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.
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The 12AU7 “Color” Preamp
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The “Universal” Preamp
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The 6V6 Marblewood Amp
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The 6L6 “Spalted Alder” Amp
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The 6AS7 “Purpleheart” SET
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The 6V6 Lacewood Amp
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The 6336 SET Amp
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The Source Selection Preamp
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The 6V6 Lacewood Amp V2.0
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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.