Paul Hynes SR7 and SR4 Build Calendar Thread

[tapatrick]

5 hours ago, Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD) said:

Hello all. Sorry for a delay in answering these questions. I have been collecting information about our recent history that should provide the answers you require. I have attached the statement as a PDF.

PHD Ltd history.pdf 113.45 kB · 32 downloads

Thanks for sharing this info Mark! An interesting read and certainly helps to understand the difficulties Paul and the rest of you have battled through. Wishing you good luck for what looks like a promising future creating world class power supplies.

[Nenon]

6 hours ago, Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD) said:

Hello all. Sorry for a delay in answering these questions. I have been collecting information about our recent history that should provide the answers you require. I have attached the statement as a PDF.

PHD Ltd history.pdf 113.45 kB · 38 downloads

 

Thank you for the long explanation.

Can you please describe the "manufacturing facility" and "machine workshop"? Or if that's not feasible, can you please explain what are the things you are doing in-house?

I have a very limited knowledge about the manufacturing process of custom (and now standard) SR7 power supplies, but here is what I have heard so far:

- The latest SR7s have been using Streacom chassis.

- The transformers are outsourced and done by Mr. Terry Monaghan / Canterbury Windings.

- Teflon PCB and silver wire is used. 

- Custom made regulators are used.

 

Your text seems to suggest a significant investment in a "manufacturing facility" and "machine workshop". But what I am curious to understand is the scale of this facility. Are we talking about a few workbenches where people can assemble the boards, install them in the chassis, do some soldering, testing, measuring, and producing some custom metal plates (or make slight changes to an existing chassis)? Or are we talking about a much greater scale facilities where:

- Custom transformers would be made.

- Custom teflon PCB boards would be manufactured. 

- Chassis from scratch would be manufactured. 

- Regulators would be produced.

- Silver wire would be manufactured in house.

etc.

 

We all know that Paul Hynes designs the best power supplies for our audio systems. Or at least that's what we all think. I have never had one in my system, but I am believing the hype. But we also all know that PH lost credibility in our community. And that's hard to restore. Perhaps more transparency from you would be the best way to restore faith and credibility. Take a look at Uptone Audio in their sponsored forum here. @Superdad and @JohnSwenson set the bar for transparency with their customers. And we want more companies to do the same. 

[Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD)]

15 hours ago, Nenon said:

 

Thank you for the long explanation.

Can you please describe the "manufacturing facility" and "machine workshop"? Or if that's not feasible, can you please explain what are the things you are doing in-house?

I have a very limited knowledge about the manufacturing process of custom (and now standard) SR7 power supplies, but here is what I have heard so far:

- The latest SR7s have been using Streacom chassis.

- The transformers are outsourced and done by Mr. Terry Monaghan / Canterbury Windings.

- Teflon PCB and silver wire is used. 

- Custom made regulators are used.

 

Your text seems to suggest a significant investment in a "manufacturing facility" and "machine workshop". But what I am curious to understand is the scale of this facility. Are we talking about a few workbenches where people can assemble the boards, install them in the chassis, do some soldering, testing, measuring, and producing some custom metal plates (or make slight changes to an existing chassis)? Or are we talking about a much greater scale facilities where:

- Custom transformers would be made.

- Custom teflon PCB boards would be manufactured. 

- Chassis from scratch would be manufactured. 

- Regulators would be produced.

- Silver wire would be manufactured in house.

etc.

 

We all know that Paul Hynes designs the best power supplies for our audio systems. Or at least that's what we all think. I have never had one in my system, but I am believing the hype. But we also all know that PH lost credibility in our community. And that's hard to restore. Perhaps more transparency from you would be the best way to restore faith and credibility. Take a look at Uptone Audio in their sponsored forum here. @Superdad and @JohnSwenson set the bar for transparency with their customers. And we want more companies to do the same. 

Hello Nenon

The current manufacturing facility is three business units based in the Pier development adjacent to LochboisdaleHarbour. Unit four is the production area, unit 5 is my office and unit 6 is where we have installed the machine workshop. There are currently two full time staff, myself and Stephen, the production manager, and two part time staff Iain and Sandra. We currently have space for one additional full time or two part time employees in our current units and the option to take on further business units in the future until we reach the point of requiring, and being able to finance, a purpose built production facility. The cost of outfitting the premises was generated by SR4 sales. Regarding the scale of the business at present, we would be classed as an SME (small business enterprise) at present. 

What you have heard so far is related to Paul’s custom build designs.

Paul has only licensed us to manufacture the standard build SR4, SR5 and SR7 and the matching DC leads. To maintain the performance of the standard build SR5 and SR7 products requires the use of the custom built mains transformers so we will continue to use these built to Paul’s specification.

Paul will not release a license for use of the enhanced upgrades, currently part of the majority of his custom build specifications, so we will not be offering Teflon boards, custom regulator configurations, etc. According to Paul’s current plan’s, the custom build service is permanently closed to new orders.

In the future, as we expand the business, and reach the point of requiring purpose built premises, we may bring currently outsourced manufacturing operations like module assembly, chassis manufacture and transformer manufacture in house.

From the start of this new manufacturing facility plan, Paul has been keen to emphasise that we need to ensure there are enough staff to produce a smooth operation and allow a service level he did not have time to keep up with as a one man operation. Whilst we are happy to keep people informed to the best of our ability this will not include disclosure of commercially sensitive information as we have all signed non-disclosure agreements to protect Paul’s intellectual property.

 

To be fair to Paul he has historically been wearing all the hats working by himself, without staff to help, other than SR4 production which is a separate project, and he fell foul of a rapid sales expansion coincident with reduced resources and a significant accumulation of circumstances outside of his control. I believe the same thing happened earlier this decade when he suffered a large Hernia operation that grounded him for nearly a year followed by some smaller scale health issues. Crucially he did not throw in the towel but made arrangements to ensure clearance of outstanding orders. I’m sure that now things have settled down here, custom builds will be shipped at an increased rate.

[Nenon]

1 hour ago, Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD) said:

Hello Nenon

The current manufacturing facility is three business units based in the Pier development adjacent to LochboisdaleHarbour. Unit four is the production area, unit 5 is my office and unit 6 is where we have installed the machine workshop. There are currently two full time staff, myself and Stephen, the production manager, and two part time staff Iain and Sandra. We currently have space for one additional full time or two part time employees in our current units and the option to take on further business units in the future until we reach the point of requiring, and being able to finance, a purpose built production facility. The cost of outfitting the premises was generated by SR4 sales. Regarding the scale of the business at present, we would be classed as an SME (small business enterprise) at present. 

What you have heard so far is related to Paul’s custom build designs.

Paul has only licensed us to manufacture the standard build SR4, SR5 and SR7 and the matching DC leads. To maintain the performance of the standard build SR5 and SR7 products requires the use of the custom built mains transformers so we will continue to use these built to Paul’s specification.

Paul will not release a license for use of the enhanced upgrades, currently part of the majority of his custom build specifications, so we will not be offering Teflon boards, custom regulator configurations, etc. According to Paul’s current plan’s, the custom build service is permanently closed to new orders.

In the future, as we expand the business, and reach the point of requiring purpose built premises, we may bring currently outsourced manufacturing operations like module assembly, chassis manufacture and transformer manufacture in house.

From the start of this new manufacturing facility plan, Paul has been keen to emphasise that we need to ensure there are enough staff to produce a smooth operation and allow a service level he did not have time to keep up with as a one man operation. Whilst we are happy to keep people informed to the best of our ability this will not include disclosure of commercially sensitive information as we have all signed non-disclosure agreements to protect Paul’s intellectual property.

 

To be fair to Paul he has historically been wearing all the hats working by himself, without staff to help, other than SR4 production which is a separate project, and he fell foul of a rapid sales expansion coincident with reduced resources and a significant accumulation of circumstances outside of his control. I believe the same thing happened earlier this decade when he suffered a large Hernia operation that grounded him for nearly a year followed by some smaller scale health issues. Crucially he did not throw in the towel but made arrangements to ensure clearance of outstanding orders. I’m sure that now things have settled down here, custom builds will be shipped at an increased rate.

 

 

Thank you again for the detailed explanation. It looks like you are well set up to meet any client demand with potential to expand down the road. That's very good to hear. I have one last question - what regulators are you using in the standard SR4, SR5, and SR7 you are offering? Are you using off the shelf regulators (i.e. commercially available)? Or are you using Paul's custom regulators? 

I kind of assumed you are using custom regulators, but the following made me wonder:

1 hour ago, Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD) said:

so we will not be offering Teflon boards, custom regulator configurations, etc.

 

And if you are using custom regulators, can you please comment on their availability? Do you have a lot of them in stock or do you order them as you need them? Are they easy to obtain? And so on. Hopefully that's not a disclosure of commercially sensitive information... all we are worried about is the aspect of availability of custom parts, which I believe on some occasions was another one of Paul's excuses. 

[guillaume31]

18 hours ago, Nenon said:

- The latest SR7s have been using Streacom chassis.

This is not a true statement. Some people with custom SR7s seem to have chosen a Streacom chassis, but others, like me, never asked for this. I expect that the SR7 shall use the standard chassis with width 220mm.

 

2 hours ago, Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD) said:

I’m sure that now things have settled down here, custom builds will be shipped at an increased rate.

 

It's nice of you to try and offer an explanation Mark.....but for those of us who have been waiting 2 years or more, each and every excuse we received made sense but never anything moved forward after that. I have seen this statement written several times by Paul, which has kept me waiting for so long, but he always ended up not delivering. Personally, I have become tired of excuses and I wish to move on, that's why I've offered my build #25 to someone else.

 

It's still up for grab I remind you it's an SR7DRMR2, which will not be available in the standardized SR7 range from the looks of it....

[your momo]

@Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD)

Thanks for all the details on how this new entity took birth and now growth up. Fascinating !

 

While still waiting on my SR7 custom build, I have now a mixed feeling between pride and sadness:

• The pride because it looks obvious paid in advance fund permit Paul to hold on and create some employment in a kind of remote region. Also this capital allows to find better personal solution and host his disabled parents at his now refurbished home.
• The sadness because when engaging on taking over an SR7 custom build, after getting vivid and convincing exchanges with Paul, I was not under the impression I spend my money on a charity... It was much more about a seller agreement to deliver asap something to the buyer, like it works in everyday businesses.

As we cannot change the past let's work on to make the future bright. Since a picture is worth 1'000 words, would you mind posting some from the new premise production areas in which the SR7 are build ?

[Mark (Paul Hynes Design LTD)]

Hello all, I will try to answer all the questions I can in this email.

 

@your momo Paul has already agreed with a HiFi reviewer to provide a photoshoot of the premises at the beginning of this year, once all the installations were completed. The sewage contamination event in April has delayed this as we have only just finished installing the machine shop in unit 6 and we still have to find a contamination proof home for all the equipment and stock we had to move from the contaminated areas. We need to make sure everything is in place and tidy before we do the photoshoot. When the article is published I will gladly put a link to it here.

 

The SR4 sales have been providing the working capital for Paul Hynes Design LTD

 

Other than the recent requirement for installation of a disabled bathroom facility in Pauls old work room, the renovation of Pauls family home has not been progressed in 11 years as the financial crash of 2008 closed down financing options at the time. Whilst the house is habitable with basic facilities there is still much work to be done for completion. Paul wants to finish custom build outstanding orders before continuing with the renovation.

 

@guillaume31 If you are one of Paul's custom build customers then the chassis you have chosen will be the one you will receive when your custom build arrives. The streacom FC9 chassis is what all of the new standardised SR7's will be using.

 

@Nenon the regulators used in our SR4, SR5 and SR7 use the same circuit topology as Paul uses in his custom build range. We have a programmed monthly production of power supply modules for Paul Hynes Design LTD with a CMC (contract manufacturing company).

 

On another note due to me altering the DNS records of our web host for the launching of the new website our emails have been down once again over the weekend. They should be back by tomorrow.

 

Also related to this, the new website is now live. www.paulhynesdesign.com should be the place to go for information on Paul Hynes Design LTD products.

[gererick]

By chance, can someone discuss whether having dual rails in an SR5 is beneficial to sound quality?

[auricgoldfinger]

8 minutes ago, gererick said:

By chance, can someone discuss whether having dual rails in an SR5 is beneficial to sound quality?

 

The primary benefit of dual rails is the lower cost per rail.  There are also efficiencies from having two rails located in the same case.  For example, only one power cord is needed, and less space is required on your shelf.  Theoretically, there could be some interaction between the two rails that could slightly diminish sound quality. 

[gererick]

Thanks!  Reading your reply, does 'dual rail' mean two pieces of equipment can be plugged in to a dual-rail power supply instead of one?

[gererick]

The dual rails in the SR5 are galvanically isolated (dual rails are an option that costs extra).  Does this, assuming it is perfectly executed, eliminate the possibility of interaction between the two rails?

[auricgoldfinger]

58 minutes ago, gererick said:

Thanks!  Reading your reply, does 'dual rail' mean two pieces of equipment can be plugged in to a dual-rail power supply instead of one?

 

Yes, two pieces of equipment can be plugged into a dual rail supply.

 

55 minutes ago, gererick said:

The dual rails in the SR5 are galvanically isolated (dual rails are an option that costs extra).  Does this, assuming it is perfectly executed, eliminate the possibility of interaction between the two rails?

 

Paul once wrote me the following in regard to a dual rail supply:

 

"There is a slight sonic penalty with having all the transformer secondaries on one transformer core as nothing is absolutely perfect and there will be some small level of interaction due to transient load current swings. This may be audible in a high-resolution system but it would be rather subtle due to the very high supply line rejection of the voltage regulator circuitry in the DR mode."

 

The SR5 that you are contemplating will not have DR (double regulated) circuitry as it is not part of the standard SR5 offering.  You will have single regulated (SR) circuitry instead.  Nevertheless, in practical terms, any interaction would probably be so minimal that you would normally not be aware of it. 

[austinpop]

Build #17 is in the house!

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, this is what the Streacom FC10-based units look like. It'll be a few days before I get to play with this, as I'm still waiting on some cables, and an appropriate fuse (Paul was out of 10A fuses). I haven't yet popped the hood, but Paul tells me this beastie has 800VA of transformers in it! 💪

 

Hang in there, y'all. Good things come to those who wait.

[Nenon]

26 minutes ago, austinpop said:

Build #17 is in the house!

 

Exciting news!!! Looking forward to your feedback after some break in time. Enjoy. 

[ray-dude]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

Build #17 is in the house!

 

Baby shower at Rajiv's house Sunday!

 

 

[AnotherSpin]

3 hours ago, austinpop said:

Build #17 is in the house!

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, this is what the Streacom FC10-based units look like. It'll be a few days before I get to play with this, as I'm still waiting on some cables, and an appropriate fuse (Paul was out of 10A fuses). I haven't yet popped the hood, but Paul tells me this beastie has 800VA of transformers in it! 💪

 

Hang in there, y'all. Good things come to those who wait.

 

Congratulations!!!

[Gavin1977]

7 hours ago, austinpop said:

Build #17 is in the house!

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, this is what the Streacom FC10-based units look like. It'll be a few days before I get to play with this, as I'm still waiting on some cables, and an appropriate fuse (Paul was out of 10A fuses). I haven't yet popped the hood, but Paul tells me this beastie has 800VA of transformers in it! 💪

 

Hang in there, y'all. Good things come to those who wait.

Wow - I cancelled my SR5 order (Paul Hynes was very good about it) as as I got very lucky and managed to get an older SR7 second hand.  Sounds marvelous - but mine is only capable of 2A continuous.  This new SR7 is a beast, 40A transient! 

 

Love the new Streacom case, looks much smarter and could be a good way to construct a 2 box Innuos Statement style build.  Shame that there is a real dearth of mini ITX boards with direct DC in (asus q87t being a bit long in the tooth now).

[Adyc]

Are there any markings in the case saying it is SR7?

[AnotherSpin]

1 hour ago, Adyc said:

Are there any markings in the case saying it is SR7?

 

Mr.Hynes handwriting on a sticker on my SR5.

[austinpop]

9 hours ago, Adyc said:

Are there any markings in the case saying it is SR7?

 

Not on the exterior. If you pop the hood, the transformers themselves have Paul's name on them. I guess his OEM supplier now marks them that way. Also, Paul puts name tags on the transformers to remind him for whose build they are. I prefer to think of them as monogrammed transformers!

 

[Nenon]

I believe Terry @Canterbury Windings makes those, and they are regarded as some of the best transformers for digital audio. Toroidy Supreme is right there in the top too. I am sure those toroidals were custom order for your power supply. A nice touch would have been to add your name on the label too :). Canterbury Windings does not mass produce them. The custom made transformers are one of the reasons those custom power supplies take longer. But it usually takes only a month or two for the transformers, not years. 

We are all waiting to hear more about your new toy, @austinpop.

[rickca]

3 hours ago, austinpop said:

I prefer to think of them as monogrammed transformers!

I think you should get them with the family crest, not just a monogram.  I mean, these are going to be heirlooms to pass down to future generations.

 

Too bad I don't have a family crest.  The only heirlooms in my family are tomatoes.

[AnotherSpin]

37 minutes ago, rickca said:

I think you should get them with the family crest, not just a monogram.  I mean, these are going to be heirlooms to pass down to future generations.

 

Too bad I don't have a family crest.  The only heirlooms in my family are tomatoes.

 

Tomatoes as a family crest?

[Chopin75]

I checked the website of Paul Hynes LTD. The rate they make is really slow, like 3 a month, almost like ordering a hand made piano - (well A Bösendorfer takes 5 yrs to make), The site has an order form, now it requests payment. Do you know if the payment is to pay in full on order or pay a deposit first ? (usually 10-20% in most companies )

 

[Gavin1977]

Payment in full - but Paul and Mark are 100% honourable and have no quibbles over refunds