[kyrill]

rumors are there is a new amp in the block 

However , we are DIY  people
What is the difference that makes the difference between the retail power amp and the LF100?
And can we mod that difference w. the LF100?

and for the SB3
IS there a power kit?

all those future projects will fall as kits within the realm of many others..

[AKSA]

Hi Kyrill,

Thank you for your many interesting posts.  I'm sure you realise you are the official conscience of Aspen!!

When Aspen sold only kits, I did a roaring trade, worked pretty hard, made no money.  I didn't even pay myself a salary, worked for nothing, and because of the nature of kits (and a little human error from time to time) almost every despatch was followed by another, little despatch to deliver the tiny parts I'd forgotten first time.  Try as I might I could never eliminate that problem, and it was very expensive, swallowing a lot of time and money.

Then other kit companies joined the market, from the Far East, even from Oz.  I was involuntarily involved in a war of words with one fellow, to which I never responded, and this cost a few sales.  His product is good, and it is inexpensive.  His public abuse was nothing personal, although it looked personal from a distance, many nasty accusations were made, but was just business.  I decided I did not want to compete in this end of the business because it was not paying the bills, certainly no chance to pay a salary.

So I decided to redouble my R&D efforts, produce a better amp, and offer fully assembled modules.  The Lifeforce was the result.  I now draw a small salary, about half the basic wage.  The Lifeforce has been quite successful, but the next step is to produce a viable, retail product.  I have to build it to plug 'n play, so that all audiophiles, not just the handy ones, can buy it without thinking twice about whether or not they can build it!!  This is the only way to create a viable, growing business in a highly competitive field.  If there are 100K builder audiophiles out there on the planet, there must be lots more than 10M audiophiles, and I could ignore the statistics no longer.

I have demonstrated to myself that I can actually build a plug 'n play amp which performs incredibly well and is ultra reliable.  I have watched an entrepreneur do just this over the last five years and make a small fortune.  I will admit he's more organised and harder working (and younger), but I can do this - this guy came to me for a power supply design, accepted what I foolishly suggested, and has made a lot of money from it.  My fault entirely, time I wised up......

So, reluctantly I have to leave the kit market, and move to the retail market.  Would you work for $5 an hour, Kyrill?  I did - for years, and I got rather frustrated with it.  I earned more money as a private soldier in my National Service days in the early seventies!!

It is always true that people who build a good product cheap inevitably raise their prices.  I'm sheepish about all this, but there's nothing I can do, I have health insurance, energy costs, many subcontractors and a huge R&D program to finance.

I know you are not criticising me, and your comments about cost are quite moderate, but this is the situation I work in and I'm determined to make a financial success of it.  I don't like it either, I'd love to give my products away, but that's just silly!!

Cheers,

Hugh

[kyrill]

Good Fortune and luck on this road Hugh and dont forget to place some review samples which you will get back, at the 6moons, enjoy the music and some others on the internet. They have a bigger readers base than people may expect. Now the non solder market needs to know how good Aspen is, as there is a formidable number of competition and China in the nearby future.

[gerado]

When I first found the GK1 and listened to it I was ecstatic. When I realised how much I could build it for I could not believe it. I suspected an error. Hell I compaired it to some very well requarded pre amps.
Then I built the LF100 and still cant believe how for the price  it outperforms my cary 805AE amps with certain types of music.

I have often wondered (and asked Hugh) what the logic(or lack of) from a business point , of not having a retail product for such fine designs.
I think if we are to continue to enjoy such exceptional components Hugh's business must remain viable. Anyone who has visited would agree that Hugh borders on being charitable than running a fair dinkum business.
Its his kind character and easy going attitude. From a personal point Im pleased he has finally made a business based decision which I hope will lead to some financial security. From a selfish point I dont want to loose an absolute bargain, but have to face reality

I wish Hugh well in this new direction and look forward to continued release of exceptional sounding products.

[rabbitz]

About bloody time Hugh.

I've appreciated you giving us the opportunity to buy your kits and LF modules but you need to earn a decent living from your efforts plus moving onto the parts of the business you really enjoy. The smart ones are moving into retail.

DIY is a shrinking market that's small to begin with. I believe Dan Wiggins from Adire did some research before he shut shop (that was not the reason) and said the future of the DIY market is not very bright.

I dabbled in this market for a while and made 2% ROI which was not worth the effort and hours so I pulled the plug and retained a small presence for taxation and ABN purposes only. $5 an hour Hugh? You did better than me as I was lucky to do that in a day or sometimes a week.

Hugh is more fortunate than most as he does have a very strong customer base and if he can't make it pay, then I imagine there are very few that can. I've found a large percentage of the DIY community just want to screw you on price, get free advice and do not look for good value or what's the best in the long term.

This is not a bitch but some observations over the last couple of years being a player.

[JohnR]

Sounds like you are excited about this development, Hugh, and I am too (for you)

PS you may wish to update the USD exchange rate on your site...!

$AUD1.00 = US72.72c

[AKSA]

Thanks Peter, Theo, Kyrill,

Nice words, much appreciated.

I have delayed this decision a long time, as I was never sure I could remain self-financing, and produce a product people were prepared to pay good money for.  I'm quite confident now that I really have something, and there's no looking back.  There is also the issue of CE certification, which is expensive, and abruptly stalls R&D.  But that's life I guess, and having experienced a little war of words with a competitor already, I figure I have nothing to lose, and who knows, it might be successful anyway and that would be loverly......

Thanks John, will amend it now.  Don't much enjoy the website thang, as you realise.

Cheers,

Hugh

[MaxCast]

Good luck Hugh!!   

[LM]

I for one am extremely happy that Hugh has seen fit to travel this path.  I’ve known him for a long time but never had time to build his kits.  Without the ‘fully built up’ option, I would still be ‘Lifeless’ though probably owning a ‘insert a non Aspen name’ power amp as I simply needed such an item.   Hugh has given me the gift of the option to choose and purchase his wonderful amp which I have little doubt (possible upgrades aside) will see me out as far as power amp needs go.  Thanks and good luck Hugh.

[AKSA]

Thanks MaxCast, LM, for the best wishes......  I hope it comes off.......

Kyrill,

I failed to answer your question on the SB3 power supply.  I've just had to redo the daughter board pcb, the tiny boards arrived from Bangkok two days back.  The main pcbs are done, the case is done, the electronics is all done, it's just now a matter of assembly and a nice, beautifully made label.

Then it's done.  I'm pleased with this product, too, it makes the sound something very impressive, almost like vinyl without the clicks and plops!!

It will debut locally within a month, and in the US, at RMAF.  Cost will be $US690 plug 'n play.  I will have demo setup for all to sample and audition at Denver.

Cheers,

Hugh

[andyr]

I'm pleased with this product, too, it makes the sound something very impressive, almost like vinyl without the clicks and plops!!

Cheers,

Hugh

Now, now Hugh!   

As you have heard, nearly all my vinyl has no "clicks and pops" - just georgeous vinyl sound!     But I'm glad you said "makes the SB almost like vinyl"!! 

Regards,

Andy

[Jens]

Hi Hugh,

Very understandable that you have decided to go down this route. Competition is very hard in the finished products segment as well, but I'm certain that speciality products - such as the Soraya must be - have their day.

Now that future roadmap is laid out - would it be possible for you to say a little bit about what constitutes the differences between the LF amps and the Soraya? - without disclosing secret details, course 

I bet I can't be the only one who is curious 

[AKSA]

Hi Jens,

Sure, no problem......

The Soraya has a very low impedance voltage amplifier, where the Lifeforce is higher.  A low impedance VAS can drive the output stage without being thrown off song by the considerable impedance variations of the output stage, and particularly the reactive kickback from the load which finds its way to the VAS and causes stability problems.

In all amps, the high output impedance of the VAS is not considered very important because the cracks are papered over by the global negative feedback loop.  But feedback only reduces the distortion, by a factor close to the feedback factor, which is typically around 1K-2K.  So, if we start with 10% open loop distortion (which is very good, incidentally), we reduce it to around 0.01% in a typical feedback amp, which is considered very good but according to my findings is nonetheless deeply flawed.   

The problem is that the very high orders of distortion produced, 5th, 7th, and beyond, are highly objectionable to the human ear, and the tiniest levels are detectable subliminally as listener fatigue and a subtly unnatural sound.  I cannot stress enough how preternaturally sensitive is the ear to these sorts of high order distortions.  To some extent we can mask these objectionable (cf non-musical) distortions with small quantities of H2 and H3, and the AKSA does this very successfully.  But if we take the zero distortion path, without the indulgence of psychoacoustic masking, even these very low levels are unacceptable.

This led to the Soraya power amp, which was developed with huge input from Colin Brown, a young Canadian audiophile of 28 with ears like a bat and the energy of a small nuclear reactor.  I must stress that this new amplifier is a subtle advance on the Lifeforce, which is stunning as it stands.  But one of the serendipitous outcomes of this design has been an almost supernatural tolerance for highly reactive loads;  the Soraya Power Amp will drive Electrostatic panels to ear splitting levels without raising a sweat - effortlessly, and so powerfully you would swear you are listening to a cone speaker.  Until a recent audition I had never thought ES panels capable of good bass, or slam.  Now I'm not so sure....

I sold one this week to a local audiophile with a dedicated listening room and a set of pristine Acoustats, a seminal US speaker from the eighties with a formidable reputation as a difficult load.  He is very, very happy, and says not even a massive tube amp compares with the Soraya.

I'm listening to Winston Giles Orchestra on my LF55, it's sensational - so don't feel concerned that this new amp completely upstages the LF.  It certainly does not, but it is a sonic advance, particularly for difficult loads.   

Cheers,

Hugh

[AKSA]

A resounding tinkle?  An earthly silence?

Hugh

[kyrill]

hi Hugh

the silence is in awe..

What to say?

You need to update your website, or post pictures here and we will look at it as children on the other site of the fence
and
above all

tickle the fancies of your local Soraya buyer to post his impressions here
we will ask his skin over his bones

And we will look

[AKSA]

Thank you Kyrill,

I will set to it this week;  Russ has been working on an update, and my good friend George has agreed to work in turn on the web Google visibility....

I will talk to Ernie and ask if he'd like to post his impressions.  He's very articulate, an intellectual, and his enthusiasm for high end is incredible.  You really know someone is a Stage 5 Audiophile when they lie on the carpet at varying differences from their speakers - and then replay certain recordings and phrases just to catch the right note....

Ernie, you reading this?   

Cheers,

Hugh

[WEEZ]

Hugh,

Pardon my interuption; but is this the amplifier that will be used in Denver this coming Oct.?

WEEZ

Yes, Absolutely, WEEZ!

Hugh

[Jens]

Hi Hugh,

Thank you for elaborating on the Soraya. I do understand parts of it, but only parts; the techncal stuff is beyond me (but of interest to others, I know)

However, reading between the lines, it would seem that those of us who do not have "difficult loads" would not benefit very much, if at all, from the Soraya, but could go with the the LF55 or LF100, depending on the muscle needed.

Specifically, I'm thinking of those of us who have gone active. Obviously, a tweeter or a midrange driver, driven directly from the amp without passive components interfering, would usually not be considered a "difficult load", especially since power consumption is generally low.

Would you say that there was anything to be had with the Soraya for this type of application? If there is, what would it be - and what would the sonic difference be?

[AKSA]

Jens,

Thanks for your post.

I think there are benefits regardless of the type of speaker, active, passive or otherwise.  However, it's pretty obvious that the very tight control of feedback factor and wonderful buffering of the VAS has very strong benefits for ES speakers.  Both amps are very clearly in the same family;  the sound is related.

The big problem of the cone speaker is the back emf mechanically reflected off the voice coil - the generator effect.  This back emf seriously affects feedback signal in the amp regardless of the passive crossover, and is a product of a coil moving in a magnetic field.  In fact, the early work on this was done around the 1820s by a Dane named Hans Christian Hans Christian Ørsted who is now bured in the Assistens Cemetery in your fair city along with Søren Kierkegaard, Neils Bohr, and Hans Christian Andersen (credits to Wikipaedia!!).  If you can stop this back emf influencing the feedback network, the control will be more accurate.

A hundred years after Ørsted's work Kellogg and Rice in the US developed the first electrodynamic speaker, which is now ubiquitous and which is now a very refined, sophisticated transducer.  Interestingly, the largest speaker company in the world is, I believe, Tymphany, which until recently was Danish!

I will only sell the Soraya CB105 as a retail product of course, but on your next visit here you will hear it!

Cheers,

Hugh

[andyr]

The big problem of the cone speaker is the back emf mechanically reflected off the voice coil - the generator effect.  This back emf seriously affects feedback signal in the amp regardless of the passive crossover, and is a product of a coil moving in a magnetic field.

Aha!    So is an active setup not affected so much by the feedback signal as passive? 

Regards,

Andy