[guest1632]

Hi Guys

A little birdy told me they found out I sold my NAKSA 70 and wondered why since I was/am so enthusiastic about it.  Rest assured it had nothing to do with the amp - it fact its because I am so impressed with the amp I sold it for a higher purpose - I want to get the 100W version.  Trouble is the techo I want to build it for me is run off his feet right now and won't be able to build it for a while.

Rest assured once it is built I will hold a get together to check it out.

Thanks
Bill

Hi Bill,


Where you located?

Ray

[AKSA]

Hi Ray,

Bill is in Queensland, near Brisbane, but don't be too concerned about enclosures for the NAKSA 100 and the 70, I am soon to make an announcement about optional cases.

Cheers,

Hugh

[bhobba]

I am soon to make an announcement about optional cases.

Hi Hugh

Great to hear mate.  That should make building them even easier.  As soon as you do I will check with my friend to see if he can fit me in now he does not have to worry about cases.  If so expect an order pronto.  Just letting people know the tech is Clay Geisner who is Mike Lenehans electronic tech.  Right now he is busy building PDX DAC's for Mike and there is a bit of a backlog.  They are really his number one priority and he does other work servicing audiophile equipment that need to be done as well.  Thats good because my Tranquility Signature DAC is on the blink and its good to know a guy whose work you trust.  But hopefully he can fit me in soon for the 100W NAKSA build.

Thanks
Bill

[guest1632]

Hi Ray,

Bill is in Queensland, near Brisbane, but don't be too concerned about enclosures for the NAKSA 100 and the 70, I am soon to make an announcement about optional cases.

Cheers,

Hugh

Hi Hugh,

Well, that's good, and as a matter of fact, that's great! I don't mind the connection stuff, but now looks like all I would have to do is just provide the Trafo. Don't have a problem with this at all.
Bill I hope you can get yours done ASAP. If you were here in the States, I would have offered to put it all together for you. Well, I hope all is wel for you hugh.

Ray

[AKSA]

Bill, Ray,

I will keep this thread updated with progress on the cases.  Not long now......

Very serious damage in North Queensland, centreing around Tully and South Johnston.  Lots of wind damage, but no real flooding, but a huge repair bill.  AFAIK, no loss of life, very different to the floods down south in the Lockyer Valley near Toowoomba two weeks back.

My thoughts go out to these unfortunate people.  As a young soldier I once lived  in Townsville, know the environment reasonably well.  Sadly nothing can avoid the periodic formation of cyclones once the surface temperature of the sea rises above 26C.

Hugh

[gaetan8888]

Hello Hugh

I've just seen, an our ago, in the tv news, the Cyclone Yasi in Australia, they say that it's one of the biggest to touch Australia. Lot of lost and it's very sad for those peoples.

Bye

Gaetan

[Seano]

It ain't over yet....Mt Isa got a Yasi touch-up and its nearly 1000 miles from the coast.  Now it's only a tropical low. 



Next in line is Alice Springs right in the heart of the country and then this weekend......it's Victoria's turn again.  The remnants of TC Anthony are with us now while Yasi comes in tomorrow to feed another big rain event into northern Victoria to top off the floodwater that's still here.....three weeks after it arrived.

MODIS has been very very helpful with keeping an eye on everything

I love this country but there are times when you realise that living in a landscape that is typically as flat as a table does.....sometimes....have its disadvantages.

[Johnny]

Good luck to you people, and pray that this too will pass...

[AKSA]

Thanks Gaetan, Seano and John,

Five North Queensland coastal areas were very badly affected;  Mission Beach, Cardwell, Tully, Innnisfail and Ingham.  Banana and sugar cane plantations were very badly wiped out and roads, public buildings and houses destroyed.  Some flooding has occurred, not good at all.  There has been one fatality, a 23 year old male who huddled in a small space with a diesel generator and died of monoxide poisoning.  This is a pretty good record, however, considering the damage bill is probably around $3Bn, much of which government will foot.

This has all happened before, but human recorded history is brief, particularly in Oz, the real question remains if it is getting worse.  I suspect it is.......

Hugh

[Seano]

Well.........we got snotted on Friday night.  My area did anyway.  We scored more than a third of average annual rainfall in 36 hours at my place.  The other side of town scored the full average in the same period.  Probably a hundred houses and business' flooded...



But we are all good. Now back to the Naksa...

[AKSA]

Seano,

I hope your home was not flooded out, and that things rapidly return to normal.  These are tough times......

Waiting on proto cases for the new NAKSA 70 and 100 models, nearly here......

Hugh

[TomS]

Hugh,

What are the sensitivities/gain of the NAKSA 70 vs 100, as well as input impedances?  I'm considering an application for vertical and/or horizontal bi-amping (passively, NOT active) on a 2-way speaker.  If I started with a 70, then later added a 100 to biamp, I'd like to be able to mix and match 70 vs 100 channels without fussing with the pads on the tweeters. Also, in this setup, 2 inputs would be parallel, so effectively halving the input impedances.

Tom

[AKSA]

Hi Tom,

Gains in both amps are set to the THX (Tom Holman/George Lucas) standard of 29dB.  This is a voltage gain of 28.5, and it means that for an output of 25 watts into 8R, that is, 40Vpp, or 14.14Vrms)  the sensitivity is 1.40Vpp, or 495mVrms (peak) - for both amplifiers.

Zin in both cases is 30K.

Unfiltered, and there is an RF filter on each, both amps are 1dB down at just over 200KHz.

I like your decision to use passive biamping.  I find, in practice, that the phase shifts incurred with modern active filters of 24dB/octave (and higher, if digital) somehow damage the music.

Hugh

[bhobba]

I find, in practice, that the phase shifts incurred with modern active filters of 24dB/octave (and higher, if digital) somehow damage the music.

Very well respected speaker designers like Mike Lenehan of ML1 fame, and Bob Smith of Aether Audio, both have investigated state of the art active crossovers including DEQX.  They found well designed passive crossovers were better, or, in the case of other designers, at least as good.  Devices like the DEQX are the future but right now a state of the art passive crossover is better.  That is not to say a DEQX does not sound good, and if you are a hobbyist speaker designer is well worth going with, but an experienced and knowledgeable passive crossover designer can best it.

Thanks
Bill 

[JohnR]

Very well respected speaker designers like Mike Lenehan of ML1 fame, and Bob Smith of Aether Audio, both have investigated state of the art active crossovers including DEQX.  They found well designed passive crossovers were better, or, in the case of other designers, at least as good.

Um... what would you expect them to say? They've spent years and years and years perfecting their passive crossover design skills, they aren't about to turn around and tell the world/their customers that it's second-rate.

I find, in practice, that the phase shifts incurred with modern active filters of 24dB/octave (and higher, if digital) somehow damage the music.

The phase shift of an active crossover (analogue, or digital using IIR filters) is the same as that of a passive crossover of the same topology and order. So if the active crossover "damages the music" in this manner then so does the passive one.

Higher-end digital crossovers that use FIR filters (e.g. DEQX) do not have the same limitations with phase shift.

[AKSA]

Last week I visited a local forum member's home to listen to his NAKSA 70 and Lenehan ML3 combination, with a Lenehan audio PDX DAC and Logitech Squeezebox as source.  I took along a NAKSA 100 because Richard has asked for an audition.

Bloody revelation!!  The ML3s are VERY good speakers, perhaps the best in their category (around $8K, I believe?) I have heard, up there with the VSonics, I'd suggest!

The presentation was marvellous, and as expected, the 100 added that extra scale and expanded the sound field a little.

Of particular note was the clarity, the imaging, and the resolution.  Just stunning!!

My thanks to Richard for his hospitality,

Cheers,

Hugh

[bhobba]

Last week I visited a local forum member's home to listen to his NAKSA 70 and Lenehan ML3 combination, with a Lenehan audio PDX DAC and Logitech Squeezebox as source.  I took along a NAKSA 100 because Richard has asked for an audition. Bloody revelation!!  The ML3s are VERY good speakers, perhaps the best in their category (around $8K, I believe?) I have heard, up there with the VSonics, I'd suggest! The presentation was marvellous, and as expected, the 100 added that extra scale and expanded the sound field a little. Of particular note was the clarity, the imaging, and the resolution.  Just stunning!!

That's the version without the Duelunds.  Wait until you hear the version with those.  Once you hear them you won't go back.  Mike is the distributer here in Aus and you may like to get some to try on the Vsonics and see if may like to offer them as an upgrade.  Richard has heard the version of the PDX with the Duelunds - they make a shocking difference.

Thanks
Bill

[guest1632]

Last week I visited a local forum member's home to listen to his NAKSA 70 and Lenehan ML3 combination, with a Lenehan audio PDX DAC and Logitech Squeezebox as source.  I took along a NAKSA 100 because Richard has asked for an audition.

Bloody revelation!!  The ML3s are VERY good speakers, perhaps the best in their category (around $8K, I believe?) I have heard, up there with the VSonics, I'd suggest!

The presentation was marvellous, and as expected, the 100 added that extra scale and expanded the sound field a little.

Of particular note was the clarity, the imaging, and the resolution.  Just stunning!!

My thanks to Richard for his hospitality,

Cheers,

Hugh

Hi Hugh,

How are the cases coming along for the Naksa 70 and 100?  Any rough guestimates as to price yet?

Ray

[AKSA]

No, Ray,

My apologies, nothing yet, still waiting on the proto.

When I have it, there will be a couple days delay as I confirm the requirements by assembling an amp, then there will be a delay as numbers are produced.  This could take some time - things happen slowly in Oz, unfortunately.

Thank you for your strong interest, much appreciated,

Hugh

[AKSA]

Folks,

I have a prototype case for the NAKSA 70 now complete.  Here it is with a NAKSA 70 stereo module in the correct position:





This case is very, very good.  It's made in monocoque from one sheet of Al, and requires only a 1mm steel top cover.  It's purpose designed by Graeme, a good and generous friend, and I have pulled the trigger on a number to be produced in the next fortnight.

This is, as I've said, a prototype.  The final will have:

1.  All sharp edges linished
2.  Semi-gloss, quality powder coating
3.  All holes and slots correctly position for standard production parts which may be ordered or otherwise with the module
4.  No further reworking required;  a complete DIY kitchen table assembly, just supply Transformer, which can be up to 120mm in diameter.

The more I listen to the NAKSA 70 and 100 power amps, the more convinced I become that these are just wonderful amps, very musical with terrific resolution and driving bass.

More later as the batch is made.  I will photograph and display here the build.

Cheers,

Hugh