[Grumpy_Git]

whats happening? wheres it gone?

Hugh get complaining now....

Nick.

[kyrill]

The new line of retail need to be reflected better, and the aksa as an amp has been replaced by Life force ont the other hand, the aksaonline  has build recognition and a lot of bookmarks.
 
a surprise..

but..  it is expired  Hugh forgot to pay the bill??

[AKSA]

Nick, Guys,

The domain has expired;  I'm doing another, it will be www.aspenamps.com.

It's coming up, will do a straight migration, this has surprised me but it's all my bloody fault.

The website will be up for complete revision, too.

So much to do, so little time........
 (attr.  Peter Sellers   )

Cheers,

Hugh

[CButterworth]

Hugh,

Please, if at all possible, make the new AKSA website MAC compliant.  Interestingly, aksaonline worked with Firefox on the Mac, but noth with Apple's Safari browser.

Gone are the days of simple HTML.

On a side topic, I found your discussion of PSU for the GK-1 quite interesting.  Earlier this year, I built a tubed preamp.  I did not have the funding to buy a GK-1, so I built an Aikido preamp.  Boy, did I learn about power supplies.  Anyway, the Aikido uses the inverted triodes to cancel noise.  I suppose that I hadn't thought about this resulting in lack of "tubeness."  IMHO, my preamp and AKSA work very synergisitcally, but I would certainly love to a GK-1 / AKSA combo.

Regards,

Charlie

[AKSA]

Gotcha, Charlie!!  Will do my best.......

YAY!!!!!!!!     The website is back up - paid domain rego just four hours ago!!!
Today has been a GREAT day,

Hugh

[kyrill]

for 2 days now
I get this message:

Server not found
     
Firefox can't find the server at www.aspenamps.com.

[AKSA]

Kyrill,

Not there yet, still at aksaonline.com!!

Will be ported over in a couple of months, in the meantime, I've snagged aspenamps.com and I will work on a new website to deliver something quite special....

Cheers,

Hugh

[wmeckle]

Kyrill,

Not there yet, still at aksaonline.com!!

Will be ported over in a couple of months, in the meantime, I've snagged aspenamps.com and I will work on a new website to deliver something quite special....

Cheers,

Hugh

Hi Hugh:
    Will you have a new E-Mail address ? Please let us know when your Web site is ready.

[CButterworth]

Hugh,

Silly question, please inform me why this cannot be done? But, can't you simply renew your domain license for aksaonline ?  Or do things not work this way  (mind you, I do like aspenamps.com better, as that is who you are).

Charlie 

[AKSA]

Charlie,

It can be done.....  however, with increasing complexity of web coding these days, catering to multiple platforms becomes more time consuming - and expensive.

I loathe this sort of work, and must contract it out.  This is ironic, as my Masters is in BIT, though the thesis was on Expert Systems in medical diagnosis!  I guess I've done too much IT over the years......  I choose designers within my budget, and sometimes I get a necessarily cut down product!  I appreciate Macs as much as the next guy, lovely computers, but from a PC point of view they are very different and they remain less than 8% of the web market.  If it costs another $1K to accommodate that 8% (when they can also use FireFox, which I also use), then I have to think very carefully about spending money I may not have, or have earmarked for my upcoming trip to RMAF.

Hope this explains it.  It ain't poisonal, just bread.......

Hi Bill,

No problem, I'd like to move to something like sales -at- aspenamps.com in a few months, and will broadcast it on the website and the forum.

Cheers,

Hugh

[wmeckle]

Hi Bill,

No problem, I'd like to move to something like sales -at- aspenamps.com in a few months, and will broadcast it on the website and the forum.

Cheers,

Hugh

Hi Hugh:
    Actually if your domain name is "aspenamps.com", you can have anything in front of the "aspenamps.com" (like sales, help, info, hugh), or anything else to direct the message to any department. Which mades it easy to pre-sort messages.

[CButterworth]

Hugh,

Sounds good and reasonable.  I keep hoping that my 8% begin to grow.  Everytime I use a PC with Windows, I thank my lucky stars that I don't need to use one all that often.

If Firefox works, then I certainly don't mind using it for your website.

Regards,
Charlie

[AKSA]

Thanks Charlie,

Yes, I too look forward to a day when PCs will no longer dominate the web.

I suspect it will happen when, and if, MS no longer supplies all PC operating systems.

When will this happen, I wonder?

As always, the worst product is the best marketed.......

Cheers,

Hugh

[CButterworth]

"As always, the worst product is the best marketed....."

Does this mean that the inverse is true?  Maybe that explains why the mainstream have seldom heard of Aspen Amplifiers !

NB.  The above statement is meant as a sly compliment not as a snide comment 

Charlie

[AKSA]

Charlie,

For an examination of technical excellence v. adept marketing, have a gander at the Edsel, a Ford behemoth of the fifties (good marketing but failed for technical reasons) and the Tucker, a brilliant technical tour de force, also of the fifties, which failed entirely for marketing reasons.

In more contemporary times, look at Sony Betamax v. VHS (the technically brilliant product failed, of course), and examine the marketing success of Ferrari - which, when I last looked, had lots of technical reliability problems even after forty years of 'refinement'.  And examine the rationale behind Toyota's decision to market the upmarket Lexus brand - which to my mind is probably one of the most sophisticated automobiles on the market, bar none.  The 1UZ-FE V8 engine used in this car was developed in the late eighties and reputedly cost almost $US1B to develop.  Now that is style.....  I wonder what the Aston Martin or Jaguar engines cost to develop?  In mass production, of course, it is generally true that the only way to ensure a good product is to pour money into the development.... 

There is much truth in your observation........

Cheers,

Hugh

[CButterworth]

Hugh,

I can't say I know too much about cars, being the owner of a 1996 Saturn and 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan.  Neither of these a sophisticated, but they work extremely well and get good gas mileage.

Of course, I do still harbour the desire to own a Morgan  aa

Charlie

[Martyn]

Just can't resist picking up a number of the threads within this thread...

Charlie, I'm in the same situation as you and have also taken a look at the Aikido preamp, but I decided that it was probably too challenging for a man of my electronic ignorance to undertake. However, I'm intrigued by your reference to its synergy with your AKSA. Just how "doable" is it for the fellow who can solder but not do much more?

Don't worry about MS - I suspect that it will meet its Nemesis in the form of Google eventually. Of course, exchanging one corporate monster for another might not improve things all that much!

Actually I think Hugh has done a pretty good job of marketing his products to the DIY community. I'm peripheral to that community at best, and I bought one! Of course, doing it with a retail product is a different, and much more expensive, game...

The Lexus story is quite remarkable in that it's usually easier to start with a high-end product and migrate it downwards into larger market segments (like Jaguar and Mercedes have done), but here Toyota and others did it the other way although they had to re-brand to manage it. I think the reason they were so successful is that they built on their reputations for quality and reliability (just as Hugh is doing), whereas the other guys are milking their brands.

Interestingly, engines have been remarkably reliable for many years, especially considering their hostile internal environments. Modern breakdowns are usually caused by the failure of a trivial accessory, usually a sensor that we all know costs $5 to make but we get charged $200 to replace. So save up for that Morgan, Charlie - it'll save you money in the long run!

[CButterworth]

Martyn,

I am saving, but a new house and LifeForce probably will have to come first.

As for the Aikido, there are three aspects that are required for success. 

1. You can buy a PCB for either 8 or 9 pin tubes, I chose the octal.  Sourcing parts is easy.  Part choice is a little fluid, but some advice is given, it mainly depends upon required amplification factor and the DC voltage to be used.  The GK-1 uses unity gain, and as Hugh knows his stuff, I also aimed for low gain.  I think that I have a gain of around 9dB, which is quite a lot more than unity, but still relatively low by preamp standards.  Hugh once told me that the AKSA 55 can use a little active preamplification.  Soldering onto the PCB is easy, although the PCB is printed on the upper (chassis) side, so I put the parts except for the sockets on the backside, so that I could tweak without removing the PCB from the chassis.

2. Chassis building.  If you have the tools, it's easy.  I find aspects to be a pain in the neck, other parts are relatively simple.

3.  Power supply.  I made this into a huge pain in the neck.  There are simple circuits that use diode rectifiers and simple cap/resistor filters.  I chose to use a diode bridge but with a choke / capacitor filter system.  The biggest problem was that I purchased 20H chokes, and given that the current draw is quite low, they initially didn't perform as they should  Argh!  I learned a lot, added dropper resistors.  Built a good ground lift circuit, and eventually added regulated 6.3VDC for the tubes.  I did find members of the Tube forum on Diyaudio to be a good source of information and help.

The Aikido sounds great.  Is it as good or better than a GK-1?  I have no idea, but being a cheapskate, the Aikido cost me a lot less, afterall I am still saving for my Morgan (sorry I meant LifeForce  ).

Without knowing anything about the GK-1 preamp, if it is anything like Hugh's AKSA amps, then it is of impeccable design and sound.  Furthermore, the kit will come with well-sourced parts, and assembly instructions that are second to none. Further to the furthermore, Hugh and other forum users will answer questions promptly and clearly.

If you're doubtful about building a tubed preamp, and can spare the extra money, I would go with Hugh's GK-1.  As I am sure you'll not be disappointed.  You could always build an Aikido as a second project and use the best in your main system and maybe sell the other one.


Hugh,  I hope you don't mind me posting about a preamp other than an AKSA one here.  If you do, then I apologize.


Regards,

Charlie

[Martyn]

Ooops...yes, that was tactless of me. Sorry, Hugh. Charlie, I'll send you a PM.

[AKSA]

Martyn, Charlie,

Think nothing of it!!  I encourage discussion about other designs, particularly John Broskie's - the man is a genius, and highly creative.  I love his work.

In fact, much of it is an inspiration.  I'm presently doodling a pentode cathode follower design which draws heavily on his work.

As for the Akido, I endorse it strongly.  Of course, it is a preamp only, with no switching provision, so it's not quite the GK1 which does offer switching and a phono input as well (with the phono preamp option).  The GK1 also has a very odd circuit which overcomes the traditional weakness of tube designs - bass.

But I rate the Akido very highly, it is exceptional.  John has produced a circuit of exemplary performance, with vanishingly low distortion and very high power supply rejection ratio.  It's just brilliant, love it, particularly the octal variation.

Cheers,

Hugh