Who is Ionovac.com

Ionovac.com was put together by two individuals, Daniel Schoo and Jack Podplesky. Dan is responsible for the technical research and Jack who also has a technical background is an Ionovac user/owner. About 2 years ago Dan saw Jack’s name on Roger Russell’s Ionovac website. Jack had posted information about how to clean and reuse the cells. Dan contacted Jack via email and the rest is history. All of Dan and Jack’s correspondence has been via email with Dan living in Illinois and Jack living in California. The two have never spoken on the phone nor met in person. Dan had done a tremendous amount of research and Jack has been an Ionovac owner since the early seventies (when cell kits and other parts were still available). The local Hifi shop in Jack’s home town was the west coast distributor for DuKane Ionovac’s in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. As the two exchanged information and experience, Jack decided to create a website to help other Ionovac users keep their beloved, extinct, 40+ year old Ionovacs alive and well by sharing the information the two of them had acquired. Here is a brief biography of each.

Daniel Schoo

Daniel Schoo holds a bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering Technology. He first became interested in electronics at a young age and followed that interest by picking up old radios and TV sets to drag home and fix. A habit he still pursues in his antique radio collecting. After graduating from college in 1973 he got a job at a Department of Energy high energy physics laboratory where he continues to work designing and building sub-atomic particle beam detectors.

His interest in the DuKane Ionovac started many years ago when he heard about them from a friend. Years passed until he acquired four of them to study. Three of the four were dead. After several years of off and on research he documented what he learned about how the speaker works and how to repair and restore them. In addition to the article on the Ionovac, Dan has had articles published on the repair of Intermediate Frequency transformers and on the history and service of selenium rectifiers used in radios.

The research on the electrode started when he first got the speakers. A friend took one of the electrodes and analyzed it in a scanning electron microscope. The result showed the electrode composition to match a now seldom called for high temperature alloy. Obtaining stock of this material is very difficult in small quantities. Dan began a search for an alternative using the same criteria that DuKane used forty years ago. As a result of thousands of hours of tests on samples of different materials including space age alloys like Inconel. he found an electrode material with a long life, easy machinability and reasonable cost.

Initially Dan planned on making only enough electrodes to restore the four speakers he had. Once it was known that the DuKane electrode had been successfully duplicated, popular demand convinced him to have an additional quantity made for others to continue to enjoy or to restore their Ionovac speakers.

Jack Podplesky

Jack Podplesky received his initial electronics knowledge from his neighbor who operated an electronics repair service from his home in the late 50’s. Carrying this interest forward Jack worked in several areas of electronic repair until 1979 when he first became involved with computers. Jack also has been involved in music since childhood playing woodwinds and keyboards. He retired as a senior network architect in 2001.

Jack has always been a hifi enthusiast striving for the perfect reproduction of music. He purchased his first pair of Ionovacs in 1971 second hand and currently owns 5 working pair of DuKane Ionovacs that he uses on 2 different audio systems.

Jack had posted cell maintenance information on Roger Russell’s website and on the audiocircuit to help other Ionovac users try to keep their units functional. When Daniel Schoo decided to have electrodes made in quantity, Jack decided to put up this website.

Back to main page