New York Noise 2002 Audio Design Exhibition Show Report

  Bob Danielak, who works for a "space company", brought three amplifiers. One of his amplifiers was built on a oven plate(!) and while building the amplifier he used table legs with plans on removing them. He liked the legs so much they were left on.

Hs second amplifier was built on a piece of driftwood! All the parts were so inexpensive that they are either "throw aways" or, literally, tape. The white cardboard box on the bottom of the unit (not shown) is an optional feature :-) . The rusty nail in the unit was came from the piece of driftwood... it was already in the wood when he found it. Total cost for the unit was $10. By the way, the flight quality Kapton tape from his "space job" came from the garbage at work, though in reality it would have been very expensive.

John Messa from California showed his battery operated tubed headphone amplifier (AC version is available). An ElectraPrint transformer is employed while a Hungarian 6922 tube is for amplification. While the power supply is a secret, it is due to the possibility of it becoming a commercial design.

Jim Dowdy from North Carolina has a four chassis OTL design (a separate chassis for each channel power supply and audio circuitry. While it is OTL, there are an immense amount of transformers within his design. The power supply alone weights approximately 200 lbs. and the whole design produced around 20 watts.

Blackie Pagano brought a complete audio system (minus CD player). As for why he built this system, he stated "I simply love to build". The amplifier is similar to the 47 Labs Gaincard, though in monoblock form. "It's gotta look good and be high performance" is Blackie's philosophy.

Rick Henthorne from New Jersey brought a DHT line stage is from a totally gutted Dynaco. Output tubes are 1LE3 from an old batter powered radio set. Alas, the tubes are slightly microphonic. It uses Audio Note capacitors as well. A Nickel core ElectraPrint transformer is also used. A Panasonic UPS-type batter power supply will be used and will last a few weeks before it needs a recharge.

Jack Roberts, a retired vocations teacher from North Carolina, has two pieces at the nyNOISE show. The tube used is a 6N7 all paralleled to make one output section. The faceplate is from a golf cart! Another unit he brought started life as a Wurlitzer amplifier. There are two separate output transformers so that the right channel uses a different one than the left channel. This is an Ultrafeed design. Cost of the amplifiers is negative 180 dollars! Yes, he made money!!!

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