Don't support Western Electric: shameless warranty runarounds

I'll be doing some test shots with my pixel at 1/8 speed, with different rounds vs incandescent bulbs.

.45 is about 830ft/s, so at 1/8 speed (240fps) it's moving about 3 feet per frame.

240fps video might not be enough.

7.62x51 is about 2800ft/s, or about 12 feet per frame.

I would need about 30,000 fps to capture 7.62, and about 10,000 fps to capture .45

We'll see how it goes. Worst case you get to see it disappear from decently close up.

 

I had a professor, R.A. Griener who besides being an audio guy had a passion for stop
motion photography. He used high power xenon lamps triggered by phototransistors to capture bullets exploding lightbulbs. I think Harold Edgerton pioneered xenon flash stop motion photography. Might find something in the archives that will help you out.

 

You might be able to rent one of these for a couple hundred bucks a day https://www.krontech.ca/product/chronos-2-1-hd-high-speed-camera/

 

Lens rentals has a high speed camera you can rent, but its not cheap.

https://www.lensrentals.com/rent/vri-phantom-veo4k-990s-high-speed-camera-ef

 

Haha it's ok guys, I'm not gonna spend $500 or $2000 renting a high speed camera for a meme. If someone local knows someone or has a camera I can borrow, thats fine, otherwise it's just gonna be my pixel 7 and a wide shot to capture the fast flying pieces.

 

Not defending WE here, but this is not specifically a tolerance thing with their tubes. It's true of pretty much any tube production operation. It's inherent in the way they work and the way they are made. There are just too many variables for them to be assembled that perfectly. Of course, if production numbers are high enough, it's easier to soak up the cost of matching, but I don't think WE will be at those levels any time soon, especially if this type of service continues.

 

- Resurrecting an old company with the use of it's previously earned reputation and corporativism as the main focus.
- Expecting good products and customer service.

Pick one.

This kind of "I'm a hedge fund manager and I'll buy this very reputable audio brand" never turns out well, sadly.

 

I was checking out the WE website and looking for any independent information about their manufacturing in Rossville, GA.

I didn’t find anything. Not a plant tour, not a photo not provided by WE. Nothing independent.

How do we know they are even manufacturing tubes in Rossville, GA?

 

maps.google.com -> Western Electric -> street view. You can see the building. What are they doing in it? I don't know.

 

Perhaps used for the collection & storage (receiving and filing) of their customer Extended Warranty Registration Cards?!

 

hmm... I did that and I see a 4 story brick office building and the sign out front has 5 tenants (one is WE). It certainly doesn't look like a manufacturing facility.

If I google map the address on the website, then I get a different location... streetview shows the address as Food Lion grocery store in a small strip mall. The overhead map view does label the facility as Western Electric... so maybe the bldg used to be a grocery store?

weird... I expected to see a medium sized building in an industrial park with loading docks for shipping/receiving and plenty of cars. Although I have no idea how much room is actually needed to make vacuum tubes, amplifiers, cd player, etc (ie., all the stuff they sell on their website)

------edit--------
I just looked at the monoblocks they make... 8 WE300b's per side . $6k just to replace the tubes on one side Although, I guess if you're paying $125k for the amp , then $6k for new tubes is chump change

 

I wonder if the $125K amp has a secret warranty card taped to the inside of the chassis.

 

And written in UV ink.

 

That does appear to be where they build the tubes:
https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jun/23/western-electric-plugs-into-rossville/

 

You should see where they make Grados

 

That’s the “don’t break into us, nothing to see/steal here” business look

 

hmm... that just says its their headquarters. I suppose they could also manufacture there, but I would think that making tubes would require a manufacturing operation of some sort (eg., not in an office bldg)

But I assume that's just assembly and they're not forming the pads, manufacturing the housing/drivers in that location

 

Now that we can stick a fork in MQA we need a new conspiracy theory to keep us entertained, at least until LetMeBeFrank blows the bejeezus out of one.

The WE factory is supposedly at:
201 West Gordon Ave
Rossville, GA 30741

It was at one time a Food Lion but that went out of business years before WE allegedly moved in. The pictures of the factory front with logo are similar to pictures I’ve seen of the Food Lion.

Has anyone had a factory tour? In every article I’ve read, every picture I’ve seen, all of the images are sourced from WE.

I haven’t seen a scrap of independent evidence they are actually making tubes there.

My theory - they are just selling NOS from the KC plant. The whole thing is a scam.

As an interested customer I sent them a request for a factory tour.

 

Making preparations to blow the bejeezus out of this tube as I post this. Shooting something that's going to send sharp pieces of glass all over the range is a hard sell for most places by me, so I'll have to go to my place in Yale, but that's about 2 hrs away, so I'm waiting for a free day to go out there.

Rest assured, this beautiful looking tubes' days are numbered.