Has anyone bought stuff from Futurelec?

[Thirteen]

I have been looking for a source of operational transconductance op-amps that are obsolete, and these guys have them in stock, and have an Australian agent. I am a bit concerned that the parts are sourced in Asia considering that there is a big component counterfeiting ring in China. Does anyone here deal with these guys? They seem to have a big range of stuff.

[no-fi]

I've bought things from them before.

personally, I don't think they're big enough to be counterfeiters.... or really cheap enough - money would be better made selling commercial quantities at much cheaper than mouser/digikey/manufacturer prices. This looks more to me like a place that buys batches of old stock off manufacturers that don't need it anymore.

Also, I'd expect counterfeiting of more expensive stuff than OTAs... as far as I know, counterfeiting is either simple relabelling of things like cheap power transistors to sell as expensive ones, or it's license free duplicating of much more complex chips.... like a factory licensed to make something legally will run shifts all day with paperwork, then run another shift all night without.

but who knows?

I say you should buy some and see what happens. Their prices are cheap, and postage costs from ordering there is like, $2.

[Thirteen]

Well, I paid my money and nothing has arrived after 19 days, so I had to go and buy it all again from Farnell. Even though Futurelec claims to have an office in Australia it all seems to be directed to China, so I lost my money, clearly this is not a reputable company, probably in the same vein as the Hongkongsuperseller that we all know from Ebay. Lesson learned, something is not cheaper if you have to buy it twice.

[chris p]

Thirteen

I've sourced a number of things from Futurelec, although I would admit they are not my supplier of choice. And yes, they do source from China. A couple of times I've had to call them (at the local office) and give them a hurry up, but generally the order has always arrived. I'd certainly rank Altronics and Farnell before them for timeliness and reliability of delivery, but I'm not sure they are in the same category as e-scammers. A couple of times they had stuff that the others didn't, and I was glad they were around.

Oh, and to avoid confusion, Futurelec is NOT my cousin :-)

[Sheer Noise]

Oh, and to avoid confusion, Futurelec is NOT my cousin :-)

:lol:

[no-fi]

weird. I got a delivery today, from an order I made on the 9th.

They're a bit hokey compared to "real" suppliers, but I don't think they're con artists.

[Thirteen]

I think I will stick with Wes/Wagner, they have more hard to find chips and transistors and are cheaper than pretty much anyone else. I ordered from Futurelec because they show stocks of discontinued transconductance op-amps CA3080, CA3280, LM3600 and so on at good prices. Now that I know that they are coming out of China I would assume that the chips would be re-badged counterfeits, much like all the fake Curtis 3372's coming out of that country now that they have realized that people will pay $30.00 or more for Curtis and other synth chips.

I emailed Futurelec's supposed Sydney office (the website doesn't seem to have a phone number anywhere), and got no reply, and the reviews on Futurelec on http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Futurlec are less than poor, so I am not expecting anything to show up.

[beatmad]

Well, I paid my money and nothing has arrived after 19 days, so I had to go and buy it all again from Farnell. Even though Futurelec claims to have an office in Australia it all seems to be directed to China, so I lost my money, clearly this is not a reputable company, probably in the same vein as the Hongkongsuperseller that we all know from Ebay. Lesson learned, something is not cheaper if you have to buy it twice.

As far as I know if you didn't get your goods and you paid via credit card you can ask your credit card company to do a reversal on the transaction. They will send you some forms asking for details, emails sent to supplier showing correspondence etc. and you should be able to reverse the transaction.

[no-fi]

....fake curtis chips?

weird... can you tell me more about this? are they just relabeled blank packages? or are they actual copies of the parts? or relabeled similar parts?

[Thirteen]

....fake curtis chips?

weird... can you tell me more about this? are they just relabeled blank packages? or are they actual copies of the parts? or relabeled similar parts?

I am not sure what specifically has gone on with the 3372's, but there has been warnings all over the net about them. As for other parts, what happens is that a discontinued chip which is now getting a bit valuable is substituted by a similar modern chip, and the markings are scrubbed and re-printed. You put it in the circuit and it kind of works because it may be a dual op-amp with the same pin-outs, but it's a current model chip like a TL084, which is worth 60 cents, and it is utterly useless.

The most common substitution that has even caught well known Australian suppliers is power transistors, and the fakes must be coming out of a proper factory, because the metal TO3 cases have pitiful little transistors inside them, so they test with the right spec. on a transistor tester, but in a circuit with real power they evaporate.

Have a look here... http://sound.westhost.com/counterfeit.htm

http://www.my-esm.com/story/OEG20020830S0071


I also foolishly bought a pack of metal film resistors from a Chinese seller on Ebay, and they arrived beautifully packed, in clearly marked strips which is a dream as far a resistors go, but they are all uniformly under-value.

[Futureman]

....fake curtis chips?

weird... can you tell me more about this? are they just relabeled blank packages? or are they actual copies of the parts? or relabeled similar parts?

Personally I'm sceptical about those claims... I've never seen any first hand accounts of counterfit curtis chips.. (Please correct me if i'm wrong)

The main person who seems to be making all these claims is "Chips for brains" or "Technology Transplant" which deal in similar parts..

[Thirteen]

I guess maybe the 3372 thing could be a beat up by one of these sellers, it would make more sense as I can't think of what similar chip there could be to sub it with. I have 40 new CEM3372's that I have had for over 10 years, so I am not going to be buying any new ones soon. I bought a tube of CA3046's from Chipsforbrains a couple of months ago and they test out OK on a tester, but I haven't had any dead Moogs in lately to try them out.