Introducing the Morpheus Server!

Yes think it's time to do a piece on the Morpheus Server!

A while back I have done a bit here and there on the Morpheus Server but a lot of that was based on the pre-production unit and it always amazes me after the prototype stage how much more work is required to get the unit in production with all the cosmetics ready!

Anyway, as you may or may not know, the Morpheus Server is designed to be beautiful and quiet from scratch. It is not just a re-badged PC that rattles you to insanity, but a rather desirable piece of electronics. Stylish and functional, attractive but discreet.

The Morpheus Server casing starts off with a solid piece of aluminium tube with 6mm thick walls, cut and CNC machined to exact size required with all the apertures required to allow the unusual assemble process. Unusual because as case is actually a tube, all the assembly needs to be done inside with access only from the sides of the tube (it's a bit like knitting a sweater inside a bucket... not that I do any knitting!).

Some pics of the server case in progress:

Another one while on the CNC:

I'm back!

Not that I have really been away... well actually I have... Beirut of all places and no I wasn't kidnapped! (Well, sort of, by my other half lol...)

Well October usually is the usually time when we realise that we'd really have to pull our fingers out to get ready for the CES 2011 in Las Vegas... and like every year, I tell myself: "I'm going to get everything ready ahead of schedule... I'm not working till almost midnight on the 24th December..."

See if I get it right this year... so stay tuned!

Ghosts in the machine...

Been going through my photo archives the other day just to have a clear out since my camera phone memory is almost full, so was my other camera and my 2 other memory sticks. While going through the pictures, I stumbled on these pictures proving that indeed the Morpheus does have a sense of humour... (have a look at the display, I promise you these are not staged!)

Morpheus is feeling pretty!

Morpheus feeling a bit broke!

What Morpheus thinks of our internet provider!

Priceless.... ^_^

Necessity is the mother of the Morpheus Server...

Right, 2 months no real (or fake) updates... hmmm sorry about that! New years have always been hectic beginning with CES in January, then followed by yet more shows in Japan, Canada, Munich and I think somewhere in there was the Dutch show too (hmm can't remember, must have been a wicked show then!)... So for the last few months the office shouted "Man down!" Erm... sorry, sales, production, shipping was priortrised over the blog thingy....

Anyway, over the months the Morpheus Server went from concept, show sample to full production and this week, we are shipping the last one out of the first production batch... not bad going for a brand new product! I can think of several reasons for that though... Firstly I think it is a smashing looking product in the flesh, really easy to use and finally I think the market is ready for such a product... Opps... I meant the product is finally ready for the market!

The Morpheus Server was born not from an idea, but rather from necessity. We needed a music server to partner our Morpheus Music centre but we could not find something good enough, reliable enough, or easy enough to use. I mean, is that possible for we are not even early adopters! So after months of searching for a suitable product and failing miserably, one day I joked with Haider: "After spending so much time searching and evaluating, we could have built the perfect one by now!" Well, that was back in September. In October we had a prototype running in the office!

Montreal was unreal....

Haider just got back from the Montreal Hi Fi show and sounds like it was a huge show with lots of interest... The colour schemes seems to have gone down well and the Morpheus Server worked flawlessly over the week too... So there you are, the real first production launch of the final unit... you can catch more on our facebook page: Yup! The fabulous Sonneteer Facebook Link! and while you are there why not become a fan too so you can keep up with what's going on at Sonneteer too (erm, thats what I do!)

Next... hmmm... I know it looked like I have been rather lazy on this blog but not really, I have been documenting the progress of the new Morpheus Server and hopefully over Easter weekend I will have some time to put it all together and if I can work it out, embed some videos too!

(ok if that sounds like a bore-fest... you can always watch the F1 GP this weekend and pray for rain again since the FIA have really, trully, finally and ultimately screwed F1 this time... I feel a rant coming on haha... don't worry I won't subject you to that just yet!)

MIA

hmmm.... sorry been missing in action for like a month... heavy schdeule to put the server into production... i promise loads will soon come on this new baby from Sonneteer... I even shot a video or two... ;o)

back soon!

The nitty-gritty.

I thought I'd mention a few more design considerations of the server!

The less holes there are, the less chance for noise to escape! As mentioned before the buttons are made from cast acryllic but I forgot to mention they are transparent so that we can use them as status indicators, so the production version will no loger have the holes next to the buttons for indicators... less holes less noise to escape from! The production version will also have a velvet curtain over the CD slot as the last hint of noise was heard through the CD slot in the prototype, so we have now addressed that problem too... every little helps!

Notice the side panels are recessed in the server. Apart from showing off the thickness hence sturdiness of the case, these side panels are made from 2mm thick aluminium and shaped to fit the hole. As the case is made from an extruded tube, the holes on these tubes will never be all exactly the same. Hence the side panel will always need to be slightly smaller than the tune's hole, hence the side panels were designed to "expand" when you tighten the side screws in order to seal the tube sufficiently.

Why recess them? Well it was an insurance policy during the design phase. The idea was to allow extra damping material to be added on both side of the side plate should we need to take the noise down another level! Fortunately the pre-production unit proved that was no longer necessary as the noise supression was already so effective, so now it simply leaves scope for the customer to specify a different custom side finish... Penaudio ply veneer anyone? :o)