[kyrill]

What does the customer has to provide by her/himself?
The enclosure and the power : "YOU WILL NEED:

A case to mount the components in, connecters and wire, the power supply transformer, and the power supply components."

My question is about the "pws components"
Included in the kit are (pws part?) :  "Also supplied are four 4,700uF 63VW quality power supply capacitors, specialized ultrafast soft recovery diodes and a custom pcb to mount these large items and incorporate a star earth."

Are those extra not included components the " full wave rectifiers"?  Or is it more? I am a little confuses as included are the  ultrafast soft recovery diodes which I do not recognise in the PWS diagram.
Kyrill

[AKSA]

Hi Kyrill,

Thank you for your post.  Yes, it's badly worded, I'll revisit and correct it today.

You get:

1.  Power supply caps.
2.  Power supply pcb.
3.  All ultrafast soft recovery diodes needed to make up the two complete rectifier bridges.
4.  Pcb spade connecctors to enable easy connection of the power supply.

So you need:

2 x power transformers, toroid or EI.
4 x Binding posts for speakers.
Mains switch.
Enclosure.
IEC connector and fuse.
LED indicator.

  You'll notice that most of the parts omitted are heavy and bulky, and easy to find locally.  This saves big dollars on postage for the price of a little inconvenience, but remains the only viable way to handle international kit sales.  That about wraps it up!

Cheers,

Hugh

[kyrill]

SO it is more complete than I already accepted the kit to be )

Now only my question, when will be the best time to order one incl the Nirwana PLUS upgrade

[AKSA]

Kyrill,

Only two days ago I placed an order in Japan for some of the Nirvana Plus parts;  I'm still making inquiries in Singapore and Japan for some of the others, and it's taking time as my quantities are obviously not high enough....

I will certainly post news on the website when the Nirvana Plus is on sale.

Now, some news on this......

Recently I received a call from a Melbourne speaker designer who has made some sensational speakers, using mostly Focal, Audax and Fostex drivers.  His masterpiece has been a refrigerator-sized 95dB/watt/metre Godzilla with a 15" Audax, a 7K Focal and a Fostex 104dB tapered horn tweeter.  This speaker is stupendous;  one night I remember Respighi's Apian Way played with my Glass Harmony tube/mosfet SE amplifier, and it was, arguably, the most realistic rendition of recorded music I've ever heard.

This man owns two custom 35W 845 push pull monoblock tube amplifiers built by Black Art Audio, owned by the legendary Lucas Cant, a consulting mechatronics engineer with a passion for audio.  They run 1200V, mercury arc rectifiers, seven chokes each channel and would safely anchor a 20 metre schooner in a heavy swell.  This amplifier is a standard for others to emulate;  I don't believe I've ever heard a better one.

Lewis was an early beta tester of the AKSA, and has continued in this role for my upgrades.  He has wonderful ears, listens to a broad range of music, has many audiophiles around to listen (no wife!!), and is methodical in the extreme.  He uses the AKSA, a 55W built out to 75W with 45V rails, for the bass amp in his 845 rig.  A couple of weeks back he had rung for the 'latest' AKSA mods, and we exchanged the information, and with his huge cache of parts, he modified his AKSA to Nirvana Plus.

He rang three days ago with his impressions.  He said that the mods had virtually doubled the performance, and it was now very close to the 845, though more detailed, with a sharper sound stage.  It didn't have the tonal structure of the tube amp, which is lush, yet accurate, all at the same time, but it now sounded like a 500W amplifier.  He muttered something about casting rose petals at my feet, which amused me!  

So, I am still wrangling with parts sourcing.  Most of it is caps;  audiophile jewellry, in fact, and it's rare and difficult to find.  But I'll get there.....

There, Kyrill, I'll bet you didn't expect a 1000 word essay!!  

Cheers,

Hugh

[DavidDG]

Hi Hugh,

Can you give us an estimated cost for the Nirvana Plus?

Thanks,

Dave

[AKSA]

Hi David,

This is difficult;  I'm still reeling from the effects of this upgrade and not all prices are through.  It will be quite expensive, somewhere between $AUD300 and $AUD400, ($US230-$US305) but this would include the Nirvana as well.  For those upgrading, deduct about $AUD180 (US137), ballpark.  Further refinement is necessary, as I'm still deciding whether I should differentiate between the 100W and the 55W...

Please don't hold me to it, but certainly won't be dearer;  not dead sure yet.

Cheers,

Hugh

[kyrill]

Hi
I ordered my 40W AKSAN+. emailed it to aksa1@optus...

You have a convincing way of painting with words the perceived beauty of yr babies.

And that in 476 words.
K.