3/20/2008

 A couple really nice Tuners added to my for sale page check them out if you are in search of that sweet tube FM sound.

 

3/20/2008

 Well I believe I have the queue page back up to date. If you are not listed and should be please email me and I will promptly take care of it.

                                                                                   Thanks Craig

3/19/2008

Big News Coming

Well maybe not big news. I've had a week full of web hosting service problems that finally led to me into changing my hosting company. In the process I lost about 1 1/2 months of updates to my site. I will be updating the queue page and for sale page to fix this over the next few days. If you should be on the queue page and you're not listed in the next few days shoot me an email and I will fix it promptly. Sorry for the confusion.

                                                                                            Craig 

 

8/21/2007

Customer Alert

  Late last week my main computer experienced a hard drive failure at the worst possible moment while it was performing its weekly data backup. This hard drive failure corrupted my only recent backup of all email contacts. The only secondary back up that I have was dated 2/17/2007.  I need current customers with on-going projects on the queue page to please send me an email with all your shipping and contact phone numbers ASAP.

                                                         Thanks Craig

06/24/2007

Well, the summer lull (new business wise) is finally here and hopefully orders for new VRD amplifiers will slow down enough to give me a chance to knock down this huge list of vintage units in my shop (I know, crazy thing to hope for). I really appreciate how understanding all my vintage customers have been. I absolutely feel these wait times are very unfair, but I'm not sure how I'm going to solve this... But it's obvious I have to do something before fall arrives. I honestly never imagined the VRD amplifier would generate so much interest. It is flattering, to say the least. I just felt it was a good idea to let all you customers know that this issue has not gone unnoticed by me.

                                                   Thanks, Craig

05/25/2007

Just realized how fast time flies by! I haven't posted an update in this section in a year. Well, anyway, it's time for my yearly fishing vacation again, so I will be away from today (5/25) until 6/1. Please hold all shipments until after 6/1. If you have any questions send them via email and I'll get back to you pronto after my return.

05/31/06

I was back to work as of 05/29. It took me a couple days to clean up some service work but as of today, 05/31, you will see the queue moving along again. I have one issue health wise: My voice for some reason has gone south. Allergies maybe? I need to give it a rest so please, unless absolutely necessary, send emails rather than call.

                                                                                Craig   

05/17/06

I will be away from my shop and Internet connection taking care of my father's estate and then onto my yearly pre-booked vacation. I will be back to normal business 05/29/06, so the queue page will start moving at a steady pace. Thanks for your patience. My wife and son will be available to check in any packages that may arrive in my absence.

                                                                                Craig

05/04/06

My father has died in the hospital of cardiac arrest. May he rest in peace.

The following days are going to be hectic and trying for us kids as we get his affairs in order and think back on his life.

I appreciate the continued patience of my customers and hope to be back working next week. My email inbox is already large and will probably be huge by the time I get to it. If you would please not add to my email unless it is very important, that would be helpful!

04/30/06

Thought I would update customers to make you all aware of a family situation that is again needing much of my time. My father's health has been an issue since his last 32 day stay in the hospital during the early part of this year. Well, he was admitted again 2 weeks ago and now we're being told there is no way he can stay on his own and will need constant care. So this process of course is a very time consuming and confusing thing when seven kids are involved and everyone wants their says in the matter. I'm still working on audio equipment but I'm often called away to the phone or to take a trip 3 hours north to where my father is now staying. I appreciate your patience and understanding. 

                                                                            Craig  

 

04/21/06

I will be away from my PC and shop for this weekend for the Audio Karma Show. If you're in the Midwest area, think about stopping into the show http://www.audiokarma.org /ak2006 So if you need anything just give me a ring. I'll have my phone with me 810-287-6135.

                                                                                           Craig

 

04/09/06

I just received my first complaint about not updating my news section! Of course it wasn't from a customer, it was from my much older and cranky sister ;)  How you like them apples, sis?

01/10/06

Thought it a good idea to let you customers who may be wondering why the queue page is moving slowly, know what is going on. My father was once again admitted into the hospital 12/30. While he is not currently in danger he is about to undergo another operation to again replace his AICD that has bacterial infection. This is a very complicated operation so please keep positive thoughts for him. Thanks for your patience.

09/17/05

Testing for gremlins after new server migration completion.

09/09/05

I'm glad to report I was correct: the problem was the motherboard. I had a heck of a time finding an exact replacement. My PC is back up and running with no data loss. I also found software to automatically keep all my important files backed up to another PC on my network. All is well again.

Thought I would also mention that my father has progressively recovered from his heart problems to the point where he is pretty much 100% living on his own again. I do take the trip to his place twice a week to take care of the most strenuous chores that have to be done around his home.  

09/02/05

Alert

My main PC with all my business data had, I believe, a motherboard failure. I searched out and found an identical replacement which will be on its way and arrive next week. I want to do everything possible to limit the chance of losing my existing operating system and possibly my data (which I have not backed up since May-- I know, what a dummy). If you need to contact me use craigostby@comcast.net since I have Internet based mail on that account. Also I have no way at this time to reach anyone that has gear here since my last backup was before anything now here was received, until I get this PC working again.

06/06/05

I have good news finally! My father is now home and recovering. Since he cannot live independently, we're trading off schedules between a few family members until he regains his strength and can hopefully get back to his own independent life style.

So as of today I am back working full time and the amps will be moving along again. Thanks for all your patience in these trying times.                                                                                   Craig

05/27/05 

I will be out of town 06/02/05. There will be someone available to receive any items that may be en route. If not please hold all shipments back until 06/01/05. Thanks for all your patience through these very trying times. Rest assured I will be diligently working on catching up the queue after next Thursday.

                                                             Again, thanks.

                                                             Craig

05/21/05

Thought I would drop an update in. My father is still hospitalized and went through open heart surgery yesterday to upgrade his defibrillator, which is a good news-bad news situation. After a week of trying to stabilize his heart, the doctors performed the operation as a last ditch effort. Good news is the pacing function of this new ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defribillator)  has stabilized his heart rhythm. The bad news is that the defrib function is not working properly, so they are going to operate yet again. I haven't heard if the operation is a relatively simple open and adjust the ICD or if it's the actual wiring that attaches to his heart, which means open heart surgery again. What a nerve-racking experience. Amazing that my dad has kept his spirits up through all this but being in the hospital is taking its toll. Wish me luck and if you're religious, please include him in your prayers. 

I'm trying to get some work done this weekend in-between visiting him (he is now transferred about a hour from me rather then three hours), but it's rather hard to stay focused. 

                                                      Thanks for the patience,

                                                                      Craig   

05/14/05

I received a phone call this morning that my father has had to go back into the hospital because his heart defribrillator is acting up. He lives several hours north and I am en route in a moment. My amp rebuilds will be put on hold until I return and right now I do not know how long I will be gone. I thank you all for understanding any delays.

05/05/05

For Sale page is updated with some great amplifiers that I took in on trade! Hurry for these great deals on great working amps.

04/08/05

Hi everyone! If you're wondering why the Queue page has been moving slowly for the last week and a half, I have been working feverishly to get ready for the Audio Karma Forum AK Fest 2005 http://audiokarma.org/ak2005/ to be held April 9th and 10th. I have three display rooms that I'm setting up different systems in, so this is a big undertaking on my part. You can rest assured the Queue page will start rolling along again next week. If you can make the trip to the fest, it should be a great time!

5/29/04

Hi all ! Just a note to let everyone know I have returned from vacation and had a great time.

5/18/04

VACATION NOTICE

NOS VALVES will be closed for a much needed vacation from 5/22/04 to 5/29/04. I would appreciate all shipments that customers may be sending to be held until 5/28/04 to allow me to return to accept them. If you already have something in transit, don't worry, I have arrangements for anything that does happen to show up. I would just like to keep it to a minimum.  

5/8/04

NOS Valves, in a joint venture, now offers full FM/AM Receiver/ Tuner rebuilds with alignments (this means all brands of tube gear). I have made an arrangement with Mike (Punker X from AudioKarma forum) to align and repair the FM sections after I rebuild the receivers/tuners. The great part about this is he lives only 2 miles from me so no additional shipping charges will apply. Mike also repairs and aligns SS tuners and receivers so contact him directly at hifitech@comcast.net for your SS gear needs.

4/9/04

Just to report the status here at the shop. I'm trying to pull double duty and working on amp rebuilds while I tweak every last bit of performance and sweet sound out of the final front end configuration for my VRD power amps and Dynaco Mark III Extreme Modification packages which will also eventually turn into an extreme mod package for Dynaco Stereo 70s and an NOS Valves 35 to 40 watt Stereo power amp product.

4/4/04

I added some gear to the For Sale page. I'm trying to raise money to help finance the building of my new VRD power amps for release. So I have to let some of my own favorites leave, as hard as I may find it. Check them out.

3/18/04

Just in case any of my customers are wondering why the progress has been slow on my Queue page. I had a few problem amps that came back for service that I had to take care of and a few new rebuilds that required some serious searching to pin point the problem. This really used up some bench time. But I am happy to report things are back in production again and so is my bank account ; )

2/9/04

Thought I would let everyone know my father is doing excellent and I am back to work, so the Queue page will start once again showing progress. Thank you all for being so understanding.

Craig

2/5/04

Just to let all my customers be aware of what is going on, I thought a note was in order. My father has been in the hospital for the last 2 weeks, of which 9 days was in ICU. He is suffering from lung deterioration and congestive heart failure. The bad news for all of you is this has slowed my production to a near halt since the hospital is 4 hours, one way. The good news is he was released today, but will require some watching over, so I will be gone for a few days pulling my duty. So I thank you all in advance for understanding the delays. If you need to reach me for any reason I am available all day Friday and most of Saturday at 989-736-8020  I hope to be back here rebuilding your amps Saturday night. Please do not call this number after 11:00 EST.

Thanks for understanding

Craig

1/12/04

I thought I would drop my customers a line and let them know that I am currently trying to finish a product that has been in the development stages for 6 months. I have repeatedly put off finishing this project for months because of all your fine support (the equipment I am receiving for repair). So if you notice very little activity on my Queue page lately it isn't that I'm sitting by idle here. Rest assured in the next few days I will be pumping out your amps and getting them off to you!

Thanks for understanding

Craig

1/02/04 

The New Year has arrived! Hope everyone had a great time.

Scott 208 Power Amp Owners.

I took a few days to actually play with my own gear! I have owned a Scott 208 power amp for about a year and a half. I always thought it sounded very nice but just a little too vintage and rolled off, so I did one of my mad scientist sessions on it. Here is what I did and the results are stunning. This is not an expensive rework, considering the great results.

1) Installed a choke off the 5AR4 in place of the first B+ dropping resistor (80 Ohms) also added a 40uF cap directly on the rectifier output. Left all other aspects of the B+ to factory specification.

2) Rewired the sockets for EL34/KT66/5881/6L6 tube type. With 1K grid stopper

3) Reworked the Bias supply to make it 100% fixed adjustable with test point.

The results of this are stunning. I have tried 6L6's of various brands and EL34's; this is an awesome combo. It still shows the weakness of this power supply transformer, which will always be a problem trying to feed 30+ watts with a single 5AR4 rectifier and this transformer, but all in all within its limits this setup is leaps and bounds above the original. This all shows through on the scope also. These same mods to the bias and power supply would even bring 7591's up a notch without rewiring the sockets/tube change. Everything  fits neatly under the chassis.

Jolida Owners

I had my first Jolida 302 here yesterday for an update and mild modification work. This is one brute of an amp! The transformers are really top quality and respond very well. The customer drove a few hours to bring this to me so we did a thrash and did the work on the spot; his extra hands came in handy! The tube sockets were the big problem so we changed out the 4 output tube sockets. Replaced all coupling caps with Film and Foil. Replaced the far-out-of-tolerance bias resistors and changed out all the resistors in the signal path that were Metal Oxide Yuk! The owner, Jon, was happy with the results but I will wait to see what he says after it settles in with his speakers. I thought the amp sounded darn good on the horns but could have used a little tweaking on the top end. I opted not to mess with it since he uses 90 dB Polk Monitor 7's that may not be so touchy on the top like Lascala's. I'll update this post when the results are in from the owner. 

Update 1/6/04

Jon has emailed me a few times with very positive responses. He mentioned added detail and better sound field so far. Plus no run-away bias and plate glow like before from the worn out original sockets.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

12/22/03

I would like to express a very heartfelt and happy holiday season to all my great customers. I hope this fine season gives everyone time to enjoy some great tunes on their fine vintage audio systems. If you have spare time and want to chat just shoot me an email with your number and I will surely give you a call!

Craig