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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Deep End DIY - Australian take one Macondo.
Post Subject: Some psychological stories and tips.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 11/23/2017
Anthony, I visited you thread and glance the progress you
are going with Milq DSET. I do not exactly how you feel, I went over it myself.
Let me to tell you how I dealt with what your experience. I am not sure that my
dealing with the problem is a model for imitation but and was what it was and I
bring it up only for sake of illustration.
Before I “designed” the Melquíades I did not have a lot of
DIY audio experience or knowledge. I
have electro-mechanical degree, if it means anything. I was playing, fixing and
improving my reel machines since I was 8 year old. Since my childhood I feel
comfortable with soldering and feel fine with periodic electrocution. At my
10-11 year I was dissecting reel machines and vintage radios, taking from there
driver, aps and building my ridicules playbacks. Honestly, it was all horrible
and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or what I am listening, no different
from mostly other DIYers. Still, all my life I enjoyed mingling with different
aspects of “audio”, had a few amplifiers speakers and felt that it make some difference
or purpose.
In 1992 I came to US, there was not a lot of time or money
to play with audio but in 1995 I had a few amps and few speakers in in my apartment
there was more wires then it should be. When I moved to Boston from Philadelphia
in 1996 I sod all y furniture and a half of my residual possessions were audio things.
Somewhere in 1996 I discovered a world of high-end audio. It was a local friend
of my why was working for pro audio company who introduced me to high-end audio
and for the next few years I got really into it. I owned a few expensive brands
of speakers and electronics and had a very respectable installation that would make
the editors of audio publication to be very proud about me. That was co-existed
with my period of general positive outlook society. I was very non-critical. I was making a LOT of
money during a day. I was teaching in a private college at evenings. I was wearing
suits and spoke polite English. I was befriended with Feudality Investment stock
analysts. I was dating two girls at the same time. I was a quintessential yuppee with
all my believes, views and behaviors. Good, I so hate now what I was in end 90s!…
Then, in 1999-2000 I felt some disassociation with what is
going on around me, surprisingly the election of Bush the son really hit me
hard and it is despite that I hardly ever followed politics before. In the end
of 1998 a friend of mine from NY introduced me to Vladimir Lamm. I quickly
become a friend of the family and 1999-2000 a spent a lot of time with them. Vladimir
was very interesting person regarding audio subject and conversations with him tough
me a lot and to a degree is responsible for many of my audio views now. Vladimir
did not teach me anything technically, in fact I had no interest in that aspect
of audio at that time. Still, juts taking with him I learn how to questions things,
not to think about audio differently, how to doubt, how to listen music. There were
a few other peoples at that time who help me to revise my views from obedient
and institutionalized audio-yuppee to a free thinking individual but Vladimir
was at very initiation of it. It is no surprise that Lamm electronics very fast
replaced everything that I had at that time. In very beginning of 2000, at CES
I was first introduced to Avant-garde Horns that very much picked my interest
and in the end of 2000 I was running customized Trio, double-amped with two pairs
of ML2.0 and Dunlavy’s line array. I need
to do some custom work with my ML2, Lamm refused that make me to look somewhere
else and speak with other designers. Approximately at that time, around 2001, inspired
by the folks around me, I began to develop interest in technical aspect of
audio, looking in topologies, design solutions, correlation of results,
listening analyses… etc.. Somewhere in 2002 I felt disappointment in my relationship
with Lamm. Vladimir as a person was perfectly fine but Vladimir as high-end
audio entity, as a manufacturer who scared about own status-quo was an ugly
seen to bear and in 2002-2003 I terminated my relationship with Lamms. I still
use all Lamm’s amps and it was very good. In 2004, accumulating some my own understanding
how amps make sound and socializing with a few amp thinkers I picked queasily
if it is possible to make an amp that will be performing at the same level as Lamm
ML2. I needed to make some custom modifications of ML2 but I did not want to
butcher the Lamm’s amp, instead I wanted to have another 6C33C amp that will be
purely mine and that I will be able to customize. So, the Melquíades is started
as a pure competition with ML2.0. The whole 2004 where zillion experiments with
amp and sound and somewhere in the end of 2004 the first Milq was made that compete
very well against ML2. I built it myself and it was not so hard, even though I
made many stupid mistakes but I learned.
I very fast developed a notion of Super Melquíades and in beginning
of 2005 I started to build it. I need to admit that I was a bit overwhelming,
took a LOT of time and progressed not as fast as I wanted. I decided to quit my
job and to dedicate my full time to build the Melquíades. I was doing software
consulting at that time, billing $125 with unlimited overtimes, so giving up $17K
cash inflow a month was a bit unwise. I was working on Melquíades from 7Am to
Midnight, each day, and the rational was that the faster I go the sooner I return
back to my normal life. When I said “normal life” I really mean it as I did not
date, I did not even go out too much and I full time was building the thing. It
took for me 3-4 months. Not that it was just 4 months of building but I did teach
myself a lot at that time. Ai was working very hard with Macondo at that time as
well, experimenting and listening a lot, accommodating Macondo for multi-amping.
As both Super Milqs and new Macondo were ready I opened myself back to the
world but I do remember that there was 3-4 months when I do not think about anything
but Sound and how to get in there.
So, in my view the DIY experience means very little. The clarity
of what you do is much more important as to make all experiments with Sound and
convince yourself that you do is right
this and that you listening right things is the most costly thing of all. If I build
the Super Melquíades again from scratch I would probably take a week or two off
and would do it. The key would be the planning, to prepare all parts, to order
of components and to organize everything. BTW, many things that you Anthony do might
be outscored but I am not sure that it is what you want. In the end it is a labor
of love, you undertake this project once a life. I am very much assure you that
in many year you will be looking at your amps and will be wondering if it is true
that you did them yourself.
Rgs,
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