Monday Diversion: Steampunk Audio


The First Steampunk
Book
Amplifier!
One thing I love about small boutique companies, is sometimes people have such a different vision, by something inside of themselves, that is far enough different from what is expected, or what any sane marketing person would tell you was right and proper.  Enter to this a (now defunct) company, Moth Audio.  Their product line is shown in all its glory on their website now aptly called the Moth Museum.  They so completely capture what audiophile equipment might have looked like if the computer revolution was based around Charles Babbage's Difference Engine and not silicon chips.  I am fascinated by it.  It tickles my inner Sci-Fi Geek.

I loved William Gibson's The Difference Engine - which described a gritty, hard boiled world of Charles Dickens meets Jules Verne - and it only took a small step for someone to have decided that they wanted to have a set of audio gear to embody their imagining of this world.  Fantastic!

Preamplifier!

Loudspeaker!
At first I got VERY excited and emailed an inquiry into them about where they sell them - and got a very friendly reply saying that nearly as soon as they went into business, they folded.  Alas, embodying a dream does not always mean it is well funded or popular enough to become a going concern.

In any event, they form a sort of "lifestyle system" if your lifestyle system is tube based, and could have been found described in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne -- a match made in heaven, or a laboratory?
And who knows - with enough emails, they might just start up shop again?  Anyway, the link to all of their Steampunk goodness is here.

Comments

  1. The speakers were very nice and I, too, wanted the mono amp. Unfortunately, if you broke tube enclosure, it was expensive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You heard them? My hat's off to you! I think they went under far too fast, and I only heard about them after they shuttered ... a shame!

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