Whenever I make a decision to start a project for this website, I never really know how that particular project will be received. And sometimes I get surprised. This is definitely the case with the new Source Selection Preamp.
Sometimes when I post a new project page, even when I’ve made multiple blog posts about it, there is a figurative stampede of traffic going to that particular project. This generally subsides somewhat after a few weeks or months but it’s easy to tell the most popular pages on my site at any time from their internet traffic levels. Other times, I post a new project page and it’s traffic spikes a little then falls off or simply never really spikes at all. This latter condition seems to be the case with the Source Selection Preamp project page.
When I was deciding to build the Source Selection Preamp it was to address a particular need I had in my own system. But it was also to address some of the feedback I’ve received on my other preamp projects over time. Both the “Universal” Preamp and the 12AU7 Color Preamp are very popular project pages on the web site. In terms of internet traffic they are almost always in the top four or five project pages on my site.
However, one persistent theme in the feedback I receive from these two projects, is one of functional versatility. Builders really like the preamps, but routinely lament the fact that both of those projects really have only the one function. In short, they are essentially “one trick ponies“. The most common suggestion I get (in reference to these two projects) is for a preamp project that has more versatility. So when I realized that was what I needed for my own system, I thought that a nice versatile preamp project with multiple inputs, level adjustment, and signal monitoring was just the ticket to answer all this feedback. But, again, I was surprised.
Since I posted the project page for the Source Selection Preamp on October 25th of this year, here are the top project pages in terms of users on the CascadeTubes website.
- The 12AU7 “Color” Preamp
- The “Universal” Preamp
- The 6V6 Marblewood Amp
- The 6L6 “Spalted Alder” Amp
- The 6AS7 “Purpleheart” SET
- The 6V6 Lacewood Amp
- The 6336 SET Amp
- The Source Selection Preamp
- The 6V6 Lacewood Amp V2.0
- The 6CY7 Amp
Given that the new page is only two weeks old, in general it should be in the top three pages at least. This is the time frame when most new project pages hit their peak traffic numbers. But this project, for whatever reason, just doesn’t seem to be drawing the traffic which I expected. Not that this is bad or good, just unexpected.
Whenever I get a result like this, I begin to wonder if I missed something. Was there something in the feedback I was getting that I didn’t understand? And is there some communication problem I have with the viewers of this website? In any event, the traffic numbers don’t lie. Viewers are going to look at the project pages that interest them most.
So I would like a little feedback on the Source Selection Preamp. Did I completely miss the mark on this project? Is the low level of interest due to something specific, or is the general purpose preamp just not as interesting as the other projects? I’m curious.
As always, questions and comments are welcome.
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Your blog posts on the SSP were pretty much a detailed step by step description and build guide for the project. The project page seems to compile all the posts into one convenient place. I, for one always look forward to and read your blog. So basically, I was able to read about the whole project one chunk at a time. This might explain low readership for the project page.
For me personally, I gathered all the pertinent and useful bits of the SSP while following the blog. I doubt that’s the norm for most visits to project pages.
I am a huge proponent of naming the projects with some combination of wood and tube (electrical) descriptors. Either alone doesn’t catch my interest, but the combination girls are (for most part) great at placing a conceptual image in my brain and pique my interest.
The subtitle idea might be good…I wonder how that would present.
Not sure why my phone inserted “girls” where I typed “names”.
AI is not good for us.
Funny. I always think of my amps as feminine. When I read “combination girls” it made perfect sense in my head. 🙂
Matt,
It’s a very good and useful project, presented in your usual thorough and detailed manner. I like that it can drive either tube or solid-state power amplifiers. And it’s scalable. Don’t need 6 inputs? Simple enough to build with less…or more. Don’t need or want signal level meters? Just don’t use them.
I always found the wood names kind of catchy. Short of using some adult-oriented name, I’m not sure different names would attract more (or less) attention.
I’ve definitely noticed a lack of activity lately on the diyaudioprojects.com forum as well. It used to be super-busy. Maybe the DIY world is just slow in general now
Looking forward to your EL34 optimization study. For sure I will be paying close attention.
Best Regards,
Jim
I think it is a well-designed project that fits a gap in the field. While I give it a 9 out of 10 on practicality, I give low scores on marketing. #1 and #2 are projects not named after wood species. Back in May adjectives such as “Deluxe” and “Elaborate” were suggested. Can we revisit giving the SSP a more clickbait name? “Overly Complicated” might just draw more eyeballs to the page. 🙃
Serious question. Do you think that my naming amps based on the wood is a mistake?
I originally did this with the lacewood as a simple descriptive. I kept doing it to help distinguish them from an internet full of “blah blah 6V6 blah blah Amplifier” type names. Especially for search optimization purposes. Do you think I should have a better thought out naming convention for my projects?
Serious Answer: I think for tube amps the number one adjective is the tube. For your projects, the tube designation is pretty much the first word in the title; so, they should pop up in a Google search. Personally, I like using wood as the second adjective because it fits with your DIY style. With that said, I wonder if there is a place for a subtitle after a colon. For example, 6DJ8 Headphone Amp: A Vertical Design, or 6V6 Marblewood Amp: 42 Tube-Rolling Combinations.
Sad Too: I know you are sad that such a unique preamp is #8. I am sad too that the 6336 SET is #7. If we were chatting and you said there was a Single-Ended Triode design that was in the same league for power as a 300B Amp but that build cost was about the same as buying a pair of 300B tubes, I would ask if it would be the most popular page because of the mystique of the 300B. Maybe for it, you can redact the title to: “The 6336 SET Amp – Better than 300B?”