Looking back at 2007 and holiday greetings

Hi Folks!

Time surely flies! And now it’s almost time to say goodbye to 2007 and welcome 2008.

For diyparadise, this has been another year of growth. So far, we have been growing at a pretty good rate for the past 5 years (we started in 2002). Best year so far - this year! Though hopefully next year will be even better.

Quite a landmark year as in June we introduced the USB Monica and began selling Rudolf Broertjes’ solid state I/V gain stage.

Then in August, we have Charlize 2! If you haven’t listened to her yet, you have no idea how high she has raised the bar for Class T amps!

Fortunately before the year is over, we managed to introduce Monica 3! I have been working on her for so long I thought she would never see 2007 but fortunately managed to release her before the year is out.

This is my current system.

Counter clockwise from bottom right, my modified Squeezebox (the sky wasn’t crying but I was almost moved to tears!), Monica 3, our new passive preamp, big ass 12V rechargeable sealed lead acid battery and Charlize 2.

This passive preamp replaces Maggie as we found her to sound much better than Maggie AND ALL THE OTHER TRANSFORMER VOLUME CONTROLS WE HAVE IN HAND. So much so that we HAVE to discontinue Maggie for now. Well, unless Maggie betters this preamp of course. We are still working on this passive preamp and perhaps you’ll see her in early 2008. Don’t know about you but I’m sooooo eager!

With the release of Monica 3 and Charlize 2, you have no idea how close to paradise we are now! Imagine the system path -

Source (modified Squeezebox) - Monica3 - passive preamp - Charlize2 - Beta 6 in Hedlund Horn.

If you have been reading too much audio mags and fret endlessly at the sound of capacitors, well, there’s only ONE capacitor directly in the signal path here and it’s the venerable Super E Black Gates at Monica 3’s output. Think about this!

Lastly, I finally applied couple layers of polyurethane finish to my Hedlund Horn. The Coral Beta 6s are special. Never heard a driver sing music so well!

Oh well, it has been a wonderful 2007. Thanks to you all!

Here’s hoping for an even better 2008!

Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays to you!

charlize, class t, diyparadise, monica, t amp, usb dac usb monica

23 December 2007 | diyparadise | Comments