Quote from: purrin on November 04, 2012, 10:27:30 PM

Too late.

I don't think it's too late to deal w/ the print and thumb screws among other minor things.


Do people prefer black, stainless or brass thumb knobs for the bias adj?  We told him brass last time, obviously he didn't listen as of yet.

The print is not staying.

Exactly

I think a lot of that is just the shot.  A decent camera/lighting would show a much nicer looking amp.


Price-wise I'd say this is occupying a different strata then the rest of the third party amps.  For the price its currently estimated at ($3500) a utilitarian (but nice high gloss piano finish) top plate and a nice thick anodized front plate is more than I would expect.  He's got to make up a second box as well, though those range from very nondescript (ZD) to awesome (BA) in his line.


Though he denies it now, I would not be surprised if he tweaks the looks along the way over the years, as he has with the BA and the 2A3.  Then again that may be a couple years down the road and at a higher price point.


At this point I really don't care though - I just want an Electra before the holiday season.

I agree with both views, really.

Craig's amps have always seemed like one of those best kept secrets in this hobby, something people in-the-know like Uncle Eric and Marv endorsed but that weren't as well known in the community like Woo, RSA, and HeadAmp. You'd be surprised how many head-fiers still don't know about Moth and freak out when they discover "the museum."

No argument here that Craig would attract more attention these days by upping his aesthetic game a bit. Not that I actually think there's anything wrong with his current amps; I even think the Super 7 looks pretty cool. However knowing what Craig is capable of, I think he could do (and deserves) better.

Keep in mind that Craig has some of the lowest profit margins of any amp manufacturer out there. As Tzvi says, this amp is actually going to cost less than its competitors, and just based on how it sounds I think other manufacturers could definitely get away with charging more. A fancier design would add to the cost, but I know others and myself would be willing to pay more for it.

Craig knows this too. However part of me thinks Craig may be trying to figure out what direction he wants to go in the future: either keeping it cost-effective and utilitarian, or going back to doing really fancy one-offs. I think he's somewhat conflicted, but that's just my baseless speculation. I think there's room for compromise, either doing more basic designs and having a few higher-cost versions of the same amps, or even just making some minor improvements here and there.

I also think maybe part of it is that Craig doesn't want a ton of head-fi exposure and people asking him to do this or that outrageous custom request, bothering him with tons of questions, and so on and so forth. He seems a bit... insular, perhaps?

Either way, at this point I just want the Electra pre-orders to open up, and I'd like to get the amp sooner rather than later.