Seems a bit high for some caps, resistors and a pot. Not much else you can do for a loudness control in a passive circuit.
  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,124
    Wardsweb wrote: »
    Seems a bit high for some caps, resistors and a pot. Not much else you can do for a loudness control in a passive circuit.

    But did you see the size of that knob?
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
  • Wardsweb
    Wardsweb Posts: 899
    txcoastal1 wrote: »
    Wardsweb wrote: »
    Seems a bit high for some caps, resistors and a pot. Not much else you can do for a loudness control in a passive circuit.

    But did you see the size of that knob?

    I'm more of a two knob kind of guy. I like symmetry. Something for both hands to do.
  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,521
    "I'm Colin Frizzle and I have a HUGE knob!"
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,288
    I think it was 200 on the AA test group. I haven't been on AA in a bit but I will try to pull up the thread.

    Alberto had a bit of info on how it was designed and use on video and a thread somewhere. It's been like 4 years so I'm trying to remember.
    Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300, Audioquest Thunderbird Zero Speaker Cable, Tyler Highland H2, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.