DarTZeel Preamp

The products that Jtinn represents always seem to provoke some sort of contreversy, and usually some vitriol. I remember when no one could dare suggest that tenor amps were not the best ever created. Not that I have any money, but I would certainly think twice about buying a product from someone who refers to someone with a differin opinion as "slimy" or who disparage a publication becauese they expressed their honest opinion. And what was that dreadful opinion? Before buying this product you should be sure to listen to some other products in the same price range. Actually, I wish more reviewers would be such "hard hitting" jounalists.

Sjmgr asks “Please let us know the approximate date for your upcoming review of darT pre-amp, if possible”

Assuming JTinn, darTZell and the audio gods all fall into place; I should get the pre-amp next month. 6moon protocol requires a review turnaround within 90 days. I suspect it will take almost all of the 90 days because there are a lot of interactions to explore. For example how does the preamp interface with their proprietary 50 ohm “Zeel” connection to the 108s. Also, what is the synergy (or lack of) with a standard amp (my VTL S400) using balanced connections? It also includes a phono-preamp which needs comparison to my Walker reverence. I would guess for a February print.

To Oneobgyn: I discussed the break-in controversy of the Soundstage review with Hervé, his response was the same as JTinn – standard is to break-in at the factory. The decision was made for this batch was to get them into the hands of the customer ASAP, and were shipped without the break-in.

Oneobgyn: I appreciate that you are somewhat in the middle of all this as you are friendly with all involved. I assure you that the promises I spoke of were made and that it is not true that Jeff used the amplifier for even close to 5 weeks. That is another fabrication on someone's part. There were a little over two weeks of possible use and the review was written.

I can also understand your apprehension, based on your experience, to believe that break-in on the darTZeel is real. Whether it is or not, if a reviewer agrees to the terms and does not comply, and writes a review, isn't that irresponsible when a manufacturer has so much at stake? Let's take the break-in out of the picture and just deal with the agreement that DC compensation was to be removed after a while of listening. Removal of DC compensation adds apporximately 10db of signal to noise ratio. Certainly a responsible reviewer and editor would make sure, prior to the publishing of a review, that they would have every opportunity to hear the amplifier at it's best... unless they had an agenda. Or maybe they was just plain irresponsible and / or negligent.

Steve, I assure you the break-in is absolutely real and verifiable and that everything I have said in this thread is completely true.

Isn't it funny how important it must be to Fmpnd to make me look bad that he would either go through the trouble of reading the owner's manual, which he would have had to download, or someone is feeding him this information and using him as a mouthpiece. Either way, it is extremely humorous.

It is a true shame that the thread was hi-jacked by someone who has a personal gripe with me and taking away from answering questions about a very special product.

Oneobgyn:

To say that I "continually" make comments about how the DarTZeel requires adequate break-in before it's full potential is reached, you'd better go back through these threads, because I doubt if I made that comment even ONCE. I'm usually commenting on its sonic characteristics, not break-in requirements. Please don't put words in my mouth. A man of your obvious educational background should know better than that.

OB, the manual was written for the original version of the amp and not for version 'B'. if you read my first post in this thread; it describes the reason for the required breakin. when the importer ordered a large amount of these amps at once; the manufacturer did not have the facility to burn them in in a timely way. So the importer accepted the responsibility to tell the customers about that. also, version 'B' has the auto DC compensation circut that is also not mentioned in the manual.

it is curious that Mr. Fritz's review doesn't say one tiny word about breakin, and then in an e-mail i asked him directly about break-in and in his response he ingnored my question. now Frank tells us it was broken in for 5 weeks.....and still no word about the DC compensation.

either he followed the importer's instructions fully or he did not. i guess each person will have to judge for themselves what happened.

i posted this same message last night as a response to Frank's post but it was blocked by the moderator. why? i don't know. there was nothing inflamitory about that post or any others of mine in this thread.