Heritage Grandchild (500 series 670?!)

Ok, yeah I didn’t take that in account as I am not very familiar with 500 series construction methods in general. Only have 19” gear myself so far. Now that I took a reader on the surface vs. thru hole mounting I can see your point. Build quality is something I value highly, right up there with sound quality, so I suppose thee will always be that draw back on 500 series despite they could crum all they want into the unit.

!. Saving $3000 on one device or more for a start .

2. Having up to ten channels of gear in 3 rack units compare to 2 or even 1 channel in some cases. In 2 x 12ru racks You could have up to 80 modules
 
3. There are many 500 series units not available in rackmount versions.

4. Portabilty of up to 10 channels in 1 case, great for live sound.

5. 500 series allows people getting into analog, to start affordably with one module and a rack, and expand a module at a time for approx $1000-1200 per module.

Ah yikes .... SMC and tubes!

 FYI A rack is not a  power supply, many "racks" have no built in power supply, it is a chassis with multipin internal connection and audio connectioins on the back. You're saving approximately $2-3,000,  depending on if you  already have a rack & what country your in, instead of buying for example a Manley Variable Mu. it seems you have not much understanidng of business, maybe you work cheap? IF a manufacturer sells a device to a distributor for $500, the distributor sells it to the retailer for $1000, the retailer advertises it for $2000. The manufacturer has to design the circuit & the chassis, they have to source buy the parts plus shipping, they have to have building to store the parts, build the device & store them until they have enough to ship, they have to pay agreed wages to all the people involved in those processes, plus advertising  taxes and business fees, electricity, vehicles etc.
  I really look forward to your new $500 tube compressor, I will buy two for sure, it sounds like a giant killer, can i suggest a name: GiantChild Model 167.5 because its 25% of a 670.
Keep in touch.

...so yeah about the Grandchild....

 I didnt compare any units, but I see a lot people on groups and forums say they want a vari mu, (or opto, VCA etc )but not any specific vari mu, in that case they would be saving $3000, it also depends on how particular they are about the sound, if you have less experience the difference between different units might not be important. If you dont have very good DAC & monitors, that will effect your ability to judge sound differences. Sorry I dont get the surface mount argument, anyone using both rackmount & 500 series SSL made in the last 5 or so years is using gear totally made of SM components, Elysia is a good brand with a reputation for excellent sound: totally surface mount, there are many more well regarded devices that are hybrid in design; one company has emulated the sound of tube compressor without a single tube or transformer, sounds great. If a company can squeeze the sound of a larger unit into a smaller one using SM & it sounds good, bravo! Im constantly seeing people say 500 series can't sound as good, some of the most well respected outboard of all time, exist  only as only 500, which brand is that? There's modules that put out +30dBu, but you always read 500 series has no headroom, most  modules are putting out +21, the same as most rackmount gear. The other thing said a lot is not enough voltage in 500 series for tubes, well most tube 500 series modules are running 250v to the tubes, who cares how they do it. The IGS LA 500 sounds unexpectedly close  enough in shootouts to me to an LA2a in many applications, & its almost $4000 cheaper, if i had a large commercial studio, I would want the real deal. The Retro Doublewide is a "vari Mu" that is said to sound very similar to the Sta Level, although it is not meant to be an exact copy, it is highly regarded by top engineers, despite it having only 4 tubes & 2 transformers in a single channel unit. These , & Acme, are the only tube compressors that I'm aware of that exist as rackmount & 500 series, the rest are original designs.
  I own the 500 series modules, & many more I'm talking about, I also own classic OG rackmount gear in the past & present, as well as a cutting edge plugin collection, I'm not biased towards it, it makes a lot of sense when it sounds good.  I researched this stuff to the Nth degree, not so much the units but what was best for each instrument & bus  that i need a Pre, EQ & compressor  for, & I"m never gonna stop doing that. My comments are informed by what i learnt from others in that research. Ive been using audio gear for a very long time which allows me to use my industry awareness to speak from experience.  A lot of people on the net speculate about things they have no direct experience with, which can turn into misinformation which doesn't help anyone. I'm not an expert, and never will be, not enough time.
  Im not commenting on the sound of the GrandChild, i haven"t heard it, some one will need to make a comparison with a known 670 style compressor, something Heritage haven't even done with their rackmount unit. I dont expect they would sound the same, if they did no one would buy the more expensive rackmount unit, they've been pretty  silent on the matter.

This sounded rather nice. I could not pinpoint the lows getting sucked or anything as u described your first impressions. Then again I don't have a file to compare with. This sounded punchy and rounded. The guitars pushed thru maybe in a way that took a little away from the body, but maybe that was a mixing choice rather than the vari mu not molding it more. Seem to work and do the trick.

Is it when u push it more you began to hear the low end issues?

I have to partially disagree with you and this is coming from someone who does 99% through-hole builds.

When you design in SMD you have to be extremely careful on choosing components. Everything that has tubes and has high voltage in general must be through-hole without a doubt due to several reasons (voltage operation, power, distance between terminals and several other parameters which are taken into account when designing a unit). So yes, tube stages should always be through-hole.

With regards to resistors we currently have thick film SMD resistors available which have comparable characteristics to metal film through-hole ones, there are better ones and worse ones and this is why we have to be careful when choosing the brand, temperature coeficient and precisions. In terms of noise they are pretty much identical and I have yet to have any noise in any design using SMD resistors. It's always something else.

The temperature drift subject is obsolete, when I purchase resistors I choose based on these parameters. You measure PPM and the manufacturer provides you with a value, the less PPM the more stable the resistor.

When it comes to capacitors you can also use them outside the audio stage, again, looking at all parameters. It is true that there are no good quality polystyrene SMD capacitors but there are many excellent electrolytic SMD capacitors. You can use them on the power supply and use through-hole ones in the audio stage.

Once you are operating at -130dB it's completely irrelevant weather SMD is (or isn't) noisier. Your audio interface will already be noisier that any measurement or audible noise. 

You can absolutely use SMD on high quality designs. You just have to be careful where to place them, what brand and parameters to choose and always avoid the high voltage stage or tube stage.

I am not sure Heritage did that here or not, it's not my place to pick it apart. 

Another subject stam I noticed with the mass manufacturing builds is them not soldering the topside of the through hole. Which was a big no-no in the past because it weakens solder joints and it doesn't ensure any via connections on the topside's low impedance connection to the bottom side. Also I notice a lot of SMD formulation are prone to thermal shock and cold solder joints from thermal stress and some seem to rely on the glue to maintain stability.

Don’t encourage him. The forum is already overflowing with his ignorant pseudotechnical garbage.