Wattgate 381

boB
boB Solar Expert Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭✭
in Solar Skeptics, Hype, & Scams Corner #1
Make sure you read the comments too. :D

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=110-439&vReviewShow=1&vReviewRand=2818820


OR...

http://tinyurl.com/yd98toz
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Wattgate 381

    going once, going twice, sold to the suckers an overdone wall outlet for an enormous sum. i'm still wondering how he got hbo or does that stand for hot body oder?
    stay tuned for their next exiting products, wonder wire and push plug (with ground no less).:p some say it's the trinity and saw GOD!!!!:roll::cry:
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Re-selling duplexes for 100 times retail? I wish I'd thought of that! Just not larcenous enough I guess.:p
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Wattgate 381

    but it's audio grade.:confused: who would care as 120vac 60hz is still going through it?:roll:
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: Wattgate 381

    And I thought hospital grade stuff was expensive,,,

    By the way,, WTHeck is "Audio-grade".

    Sounds like the Gary Larson cartoon, "Satisfaction guaranteed or no money back!" Seems like a good deal to me!

    Tony

    i know you forgot yourself, but we do have to keep it to standards for the kids that can out swear us.:roll: niel
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  • Solar Guppy
    Solar Guppy Solar Expert Posts: 1,989 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Wattgate 381

    I thought the Wattgate 381 was the required socket and gridtie interface for the Skystream Wind Turbine system. :roll:

    The comments are great on parts express ...
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: Wattgate 381

    No, it is the proper receptacle for a di-lithium-crystal generator!

    D*#m it Jim, I can't take much more of this,,

    Tony
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  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: Wattgate 381

    I had to disconnect my enphase inverters from it. The nighttime glow from the PV's got me a visit from the FAA, seems that the runway lights were getting lost in the glow.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

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  • lorelec
    lorelec Solar Expert Posts: 200 ✭✭
    #9
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Welcome to the world of audio esoterica. The Wattgate stuff is pocket change compared to what these people spend on the big ticket items. Reminds me of Bob Carver's Silver 7 tube amp monoblocks -- about $20k for a pair...but at least you get a beautifully crafted piece of electronics for the price. Now have a look at this:

    http://www.shunmook.com/connect.htm

    "Just place one to three disc on top of your preamp, CD transport, DA converter, turntable etc, and listen for the wonderful change in your Hi fi system."

    All I can say is ... poor suckers. Oh, and we're in the wrong business. :p


    Marc
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  • russ
    russ Solar Expert Posts: 593 ✭✭
    #10
    Re: Wattgate 381

    @boB - right, the comments are worth a million - some people had a lot of fun but İ am still curious what Oprah thinks about it.

    What kind of a company even puts such things in it's product list or is this just a joke line?
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  • boB
    boB Solar Expert Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: Wattgate 381

    While we're on the subject of audio gimmicks, that was nuthin !
    Check THIS out ! I got plenty more of this audio sucker stuff.

    http://www.lessloss.com/blackbody-p-200.html

    boB
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  • hillbilly
    hillbilly Solar Expert Posts: 334 ✭✭
    #12
    Re: Wattgate 381

    As a dedicated audiophile I was drawn to this one! Gotta love the following:
    "When using only a single Blackbody unit, the most effective placement will depend on the configuration of the circuitry within your system" ... "If possible, several Blackbodys should be used in tandem to maximize coverage and effectiveness."
    Hey at less than a grand a piece, if that will make those cymbal clashes sting my ears just that little bit more, I gotta get me a few of them. Especially since they make it known that buying just one wont really do anything...
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  • GreenerPower
    GreenerPower Solar Expert Posts: 264 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    #13
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Crazy stuff when coming to audiophile since the ultimate audio "phidelity" is very subjective - tube vs. mosfet amps, vinyls vs. CDs ... Longtime ago when monster cable just came out, I did a spice model spectrum analysis on a normal 12AWG electrical wire. Needless to say, I stayed with the normal speaker wires.

    Well, the guys with $$$, they need to use something "comparable" to their expensive audio gears. Check this out.
    GP
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #14
    Re: Wattgate 381

    If you like audio stuff I'll sell you some in-line electrolytic audio output filter capacitors that reduce the distortion in your speakers. Only $150 each (you'll need at least two per speaker of course - a negative one and a positive one).

    Trying to be more larcenous
    'Coot
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  • boB
    boB Solar Expert Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭✭
    #15
    Re: Wattgate 381
    GreenerPower wrote: »
    Well, the guys with $$$, they need to use something "comparable" to their expensive audio gears. Check this out.
    GP

    I don't think I'd seen that one. Looks perfect for those low loss 200 foot PV wire runs !

    boB
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #16
    Re: Wattgate 381

    wait a minute as i'm still trying to figure out what the blackbody is and what it is supposed to do.:confused: with all of that double talk, did a politician write that stuff?:grr

    getting back to the wattgate 381, i will install it for those that buy it for a mere $1200.:D
    fine print note,
    that is for the first 5 minutes as after that it is a mere $100/minute.:p
    does not include transportation, lodging, or meal costs.
    do i hear cha-ching?:D
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  • dwh
    dwh Solar Expert Posts: 1,341 ✭✭✭
    #17
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Having spent a few years as a sound engineer / audio tech for Precision Audio in L.A. - my opinion of the whole "audiophile" thing is this:

    I don't care how good the playback gear is - it will never improve the sound quality of the equipment used to *create* the recording.

    When it comes to my own "home stereo" system...just give me a decent studio monitor amp and speakers and a fairly clean mixing board and that's as good as anyone is going to get, no matter how much they spend - because that is what was used when the recording was made.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #18
    Re: Wattgate 381

    A couple decades ago, I worked at a company that made voice mail systems, and we had to record the "prompts" and the caller's voices.

    At first, the software engineer and the managers got together and did a bunch of testing on the sound quality and tweaked until "it sounded good".

    Eventually, we hired an audio engineer and his first comment was it sounded like some of the frequency bands had different phase delays. And, I remembered the software engineer playing with the delays because he thought that the tweaked algorithm sounded better to his ear.

    Also, another audio recording engineer talked about the modern hiphop and such music--all he had to do was pile on the distortion and everyone was happy--the quality of the recording equipment / studio almost did not make any difference.

    In the end, audio is in the ear of the beholder.
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • boB
    boB Solar Expert Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭✭
    #19
    Re: Wattgate 381

    I worked in the audio electronics industry up here in the Pacific Northwest from the early 1970s until about 1994 when I went to Trace Engineering. (other than around 5 years in the medical electronics engineering area). In fact, most the inverter companies up here, Trace, Magnum, OutBack, etc, originally have Bob Carver and Phase Linear as their starting point as well as most the other audio companies up here like Rane, Mackie, Symetrix, Audio Control, TAPCO, Spectro Acoustics, etc. (most of which I have worked for)

    Small world.

    boB
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #20
    Re: Wattgate 381

    BoB,

    I just recently gave away a Phase 400 preamp and Phase 4000 power amp. Beautiful hardware. The Power amp would blow it's fuse with some regularity.

    I used to (in a very much former life) worked as a Roadie for a number of bands around the country. Used Tapco mixers and Phase power amps. The fact that I can remember that time is pretty amazing.

    Tony
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  • john p
    john p Solar Expert Posts: 814 ✭✭✭
    #21
    Re: Wattgate 381

    The old Phase 4000 amps were not bad amps. not real clean output but reliable. have used many at times way back then. have been designing and manufacturing power amps for nite clubs bands now for nearly 50 yrs, my how time flies when you having fun. Another good old amp were the Amcron,s

    I was building some of the first power amps to be using the highest output mj15003 and mj15004s rated 140w in about 1970
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  • boB
    boB Solar Expert Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭✭
    #22
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Yes, the Phase 400 and 700. I had a 700 first series.

    Almost all the amplifiers, not just PL, got way more reliable when the
    Motorola MJ15024 transistors came out.

    boB
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  • tallgirl
    tallgirl Solar Expert Posts: 413 ✭✭
    #23
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Some years ago IBM hosted a conference or meeting or something in Austin, TX. "Token Ring" was still competing against Ethernet at the time, and someone decided to make the point that Token Ring runs on just about anything. They made a fence with four strands of barbed wire and ran part of the network over that fence.

    It didn't help win the networking war -- Token Ring is all but dead and Ethernet is everywhere.
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  • john p
    john p Solar Expert Posts: 814 ✭✭✭
    #24
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Almost all the amplifiers, not just PL, got way more reliable when the
    Motorola MJ15024 transistors came out.    But the sound quality went down as there was no complimentary transistor for it, So I and many others would never have used it. And if I remember there never was a complimentary one to it ever made
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  • boB
    boB Solar Expert Posts: 1,032 ✭✭✭✭
    #25
    Re: Wattgate 381

    The "sound" of course can be subjective. I will certainly agree that the MJ15024 wasn't as fast as some other transistors, like the NEC 555 part that I liked (I think it was NEC ?) However, for PA systems, these amplifiers were WAY more reliable with the Motorola parts than they ever were with the old Delco and other PL-909 power transistors.

    These amplifiers were quasi-complimentary so there was no need for a PNP match to the NPN anyway.
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #26
    Re: Wattgate 381

    Sound was relative,,

    From the roadie/ PA board operator's point of view, it doesn't really matter, since we were all deaf in the high end anyway. 10 years running PA's 30 years in construction, it's a wonder I can hear at all,, but I have been quite careful using ear protection over the years. I drive my wife nuts wearing the ear muffs with the radio/ipod connector in them. I'll be in the shop and she has to hit me over the head in order to get my attention.

    Tony
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  • john p
    john p Solar Expert Posts: 814 ✭✭✭
    #27
    Re: Wattgate 381

    These amplifiers were quasi-complimentary so there was no need for a PNP match to the NPN anyway.
    BAut that was the very reason they dont sound all that great to many people and the distortion figures were not great either compared to real complimentary output stage amplifers.And I have always believed that most people do prefer to hear a sound reinforcement system with low distortion.. sure they most likely dont know why they like it but sometimes if the band is doing certain types of music it can make the diference to how the bands performance is received
    But some bands didnt seem to care but were incredibly successful Deep Purple had simple requests for their sound "they wanted everything louder than everything else"
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #28
    Re: Wattgate 381

    It's psychology, mostly. If you put together a black box with input and output terminals, add some blinking LED's and shiny aluminium fins then sell it with lots of hyperbole about how it will improve the performance of whatever market you're after there will be people who swear it does even though there's nothing but wire from 'in' to 'out'. Power the LED's from batteries and tell 'em they need to buy a new one when they stop flashing - they'll fall for it.

    I remember watching a documentary about a man who was recording nature sounds. He used a mannequin head with two microphones placed at each 'ear'. The mikes freq. resp. was in the range of 16-16,000 Hertz - close to human hearing anyway. He got very realistic sound; if you listened to it with decent headphones it was like being there. Unlike the jumped-up, exaggerated surround-sound nonsense pushed by Hollywood's movies.

    But then, Hollywood and indeed much of the world has no understanding of physics.

    And I hope I haven't given anybody any ideas. :p
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #29
    Re: Wattgate 381

    "Unlike the jumped-up, exaggerated surround-sound nonsense pushed by Hollywood's movies.

    But then, Hollywood and indeed much of the world has no understanding of physics."

    actually it started with *quadraphonic and i liked it as it added depth to the sounds. i haven't gotten any of the newer stuff they have out now, but hollywood didn't invent it even though they have used it to further their pushing of their movies. 4 or 5 speakers i feel is enough, but i never listened to anything more so who knows.

    * the quad systems had 3 areas that i remember and it was discreet (straight 4 channels), encoded, and derived. i was never too sure of the fine line between the last 2. i still have an old lafayette 35w quad receiver without the quad decoder. it has just been collecting dust and is in need of repair as the relay for soft powerups isn't operating properly. not sure why i hung onto it. sentimental i guess.:roll:
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  • john p
    john p Solar Expert Posts: 814 ✭✭✭
    #30
    Re: Wattgate 381

    the jumped-up, exaggerated surround-sound nonsense pushed by Hollywood's movies.It does have a place as many of the movies that have it give the viewer a more total experience. and its bacause of the high impact music and effects.

    But for serious listening of any type of just music only its very hard to go past a very high quality stereo system. as this will give the listener the most eidetic experience. As most critical listners of recorded music have heard the same music live/.
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  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #31
    Re: Wattgate 381
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    It's psychology, mostly. If you put together a black box with input and output terminals, add some blinking LED's and shiny aluminium fins then sell it with lots of hyperbole about how it will improve the performance of whatever market you're after there will be people who swear it does even though there's nothing but wire from 'in' to 'out'. Power the LED's from batteries and tell 'em they need to buy a new one when they stop flashing - they'll fall for it.

    Tice Clock. First batch were shipped with the Microtona (Shadio Rack house brand) sticker still on them.
    http://electronicdesign.com/article/articles/what-s-all-this-hoax-stuff-anyhow-6134.aspx
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

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