The AKG Actives Project

[thepassionofyonder]

are we getting anywhere?

Seems things have slowed down a bit.  But thanks for volunteering to complete the remainder of the project!  When do you anticipate you'll finish?

dont remember volunteering, just wondering how things were coming along, sorry for asking. it wont happen again.
~justin

[Brian Skalinder]

dont remember volunteering, just wondering how things were coming along, sorry for asking. it wont happen again.

Nothing personal, Justin - that's just my standard response for anyone not directly involved inquiring about the status of a project.  The  made it seem as though you were impatient with the delay, hence my snide remark.  Apologies if you didn't mean it that way.

[OFOTD]

Well let me update some of you. 

First let me tell everyone that the MAIN objective of this project is to get an active setup for the AKG ck6x capsules first and foremost (box or no box) by any means necessary.

There are several people who are working on these goals "for profit" and there are several that are working on it because they like to do this kind of thing.  Let me elaborate on both of these types of people:

1. FOR PROFIT - There are several people on this board and several who have nothing to do with ts.com working on various solutions like a nbox, jklabs box, etc.  These people as far as I can tell as of 3.27.06 seem to be the closest to completion.  They are doing the majority of the work themselves.  If they choose to do their thing for profit more power to them. 

2. OPEN HARDWARE PROJECT - The majority of people that support this type of project for the most part do not seem to have the education or ability to take on this type of project.  Those that do have the education and ability seem to be working on what i'll call "duct tape" solutions.  Many people have offered different degrees of support but none on the technical side.  Alot of "i'll test them for you" or "i'll kick in $20".   In reality I do not see this as happening right now.  Welcome to a free market economy. 

My personal opinion is that I want to see two things, one would be a Nbox/JKLabs box that would allow the capsules to be used with active cables.  I would like to still use my own flavor of 48v power (V2,V3,148,248,etc.)  Secondly (and preferably) I would like to have a set of active cables that go from the cap to the body with no box whatsoever.

So where does that leave us?  Well part of what I am trying to do is get the right people together on this.  Some people (who seem to be closest) don't want or need others and prefer to tackle this themselves.  Nothing we can do about this.  Well maybe just get in line for a finished product to purchase. Now I have also put several people together who are at various stages of making this work and they all seem to have different opinions and theories of how to do it. 

At the very least hopefully all of the talk and interest will help nudge along those folks who are closest to completion a little bit faster.  As for those who I have put together to do a pseudo-open hardware project things are at their earliest stages.

Remember folks that the time frame when I helped to start this project was at the least 6-9 months out.  If any of you are waiting on this to become reality sooner than that   it may be a tad bit unrealistic in your thinking.

If any of you feel like you have the knowledge, resources and time and want to make this an open hardware project then please contact me and we'll get you all in the loop.  But if you are just an end user and want to know whats up please don't as I will try and post more ofter as to what I know.

Some people who have current setups (again nbox and jklabs boxes) do not want their gear looked at to be copied and sold.  The only assurance I give on that one is if someone who has a box and it can be reversed engineered then it would be posted publically, PERIOD!  If you are giving your gear to someone who makes these things for profit then thats a different story.

Questions?  Comments? 

Please everyone understand that there is a reason why an AKG active setup hasn't come out yet really.  I believe its alot of people wanting to do it but nobody wanting to share the info in it or again people working on a duct tape solution.   Heck the thought of a $1000 box seems pretty enticing because I know there would be a line around the corner for one.  That damn free market economy again.

[poorlyconditioned]

Well let me update some of you. 

First let me tell everyone that the MAIN objective of this project is to get an active setup for the AKG ck6x capsules first and foremost (box or no box) by any means necessary.

There are several people who are working on these goals "for profit" and there are several that are working on it because they like to do this kind of thing.  Let me elaborate on both of these types of people:

1. FOR PROFIT - There are several people on this board and several who have nothing to do with ts.com working on various solutions like a nbox, jklabs box, etc.  These people as far as I can tell as of 3.27.06 seem to be the closest to completion.  They are doing the majority of the work themselves.  If they choose to do their thing for profit more power to them. 

2. OPEN HARDWARE PROJECT - The majority of people that support this type of project for the most part do not seem to have the education or ability to take on this type of project.  Those that do have the education and ability seem to be working on what i'll call "duct tape" solutions.  Many people have offered different degrees of support but none on the technical side.  Alot of "i'll test them for you" or "i'll kick in $20".   In reality I do not see this as happening right now.  Welcome to a free market economy. 

My personal opinion is that I want to see two things, one would be a Nbox/JKLabs box that would allow the capsules to be used with active cables.  I would like to still use my own flavor of 48v power (V2,V3,148,248,etc.)  Secondly (and preferably) I would like to have a set of active cables that go from the cap to the body with no box whatsoever.

So where does that leave us?  Well part of what I am trying to do is get the right people together on this.  Some people (who seem to be closest) don't want or need others and prefer to tackle this themselves.  Nothing we can do about this.  Well maybe just get in line for a finished product to purchase. Now I have also put several people together who are at various stages of making this work and they all seem to have different opinions and theories of how to do it. 

At the very least hopefully all of the talk and interest will help nudge along those folks who are closest to completion a little bit faster.  As for those who I have put together to do a pseudo-open hardware project things are at their earliest stages.

Remember folks that the time frame when I helped to start this project was at the least 6-9 months out.  If any of you are waiting on this to become reality sooner than that   it may be a tad bit unrealistic in your thinking.

If any of you feel like you have the knowledge, resources and time and want to make this an open hardware project then please contact me and we'll get you all in the loop.  But if you are just an end user and want to know whats up please don't as I will try and post more ofter as to what I know.

Some people who have current setups (again nbox and jklabs boxes) do not want their gear looked at to be copied and sold.  The only assurance I give on that one is if someone who has a box and it can be reversed engineered then it would be posted publically, PERIOD!  If you are giving your gear to someone who makes these things for profit then thats a different story.

Questions?  Comments? 

Please everyone understand that there is a reason why an AKG active setup hasn't come out yet really.  I believe its alot of people wanting to do it but nobody wanting to share the info in it or again people working on a duct tape solution.   Heck the thought of a $1000 box seems pretty enticing because I know there would be a line around the corner for one.  That damn free market economy again.

Let me just add that if any DIY types (like myself...) get anything, it will be open and it will be posted here.  No need to keep reviving this post though.  If/when something happens, open or otherwise, you'll hear about it here first!

  Richard

[OFOTD]

Let me just add that if any DIY types (like myself...) get anything, it will be open and it will be posted here.  No need to keep reviving this post though.  If/when something happens, open or otherwise, you'll hear about it here first!

  Richard

Thanks Richard.  +T

I want people to know that if you have anything to add to this please let me know.  If someone has a box they'd like to be looked at, know that it will be shared.  I know Tim didn't send his Gefell Box out due to some concerns.  I don't blame him but if you're still willing Tim let's get it looked at (to your comfort) and have the info up here for all to see.

[Chuck]

I'm pretty good with a soldering iron, but don't have much electrical design experience/knowledge. I have some 480's that I'd like to make active. I would like to help this project along in any way possible. I understand both the for profit and open design camps and personally think either group can come up with a workable solution. But I personally feel that working together in the beginning would be more beneficial. There are going to be plenty of recordists that will want either option I think. Some will be willing to pay for a "branded" a-la Oade product from the profit camp and there will be do-it-yourselfers that will want to try it themselves. This is what happened when the Edirol UA-5 digi-mod details were made public. Plenty of UA-5's were moded or mangled by do-it-yourselfers... Some don't feel comfortable doing it and continue to pay others, like Bussman2 to do it for them.

I happen to really like the model the headphone amp guys like Tangentsoft http://tangentsoft.net/audio/new-diyer.html have...
Come up with a design... Test it and get it just right. Then make the details available publically, including approved circuit boards etc...
This way, the for profit group can sell the parts and and or assemble the thing for people that do not feel comfortable doing it and the DIY group can put it togther themselves. In this model, the most important part, coming up with the best workable design, is out there for everybody to contribute to.

[Professor chaos]

i just gave nick (n-box) the colletts for the akg 460/480 n box project. i think he is going to post pictures here very soon.

[Chris K]

i just gave nick (n-box) the colletts for the akg 460/480 n box project. i think he is going to post pictures here very soon.

the collettes are very nice. they look heavier than they actually are. the threads are even and accept the capsules perfectly, and have a very positive stop. the gefells collettes are equally nice.

i havent read this thread in a while. not sure what all this profit vs open stuff is. like i posted earlier, the "secret" is what is in the head of the cables. if you want us to release this information (what is in the cable heads), i dont think we would be opposed to that, but as we were going to use a modified nbox for the pre you cannot expect nick to release that information on the nbox-preamp. 

i understand tim's (raoulduke's) and other jk-labs owners' positions. if i had a unique device i would be leary to let people inspect it as well. that is thier perogative. i am certain nick, mike, our ee buddy (not on this board) and myself can come up with the correct formula for the heads thru trial and error. nick works on schoeps capsules, cables and collette heads on a daily basis and he has the understanding and know how.

if these jk-labs owners would reconsider, i am sure nick and myself would make it worth your while. for instance, supply two new sets of cables and active heads...say one 20foot for open taping, and a 6foot set for stealth/low-pro...a nice deal for a day or two of down time for us to inspect the head.

here are the photos of the akg colletes we had made.

[bluegrass_brad]

Wow!  Nice Work!  When these AKG N-Boxs are ready to be sold, sign me up!  I was talking to JK about ordering one of his when he disappered from the earth.

[thegreatgumbino]

i havent read this thread in a while. not sure what all this profit vs open stuff is. like i posted earlier, the "secret" is what is in the head of the cables. if you want us to release this information (what is in the cable heads), i dont think we would be opposed to that, but as we were going to use a modified nbox for the pre you cannot expect nick to release that information on the nbox-preamp. 

i understand tim's (raoulduke's) and other jk-labs owners' positions. if i had a unique device i would be leary to let people inspect it as well. that is thier perogative. i am certain nick, mike, our ee buddy (not on this board) and myself can come up with the correct formula for the heads thru trial and error. nick works on schoeps capsules, cables and collette heads on a daily basis and he has the understanding and know how.

if these jk-labs owners would reconsider, i am sure nick and myself would make it worth your while. for instance, supply two new sets of cables and active heads...say one 20foot for open taping, and a 6foot set for stealth/low-pro...a nice deal for a day or two of down time for us to inspect the head.

Very nice indeed.  I think the offer for existing JK Labs owners is a hell of a deal too.

[johnw]

+T

[KingReptile]

Very nice indeed.  I think the offer for existing JK Labs owners is a hell of a deal too.
[/quote]

I maybe down for that I have a JK labs box for the 391s etc !!!

[willndmb]

those look nice
but i agree with tim too
on the other hand,(if i understand this stuff right) i personally think it would be better to have a box that acts as bodies, like the jk box vs a box thats a pre too
that way you could use any pre you wanted

edit, actually i think the best would be just cables where you used the "real" 480 bodies and so it went like this
cap > active cable > body > cable > pre
i think that would be smaller overall compaired to a box but maybe i am wrong

[grider]

those look nice
but i agree with tim too
on the other hand,(if i understand this stuff right) i personally think it would be better to have a box that acts as bodies, like the jk box vs a box thats a pre too
that way you could use any pre you wanted

edit, actually i think the best would be just cables where you used the "real" 480 bodies and so it went like this
cap > active cable > body > cable > pre
i think that would be smaller overall compaired to a box but maybe i am wrong

I would have to agree here, just think if a battery box/pre were painstakingly engineered and manufactured, but nobody liked the way it sounded, that would be a disaster, and since hardly anyone agrees on which flavor of preamp they like best its likely to happen

[Todd R]

Great work on those collettes!

I just came across this thread a week or so ago and tried to catch up with the discussions.  Just popped in again today.  As a JKLabs owner myself, I'll chime in and say sorry, but I'm not interested in allowing my setup to be used as the guinnea pig.   Sorry if this upsets the folks that I'm sure are interested in an active solution for the AKGs.  Totally understand your desire to get this project going -- I love my AKG actives!

But at least for my JKLabs active heads, everything is completely epoxied in.  There doesn't seem to be any way to disassemble them to look inside.  The only option would be to destroy them to get at the innards, and then hope that whoever tore them apart could completely rebuild them.  So if this project fails, I'd no longer have a viable/working AKG active setup for myself.  Just not a risk I'm willing to take, and if all the JKLabs owners have similar, epoxied-together active heads, I doubt you'll find anyone who will be willing to sacrifice their JKLabs setup to help the cause.

Anyway, just a little insight into what is really being asked of the JKLabs owners.  Hopefully the AKG capsules work in much the same way as the schoeps capsules and designers can use the schoeps active design as a starting point.  That together with experimentation and trial and error should eventually lead to a working AKG active design.