Whats up at Aspen?

AKSA · « **Reply #20 on:** 24 May 2009, 10:13 am »

John,

Opinions are ubiquitous...... even my own.

You are a noisy lot this week!!

Chars,

Hugh

VYnuhl.Addict · « **Reply #21 on:** 2 Jun 2009, 02:38 am »

AUDFILE74,

While I peek my head up for a moment from the world of wires, parts and Pcb's, my take on it is that at this point in time, its VERY good, refined and at the point where I am leaving the rest up to Hugh. Its been a while in the works, transparent as hell, absolutely effortless, and not to mention unflinchingly powerful.

. I believe I could wax all day about how good it is but that would spoil the surprise which is much better met by Aural auditioning

...

Colin

AUDFILE74 · « **Reply #22 on:** 3 Jun 2009, 03:35 am »

you won't get me to disagree colin, after reading over your email, i am giddy with anticipation! patience is a virtue and a massive P.I.T.A. as well!

steve

AUDFILE74 · « **Reply #23 on:** 5 Jun 2009, 12:40 pm »

hugh. what do you think of marketing the maya as monoblocks? i know you normally market as dual mono for most of your amps.but, i just think that the mayas would be awesome marketed as monos. just a thought

AKSA · « **Reply #24 on:** 6 Jun 2009, 02:26 am »

Steve,

Small market, premium quality product, can't sell over the internet, value equation too low......

But it would be built as dual mono into one case, so quality would be the same.

Thank you for your continuing interest!!

Cheers,

Hugh

AUDFILE74 · « **Reply #25 on:** 6 Jun 2009, 04:03 am »

iunderstand hugh, you got to make things that are profitable on the logn run.

AKSA · « **Reply #26 on:** 15 Jun 2009, 10:52 pm »

Ahoy, things are so quiet!! Is there some sort of recession going on?

Things are gloomy in Oz as we enter winter.... each morning brings a thick fog in our area, quite a change from 40C+ temperatures of summer!

Hugh

EdwardWest · « **Reply #27 on:** 15 Jun 2009, 11:44 pm »

Hugh,

As you head into the winter months, we have been having an extended run of stunning weather here.

It has been over three weeks since we've seen any rain, most days have been very sunny and the temperature has been ranging from 18 to 26 C. Great motorcycle weather - too bad mine is waiting to be repaired - by me!

Edward

Seano · « **Reply #28 on:** 16 Jun 2009, 12:02 am »

Quote from: AKSA on 15 Jun 2009, 10:52 pm

Ahoy, things are so quiet!! Is there some sort of recession going on?

No.......I'm always this poor!

My poor neglected GK-1 is still sitting in pieces....the new phono stage and Platinum components remain dressed in the bubble wrap they came in. Too many other priorities (like walls and floors) to find idle time at the soldering iron.

But it gives plenty of rather dangerous thinking time.....and I'm thinking lately of a deriavate Halcro style design for an all in one stereo system based around the Aspen toys...amp/s on the floor in the big box with the power management, the pre on the bottom of the seperate upper level, DAC+CD+other digital source one above that and a nice little vinyl spinner on top (all components hard wired into the power management)...power goes up one side, signal goes down the other...the capacity for longish IC runs out of the pre-amp to the power amp make it a goer I'd say.

But still to many other projects to finish (start!)....house, kitchen, verandah, cupboards & wardrobes, Range Rover, wood shed, chook house......it goes on.

AUDFILE74 · « **Reply #29 on:** 17 Jun 2009, 07:51 pm »

so Hugh, am i correct in thinking that the power ssupply for one channel of the maya is basically the size of the dual power supply for both channelss of the ssoraya? if so , You are right it is pretty beefy! also , are you using the plitron y23 transformenrs with the maya? IF SOhwt are the voltages?

AKSA · « **Reply #30 on:** 18 Jun 2009, 03:15 am »

Hi Steve,

Pretty close!! The trafos are still 300VA each (adequate for a 150W//8R, or 280W//4R amplifier), but the power supply filter caps are beefed to 2 x 6,800uF per rail, four rails, that's eight caps, quite substantial. The trafo voltage is 40-0-40, which is around 56 volt rails at the amps.

I have found that too much filter capacitance can in fact slow the sound, sucking some of the life from it. Many use up to 100,000 uF in their power supplies, but this, aside from being very bulky and expensive, is really only necessary on Class A circuits, which tend to sound a little slower than well designed Class AB anyway.

Recently I compared a Soraya to a very low distortion Silicon Chip Class A amp, using quite expensive speakers and a very good CD player. There was far more air, resolution and slam to the Soraya, which actually surprised me, because I know the Silicon Chip circuit and it's a well designed amplifier. I draw my conclusions about Class A from this and my own Glass Harmony, which has qualities in common with the Silicon Chip amp, but I have noticed in the past that Class A tends to be super refined and smooth, but somehow muted in its transients and not always as resolving. I'm not sure why this is so, it's perplexing, Class A should be superior in almost all respects, but evidently it's not always so.

Cheers,

Hugh

Felipe · « **Reply #31 on:** 9 Jul 2009, 09:08 pm »

Ahoy there ... one topic not to leave forgoten !
How are the preparations for the Maya amp i ask ?

Does Colin or Hugh have more something to add, maybe some thoughts on how its sounding right now? Is the world ready for its launch yet ?

One is eager here in Europe.......

Regards
Filipe

AKSA · « **Reply #32 on:** 9 Jul 2009, 11:45 pm »

Oh, Filipe,

This all takes such time. Now I understand why it's necessary to time these debuts carefully!

The holdup is no longer technical. It's the economy - sluggish at present. Since the business is self-financing, this means delays but it won't be much longer.

Cheers,

Hugh

Felipe · « **Reply #33 on:** 10 Jul 2009, 07:25 pm »

That is good news. I understand your problems with current economy, it affects us all and particularly small business, where market speculation does not intervene directly, but through the final consumer himself. My father runs his own business, and despite being a complete different area, it all comes down to Consumer confidence.

How about some pretty pictures of the product to come, so one can drool his carpet

?
I am really curious on this one product of yours Hugh, you know i am a huge fan of your AKSA amps, and always loved that warmth sound they produce. When i "stepped up" to the Lifeforce, i noticed an improvement on clarity and resolution, no argument there, but also a lack of warm sound that was of my particular taste.
Its true, its a matter of taste and its impossible to please all. Reading your comments about that "return to basis" with "tubey sound" of the Maya against the Soraya......keeps me dreaming and dreaming aa

All the best and do keep us posted...and glued !!?
Filipe

AKSA · « **Reply #34 on:** 2 Sep 2009, 11:24 pm »

Third day of spring in Oz. Beautiful day, 20C, soon I will be riding my ZRX most days!!

Felipe, behold, the new Soraya power amp for 2009!

This amp has been recently developed and is the new 2009 Soraya. I'm keeping the name to build brand identity, but it's a different amp to all previous designs.

There is provision to 'warm' it up a little should that be required. Otherwise, it's the highest resolving amp I've done - and all with Colin's help! I owe the input stage to an idea suggested on DIYaudio by a 15 year old Texan known as Keantoken. I saw one of his posts, redesigned his circuit block for a power amp, and voila, it's the best one I've done..... the bass, midrange and top end of this amp is just amazing.

BUT, the downside is that this is only available in the Soraya retail product. Look closely, the outputs and drivers are behind the pcb, sandwiched, in fact, against the flat backed heatsink. This is a very compact layout.

More coming, too.... watch that carpet!!

Hugh

Felipe · « **Reply #35 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 11:41 am »

I must say...that is one turnover !
What a completly different layout you have there. I am assuming this is the 100w version? Are thos SMD resistors on top ? you really went discrete this time...is space a big issue for most customers ?

So the tubey sound is also included in the Soraya 100w...as in the future Maya 150w ?
Retail products, should revenue more so i understand you decision.
One must think carefully on what to bet on next !!

Do post some more, lovely picture.

AKSA · « **Reply #36 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 10:57 pm »

Hi Felipe,

Thanks for the post - yes, 100W//8R, around 190W//4R.

Emitter resistors are Dale 3W smd, very elegant, an old bloke like me can actually see and manipulate them, and thermally robust.

By mounting the modules vertically against a flat backed heatsink, there is far more width in the case for a bigger power supply, which I'm now doing with chokes. This also enables the same enclosure to be used for multichannel, which is a boon.

Tubey sound maybe not, but 'warmer' sound, yes, and it will be in all my amps from this point forward. However, I should say that the warmer sound is not everyone's cup of tea, a large portion of audiophiles like extreme resolution, the so-called 'straight wire with gain'. This taste is not universal!

Sadly that is the problem - more revenue. Since I'm offering improved technology, I cannot and will not sell at Chinese prices!!

Cheers,

Hugh

bluesky · « **Reply #37 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 11:59 pm »

Hi Hugh

I applaud your R&D efforts and wanted to say some of the things I've read recently on distortion profiles is interesting (to me at least). Apparently the BBC did exhaustive listening tests and research on what level of distortion was audible back in the fifties and found that anything below about 0.01% was inaudible to "normal people". I say this mainly to refute the claims made by Silicon Chip with it's penchant for Class A designs and disdain for tube designs and is dismissive of the latter.

However, as you rightly point out it is the distortion profile that is so important. The human ear can vibrate at the molecular level and is in fact, more accurate than any test machine. Perhaps you could use Stradivarius as an amplifier name?

Ian

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #38 on:** 4 Sep 2009, 05:50 am »

Hugh....

Quote

I owe the input stage to an idea suggested on DIYaudio by a 15 year old Texan known as Keantoken. I saw one of his posts, redesigned his circuit block for a power amp, and voila, it's the best one I've done..... the bass, midrange and top end of this amp is just amazing.

You know they say things are bigger in Texas Hugh.....

Good luck with the new amp....

Chris

AKSA · « **Reply #39 on:** 4 Sep 2009, 07:08 am »

Thanks Ian!! Much appreciated..... I gotta send you another heatsink next week, my apologies.....

Thank you Chris,

This one is the duck's guts, the cat's meow, it really is. I'm really pleased with the sonics, best I've done. However, we have to sell a few to see truly how it goes, what worries me is that generally the better the product, the worse the sales!!

Trust your summer has not been too hot, and that things are going nicely in your family and your business, Chris. Thanks for the continuing interest and goodwill, very much appreciated,

Hugh