ahhh, interesting!
I'd swear there's a difference, but as you say....maybe in the mind :)

John.

--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , <yahoo@...> wrote:
>
> > Just used the dark energy for the first time and I've gotta say
> > the build quality is excellent. I was very impressed with the
> > smoothness of the pots, so much nicer than the stiffer a100 ones.
> >
> > Doepfer, any chance of getting all future a100 modules with these pots
> >
> > John :)
>
> The same pots are used in Dark Energy and A-100. The only difference is the
> horizontal/vertical orientation. E.g. the A-111-5 or A-138m, A-183-X and all
> other A-100 modules with horizontal orientated pots use exactly the same
> pots as the Dark Energy/Dark Time. Maybe it's the diameter of the Dark
> Energy knobs and the design/surface of the knobs (polished black with silver
> cap) that makes the user think that higher quality pots are used in the Dark
> Energy.
>
> There was a similar issue with our keyboards. A few years ago we had a
> cannibalized piano case at the Frankfurt Musikmesse. We replaced the piano
> keybed by the keybed of our master keyboard LMK4+. Many visitors who were
> playing both the "piano" and a stand-alone LMK4+ mentioned that the keybed
> of the LMK4+ is not bad. But the keybed of the "piano" is much better. They
> were very surprised as we told them that both are exactly the same !
>
> Best wishes
> Dieter Doepfer
>