# GIZMO siblings & X cousins...



## rumonkey2 (Jul 24, 2006)

MLS post in regards to X-Empower has me stoked about these products!

http://av123forum.com/showthread.php?t=32088

Just truly excited to be moving in the direction of a true "all in one" unit

Craig - can you tell us if the wireless options/units are gonna be DLNA compliant?:begging:
If not, still gonna be very intriguing...DLNA would make the irresistible!
(To me anyway:yes That's the biggest reason I haven't jumped on SB or the likes yet...
Of course, knowing TCA has a mission to be "budget king" - I won't be able to look the other way:shiftyeyes:

The little you spilled about GIZMO2 has me even more stoked - can't wait to hear more & info on wireless options!!


I know it's been hard, in a sense, for a lot of audiophiles to "accept the digital age". It's just too cool to finally see some truly passionate audio folk take a huge step in this direction and "consumate" the marriage of audiophilia & digital trends...and make it easy & affordable to joe consumer.... know what I mean????


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## billnchristy (Feb 12, 2008)

I think we all feel it is important to get Gizmo delivered before we start worrying about her bretheren. More news will certainly come later though. :thumbsup:


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## craigsub (Sep 9, 2006)

Price - Adding to what Bill said, While we are ramping up production of Gizmo, work will be continuing on the newer, more powerful amps.

I am reluctant to say anything based on early "we can get you THIS much performance" memos from the engineers. 

Before we give hard numbers, we need to SEE hard numbers. 

For example, the actual output on Gizmo was given when we got measured results from Doug. 

Thanks !!


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## rumonkey2 (Jul 24, 2006)

Yeah, OK, but I'm still excited 'bout G2 and everything else!:yes::kissass:

I think I''m a good guiena(spelng not so goodd right now!) pig _*BUDGETAUDIOPHIELWANNAB*_ who knows just enough to be trouble & wants - no *needs*- just 'nuff to ....oh hell, I forgot whaqt I was saying!:dizzy:


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## droht (Sep 15, 2008)

craigsub said:


> Price - Adding to what Bill said, While we are ramping up production of Gizmo, work will be continuing on the newer, more powerful amps.
> 
> I am reluctant to say anything based on early "we can get you THIS much performance" memos from the engineers.
> 
> ...


Good approach Craig. Judging by some of the comments made about x-empower annoucement, the less you say the better off you'll be.


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## rumonkey2 (Jul 24, 2006)

Sorry if it seemed I was digging for more "in development/future product" info.:fryingpan: I'll leave that to others who know what they're looking for! (Seth/Washburn -:raspberry: ) In no way am I gonna rush into this - just excited about the possibilities:goodvibes:

I'm still dumb to most of this - especially when we start talking wireless options. I've been interested in some sort of "media server" - not necessarily as my main source for music - but a capable one if I cared to use it that way. I've definitely gotta take a Crash Course for Monkey on servers/wireless/streaming just to figure out what I want & how to integrate it...:snaggletooth:

So, really, I don't even know what I would be looking for out of these products -
but they sound very promising & it's obvious there will be a broad enough range to help us "determine" what we need!


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## bobbyg1983 (Apr 13, 2008)

Craig just had this to say over at the av123 forum...



Craigsub said:


> Yes ... Empower 2 is going to be $499ish plus the wireless option.
> 
> And TCA's version "Gizmo 2" (50 WPC, more "budget minded parts" for the Dac) will be $200 - $225ish plus the wireless option.
> 
> ...


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## keenween (Feb 12, 2008)

Is the empower wireless option the USB wireless feature?

Also, has it been determined if the empower will have a remote?


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## alphaiii (Nov 30, 2007)

There hasn't been much talk lately regarding the future plans for electronics, other than getting the Gizmo and the DAC to market.

Is a more feature rich version of Gizmo still being planned, or has the idea been put on hold right now?


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## Larry D (Feb 12, 2008)

bobbyg1983 thanks for posting that information see how much simpler it is to answer a question
rumonkey2 you don't have to apologize or patronize, we're not in the former East Germany or China


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## alphaiii (Nov 30, 2007)

alphaiii said:


> There hasn't been much talk lately regarding the future plans for electronics, other than getting the Gizmo and the DAC to market.
> 
> Is a more feature rich version of Gizmo still being planned, or has the idea been put on hold right now?


I was reading through some of the x-empower thread at av123 and came across the posts about the "Gizmo 2" again....so I thought I'd ask again if this product is still being planned. 

I imagine it's still far off from production if it is...just hoping the idea hasn't been scrapped.


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## craigsub (Sep 9, 2006)

alphaiii said:


> I was reading through some of the x-empower thread at av123 and came across the posts about the "Gizmo 2" again....so I thought I'd ask again if this product is still being planned.
> 
> I imagine it's still far off from production if it is...just hoping the idea hasn't been scrapped.


We will have a larger amplifier, yes. It won't be CALLED Gizmo 2 - but it will be roughly double the power, more inputs, etc ...


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## alphaiii (Nov 30, 2007)

craigsub said:


> We will have a larger amplifier, yes. It won't be CALLED Gizmo 2 - but it will be roughly double the power, more inputs, etc ...


Nice... Still planning for the following features - remote, digital inputs, USB??

Given that it won't carry the Gizmo name, will this be an entirely different product altogether?...as in, different looking enclosure and styling...

And just to be sure, you're referring to something different that the "Stereoid" amp concept that was talked about as being a basic 2-channel integrated with analog inputs only?


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## craigsub (Sep 9, 2006)

alphaiii said:


> Nice... Still planning for the following features - remote, digital inputs, USB??
> 
> Given that it won't carry the Gizmo name, will this be an entirely different product altogether?...as in, different looking enclosure and styling...
> 
> And just to be sure, you're referring to something different that the "Stereoid" amp concept that was talked about as being a basic 2-channel integrated with analog inputs only?


Between TCA and AV123, we will have 2 amplifier chassis which have been paid for ... there is a lot of development costs in each chassis, and since Gizmo and what MLS has referred to as the X-amp are done, AND paid for, we can develop a series of amps using those 2 chassis.

For example - AV123 will have a headphone amp using Gizmo's chassis.

Our larger amps will use the X-amp's chassis.

Our project after Gizmo will be our $179 DAC.

After that, it will be the larger amps ... I want to do 2 of them.

The first would be a 45 WPC amp with 2 Analog inputs plus a USB input for the $199-$219 range. 

The second would be a 150 WPC amp, 3-4 Analog inputs plus USB to match with our DAC. The combo should be less than $500 and could form the base of a REALLY high end system.


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## imported_m-fine (Mar 15, 2008)

craigsub said:


> The second would be a 150 WPC amp, 3-4 Analog inputs plus USB to match with our DAC. The combo should be less than $500 and could form the base of a REALLY high end system.


Call me confused, but why would the amp need the USB if it is sold as a combo with the DAC? If the output of the DAC is on USB I think there might be a problem 

The way I envision it should work is multiple digital sources plugged into DAC with USB(2?), optical, and coax - DAC connects to amp with a pair of RCA interconnects - Amp connects to speakers with speaker cables. = Audio bliss.


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## craigsub (Sep 9, 2006)

m-fine said:


> Call me confused, but why would the amp need the USB if it is sold as a combo with the DAC? If the output of the DAC is on USB I think there might be a problem
> 
> The way I envision it should work is multiple digital sources plugged into DAC with USB(2?), optical, and coax - DAC connects to amp with a pair of RCA interconnects - Amp connects to speakers with speaker cables. = Audio bliss.


It was supposed to come across that the amp would match the DAC. Sorry for the confusing sentence. 

Doug is playing with a few different ideas - it's possible the DAC would be built into the amp, too. There are pros and cons either way, once we get closer to actual production, there will be a discussion in regards to it.

Right now, I am waiting for word about the 400 Gizmos being shipped. :smoke1:


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## alphaiii (Nov 30, 2007)

craigsub said:


> The first would be a 45 WPC amp with 2 Analog inputs plus a USB input for the $199-$219 range.


So this amp will be in the x-amp chassis?

This sounds like a perfect pc amp, provided the USB dac is built in (which it sounds like), and it still has a sub out. 

Then again, depending how the $179 DAC turns out, that + Gizmo might be all I need for my PC...more power is nice, but something tells me the 18 clean wpc the Gizmo dishes out will be more than enough for my small "office" room.

I like that there will be options...


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## alphaiii (Nov 30, 2007)

craigsub said:


> Right now, I am waiting for word about the 400 Gizmos being shipped. :smoke1:


NICE! I'm waiting on this little guy...


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## bkellison (Apr 26, 2008)

Definitely looking forward to some of the higher end amps. I'm currently driving my Ref 2's with an old Nakamichi receiver. I'm past due for an upgrade. :thumbsup:


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## imported_m-fine (Mar 15, 2008)

bkellison said:


> Definitely looking forward to some of the higher end amps. I'm currently driving my Ref 2's with an old Nakamichi receiver. I'm past due for an upgrade. :thumbsup:


I loved my old Nak receiver. They had a nice tone to them and a lot of juice for a receiver.


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## Mike_WI (Feb 26, 2009)

craigsub said:


> Between TCA and AV123, we will have 2 amplifier chassis which have been paid for ... there is a lot of development costs in each chassis, and since Gizmo and what MLS has referred to as the X-amp are done, AND paid for, we can develop a series of amps using those 2 chassis.
> 
> For example - AV123 will have a headphone amp using Gizmo's chassis.
> 
> ...


craigsub -

So, I'm already looking at the upgrade path and have yet to purchase my Gizmo(s).
:snaggletooth:

It should be fun to see the products rolling out.

Congratulations on launch day #1.

Mike


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## hqubic (Sep 24, 2008)

craigsub said:


> Our project after Gizmo will be our $179 DAC.
> 
> After that, it will be the larger amps ... I want to do 2 of them.
> 
> The first would be a 45 WPC amp with 2 Analog inputs plus a USB input for the $199-$219 range.


Is there any rough estimate of when the 45 WPC amp will be out? I didn't see it in the Projected Spec/Future plan thread. Also is this amp the "Gizmo 2" or "Stereoid" mentioned in this quoted post? I'm thinking of setting up a small (size-wise) 2 channel for background music in a dining room that opens up to the kitchen and breakfast nook area, so I'm interested in hearing more about these more powerful versions. Thanks!


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