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In Reply to: RE: Discussion of Altmann Tera DAP posted by Nirmala on April 29, 2014 at 20:09:05
My regards to all here, and apologies for leaving things hanging for a while. I'm traveling rarely subservient to the computer. ONE MORE GOOD REASON TO LOVE TERA!!!!!
I feel Tera was killed on HeadFi due a post I made the day it was terminated. I apologize and deeply regret the fact that members of an exclusive club of owners now suffer such an indignity. I also sympathize with all of those who now need a great forum to share user experiences and so forth.
Without overdoing my limited typing skills or computer impatience, I would like to recount what happened and then all of you scratch your heads... it does not actually clarify much, but here goes...
I found it possible to pay a personal visit to Charles the day before the post. I had met him before when I picked up my Tera personally. I realize this is such a small product in the grand scheme of things, but really It does amaze me that this inventor and engineer has made what remains arguably the reference standard for portable sound quality. I have not mentioned my having met Charles to many members of our community, but I now feel it important to reveal that he is , in fact accessible and quite ready to enjoy music, beer, and ouzo all in substantial quantity.
How intriguing it is to me that a one man operation could achieve this! And then curiosity led me to know more about such an operation, so I was just looking for an excuse to visit!
Just to answer the obvious I will say in advance that workshop Tera is every bit the product of a creative mind, and that I felt like I was on the set of some "back to the future 5" movie set!
Having deliberated the benefits of rebuilding the Rolls Royce transmission as opposed to converting it to electric power, I had the opportunity to help move those tranny parts out from under the jacked up Rolls and take them to the garage. Yep, there's a Rolls up in the air at Charles ' place, and it looks surprisingly normal once you have adjusted to the vibe.
None of this was recounted at HeadFi. Since my post was deleted, I can only recollect saying that Charles was still producing, but rather dismayed by the focus on consumer features over ultimate sound quality. I believe I said something to this effect, but the primary focus was just to say that I had personally spent time talking to Charles. My intention was to gauge interest before I wore my fingertips off typing.
Well, the interest was interesting indeed! Within hours the post was deleted, and a few hours later the entire thread shut down. I'm gathering on this thread that now the entire history has been erased.
Without defending any party, I will say that the HeadFi administrator courteously informed me that he had endured much unseen / edited pain from various people and felt the need to seek shelter. The reality is that this is something we have to take on face value.
I did not sense that I had personally offended anyone at HeadFi, but that simply stoking interest in Tera was objectionable, and really I just don't know how anyone interested in Audio equipment wouldn't find the Tera phenomenon to be pertinent and belonging on that forum?
I apologize in advance if I cannot be a prolific forum poster. I'm in Brazil for the night and now theres a band playing at OMalleys in Sao Paulo tonight. Priorities, you know...
Follow Ups:
I saw your post that day. Charles was banned from Headfi, and the moderators over there have a rule that you cannot quote a banned member on the site. I once quoted some technical information about headphone impedance from a webpage that unknown to me at the time was created by a banned member, and my post was removed. So that is why your post was removed.
But there was also a long history with problems on the Tera threads on headfi, including Charles himself joining in with, how should I say this, less than polite interactions.
It seems to me that they over-reacted by removing even the older posts that had been up there for a long time, but in the end it is their own website, so they get to call the shots. Here is a long and thoughtful essay about how free speech does not extend to private homes and businesses: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2009/09/free-speech-in-online-communities-the-delusion-of-entitlement/
The essay suggests that when you visit an online forum, you are like a guest in someone's home and if they don't like your behavior, they can ask you to leave. Of course someone running an online forum would also have to weigh the effect of banning someone, as eventually you may lose participants if you are too draconian in your enforcement of the rules. But bottom line is the owners of the Headfi site get to call the shots on their own site.
Yes, I also recount that the issue with my post was simply in what appeared to be quoting a banned member, in that by quoting such a member the ban would be rendered meaningless. I did not attempt to convey the words of Charles, but did wish to let the curious owners what might be happening with their favorite gadget.
All this is rather enlightening, as I have learned that forums are in actuality privately owned and that the free advertising and publicity they bring comes with a cost. That cost might have been courteous, even keeled and diplomatic behavior. Such steadfast temperament is the hallmark of serious restraint in the face of unbridled and uninformed criticism on the forums. The Catch-22 here is that it takes a renegade engineer to create such a thing as Tera, and then it would take the most calm and savy marketing department to make it an actual success. In effect, Tera would not exist without the unconventional Charles, yet could only succeed with the staid conformity of vanilla salesmen.
Owners here probably have noted other Tera conundrums; I personally find Tera an anachronistic contradiction, which is a huge part of the intrigue! Most buyers are not looking for intrigue and just want to be told what is best. Tera' s best quality is the most difficult to explain, impossible to measure, and completely unknown to mass consumers : realistic sound quality.
It is perplexing to guess who could have handled such a multitude of marketing dilemmas, and when I spoke with Charles, he fully explained that the production costs are very high and not likely to fall to prices compatible with the market. This would seem the primary contradiction to be overcome in order for Tera to financially succeed. I truly share with him the dismay at how such an achievement has been made as the Tera and then it is impossible to capitolize on its amazing sound quality. I'm unqualified to comment, but Charles remains confident that the current AK and other similar technologies will yield progressively fancier and more expensive products, but never quite touch what he has alone made in portable sound quality!
To become isolated and ostracised in the process instead of rewarded must sting. From what I could see, the personal attacks on him were quite real as well. Often his nay sayers never actually heard the Tera and never really thought of the costs of design and production. Arguing with such graffiti proved detrimental immediately.
Frankly I find it ironic that at HeadFi, arguably the premier site for audiophiles, nobody would listen. Charles' assumption that the sound quality alone could overcome its techie limitations proved false: it was hardly even heard. Listeners could not because Tera was not available, and even then listened with their eyes and wallets. Charles could hear the sound, but not the market grumbles and rumbles without creating his own noise. In the resultant melee, the sweet and true voice of Tera was lost.
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It is often true that the creator of a product or service is not always the best person to bring it to market. Unless Charles wants to license the technology to another manufacturer, the Tera will probably remain as a very small niche product.
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