Hey, I really liked the article you wrote about cat's eye tubes. For the rest of you guys, check out the link, it's an interesting read. There's enough information there to actually implement one into your DIY or kit amp for a really cool output meter.

What are some other "must read" articles on Vacuum Tube Valley? Those Jolida amps look mighty nice, by the way. Speaking of amps, check out the FSAudio forum, because they're passing around an entry level tube amplifier from the Netherlands, free to try out for two weeks just for the asking. The details are posted in the FSAudio forum, so I won't go into them here.

AudioRoundTable.com is also sponsored by Triode & Co., which is the Audio Note distributor for the USA. Other cool sponsors include Martinelli Sound, maker of really fine wood horns and cabinets. Really nice stuff, I'm telling you. And there's Approved Audio Service, who does factory authorized service on several brands including McIntosh, Sony, Marantz, NAD, Bang & Olufsen and about a zillion others. They do speaker recones too, so that's really cool. It's nice to have a repair facility "in the family," so to speak.

Another ART sponsor is its resident webmaster and artist extraordinaire, Visions of Infinedi. Check out the artwork there, 'cause you'll find some really amazing stuff, no kidding. You have to search around for it, so look for links to the Fine Art Colony. And I'm a sponsor too, and my main contribution is staying up all hours of the night writing code to support the place. But I've had some help from some fine folks, like Tracey H and Chris R. There are a lot of good folks acting as moderators too, and regular participants that have graciously donated time and/or money to make this website possible. There's some pretty neat stuff going on here in these forums.

Now that I've plugged all the sponsors, I should probably mention a few things about AudioRoundTable.com, itself. ART was formed by a group of people that wanted fair and civilized discussion about audio without having to endure the "screaming psychosis and childish backstabbing" as you so accurately described it. That pretty much summed up our feelings about the place we all left. We were all willing to sponsor an audio discussion board, but only if it fairly, equally and consistently enforced rules that prohibited personal attacks and unsolicited advertisements.

AudioRoundTable.com protects its visitors by absolutely prohibiting any and all personal attacks. ART protects its sponsors by prohibiting unsolicited advertisements in general forums. Both are very simple rules, and most don't need any explaination. I guess some might object to prohibiting self-promotion, but I can't think of any reason a hobbyist or consumer would since they can make as many product references as they want. It's just that companies and company spokesmen are prohibited from advertising here except in the form of sponsorship or by using the Swap Meet forum. The Swap Meet forum is really for classified ads, but companies can also post announcements or advertisements there, if they wish.

AudioRoundTable.com doesn't want a bunch of complicated and overly strict rules, but it isn't afraid of enforcing ethical and civilized behavior either. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we love the unregulated nature of the internet, and we are quite capable of policing ourselves fairly, thank you very much. I can't say that of many of the other audio discussion sites I've visited. Some are alright, but some are just terrible. This one has been really great so far.

A little more about announcements and product "digs" -

One of the things AudioRoundTable.com tries to do is to keep the numbers of plugs down to a minimum, so this place stays fair and not a closed club where one or two guys blitz the place with free ads. I think you know what I mean. ART's rules also don't allow any personal attacks, no matter what the reason. The latter is pretty easy to identify but the former is a little harder to identify and deal with sometimes. Other than that, the rules are pretty simple and basic, sort of like the "things you learned in kindergarden" kind of stuff. So it's amazing to me to see discussion boards that don't act this way.

Most cottage shops have sole proprietors that are excited to tell about their newest offerings. They aren't trying to be unfair, and are understandably excited to share what's new that they've just toiled to create. I know, 'cause I'm one of those guys. So ART moderators sort of have to find ways to gently nudge them about the rules - if they don't know about them - so no one gets the short end of the stick.

Self-promotion isn't allowed, so company reps can't make product introductions in general forums. This rule not only protects the sponsors that help keep this place running but it also prevents one or two from dominating a forum. Still, when someone in the industry develops something new, word always gets out and an innocent mention opens the door for discussion, usually fairly quickly.

AudioRoundTable.com also makes sponsored forums available so companies can support their products or talk about anything they want. ART treats sponsored forums as if it were the sponsors own website, so that protects the sponsor from some of the kinds of potential copyright issues and search engine hijacking problems that can happen otherwise.

Hopefully ART's policies and rules will keep it fair, and I think the moderators are doing a pretty good job of maintaining a pleasant atmosphere. It actually seems to be no problem at all, this far, because the regulars have been so cool. I suppose there will come a time when a troll or whatever will come around and start name-calling, but I guess you just deal with things as they come.

We'll see how it goes and take it a day at a time. Should be easy enough to keep things from becoming a circus. After all, this place was formed as a support forum, so the priorities are different than other places. There is less temptation to allow (or encourage) controversy in order to generate traffic because the goals are different.

Anyway, it's good to see you here, and I'd like you to point us in the right direction of other cool articles like the one you did on cat's eye tubes.

I hope to see you around again soon,

Wayne