Innovative high end audio startup

Hello, my name is Colin. I am trying hard to create a hifi audio amplifier company that uses modern day techniques and understanding to create truly innovative adaptations of the famously popular tube amplifier for amazingly realistic sounding headphone and speaker systems.

Unfortunately nearly everybody that produces tube amplifiers use ancient, unimaginative, and/or lazy designs because it is typically very easy to get a tube amplifier to sound very good. Even amongst the diy enthusiasts I find myself mostly uninspired by the designs I have seen.

However after years of research, contemplation, spice simulation, and building prototypes I have discovered that good sound can reach levels I could not have previously imagined and that you will not easily be able to find in the existing offerings on the market, at least not that I have ever heard and certainly not at any sane price.
I have heard many many of the existing offerings up to the $10,000 mark and they aren't even in the same league as my amplifiers that would sell for a small fraction of the price. It's quite a shame really and almost sad.

I feel obligated to bring this innovation onto the market to put an end to the nearly 60 year stretch of stagnation in tube amplifier, and general audio technology innovation and perhaps spark some new life and awareness into the field.

Unfortunately in order to turn my prototypes into a product line within the forseable future I need equipment and funds that I do not currently​ have and can not easily obtain on my own in order to quickly and efficiently produce and polish my designs.

I have been slowly obtaining the equipment I need but it's been impractically slow.
What I need is some sort of external funding in order to remain progressive.

The biggest obsticle I have right now is the lack of proper prototyping equipment, mainly proper lab power supplies which unfortunately are not cheap.
I need roughly $3,000 for the equipment.
The rest of the money will go into the production fund.

I really hate the idea of asking for funds from other people, it makes my skin crawl, but this is the only option I can see that will allow my ambition to become a practical reality. 

Every little bit will help and I will be completely transparent on my purchases and progress so you know your donation is being put to good use.

Here is a little bit of explaination for those that may not know much about tube amplifiers and high end audio.

True high end audio is a largely unknown niche amongst the general populous because the big companies do not see the value nor efficiency in marketing beyond low end and general purpose devices such as iPods, cellphones, and earbuds. The lack of marketing in the high end also keeps the demand low which in turn keeps most people in the dark and the prices high.

If you ask the average person they might say that Beats headphones are the best headphones you can get and your cellphone is all you need for good sound.
The truth is that Beats headphones are only the best headphones that are actually advertised, they are really a low to low medium end product for the most part and your phone or your iPod is also a lower end product for music reproduction.

The reality is, true cutting edge audio not only sounds real and holographic, but because of certain distortion characteristics it can also sound euphonic, which for those that do not know is a sort of "high" you get when listening to music and is typically only experienced when using certain high end amplifiers, usually of the vacuum tube variety.

The issue with euphony is that it is usually synonymous with higher levels of distortion (which isn't always bad!) and a more unrealistic sound.
It is possible however to get both a euphonic and realistic sound in which I have discovered for myself but good luck finding it in any currently existing product.

The problem is that due to convenience, cost, and size, most audio reproduction technology is made from solid state transistors of some kind. The issue with transistors are three fold.
Firstly transistors require a high level of negative feedback to function properly in an amplifier, this negative feedback is a subtractive process that, in a nutshell, trades gain for linearity but it also trades natural sounding low order distortion for ugly sounding high order distortion, there is much more to be said about this but in short negative feedback sucks the life out of the sound and adds additional distortion artifacts, depending on how it is implemented.

Secondly, transistors often have decreasing distortion with increasing power. This is part of the reason music often sounds better when it's louder on typical amplifiers.
Why is this bad? Because real life sound works just the opposite. When you hear a human voice sing or a trumpet playing the distortion characteristics increase as the power increases. So in essence the transistor's intrinsic characteristics work against it when reproducing a musical signal.
It is possible for transistors to have increasing distortion with increasing power but it is rare, especially when used as an amplifying device.

Lastly the harmonic structure of the musical signal produced by a transistor based amplifier often does not mimic the harmonic structure of naturally occurring sound.

These factors do not mean that transistors are bad in audio applications, they are actually invaluable.
It just means that you need to know how and where to use them, they are invaluable tools when used properly. 
All of my designs are riddled with solid state components in places where they make sense and benefit the sound.

So if transistors are generally bad for audio amplification then what are we left with? 
Well before transistors were invented in the 60s there was a device called the vacuum tube. It resembled a light bulb and required high voltages in order to use. The vacuum tube was the original transistor, both tubes and transistors are in essence an electronic switch but tubes are bulky, fragile, and hard to power.
After the 70s vacuum tubes started to become obsolete and these days most people don't even know what they are.
However they do have a redeeming factor, they are currently the best sounding and most pure way to amplify musical signals. 
Any distortion they produce will almost exclusively be low order distortion which our brains are programmed to either enjoy or ignore due to the fact that low order distortion is present in all naturally occurring sounds.
They also mimic real life sound in the way that they produce increasing distortion with power and the harmonic structure of the music they produce is very natural as well.
Also, unlike transistors which require lots of negative feedback in order to be linear and useable, vacuum tubes are naturally linear and require no negative feedback to become useable.

Because tubes​ are now "obsolete" technology compared to the cheap and convenient transistor in a society that craves portability, the big companies don't touch them.

Audio equipment using vacuum tubes are generally the territory of smaller business and diy enthusiasts however people get very lazy with design due to the fact that it is very easy to get a tube amplifier to sound better than typical amplifiers you use everyday.

This combined with what I can only assume is a lack of effort, lack of ability and/or imagination has lead to stagnant innovation in tube technology and design with the exception of a few individuals.
The lack of innovation does not end with only tube amplifiers. 

The industry in general has been unwilling to change.
For example, did you know that speakers and headphones produce sound when a current is forced through them, yet practically all speakers and headphones are designed to be used by voltage amplifiers and therefore practically all amplifiers are voltage amplifiers?

There is a lot to be said about why this is a bad thing but a short explanation is that a speaker load has complex reactive and resistive traits that cause the current flow into the speaker or headphone driver to become corrupted during use. 

This means that an amplifier that uses voltage drive is not a good method if you care about good sound.

Current amplifiers do not have this issue and have been known to be the superior method of driving speakers for many decades, yet no one has bothered to change the status quo due to convenience and laziness.

I intend to change this.


There are some advantages to the voltage amplifier scheme but they certainly do not outweigh the cons.
I design both and sometimes a combination of the two.


I hope to be the first to officially breathe life back into this field of yet untapped potential and hopefully raise awareness of the beauty and enjoyment of high end audio.