Folks,
The AKSAfest was an unqualified success, and my thanks to Mark (Oz Audio) for his flattering comments (and for bringing along his stunning GK-1 and AKSA 55!!). About thirty AKSAphiles and prospectives turned up at Phillip Palangas' OpenPlus Software premises at Frenchs Forest on the night of 29th May, and some stunning gear was exhibited by some very passionate and talented AKSAphiles.
First, my sincere and abiding thanks to Phillip who originally had the vision, convinced me, very generously offered up his premises, and whose guidance throughout and knowledge of the industry and business in general has been an inspiration. Thank you Phillip; your vision, your kindness, and an evening none of us can ever forget.
Next comes Malcolm Fear, whose kindness with accommodation, food, transport and inimitable good cheer cannot be overstated.
It was a great pleasure to meet and talk with Malcolm, whose dedication to AKSA has been an inspiration to me, and to others, and whose Diatones are nothing short of a revelation. As a full range speaker, their performance is just astonishing. I would like a pair, but tragically these unique drivers are no longer made.......
Larry Ye played an impressive part with his hi-tech AB test rig. He worked hard to make to have it ready on the night so two devices could be switched for critical AB testing. There were three GK-1s there; standard, from Phillip, DACT modded from Larry, and DACT and additional Auricap modded from Mal. It transpired that the only person able to accurately distinguish them was Mal's wife Toni, and this leads to some interesting conclusions. It did emerge that interconnects and speaker cables have huge influence on the final presentation, something which caused me some unease, but there it is!!
On Friday 30th, Larry drove many long miles in heavy traffic to pick us up from Frenchs Forest to dine with him and his wife and son and the evening was wonderful with exquisite food and great company. His gear is unbelievably well organised, beautifully made, and his junkbox makes my working equipment look dowdy! I was incredibly impressed with his intellectual rigor and discpline; this is a man whose organisational and analytic skills are 100% pure engineering and scientific. Hats off, Larry, and thank you very much for your kindness!
I would like to thank David Collins, who videotaped both presentations with a Sony DV. During one of the group photos, David, an intensive care medico, cracked us up with a hilarious medical one liner! (the verb choice is quite deliberate.......) David, this was very kind of you, and I'm very grateful. It was a really important link in the chain, and those AKSAphiles unable to be there will be thrilled with the result.
I was bowled over by the incredible AKSAs I saw all around me, and the people behind them. All had their stamp, a reflection of the priorities and artistic approach of their builders. All of them sounded fantastic! It was wonderful to put a face to the people I had known only via email, and the interest this creates in the different personalities and approachs is wonderful. It really was a privilege to meet these guys, and in the convivial surroundings, with beer, pizza and good cheer, it was great to see so many exchanging emails, addresses, and experiences. I learned just how important this network stuff was on 29th, and am presently thinking about the next one, when, where, how. Ultimately I want to do this in the States and Europe, but one step at a time!
Ben's presentation about digital audio was fascinating! His walk through the world of jitter (and there are at least four different types of jitter problems!!) gave us insights we had never heard before, and when played a CD with all the different jitter categories, we all realized just how terrible the digital distortions really sound. The clincher was when he played the subtraction signals, the error output, you just knew than if added to the original it would sound muddy, indistinct, and unmusical. This is particularly malevolent distortion, of a type quite unrelated to the analogue distortion I wrestle with in amplifiers and preamps. Ben's presentation style was redolent of our best uni lecturers, and superbly delivered.
My presentation had originally been written as a 4,700 word speech. When I met my audience, I knew they woud not stand for it, and would want something more spontaneous. So I just used the overhead transparencies and gave a fireside chat on the Aspen Amplifier Company, ad libbing my way across the chronology, development and strategy. It went across well, though a little too long perhaps, but gave clear insight into the inspiration and drive behind my passion for audio. I felt that was pretty much what people wanted, and it was a real pleasure to meet people, talk animatedly about audio, and the feedback was fantastic.
There is huge interest in the AKSADAC and the GK-1 remote. These are essentially digital products, and represent a new page in Aspen's development. Ben's expertise has been a revelation here, and as we saw at the presentation, his ideas are world class. I believe these long awaited products, when they are available, will be hugely popular, because there are so many horrific compromises in present day digital technologies. I am convinced that we can jointly produce a DAC so good it will best almost anything available in the market today, but it will only be possible to deliver this excellence at moderate price with Red Book CD, and I'd like to make this clear. This DAC will only be suitable for the 16/44 CD format, so-called Red Book, which has huge room for improvement on playback, but it will enable those with large CD collections to fully exploit their collections for decades to come. In truth, a universal product is certainly a 'nice to have', but the intrinsic compromises are unacceptable to any one standard, and besides, royalites may be due for SACD systems anyway. This scenario is not the answer to us as audiophiles, and hence our resolve to offer a DAC solely dedicated to the Red Book CD standard.
In light of delays on other products, I'm no longer prepared to give deadlines. New products are always contingent on company income and R&D constraints, and I'm not willing to release anything unless it's been thoroughly tested and is the best it can possibly be. This policy is a mix of pragmatism, having been caught before, and determination to deliver the best possible at optimal cost. I apologize for this approach, because I know people are impatient for the AKSADAC, but I think it's a fair tradeoff given the complexity and cost of the development cycle.
Ben, Michael and I really enjoyed the AKSAfest. We want to do more, company funds permitting. An AKSAfest creates great networks, is a wonderful support for existing customers, and a good forum for prospective customers. But it's an expensive exercise, like all marketing endeavours, and to a large extent future AKSAfests, in Australia and abroad, depend on continuing sales. So I'd ask all AKSAphiles to keep talking about their products, to help each other where possible, and to be patient with new products.
Once again, my heartfelt thanks on behalf of Ben, Michael and myself, for the unqualified support, kindness and graciousness extended to us on this AKSAfest from all of you! May there be more of them into the future!! I will get cracking on the CDROM of our presentation, and when it's ready will let you all know both on this forum and on the website. I will likely get it out the door for around $US15 including postage anywhere in the world.
In closing, I offer my thanks to all interested AKSA customers, prospectives, and a very special thanks to all those who brought along their gear, make a big effort to come along and showed their AKSA products on the night. It showed me there is huge interest in AKSA products in Australia, some very, very clever and accomplished people, and a huge awareness of the joys of recorded music in the domestic setting.
Thanks guys,
Cheers,
Hugh, Ben, and Michael
