sound practices reading club /35

Yes, let’s build something. Our topic for the next couple of issues is konstruktion korner. Instead of diving in straight at the deep end, let us start with with something less daunting: building a kit. To find out what it is like, we are reading Single-Ended Me, by Seth Goldwin, from sound practices issue 6. In a hilarious style, Seth describes in it his reasons for ordering a kit and the ins and out of building two of them, the AES SE-1 and the AN Kit One. There are listening impressions of both of them and, not unrelated, the first mods take place. At the end of the article another kit turns up (Welborne Labs Laurel) and after some manufacturer comments, Joe Roberts puts in his 2 cents (and some more mods).

teaser quote: ‘I am INTO building things. I love the feeling of walking through a series of predefined steps, slowly working up from foundation to finished item. I don’t know about you, but I gain knowledge of a thing by handling that thing. No matter how many books I had read on the subject by the time I was 15, nothing gave me an approximation of the real feel of a woman’s breast until I finally got my hand inside Becky’s bra.’

my take
Building a kit is a great thing. It generates lots of pride and satisfaction. It also serves to jump-start getting inside the equipment—every kit worth its salt comes with a full schematic—and make it your own; the inhibition to ‘break it’ is gone. Common sense says that it also saves you money, although with some kits costing thousands (€/$/£), I have to ask: compared to what?

But there is one thing I want to make clear. We are looking at the matter as buying a DIY starter kit (why else are you reading this blog? ;^), but the supplier looks at it as selling a product kit. Even if the supplier is totally sympathetic towards DIY and modding, economical and practical reasons force an effective product viewpoint. Here are some:

• Part sourcing. Just like manufacturing, if you plan to sell 500 kits (a production run) then you need to be sure that you are able to obtain either 500 or 1000 (stereo) of each part that is in it, plus some spares. This requirement leads to the same, safe (current production) choices.
• Name dropping. Just like manufacturing, certain parts used in the kit have to recognisable, if not famous, in order to sell well. I am thinking mainly of tube types and dac chips. With tubes the bonus factor of tube rolling comes into play. This is all about catering to a consumer decision processes. No matter how great a performer: any off-beat choice is going to cost the kit supplier.
• Product cycles. Kits disappear off the market, just like products. I think changes—disruptions—in the two factors above really contribute to that. Of the three kist discussed in the article, only the AN is still available today, in a MkII form. Which seems to be the same schematic, but different parts all around, including the transformers. That is a big change.
• Predictable construction. Just like manufacturing, it must simply work the first time it is switched on. This has an impact on the design on the schematic level and on the physical layout level (hard-wiring vs. circuit boards). More than in manufacturing, kits have to be idiot-proof; the idiots being you and me, who put these together. Workers can be trained up over the first couple of dozen ‘monday morning’ units for a certain assemblage job. We get to do only one and the only safe thing to assume is that we know which end of a screwdriver and a soldering iron to hold.
• No context. Just like manufacturing, the system context in which the kit is going to be used is unknown. The combinations, even for more specialised items like 2A3 amp kits, are endless. So a similar lack of specialness, of optimisation, is the result.

Although I stand by the benefits listed above (pride; satisfaction; no inhibition; save money), once you get passed that, a kit is a working, non-collectable product. You could have also bought a working, non-collectable product, preferably for a fair price—maybe even something vintage—and gotten the schematic for it. Btw, it makes no sense to modify or rebuild collectables, even if you got them for (next to) nothing. Sell them for top dollar and start somewhere else.

So the few things I got to say below are equally valid for kits and other working, non-collectable products.

First of all about circuit boards. Yes, indispensable for digital, but for any other type of audio gear they are a pain in the ass. There is only so many times the board can take unsoldering–re-soldering (2, 3 or 4 times?). And making real changes, beyond component quality and values, means working around the board. So you and me are better off without them.

Ultimately, only the chassis, iron (transformers + chokes) and the on/off switch are reusable. The rest we define ourselves, once we get the hang of it. Like any other product, that is what a kit also provides us with. Especially that pre-cut chassis where the iron and on/off switch already fit.

bonus tracks
More of Joe Robert’s take on this in Kit Frenzy!, also in issues 6, as is Casual Reactions, where Herb Reichert not only reviews the AES SE-1, but also gives quite a bit of between-the-lines background on the Flesh and Blood amp, the BLISS system makes an appearance and even a future topic is touched upon. And in sound practices issue 7, page 14, there is another AES SE-1 amp kit update with more mods, which only goes to show that you are just getting started, after completing the kit.

Now go and read the article, see you next week.