[bhobba]

Hi Hugh and All

I know Hugh is always trying new things to get to the ultimate amp sound.  It just occurred to me that should I purchase a Soraya does that include upgrading to better amps should they become available? - for a reasonable fee of course.

If so another positive for an already fine amp.  How many amps down your local dealer offer that type of service?  Just another reason to buy from guys that design and build their own stuff and market it over the internet rather than pay the markups of shopfronts.

Thanks
Bill

[AKSA]

Hi Bill,

You are right I'm always trying to improve, and yes, it would be good if upgrades were possible.   

As a general rule, you'd have to stick to the same power rating to achieve this for case and heatsink reasons.

If, for example, I decide to do a 200W Soraya, and it's in the works in fact, then I would not be able to update an existing 100W Soraya, because the heatsinks would be undersize and a new case would thus be needed.

But as a general rule, I certainly try to follow this policy, and design all my 100W amps with the same pin spacing on the modules so they can slot straight into a AKSA/LF 100 heatsink.  Same is true for the 55W versions.

While it's great to sell across the net and eliminate the middle man, enhancing value for the buyer and profit margin for the manufacturer, it's still true that the majority of high end purchases are made in bricks and mortar shops.  However, for the privilege, the buyer pays dearly, because these establishments are very expensive (and risky!) to run.  I honestly cannot say if they will ever be supplanted by the net, but I suspect in twenty years shops will still be around, though of a chain store nature and VERY big, essentially selling boxes, without expert salesman input....  Advertising and magazine/emag review will become the primary consumer assessment media.

This is further evidence that the most important aspect of net dealing is reputation.  No one wants to be duped by a guy on the end of the network on the other side of the planet;  there is little legal safety net and the law, as usual, is lagging well behind on this sort of trade.  Letters of credit do not apply for retail purchases across the net, although PayPal has certainly helped in this specialised area.......

Cheers,

Hugh

[bluesky]

Hi Hugh

I just thought I'd relate an small incident when visiting a local shop here in Brisbane as I was trying (and still am) to get a tiny spare part for a Rega based tonearm, the little plastic thing that holds the tonearm broke.

There was a customer who was giving the proprietor a hard time about getting a discount because he had read something on Ebay.....I went into bat for this guy and explained that the costs of running any sort of shop front business runs to a couple of thousand a week at least.  Afterwards the guy thanked me after this pain in the arse customer left and he explained that his base costs for this quite small shop with rent, insurance, accounting etc run to over $3,000 per week and that's before he even buys stock! 

I really feel for peole running any sort of small business, I'd bet that you have had to shell out quite a bit for various parts let alone R&D time involved etc and I am aware it is a 24/7 job for you to boot (even though I hate to use Americanism's normally)!  I daresay your hourly rate of pay would be nowhere near that of most of your customers.

I feel better for getting that off my chest and have a great Christmas,

Ian     

[AKSA]

Thanks Ian,

Bang on, Sir.  The majority of my income goes on R&D and parts replenishment.   

Nevertheless I get my money's worth, because I love what I do......

And a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Cheers,

Hugh

[bhobba]

But as a general rule, I certainly try to follow this policy, and design all my 100W amps with the same pin spacing on the modules so they can slot straight into a AKSA/LF 100 heatsink.  Same is true for the 55W versions.

Great to hear.  I suspected it - hence the post.

While it's great to sell across the net and eliminate the middle man, enhancing value for the buyer and profit margin for the manufacturer, it's still true that the majority of high end purchases are made in bricks and mortar shops.  However, for the privilege, the buyer pays dearly, because these establishments are very expensive (and risky!) to run. 

Absolutely.  This is something I have been trying to get across in my posts.  You hear people saying all the time have you heard a product?  You can't commnet unless you have heard it etc etc.  Sure, everyone would love to go down to the local Hi Fi shop, sit down and have products demonstrated to them by a non pushy knowledgeable sales person.  But you pay heavily for this privilege - very heavily indeed.  That is not to slight the people running such establishments.  I suspect they do it for love not money.  How to you make a small fortune selling Hi Fi gear?  Start with a large one.  That is precisely why I recommend that people rather than going down to their local store and listening investigate the background of the designer.  If they have done a good job that almost certainly will equate to you enjoying the product.  From personnel experience I know that you (as a consumer) are the easiest person in the world to fool.  Listening to a product and enjoying it is zero guarantee that it will bring long term enjoyment.  Many forms of distortion (eg the boomy bass of some ported designs) sound great intially, but wear thin over the long haul.  The 'anemic' sound of sealed designs can't compete at first - its strength only becomes apparent from long term listening.  That is where a designer who you can trust is worth his/her weight in gold - they can steer you away from long term errors.

I honestly cannot say if they will ever be supplanted by the net, but I suspect in twenty years shops will still be around, though of a chain store nature and VERY big, essentially selling boxes, without expert salesman input....  Advertising and magazine/emag review will become the primary consumer assessment media.

Yes.  And the poetic gush of some reviewers is sickening - the way they carry on about the night and day differences of cables for example.  Piffle - differences exist - but it takes a lot of training, experience, and very revealing gear to pick it - it is simply not the night as day differences they make it out to be.  Genuine guys like Dave Ellis tell it like it is, 'you get better bang for your buck changing diodes in your amp'.  What are reviewers in magzines selected on? - as one guy pointed out a well known reviewer in Stereophile was selected on his ability write audiophile prose - not knowledge, experience, and technical skill.  Yet that is what people are relying more and more on.

Thanks
Bill

[kyrill]

Love people for what they are, then you can love them for what they appear to  be

[LM]

Upgradeability is great when and if you can get it.  I have both Vanderstein and Arcam equipment that both offer hardware upgradeability for ‘some’ of their ‘premium’ lines (only) such as what Hugh offers with his premium in house built Soraya.  Can be very difficult to take advantage of the option in all cases however.  The Vandy’s for example can only be upgraded at the factory in the US for quite a reasonable price – until one factors in the return transport to the States for a pair of 45kg (each) speakers.  Fortunately Hugh only lives about 10 mins drive away so taking advantage of his policy to upgrade my own amp was fairly painless, particularly as I didn’t unhook till a pre agreed date for the work.

The internet marketing model that many companies in the States rely on is free shipping for a 30day ‘trial’ period with the orderer paying either return shipping, or for the item.  That model is OK for high volume turnover companies but for Aspen’s volume and quality position, I can’t see anything like that working.   Word of mouth or a few strategically placed demo items around the world might work, otherwise it has to be pay up front but with a return clause.  I just wish that more people could have their eyes opened as to what a wondrous amp the latest version really is though.  The longer I live with it the better it gets and to my mind, that is the mark of a great piece of kit that isn’t very likely to ever be returned.