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Over 18 months ago, a respected friend in the hifi industry suggested I take a good look at the products being offered by a Melbourne based company called Aspen Amplifiers. With mild interest I took a look at the website and read about Hugh Dean, his philosophies and products, and the rave reviews from his customers. Having no DIY skills myself, the notion of buying kits and building them myself was quite daunting. Besides, these kits were ridiculously inexpensive (less than many of my "tweaks"). Surely they were only good performers "for the price" and not serious contenders, let alone upgrades, to expensive audiophile brand components that come complete with rave reviews from professional audiophile magazine reviewers? Interesting, but I think I'll pass.That is where things stayed until early 2002 when the same friend was in town and visiting Hugh. I tagged along for the ride. I guess I expected to hear "reasonable" sounding equipment that would impress non-audiophiles or suit hobbyists who couldn't (or weren't prepared to) pay for "real" high-end gear. After all, we all know that we more or less get what we pay for don't we? As much as I hate to admit to being a victim of audiophile snobbery, I guess I was until that day.Needless to say, I was completely knocked off my audiophile perch. My head kept telling me that Supermarket priced gear couldn't sound any good, but my ears and tapping foot were telling me otherwise. Here was a system without special power cables, interconnects, speaker cables, dedicated lines, footers, anti-resonant bases, room treatments, fairy dust and so on, that sounded more lifelike and emotional than many "audiophile priced" systems I had heard before or since. What was going on? Although I knew the writing was on the wall, I wasn't prepared to accept the obvious easily.I fetched my trusty audiophile pre-amp (US$3500) complete with NOS tubes, my favourite test music, and headed back to Hugh's for a showdown. Now we'll see what's what! Well, Hugh and my friend were very gentle, but the proverbial egg was all over my face. In several areas, the TLP was clearly better than my reference pre-amp. If it were not for the fact that the GK-1 was under development, I may have signed up for a TLP right then.After many months of anticipation, the GK-1 was finally released. Back to Hugh's for an audition. Wow! As good as the TLP is, the GK-1 is in another league. It clearly surpassed my reference pre-amp in every technical area. But more importantly (or perhaps because of this) it was more musical, lifelike and emotional than any pre-amp I have ever heard regardless of price. You don't hear "solid state" sound or "tube" sound, just real vocals and real instruments in real space.With Hugh's invaluable help, I have built my GK-1 with a few simple modifications and, with the addition of a modified TKD stepped attenuator (as used on the US$12k+ CTC BlowTorch & US$14k Lamm L2 Reference) last week, it has gone to yet another level. Unbelievably, it is getting even better as this attenuator goes through its lengthy break-in process. Yes, it is serious money for an attenuator, but the GK-1's circuitry rewards it and even deserves it ….it is that good. I actually doubt that there are many pre-amps under US$10k that could embarrass a thoughtfully assembled GK-1 (depending on your choice of internal wire, layout, attenuator, etc).Having lived with the GK-1 for 6 months now, I feel that as good as the Plinius SA100/3 (US$4500) power amp is, the GK-1 may shine even brighter with an even better amp. Hmmmm, perhaps passive bi-amping with an AKSA 55w Nirvana on top and a 100w Nirvana below ….now there's an idea. Another AKSAphile has already achieved better mids and highs by doing just that and relegating his Plinius SA100/3 to subwoofer duty.It is a huge leap of faith for an audiophile to choose an inexpensive kit pre-amplifier over much more expensive and well-known models from the "big boys" of hifi. It is very doubtful I would have done it had I not lived within driving distance of Hugh and been able to audition the GK-1 first hand. After that, I couldn't swap my designer label bragging rights for far better sound quality quickly enough (or without grinning stupidly). My friend also bought one to replace another very highly regarded Australian tube pre-amp.The prices included above are simply to give readers some idea of the price/performance of Hugh's products and those with which they rank.My sincere thanks go to Hugh for his time, patience, and wonderful sounding products at ridiculously low prices. Bravo!Darren
I am seriously considering the purchase of a GK-1 preamp with the phono option to mate with my 55N+. First off, I would like to hear some comments on the sound, especially what preamp the GK-1 replaced in your current set up. Also is the phono option all tube and are all tubes provided with the kit? I will be using a step-up transformer to drive a .23mV cartridge signal, will this present a cha. Any input is greatly appreciated.Haron
... so what is this Paris Head-Amp thing all about? Is this for a low output MC cart?
I suppose the Lewinsky head amp is a bit of a mouthfull...... Paris head amp??? No substance, no soul, no class, overexposed and over paid... Doesn't sound much like an AKSA product to me...Perhaps the "Lovelace head amp...." Innovative, classic and no frills..What size imputs would it need to accept Hugh??? Sorry, I can't contribute in a technical fashion.. But I did just order my GK1M yesterday after Hugh ran me around the block a few times trying to expose my folly gently to me on some ideas I had.. And I can't wait.
What size imputs would it need to accept Hugh???
Hi HughI'll put my hand up for one of the "Paris" units. Last year, when I briefly had some money to spare, I bought myself an Ortofon Kontrapunkt B cartridge. And so........ I need a good step up device of some sort, and the lack of noise in your design appears to be manna from heaven! CheersBluesky
As I'm sure you're aware, the Oz description of a "perfect" bird is a blonde nymphomaniac who's father owns a pub ... so PH scores on all 3!! In fact her father owns many pubs!
Quote from: andyr As I'm sure you're aware, the Oz description of a "perfect" bird is a blonde nymphomaniac who's father owns a pub ... so PH scores on all 3!! In fact her father owns many pubs! My Mother in law owns a pub and my wife's blonde...... 'spose 2 out of 3 'aint bad.....
Hi Andy,The output of the Kontrapunkt B is 470uV according to the Origin Live website. ...
