slipperyflax said:
Got the TS500-kit the other day. Haven't put it together yet, it will be my weekend project. But I must praise Sound Skulptors and J-Ps extremely fast service! I ordered (and paid) at roughly 9 am Monday morning and on Tuesday afternoon I got the kit in my hand! From the south of France to the north of Sweden in just 31 hours. A+++!
That's my experience too: Sound Skulptor has been extremely nice little company to deal with! A+++! Excellent customer service and treatment IME. Please slipperyflax, keep us informed how these things sound when the time comes (ie. when you have assembled the kit.) These little beasts are super interesting!
A few questions to the designer himself too.
I was actually just about to order a pair of RN 542 units when the TS500 was released. So I started to hesitate...
The specs seem to be very similar on the paper: bulky trannies, constant current driven tape heads etc. I've seen the guts of 542 and they even look pretty similar. I suppose that there's quite a lot of inspiration taken, although I greatly doubt that a mere copy or clone has been the target (ts500 is your sts successor, right?
Just out of curiosity: has portico 5042 and 542 affected to ts500's design? How would you describe the similarities and differences between your ts500 and RN 542? Did you want to capture some of 542's sonical charm and sound to your ts500 too (and hence the transformers)?
Hopefully my questions and observations don't feel derogatory, they're definately NOT meant to be like that...
Oh, and one nitpicking question... What trannies are you using? I can't regognize the brand. Some esoteric custom wound stuff, allowed only to the chosen few?
