Involve Audio - June 19 general update

[Overture]

Ahoy all,

Since we don't have a Trello board, I figured I'd post a bit of an update of the year to date. Speaking of Trello, would anyone be interested if we set that up just as a space where people can keep track of our various bits and pieces? Anyway....2023 so far.

* The first run of Surround Masters and Amps with the updated extruded box etc are coming along fine, we've seen the final pieces (the front and back plates) which look good, and are due to be shipped to us any day now.

* There could potentially be some music released in the coming months that is encoded in our format. Watch this space.

* The floor-standing electrostatics, designed to bring a boost to frequency response and SPL to the Y4 system, as well as a stand-alone speaker, are coming along, testing well. Next stage is the encapsulation / framing wood.

* We have been doing demonstrations to various parties, nothing concrete to report but we've been bending over backwards trying to get stuff together for meetings and demos that were scheduled with far less time than might be considered sane, and that has been distracting us muchly, particularly Chucky.

* The new pre-amp is progressing, I've been modding a bunch of stuff to get the first prototype board actually working, and dealing with bluetooth woes. I won't go into it but I will never believe a BT company rep again.

A few pics of the unit starting to show the initial signs of life:

Next up is to do a bit of rewiring and test the analogue filters / preamps / RIAA stuff.



On a personal note, I have been dealing with multiple bouts of diverticulitis. The perils of half a life well lived I guess, but I've had something like six courses of antibiotics over the last four months and honestly getting a bit tired of it all. I had to eat nothing but jelly for four days. I was shooting rainbows out of my butt. 4/10, would not recommend. Having a 5yo daughter is also somewhat distracting.

Anyway, that's us for now.

Peace, love and antibiotics,

~D

 

[Kangmella]

Ahoy all,

Since we don't have a Trello board, I figured I'd post a bit of an update of the year to date. Speaking of Trello, would anyone be interested if we set that up just as a space where people can keep track of our various bits and pieces? Anyway....2023 so far.

* The first run of Surround Masters and Amps with the updated extruded box etc are coming along fine, we've seen the final pieces (the front and back plates) which look good, and are due to be shipped to us any day now.

* There could potentially be some music released in the coming months that is encoded in our format. Watch this space.

* The floor-standing electrostatics, designed to bring a boost to frequency response and SPL to the Y4 system, as well as a stand-alone speaker, are coming along, testing well. Next stage is the encapsulation / framing wood.

* We have been doing demonstrations to various parties, nothing concrete to report but we've been bending over backwards trying to get stuff together for meetings and demos that were scheduled with far less time than might be considered sane, and that has been distracting us muchly, particularly Chucky.

* The new pre-amp is progressing, I've been modding a bunch of stuff to get the first prototype board actually working, and dealing with bluetooth woes. I won't go into it but I will never believe a BT company rep again.

A few pics of the unit starting to show the initial signs of life:

View attachment 92857

View attachment 92858

Next up is to do a bit of rewiring and test the analogue filters / preamps / RIAA stuff.



On a personal note, I have been dealing with multiple bouts of diverticulitis. The perils of half a life well lived I guess, but I've had something like six courses of antibiotics over the last four months and honestly getting a bit tired of it all. I had to eat nothing but jelly for four days. I was shooting rainbows out of my butt. 4/10, would not recommend. Having a 5yo daughter is also somewhat distracting.

Anyway, that's us for now.

Peace, love and antibiotics,

~D

Brilliant stuff! Really looking forward to the preamp.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Thanks for the update Dave, and sorry to hear you’ve been feeling out of sorts.

My Mom had that same condition in her later years, it can definitely be difficult, get better soon!

 

[barfle]

I’ve been spending like a drunken sailor on media for a while, so I’ll have to start saving up for a new SM. Looking forward to it!

Oh, and keep up the good work! It seems like you’re biting off big chunks, and I hope you can chew them all.

 

[beerking]

* There could potentially be some music released in the coming months that is encoded in our format. Watch this space

Now that is a space worth keeping an eye on!!

I hope it happens.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Ahoy all,

Since we don't have a Trello board, I figured I'd post a bit of an update of the year to date. Speaking of Trello, would anyone be interested if we set that up just as a space where people can keep track of our various bits and pieces? Anyway....2023 so far.

* The first run of Surround Masters and Amps with the updated extruded box etc are coming along fine, we've seen the final pieces (the front and back plates) which look good, and are due to be shipped to us any day now.

* There could potentially be some music released in the coming months that is encoded in our format. Watch this space.

* The floor-standing electrostatics, designed to bring a boost to frequency response and SPL to the Y4 system, as well as a stand-alone speaker, are coming along, testing well. Next stage is the encapsulation / framing wood.

* We have been doing demonstrations to various parties, nothing concrete to report but we've been bending over backwards trying to get stuff together for meetings and demos that were scheduled with far less time than might be considered sane, and that has been distracting us muchly, particularly Chucky.

* The new pre-amp is progressing, I've been modding a bunch of stuff to get the first prototype board actually working, and dealing with bluetooth woes. I won't go into it but I will never believe a BT company rep again.

A few pics of the unit starting to show the initial signs of life:

View attachment 92857

View attachment 92858

Next up is to do a bit of rewiring and test the analogue filters / preamps / RIAA stuff.



On a personal note, I have been dealing with multiple bouts of diverticulitis. The perils of half a life well lived I guess, but I've had something like six courses of antibiotics over the last four months and honestly getting a bit tired of it all. I had to eat nothing but jelly for four days. I was shooting rainbows out of my butt. 4/10, would not recommend. Having a 5yo daughter is also somewhat distracting.

Anyway, that's us for now.

Peace, love and antibiotics,

~D

Thanks for the update. It really is fun getting these insights as to the progress of your projects. And like @J. PUPSTER my mom had diverticulitis as well. It can be an irritating challenge, no doubt more so if you are a zombie or pirate. Or a zombie pirate...

One thing I've mentioned many times & still don't have a clear picture where Involve stands on it is: In all the Sansui decoders or quad receivers there was always the basic QS mode, and then two synthesizer modes called Hall & Surround. The former added a bit of in phase blending to present a normal stereo soundstage of the source in front and this meant only ambient directly opposite phase out of the rear. Seems best used as its name suggests playing music that presents as realistic hall type acoustical environment

The Surround synthesizer mode is the most fun one. This adds a little opposite phase blending between chs before decoding at about -7.7dB. It makes a huge difference in opening up a soundfield into a very nice wrap around soundfield. A stereo signal panned left to right in QS/Involve moves from center left>center front>Center right. In QS Surround mode the signal starts off in left back & makes a beautiful CW clock sweep around in a circle that ends in right back. A nice 270 deg horseshoe pattern that is much more enveloping than mainly a left > right reproduction.

This blending can be accomplished by adding just one more pot utilizing the well known Mid-Side type of balancing. This worked well for the famous Apt Holman preamps & is even useful if you put this on the preamp for folks just playing stereo with out decoding.

A Sansui QSD-1 is mentioned in comparing decoding with the Surround Master in various charts & graphs you've shared with us here. However I know that QSD-1 was malfunctioning & didn't even play back all the decoded chs. So it might be useful in some test comparisons but no good for actually listening too & exploring the various modes. Has anyone at Involve ever sat down & really auditioned Sansui's Hall & Surround modes?

Of course adding click & denoise to the new preamp will be like the frosting on the cake for many people. But it seems to me these other synth modes should be baked into the cake.

 

[Overture]

Thanks for the update. It really is fun getting these insights as to the progress of your projects. And like @J. PUPSTER my mom had diverticulitis as well. It can be an irritating challenge, no doubt more so if you are a zombie or pirate. Or a zombie pirate...

One thing I've mentioned many times & still don't have a clear picture where Involve stands on it is: In all the Sansui decoders or quad receivers there was always the basic QS mode, and then two synthesizer modes called Hall & Surround. The former added a bit of in phase blending to present a normal stereo soundstage of the source in front and this meant only ambient directly opposite phase out of the rear. Seems best used as its name suggests playing music that presents as realistic hall type acoustical environment

The Surround synthesizer mode is the most fun one. This adds a little opposite phase blending between chs before decoding at about -7.7dB. It makes a huge difference in opening up a soundfield into a very nice wrap around soundfield. A stereo signal panned left to right in QS/Involve moves from center left>center front>Center right. In QS Surround mode the signal starts off in left back & makes a beautiful CW clock sweep around in a circle that ends in right back. A nice 270 deg horseshoe pattern that is much more enveloping than mainly a left > right reproduction.

This blending can be accomplished by adding just one more pot utilizing the well known Mid-Side type of balancing. This worked well for the famous Apt Holman preamps & is even useful if you put this on the preamp for folks just playing stereo with out decoding.

A Sansui QSD-1 is mentioned in comparing decoding with the Surround Master in various charts & graphs you've shared with us here. However I know that QSD-1 was malfunctioning & didn't even play back all the decoded chs. So it might be useful in some test comparisons but no good for actually listening too & exploring the various modes. Has anyone at Involve ever sat down & really auditioned Sansui's Hall & Surround modes?

Of course adding click & denoise to the new preamp will be like the frosting on the cake for many people. But it seems to me these other synth modes should be baked into the cake.

Ahoy!
I'm not sure adding synth/blend options to the preamp at the size it is would be helpful if only because one of the driving factors is making things a bit less daunting. But...it could be something for the surround master in a future version maybe, or if we do a "Pro" version of the Surround Master. We are planning a "Pre-amp Pro" - a full bells-and-whistles version but that's probably quite a ways off.

 

[watsontr]

Ahoy all,

Since we don't have a Trello board, I figured I'd post a bit of an update of the year to date. Speaking of Trello, would anyone be interested if we set that up just as a space where people can keep track of our various bits and pieces? Anyway....2023 so far.

* The first run of Surround Masters and Amps with the updated extruded box etc are coming along fine, we've seen the final pieces (the front and back plates) which look good, and are due to be shipped to us any day now.

* There could potentially be some music released in the coming months that is encoded in our format. Watch this space.

* The floor-standing electrostatics, designed to bring a boost to frequency response and SPL to the Y4 system, as well as a stand-alone speaker, are coming along, testing well. Next stage is the encapsulation / framing wood.

* We have been doing demonstrations to various parties, nothing concrete to report but we've been bending over backwards trying to get stuff together for meetings and demos that were scheduled with far less time than might be considered sane, and that has been distracting us muchly, particularly Chucky.

* The new pre-amp is progressing, I've been modding a bunch of stuff to get the first prototype board actually working, and dealing with bluetooth woes. I won't go into it but I will never believe a BT company rep again.

A few pics of the unit starting to show the initial signs of life:

View attachment 92857

View attachment 92858

Next up is to do a bit of rewiring and test the analogue filters / preamps / RIAA stuff.



On a personal note, I have been dealing with multiple bouts of diverticulitis. The perils of half a life well lived I guess, but I've had something like six courses of antibiotics over the last four months and honestly getting a bit tired of it all. I had to eat nothing but jelly for four days. I was shooting rainbows out of my butt. 4/10, would not recommend. Having a 5yo daughter is also somewhat distracting.

Anyway, that's us for now.

Peace, love and antibiotics,

~D

Thanks for the update. Hoping to get my Involve things hooked up in the next couple of months (builder complying of course!). More importantly, hope that you health improves soon

 

[chucky3042]

Hey gang

As part of the update, here is an interview I did 2 days ago on my side solar battery gig Zenaji p/l (helps pay the audio research!!!).

Apparently it was me in the interview and not an ancient silver back gorilla.

Frame.io

This is a preview link and it might vanish in a few days time

 

[barfle]

Hey gang

As part of the update, here is an interview I did 2 days ago on my side solar battery gig Zenaji p/l (helps pay the audio research!!!).

Apparently it was me in the interview and not an ancient silver back gorilla.

Frame.io

This is a preview link and it might vanish in a few days time

How big a hammer do you need to hit it with before it breaks?

AFAIK, nobody in the states has an integrated solar panel-battery module.

 

[chucky3042]

How big a hammer do you need to hit it with before it breaks?

AFAIK, nobody in the states has an integrated solar panel-battery module.

Temperature is the issue......we went away from that thought bubble

 

[barfle]

Temperature is the issue......we went away from that thought bubble

The “hammer” was metaphorical. When I saw a case of something being broken, I would say something to the effect of “If you hit it with a big enough hammer, it will break.” I even told my dad that when he had his strokes.

But the idea of having integrated panels and batteries is something that I haven’t seen up-over.

 

[quadsearcher]

Does anyone bury the batteries in a dirt-proof box directly at the site of the panels? Might save some charging loss, but there would still be copper to the load. May be a toss-up?

 

[Overture]

PRO TIP:

If you have the correct components and values in the circuit, it works better.

 

[deanznz]

when do you hope to have the Involve Decoder Evaluation Kit/ boards back in stock ?

 

[Overture]

when do you hope to have the Involve Decoder Evaluation Kit/ boards back in stock ?

The decoder evaluation might be a few months. I have to do a revision pass to incorporate the stuff we've changed since the last batch, which shouldn't take long, but manufacture is almost always at least a 6 week process, give or take. We are being asked about it though, so it's definitely on my to-do list.

 

[chucky3042]

Dear All

My interview with Glen Morris of the Smart Energy Laboratory has now been published to youtube, I was brilliant, incisive and startlingly good looking in a moose kinda way.

Please tick like or add some comments!!

I claim its relevant to the QQ forum as you can now do full surround but SOLAR POWERED!!!!!

 

[Overture]

when do you hope to have the Involve Decoder Evaluation Kit/ boards back in stock ?

By way of an additional update, I've completed the design work on the decoder board revision and it has gone out for quoting.

 

[chucky3042]

................................And here is the new batch of Involve decode evaluation boards winging its way to us from China: