Monday, May 26, 2014

Attention: Scott Wurcer!

In the highly unlikely event that you actually read this crap (I have my doubts, which will now be made clear), I would like to point out the following:

1.) You are not The Devil! I would have thought it would be clear, having read the nonsense posted here, that not only are you NOT The Devil, but who The Devil is. Gee, do I have to spell out his name? Oy vey.

Yet, you have blathered on, more than once, that you are not sure if you are The Devil. Give it a rest, ok?

Nothing personal, but the audio world no more revolves around  you than it does me. Apart from your professional accomplishments (are admirable and noteworthy), when it comes to audio forums, you are just another nerdy old fart engineer.

As are we all.

(Hey, that gives me an idea: maybe we should stick you with the nom de guerre of " Winston Niles Rumfoord". Except that is too long. Malachi Constant is already takes, sorry bub,)

(Let's see who gets a sunburn, on the roof of their mouth, watching that reference go over their head.)

And while I am at it...........

2.) What does any of the crap have to do with BF862s, or any other transistor? Modern process, or not. OK, granted, my memory is not what it used to be, but how is any of that relevant to ANYTHING?

The only thing that comes to mind is the 1/f noise corner, when it is spec'ed (which is not always), is down around 100 kHz. So what? Do you believe everything in a data sheet? I don't. What is more important, as our mutual friend Bob Pease would say (paraphrased):

"It isn't what is in a data sheet that is important. What is important is what is NOT in the data sheet. If it isn't in there, there is a reason they don't want you to know that."

So, while I have not actually measured where the 1/f corner frequency is, all I can say is when I have used them (and yes, I have used them), I could not tell a difference between them and an old 2SK170.

Of course, I did not try to make a phono preamp, that had to work with a 0.2 mV output moving coil, but I do not make phono preamps that have to work with a 0.2 mV moving coil.

Look, about all a lot of us have to work with is that book National put out, describing all the processes, and typical parts made with that process. So, if someone makes a JFET, based on something that was intended to be used in an AM radio, and it turns out better, then who am I to argue with them? Based on a process means based on a process. Gee, didn't know it took an MIT degree to understand that.

A lot of you guys, who were not working with this stuff, back in the 70s, have no idea what book I am talking about. That is too bad, as stuff like that isn't around any longer. Yes, I still have mine, and it still does come in handy!

Earlier this year, someone asked me what I knew about a certain JFET. All I could do was to go to Fairchild's site, and get the data sheet. "Based on Process BR-549."

"Oh, ok...............I see what that means: built about the same way as a 2N4416. Should work ok."

Yeah, had nothing to do with audio....................

There is life outside of audio. Thank goodness.