Part 14: Results and Reputation after Release, Next Strategy
The sales department informed me that stores were steadily buying the product. However, since audio was at its peak at the time, I think rival models were also doing quite well. Just at that time, Stereo Sound released a special edition of "Sansui" to see if they could give some support. The AU-607/707 was the focus of the magazine, so I think it had an effect of informing audio fans. This special edition was released at the same time as special editions on brands such as Lux, Victor, and Marantz. Many articles introducing FM magazines began to appear, and I also placed a fair amount of advertisements in audio magazines. I spent November and December helping with such promotional activities. Although it was not my main job, I wanted to know the situation outside the company and get some hints for my own future direction, corrections, etc.
The end of 1976 came and New Year's Day came. After another flurry of activity, the sales statistics from the Electronic Industries Association of Japan (EIAJ) came in after the 15th. The results were promising, and although Shar doesn't remember exactly, the results for November and December were at or near the top. At the morning meeting, the boss said, "Customers have a lot of trust in Sansui Amplifiers," and did not praise anyone involved. However, if they acted as if they had worked hard, the resentment and jealousy within the company would only grow stronger. This is especially true in the Japanese salaryman society. The boss was considerate of other departments, saying that it would be easier to work with them in the future if they acted humbly. In fact, even when making a product, it is accomplished through the combined strength of the company, and this was something that he came to truly understand and feel much later, when he spun out, founded a company, and made the product himself. In particular, if a manufacturer neglects departments that are not visible in the public eye, such as quality assurance and production technology, it will eventually be in danger. Meeting Akihiko Kaneda
Amateurs were quicker to realize DC amplifiers. Through the mediation of the editors of MJ magazine, I was able to meet Akihiko Kaneda (who was also a professor at Akita University at the time) who had a track record with DC amplifiers (Kaneda amplifiers). I remember him giving a strict explanation of the basics of DC amplifiers. For example, I think he said that in the power supply circuit, the decoupling circuit in the front stage should also have no time delay until the DC region. At the time, I wasn't very impressed, but many years have passed since then, and Kaneda has demonstrated sufficient achievements in MJ magazine, and I bought a book that summarized them. When I read the preface, which talks about music and his love of it, I thought once again what a wonderful person he was. It took more than 20 years for me to think this way.
Introducing it to the American audio world
Since it was a hit in Japan, I thought it was time to compete with these amplifiers overseas. The overseas sales department knew that receivers were common overseas, especially in the US, and that full-scale systems were separate (separate preamplifier and power amplifier), and that integrated amplifiers were not familiar in the US. (Even now there are few integrated amplifiers made in the US. I think the JBL integrated SA-600 sold better in Japan than in the US.)
Still, they decided to try to sell it in the US somehow. To sell it in the US, it had to obtain a safety standard called UL (stricter than PSE), so the cost of obtaining this was about 500,000 yen per model at the time, since samples and main parts had to be sent to the US (now a Japanese company does this on our behalf). After obtaining this, it was decided that only the AU-707 would be sold overseas, and the model name became AU-717. I was able to go on a business trip to the US just in time for the new product launch in the US. After the announcement at CES in Chicago, Sansui held preview events in major cities such as NY, SF, and LA, inviting local Sansui representatives and major retailers to hotels.
After all, America is a receiver market, and even though the AU-717 had a good reputation, it seemed that there was little hope for actual sales. However, TY, the local LA manager (who later became the founder of Avex), also recognized the good design and promoted it strongly. Although the planned number was fully sold, I still think that the profit was less than expected. Looking at rival brands, there were no integrated amplifiers at CES, and most were receivers or systems that combined a receiver with speakers, a record player, and a cassette deck (called a one-brand system). Only Fisher was competing with Japanese products, and long-established companies such as Scott and Sherwood were weakened by the offensive of Japanese brands. During this period, there were no industrial products exported to America from Korea or China.
Since the shipping costs for speakers for a single brand are high, many of them were cheap and assembled locally in the United States. Why were they so cheap? Because they used black and Hispanic workers, so the labor costs were low. American society is still a society of inequality and discrimination. Different races and ethnicities never live in the same area, they live separately. The exchange rate at that time was 1 dollar = 308 yen. After that, the yen became stronger, around 240 yen.
Next Strategy
Even though they got off to a good start with the AU-607/707, they were only making up for it with their mid-range model. They were still content with lower-class models like the former AU-9500. "Next is the AU-907!" What should they do? They can't continue on this path, in other words, even if they make a higher-class model from a lower-class model, their image won't improve.
First of all, from the circuit point of view, it is undoubtedly an advanced DC amplifier, but the first stage is fine, and the third stage differential push-pull circuit is not bad either, so the second stage differential circuit is ordinary, and the way to lead the signal to the negative side is to use a level shift circuit to lead it to the negative side differential push-pull, which is not smart or elegant, and it seems to be an obstacle to the rise (slew rate) characteristics. By the way, the slew rate of the AU-607/707 is 60V/μs, which is quite high.
While I was feeling confused, I asked Mr. T, the original circuit developer, for advice. "The second stage is not clear, so after all, a two-stage amplifier circuit would be better!" I said provocatively. I knew that a certain part of the technical department had evaluated Yamaha's two-stage differential circuit. "Anyway, can't you make a circuit that does not need a level shift circuit?" I got it! Let's try it. I'll assign Mr. TT, who joined the company at the same time as you, to circuit development. Mr. T had become head of the R&D department, so he couldn't work on circuit development full-time, but he said he would cooperate. My colleague TT (who I still keep in touch with) was young, clever and hardworking. He had come to the development department from the service department and was full of enthusiasm.
We also wanted to get the distortion characteristics below 0.01%, not 0.03%. At 20kHz, the transistor characteristics were a bottleneck, and this was an obstacle.
If we pushed it too hard, the oscillation stability would deteriorate, we would receive more complaints in the market, and we would lose credibility. The expected specs for the AU-907 were as follows:
Power amplifier section
Maximum output 100W+100W (8Ω)
Minimum load 4Ω
Distortion 0.0081% or less (20-20KHz/8Ω/100W/2ch simultaneous operation)
Frequency characteristics 10-100KHz (within -3dB, 1W/8Ω/2ch simultaneous operation)
Input sensitivity 1V/47KΩ
Through rate 100V/μs or more
Appearance of improved new devices
The performance limits of bipolar transistors are becoming apparent. Semiconductor companies have been trying to improve the drawback of switching distortion caused by the accumulation effect of minority carriers. Specifically, Fujitsu's ring emitter transistor was the first. The emitter was shaped like a ring to improve the above drawback. Sanken also improved it by making it a multi-emitter structure, calling it a linear amplifier transistor (LAPT). These improved devices certainly had better characteristics, but they seemed to be weak against large currents. It was not very flexible and was easily destroyed if used in an unreasonable way. I intend to delve a little deeper into this topic next time.
What is the correlation between chemical capacitors and sound quality?
Until around 1975, most manufacturers did not pay much attention to the sound quality tendencies of components. Electrical characteristics are related to safety and reliability, so knowledge was available with a fair degree of accuracy. For example, high-frequency characteristics of capacitors, leakage current, capacitance error, temperature characteristics, etc. From my experience in speaker design, I also thought that the speaker was the dominant factor in sound quality tendencies. It is true that speakers still determine the tendencies of reproduced sound, but when it comes to the details of sound quality, the components control the sound quality tendencies. I first confirmed that block chemical capacitors had sound quality tendencies. At that time, price and delivery time were given priority over the chemical capacitor brand and specifications.
The capacitance of a chemical capacitor can be increased by increasing the surface area of <200b><200b>the aluminum foil. First, to make it smaller, an oxide film is created on the aluminum foil, and then a process called etching is used to make the surface uneven and widen it. Compared to back then, the capacity is about three times larger, which contributes to miniaturization. I think Japan (Nichi-Kemi and Nichi-Con) is the best in the world in terms of the quality and technical level of chemical capacitors. As a result, Sprague was temporarily under the umbrella of Nikkei (now the France Bichet Group), and Mallory, although the brand remains, has been absorbed by Cornell Tabler. Mr. K, a critic mentioned in the 13th issue, was the first to point out the unique sound quality of chemical capacitors. Companies have been actively developing block chemical capacitors for audio. Various prototypes arrive one after another from each company, and one of them invited me to visit the chemical capacitor factory and see the production site, so I visited the Toyoshina factory of Nichi-Con. I see, it turns out that making chemical capacitors is an industry that uses a lot of electricity and water. Small capacitors were already being made in huge quantities using automatic machines back then. Block chemical capacitors were still partially wrapped by hand with aluminum foil.
I speculate that the factors related to the sound quality of block chemical capacitors are as follows.
Etching ratio
Number and width of electrode extraction tabs
Aluminum foil winding tension
Interlayer paper
Electrolyte
Terminal material
Filling amount and material
(Aluminum) Outer box
A chemi-con expert would probably say there are more!
Aluminum foil with zero etching is called plain foil. I still have chemi-con made with this foil, but with current technology, it would be 50V/3300μ, but with plain foil, it can only take 50V/15μ. The sound quality is certainly clean and pure. Chemi-con manufacturers stopped production soon because there was little demand. Increasing the number of electrode extraction tabs would take more effort, but the resistance would decrease and the sound quality would improve, but there was also a trade-off with the cost. The winding tension is now done by an automatic machine, so once it is set, it is uniform. Since the prototype was hand-wound, the sound quality sometimes differed from that of mass production. The interlayer paper is apparently a matter of expertise, and there are many different types, including Manila hemp, Japanese paper, bamboo fiber, and carbon paper (black gate). The electrolyte is a liquid similar to the sauce used in grilled eel, and is extremely conductive; if even a small amount is spilled and an electric potential is applied, electricity will flow. There have been very rare cases of electrolyte leaking and shorting out the area, resulting in accidents (apparently this still happens with Chinese-made products).
The electrolyte hardens and gasifies over time, and when there is only a small amount left, its lifespan ends, but rather than what the manufacturer says, this lifespan is long when it comes to audio equipment. I learned this after repairing it. It is still going strong even after 30 years. (However, gasification may occur.)Ichijirushiku, fukuran deru mono wa kōkan jikidearu. ) Onshitsu to no kanren wa kakusha nōhau ga atte, imademo kōkai dekinaidearouga, tōji no kemikon kaisha wa shichō-shitsu o tsukutte, JBL 4343 o sonaete ita. Soshite, sokode kiite mite, ōdiomēkā ni sanpuru o jisan shite, hyōka shite morau. Sōshite, saiyō o pusshu suru eigyōdeatta. Onshitsu ni totte yo-sa-sōna koto wa, etchingu bairitsu wa hikui hō ga yo-sa-sōdearu. Zenjutsu no purēn haku no kemikon wa ishinorabo demo hanbai shite irunode, sono onshitsu o tashikameru koto mo dekiru. Hikide tabu wa futoku (tsūjō wa 6 mm kurai) suru to, kore mo yo-sa-sōdearushi, hikide tabu-sū ga ōito yoi hōkōdearu. Mata, kemikon wa seiryū-ji, mata ōdio shingō de henchō kake rarete shindō suru. Chōshinki de kikeba, ongaku ga kikoeru hazudearu. Shitagatte, kemikon'yunitto o kotei suru jūten-zai wa ippai tsumeta hō ga yoi hōkōdeatta. Sarani, sotogawa no kēsu wa enchūdearuga, Firippusu wa kono kēsu ni ōkina ōtotsu o tsuketa kemikon o ima demo tsukutte iru hazudearu. Kō suruto, kyōdo ga mashite, kemikon no shindō yokusei ni yūkō to no kotodearu. Firippusu no patentodearurashī. Sate, AU − 907 (kashō) ni tōsai suru burokkukemikon wa dō shiyou ka to shian shite ita koro ni yunīkuna keijō no kemikon o teian shite kita mēkā ga atta. Jikai o otanoshimini. Tōji no Amerika sansui no kōdaina honsha tōji no Amerika sansui no kōdaina honsha sōko (NJ-shū ni atta. ) (Tokubetsu ni sansui OB saito shihainin-sama ni keisai kyoka o itadakimashita. ) 2006-Nen 5 tsuki 23-nichi keisai purinta-yō gamen kono kiji no 1-gyō-me ni tobu mae dai 13-kai purimein'anpu hatsubai zen'ya to sonogo kategorītoppu dai 1-dan Nihon ōdio-shi-ji dai 15-kai jiki moderu no kaihatsu kopīraito © 2003 - 2023 ISHINO LAB. © 2003 - 2023 MASTERS All rights reserved. Bariddo XHTML 1. 0 Transitional bariddo CSS! Makurosofuto intānettoekusupurōrā gūguru chrome makurosofuto Edge
929 / 5,000
Anything that is noticeably swollen is time to replace it.)
Each company has their own know-how regarding sound quality, and even now they probably can't disclose it, but at that time, chemical capacitor companies built listening rooms and equipped them with JBL4343s. They would listen to the capacitors there and bring samples to audio manufacturers for evaluation. This was the sales method that pushed for their adoption.
It seems that a lower etching ratio is better for sound quality. Ishino Lab also sells the plain foil chemical capacitors mentioned above, so you can check their sound quality. Making the pull-out tabs thicker (usually about 6 mm) also seems to be good, and having more pull-out tabs is also a good direction. Also, the chemical capacitor vibrates when rectified and when it is modulated by the audio signal. If you listen with a stethoscope, you should be able to hear the music.
Therefore, it was better to fill the filler that holds the chemical capacitor unit in place as much as possible. Furthermore, the outer case is cylindrical, and I believe Philips still makes capacitors with large bumps on the case. This increases the strength and is said to be effective in suppressing vibration of the capacitor. It is apparently a Philips patent.
Anyway, when I was pondering what kind of block capacitor to install in the AU-907 (tentative name), a manufacturer proposed a capacitor with a unique shape. Please look forward to the next article.
