[AKSA]

Kieran,

Good point.  I actually don't quite agree with Lyn on this;  one is a 100W amp, the other is a 150W amp (the Maya) and quite apart from different sonic characteristics is competing in a different space.  On top of that, the most influential factor in a power amp is its topology, and they are totally different, with only the single ended voltage amplifier in common, all else quite different, including input and output stages.

There is also the small matter of feedback.  The Maya is a zero global fb amp, and as such sounds more natural, truly it 'disappears'.  The Soraya uses global feedback, not too much, but around 30dB, so its presentation differs.

In general, I do agree that making 'identical' amps at different price points is plain silly.  But I have to check myself here, as I design amps in my head most weeks as a mental exercise, build a few of them, but tend to toy with ideas for long periods.

I've yet to take that picture, I shall do it now.....

Cheers,

Hugh

[Afterimage]

The other thing is current.  I have heard a high current 100 wt amp sound like it has more balls than a 140 watt amp in a comparison before.  The speakers used in this comparison were a Mark and Daniel Ruby, they need at least 100 watts so they are relatively power hungary for a small book shelf.

[andyr]

The other thing is current.  I have heard a high current 100 wt amp sound like it has more balls than a 140 watt amp in a comparison before.

Indeed, AI. 

In relation to this, all I can say is that Maggies - particularly the bigger, 3-way ones like I have - are notorious current whores (in terms of the big bass panels).  I run my IIIas 3-way active and with a LF100 on the bass panels, I never hear a hint of strain.   IE. it certainly has "balls"!! 

So the Soraya and, more so, the Maya will also. 

Regards,

Andy

[LM]

I apologise if my 99% gave the wrong message.   I simply meant to convey by it that the drive (balls), overall performance and sonic character of all Hugh's amps (across all of their price points) are uniformly achieved to my ears.  And yes, I meant sounding more valve like as a great (as Afterimage describes it) and positive thing.

[AKSA]

Lyn,

Absolutely no apology needed.  You called it how you saw it, and that's the wonder of forums, anything less would be censorship, not something any of us would like.

Cheers,

Hugh

[Afterimage]

Who are you kidding Hugh?  The only reason you don't ban him from this forum is because he takes you out for coffee.  Heck, he probably gives you chocolate too.  

[SuperMart]

Kieran.

You are very well informed!! 

However, we draw the line at chocolate, I have an imposing, burgeoning girth to consider!!

Hugh

[VYnuhl.Addict]

Afterimage,


    The prior Maya that has been heard is the first prototype which aside from its Zero Global design contained many similarities to the Soraya 2009 Toplogically at that stage. In the last 3 months the Maya has been very painstakingly reworked and I must say the gap has been widened, while there are still similarities, the virtues of each have been fully extolled. The Maya in its infancy was superb sounding, but its a wholly different beast these days sharing even less in common with its predecessor ...The most obvious bonus with the Zero Global approach is that it will literally drive any speaker with full stability, the catch is, being open loop we have one shot to get it right since we dont have global feedback to clean up any loose ends..


Colin

[AKSA]

Thanks Colin!!

Kieran,

There speaketh the lesson - Colin has been intimately involved with refinement of the Maya, in fact HE has signed off on it, being younger and bat-eared.  The amp I am building for you is his sign-off, with one additional concept - adaptive bias - which I thought was my idea until I looked at Andrea Ciuffoli's website a few days back and saw he had dreamed it up before me.  However, his was a conceptual diagram only, I have built and refined it in a prototype, and now it's a stable, 100% implementation.

I make it clear that this amp is a joint effort between Colin and me, and that his input has been spectacular.  Thanks mate!

Hugh

[andyr]

Thanks Colin!!

The amp I am building for you is his sign-off, with one additional concept - adaptive bias - which I thought was my idea until I looked at Andrea Ciuffoli's website a few days back and saw he had dreamed it up before me.  However, his was a conceptual diagram only, I have built and refined it in a prototype, and now it's a stable, 100% implementation.

Hugh

Cmon, Hugh .. what the hell is "adaptive bias" and why is it so good?  I thought you already had a good bias arrangement worked with the Soraya (compared to the LFs)? 

Regards,

Andy

[AKSA]

Adaptive bias is a means by which the traditional current starvation issues with diamond buffers are resolved.  It meters the current drawn by the load, and ramps up the driver current to supply the increasing bias requirement of the output devices.

It means that the distortion of the buffer is greatly reduced and the efficiency of the driver stage can be considerably improved.

Hugh

[andyr]

Adaptive bias is a means by which the traditional current starvation issues with diamond buffers are resolved.  It meters the current drawn by the load, and ramps up the driver current to supply the increasing bias requirement of the output devices.

It means that the distortion of the buffer is greatly reduced and the efficiency of the driver stage can be considerably improved.

Hugh

Thanks, Hugh.  Sounds good (although it's really beyond me!  ).

Regards,

Andy

[Afterimage]

Adaptive bias is a means by which the traditional current starvation issues with diamond buffers are resolved.  It meters the current drawn by the load, and ramps up the driver current to supply the increasing bias requirement of the output devices.

It means that the distortion of the buffer is greatly reduced and the efficiency of the driver stage can be considerably improved.

Hugh
[/quote

"So it it turbo charged?"  "only on the floor model".   

Andy, yeah this is beyond me too.  Quote above is from the movie "My Cousin Vinny" where a guy was explaining a machine in great detail to prove his credentials and basically was talking way above everyone else.  Some one in smart tone asked the above question and got an answer he did not expect as he thought the question would have nothing to do with this machine what so ever.  Darn funny.  Anyway, guys even though it is above me I still like to read about it, good stuff none the less.  But in the end, for a simpleton like me the most important thing is it sounds good in my system.
        -Kieran

[andyr]

Adaptive bias is a means by which the traditional current starvation issues with diamond buffers are resolved.  It meters the current drawn by the load, and ramps up the driver current to supply the increasing bias requirement of the output devices.

It means that the distortion of the buffer is greatly reduced and the efficiency of the driver stage can be considerably improved.

Hugh

"So it it turbo charged?"  "Only on the floor model."   

Andy, yeah this is beyond me too.  Quote above is from the movie "My Cousin Vinny" where a guy was explaining a machine in great detail to prove his credentials and basically was talking way above everyone else.  Some one in smart tone asked the above question and got an answer he did not expect as he thought the question would have nothing to do with this machine what so ever.  Darn funny.  Anyway, guys even though it is above me I still like to read about it, good stuff none the less.  But in the end, for a simpleton like me the most important thing is it sounds good in my system.
        -Kieran

I can assure you, Kieran, that the new Maya will sound good!     I heard the "old" one and that was good.    (And, yes, I'm pretty sure it had the "diamond buffer"!  )

Regards,

Andy

[Afterimage]

Okay, guys thats enough.  All your doing now is making me more excited about the Maya.  Time do dig in for the wait. 

[VYnuhl.Addict]

Okay, guys thats enough.  All your doing now is making me more excited about the Maya.  Time do dig in for the wait. 

  It will be worth it, if its any additional consolation, since completing the Maya I have found it hard to get motivated to try anything new at this point, it will come in time, but im very satisfied with the Maya at present..

   Thanks Hugh!, its always been a pleasure, and an obsession working on these together in whats been a seemingly quite productive team effort!!. The adaptive bias may not be "New", but its none the less a brilliant idea with the goal and Aim of most of the Benefits of Class A"sound", without the waste in heat in our present society which is in Dire need of moving "Greener".. The Diamond buffer needs either high biased drivers to sound good/or adaptive bias, the key factor is Output biasing, and the transition where the driver slides from static state into adaptive, screw up this point, and things wont be what they should be..Then the lovely fact that this will change for different devices used ..Without divulging too much, thats it in a nutshell, the topology part is easy, the hardest part is getting the most out of the topology as Hugh can attest to.


  When it all comes together, its an amazingly natural, powerful, tube like delivery with realism that contains none of that SS hardness whatsoever.



Colin

 

 

[AKSA]

Hey Colin,

Yo got mail......

Andy,

If you and I sat down in a cafe, where I could read your comprehension or otherwise, I could explain this to you in a few minutes, possibly as few as two coffees and a friand, flourless of course......

Kieran,

Don't be too balked by all this tech stuff.  In a few years it will be utterly conventional, people building diamond buffer output stages, which are truly sonically outstanding - Colin turned my attention to them - these guys will all be using this adaptive bias technique.  Once explained, all these things are pretty straightforward, only the Theory of Relativity is really tough to understand.

And lest it seem that I'm bright, be assured there are people on other forums who are hundreds of times brighter than any of us put together.  The minute you think you are clever you close off your mind and stop learning.  I've found that everyone has skills aplenty, we are very complex creatures, we just need to find what we are good at.  Those who do are normally financially successful, perhaps you are one of those!  When it comes to administration and finance, I'm a babe in the woods....


Cheers,


Hugh

[Afterimage]

would this amp be considered a wide bandwith amp?

[AKSA]

Kieran,

Absolutely!!  We need to put in a low pass filter so it doesn't pick up radio stations!!

And it works beautifully down to VERY low frequencies too, the bass is extraordinary.......

Must send another photo of the boards, making progress.


Cheers,

Hugh

[stvnharr]

The minute you think you are clever you close off your mind and stop learning. 

It's what you learn after you already know EVERYTHING that really counts!!!