Tech: DAK is back--gadgets

Subject: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 12:36 PM

I see by the ads running on the left-hand side of the screen that Drew A. Kaplan (DAK) is back in business. I have a couple of bread machines from his former business, and we bought a computer through him ages ago (Packard-Bell). Now he has a web presence, something that would have been perfect for him ages ago when he was sending out all of those catalogs. (He has a link here to his history).

Has anyone been back? He has several interesting gadgets that could be music-related. His technique was to sell a few things at deep discount because he was buying lots and lots of those few things. His little empire toppled for whatever reason a number of years ago, but now I see that he's selling gadgets that might be very useful to Mudcatters. The ad that caught my eye was his LP to CD and MP3 mixer.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 12:46 PM

goodness...had almost forgotten him! Used to get those little colored circulars with all the long write ups! Maybe he overspent on advertising before! Thanks for the note, SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 01:26 PM

This is the ad I noticed on the Mudcat page.

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Cruiser
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 04:28 PM

DAK Postmortem
Here is what happened to DAK 1

I was considering purchasing his PC Mixer Interface and turntable. They look like a good deal. I have some old 45's, and LP's I would like to digitize.

Has anyone purchased the product or can you give a recommendation on the product from a technical standpoint?   His online documentation and tutorials are excellent. Are there comparable or better products available?

Thanks,
Cruiser

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 05:04 PM

His return policy has always been pretty good, so it probably isn't terribly risky to try this equipment. I think the Interet is a great environment for him--if for no other reason than he'll save tons on printing costs!

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Cruiser
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 05:42 PM

I agree, a 30-day trial period is good. I purchased from DAK when he first started and was pleased with his electronic products.

I e-mailed a tech on his site and I got an answer last night at 8:41 PM EDT, one hour after I sent my e-mail. That was unexpected, good service. I am on solar power and use inverters so wanted to know if modified sine wave was compatible with their mixer. They said it should be. So I probably will give it a try.

Cruiser

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Cruiser
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 04:59 PM

I purchased the PC mixer and turntable. The turntable is excellent for the price. Aluminum platter, stobe with (+-)8 pitch control. It is all manual with no record changer. You must cue the record and take the tone arm off the record when it is finished playing.

I have not used the PC Mixer/Software yet to digitize my old 45's and Lp's (33rpm). Work keeps getting in the way.

Cruiser

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From:
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 05:47 PM

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on DAK!

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Joe_F
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 06:56 PM

His URL appears to be http://www.dak2000.com/ -- but I can't get thru to it, nor to any of the links appearing above, nor to most of the links that Google brings up. Is he possessed by demons?

I was fond of his catalogs for the shameless way he gushed over the merchandise in them, and I still use a QWERTY telephone that I bought from DAK many years ago. I look forward to his reappearance.

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Cruiser
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 07:57 PM

Joe F,

The links work for me.

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 10:00 PM

Cruiser, keep us posted on the mixer.

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: GUEST,rpg
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 09:26 PM

Bought the DAK LP to CD system. Like the mixer, like the software, but the turntable did not hold steady speed and I sent it back. Folks considering the DAK system would be better off using their own turntable or finding a good buy on a direct drive quartz controlled unit.

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: johnross
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 10:51 PM

There are several turntables currently available that have built-in preamplifiers and USB outputs, so you can plug them directly into your computer, and use a program like Audacity (free), Sound Forge (inexpensive) or Adobe Audition (very expensive) to store the sound on a hard drive and burn to a CD.

The most widley-promoted is the ION, but it seems to have trouble maintaining constant speed, and it has some other problems. Better choices might be the Stanton, Audio Technica or Sony models. Any of those are probably as good as or better than the DAK or the ION.

But before you start converting, look around for the same recordings on commercial CDs. Good CDs, made from the master tapes are likely to be better sounding than anything you can do yourself, unless you have an expensive record washing system and a high-quality cartridge and stylus. It's true that some early CDs were not good copies, but more recent stuff is generally a lot better.

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 11:39 PM

If you have a really good turntable from the 1980s or early 1990s you might just have that high quality cartridge and stylus. It wall went downhill from about 1995. (I have my Dad's stuff from back then.)

I noticed a DAK email in the spam filter the other day. I turned it loose but I guess it ended up far enough up the list that I forgot to look for it and read it in my In box. I'll go check out what ol' Drew is writing about. His business sure went bust, didn't it?

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: DADGBE
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 12:05 AM

Well, I hate to rain on everyone's parade but I once bought a typewriter (remember those things?!) from DAK which quit after 1/2 an hour of use. The didn't have a replacement and it took many months and the services of an attorney to get my money back.

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: open mike
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 01:37 AM

i had one of his units and was setting up to transfer lots of old
media to c.d. (reel 2 reel, 78, 45, 33, cassettes and DAT tapes) but the forest fire that took my house also destroyed of this equipment--
a lot of the turntables, reel to reel, cassettes, vinyl, and 78's.

i was able to save a lot of c.d's but the business i was hoping to
build around audio project now dashed to pieces. amazing how
much of that stuff is highly flamable!

i was able to save the Victrola, but now have nothing to play on it!
i had dozens and dozens of 78's..those are the hardest to replace.
lots of square dance tunes...i bet there were some great old fiddle
tunes in there...

see www.dak.com

Subject: RE: Tech: DAK is back--gadgets
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 10:54 AM

I had a computer years ago we bought through them, but it is ancient history. Bread machines were a great business for him and I still have two of those that I use all of the time.

Knock wood. . .

SRS