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Craig NOSValves...Does it again...


SilverSport

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I have known Craig for some time and have sent him some work as well as picked up a pair of his wonderful NOSValves VRDs...One of the things Craig had freshened for me was an original EICO HF-81 a few years back...changing nothing that would effect sound (as I wanted it) Craig made my little EICO better than new...

Couple of days ago, I'm getting ready for work and listening to the EICO through Klipsch Chorus IIs...wonderful, detailed and 14wpc sound mighty on these efficient speakers...when it just quits...I run into the room and see the power light out but the Monster HTS 3500 Mk II that I use to save the impossible to find EICO power switch (the Monster has it's own ON/OFF switch) still shows power and my CD player is still playing with no voice...

An email to Craig and I get several things to look for...I check the first on the list...the fuse but it looks fine...I replaced the fuse and still nothing...this is when I remember that the power switch can be problematic and may have become dirty as it never gets used to self clean it...I cycle this a few times and I'm back in business...definitely...

Everything back apart and a cleaning with DeoxIT followed by some DeoxIT Gold and cycles every knob...back together...power her up and singing as nice as it ever has...

As I type an email to Craig to tell him Mystery Solved...HE is sending me an email to tell me the power switches are problematic and check there...the Doctor diagnoses from hundreds of miles away and is right on the mark...

Thanks Craig...I appreciate it!

Bill

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Craig's expertise is a big reason for my system successes, and has helped me condense much of the forum information into real world solutions that work for ME.

It took me a while to become convinced that he was telling me what I needed to know. On a forum with SO MUCH information, it's hard to pick out who is giving the best information for ME. But over time, through various audio meetings, forum commentary, and finally a visit to his basement I became a believer. Results say a LOT.

The "one that blew me away" was with regard to my MC-30s, which were the culmination of a year or more process of listening to various builds....lovingly done by another MC30 fan here on the forum. An absolute work of art for a build, in fact - using Sonicap Platinum caps and a beauuuutiful layout. Those caps took a long time to break in - over 500 hours, and once they did, I got a high frequency ringing and etching that seemed "way off". Craig diagnosed that by my post on the forum, and had it fixed on his bench in 15 minutes. This on a set of amps that he didn't even rebuild.....a job I had him do to avoid the risk of shipping pristine MC30's back to AZ, for what was believed to be a simple fix. So I drove those amps the seven hours to his place to avoid that risk of shipping, as he gladly solved my problem and validated the excellent work done on those amps to that point.

So of course it's reasonable to assume that I also own a pair of his "flagship product", the VRD monoblock amplifers, which are well known in these parts, of course. I've helped sell a few of those to various people, being the easiest item for me to sell, as I absolutely believe in the product, and know I won't get any grief for doing so. It takes a bit of an "assumption of responsibility" to recommend to someone spending $3000 on such an item: They had better be good or I'm gonna get a little grief. They are good enough that I don't worry much about it, as best as I know I've gotten nothing but thank you's for that advice. I'm also adept at keeping them off Craig's line, as I've taken to being a bit of a "advsor" for my little clatch of VRD owners. All commission free, of course - happy people are all the payback I ever expect, and it's what I would do for any friend....or even a kind acquaintence.

And in the current economy, people like Craig matter MORE, because mistakes (which lead to gear swapping) are minimized. Doing it right the first time wih less upgrading saves $$$. Ask anyone who owns VRDs: those amps tend to stay put, which means happy ears....which means that money spent yielded VALUE.

I've been around the audio biz a long time. There's a lot of [bs] in this biz, so it's refreshing to be able to work with people who cut through such [bs]. Craig is one of those people who have provided exceptional clarity and direction in achieving my audio goals, and finding such a resource makes me want to SHARE. If you don't like a piece of gear Craig built or rebuilt, you don't like that gear - PERIOD. I can assure you it wasn't Craig's fault, because he gets more out of gear than anyone else I've seen. And on uber revealing Klipsch, that's DEMANDING. The collective benefits to various forum members in terms of audio improvements is hard to measure, but that collective impact says more about Craig's work than I can.

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