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Re: When does a better mouse trap turn distasteful carboncopy cloning?

142.165.166.162

I have been reading this thread growing and can't stop myself putting in a few cents.

Firstly I like to disclose my commercial involvement. I am manufacturing partner of F.T.Audio Passive Controller and also a dealer of 47Lab.

The way I look at it is that the cicuit is so simple, how come no one think of it (or commercialise it) while the OP-amp is available for so long. If you look at Mr. Kimura's bio, he started his own R&D in 1982. The op-amp approach is the result of his effort. He may have gone through trying different types of circuitry and decided on the op-amp approach. We can't denied his effort of bringing the op-amp approach to the audio's world attention. Execuation is the ART part of a design. The simpler the design, the more important is the execution that involving careful part choice, fine tuning and complete package production. The part choice of the Gaincard may be cheap but its production cost may be high. Never underestimate the production cost of the chassis. If Mr. Kimura decided that is the way to make his product sound good, he has a choice to do so. Being such a simple design, it is not surprise that it can be copied easily. But the final sound come down to the final fine tuning of different designers. The final judge is the consumer. If they can have a chance to listen to them side by side, they can make a decision what to buy.

I think the biggest mistake is Mr.Kimura is too open about his design. Again, this is where I admire him. When we designed our X-coupler, we were well aware of that. If you called us selfish, sorry, we have to make something back for our time and R&D cost. As long as we think our product offer the value than it costs, I think there is no moral problem. I also have been bashed about ripping off in Audioreview and they said they can make a passive for $25. Again, the judge is the consumer, not people who has not listened to the product.

Paul Lam
P.L.C.Lam Consulting Inc.

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