[kyrill]

hi Jules
I see the zillions of hours you have spend on it. Congratulations to your very original design. I think your photoos do not give it justice. Meeting the amp in the flesh, will be a much more  "intense"experience.
 I see you added extra resistors to the power supply.
IS it like this?:


or do you use them as "bleeders"?

[Lost81]

Those look like bleeder resistors...
Definitely on the DC side of the PS...



-Lost81

[EchiDna]

Nice work Jules... make that VERY nice work!

I can smell that beautiful Huon pine as you were routing it from here
how I wish I had my tools with me here in Singapore *sigh*

regarding the 10amp push button switch.... well you can do it with available parts, you just need a switch that meets your intended "look" and a relay. I think it was RonR who did this already??? perhaps a short tutorial is in order...

EDIT: typo...

[AKSA]

Jules,

This is a work of seminal elegance......  beautifully conceived, exquisitely made, it wins the AKSA award for excellence for 2004.    

What say others?  Agree??  Jules' work is just incredible - thanks for sharing.    

Is it fully run in and delivering as good as it looks?

Cheers,

Hugh

[Rom]

Kyrill;

I'm not Jules but I believe that the bleeder resistor are connected to the V+ of the DC supply to ground and the other one from the V- to ground.
basically the resistor are in pararell connection to the capacitors on the PS.

Cheers
rom

[kyrill]

Hi Rom


According to Hawk audio which got a very favourable review on TNT audio
"In most electronic equipment a rectifier transforms AC to DC. So far so good. A silicon rectifier is a semi-conductor, only letting current go through it when the output voltage is more than 0,5 Volt below the input. At that very moment it switches "ON". Inside a semiconductor there is a capacitance as well. This capacitor, together with the inductance of the wiring, causes a very sharp peak voltage to occur. This peak is too fast to be dampened by the connected (electrolytic) capacitors.

The solution is simple: put a resistor between the transformer and the rectifier. In a transistor power amp the value of that resistor may be 0,1 Ohm - 5 Watt. With tube power amps it could be around 1 Ohm and in preamps (transistor and tubes) some 10 Ohms. The result is a more relaxed amplification. It seems as if the sound comes easier out of your loudspeakers and the stereo image is mostly improved. A few dimes will do the job."

[Rom]

Hi kyrill,

Good idea on  that one , I will try them as soon I'm back from my Home leave.

Anyway, lets keep the topic on the galery subject.


Rom

[Rod]

Hi Rom
The solution is simple: put a resistor between the transformer and the rectifier. In a transistor power amp the value of that resistor may be 0,1 Ohm - 5 Watt. With tube power amps it could be around 1 Ohm and in preamps (transistor and tubes) some 10 Ohms. The result is a more relaxed amplification. It seems as if the sound comes easier out of your loudspeakers and the stereo image is mostly improved. A few dimes will do the job."

This mod sounds worth trying, has anyone tried it and heard the difference?

PS: That case is just stunning. I especially like the rca input and binding post position and the careful consideration of cooling vents, lovely work!

[jules]

thanks so much for all the glowing compliments   I am most proud of my proposed "Aksa amp of the year award" from Hugh and hope I can survive the remaining couple of weeks without being knocked out.

I so much wish that I could lay claim to a clever electronic [or even topological!] idea but I have to confess that my system is totally standard and the clever "bleeder resistors" are either a small block of wood which acts as a wire separator/insulator [I like this idea somewhat] or merely the led feeds.

I'll reply to various individual posts via pms so as to keep the thread on topic.

I gave this amp a deliberate retro [art deco] look partly because it very strongly connects with a period when tubes ruled. In conjunction I have a nearly complete image in my head for a GK-1 with a complimentary but quite different box which would reflect the same sort of theme but get away from the "exposed tube" look, which I like but which I don't think is well suited to the two small tubes on the GK-1 [although I think Rom succeeded with his design]. Also in my brain is a funky look version of both of these and a related design for an Aksa 100 but I'm not at all sure when I might get the time to do any of them at the moment.

I'm a great fan of the tech look in all sorts of items and at one stage I owned a stove with a chimney made from a stack of finned aeroplane barrels in a room totally lined with egg cartons but I think there is a point where design has to become more "living room friendly" if I can put it that way. An expensive amp/set is goes beyond being a hobby and becomes a joint purchase out of a family budget. This means that it has to have wider appeal than it's tech specs and also has  to work for both sexes as well as people who wouldn't care if they were looking at a high level amp or totem pole.

Jules

[95Honda]

I just posted mine on the gallery...

[kyrill]

I am not that young anymore but do you have a link?
You are not yet on the first thumbnail page

[RonR]

Here you go:

Gallery entry for 95Honda

SOLID job! How does it sound?

BTW, I've added some pics of the completed 55N+ to my gallery:

here

Cheers,

Ron

[kyrill]

Unbelievable
What a love and attention for the AKSA's beauties. Both of you
God again is reflected in the details. The last couple of entrees are awesome.
According to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance , they must sound a little better too

But Honda will benefit extra from the extreme thick panels  because of their mass.
When you will build once an GK-1 Honda, keep the the mass aspect in honour :
Intuïtevely I learn that the GK-1 may even be better than the AKSA's

Hugh see what they do to your babies. They must be from Royal blood, is that possible, a blue bloodline from Down Under???

[AKSA]

Mike, 95Honda, hails from the USAF and presently lives in Washington State.  He works in a technical coms facility, and not only has the technology at his fingertips but is an accomplished metal worker.  I think this case is seminal too;  beautifully made with Aluminium just as Jules has made his case largely with timber.

When I saw Mike's 'rig' I realized he was just like most of us - a hard-bitten audiophile with the nervosa infection at Stage 4 - did you see the subs in his AUTOMOBILE!!  MEIN GOTT!!  On a front drive vehicle, I'm sure the subs drive the rear wheels!!

Congratulations, Mike, and thank you very much for posting to the gallery.

Cheers,

Hugh

[EchiDna]

All updated again on the first page...

It's also refreshing to see that it aint only in Australia that taxpayers money is hard at work building personal projects

[Rom]

RonR/Honda,

Nice work, these really put all my effort to shame.

Congratulations to you both.

It seems to me that the AKSA's are getting better and better on the look department. Hugh must be very proud and of course the owner as well.

When I was designing mine I was really torn between the Industrial looks
and the designers look. I ended up with what ever material I could find and make the most of it.

Cheers
rom

[Lost81]

RonR/Honda,

Gorgeous work! I love the industrial look!  

Thanks for tirelessly adding new pics to the main page, Echina!



-Lost81

[MikeC]

Honda

WOW! Over the top would be an understatement - and I mean that in the best possible way. Great job. This makes a Krell look lightweight.

And, it looks from the printing on the aluminium top plate that at least some of the material originated just 60km up the road from me.

Cheers

Mike

[95Honda]

Thank you for the great feedback!  And thanks Hugh for all the help along the way...  The amplifier sounds magnificent in my system.  I wish I could post better pictures, they just don't do the amplifier justice at all.  I like going with the all buisness look with all the audio equipment I build.  Also, being in the military and getting shipped all over the world, it doesn't hurt to build things like brick s*it house so they won't get damaged easy.  I finally have an amplifier that keeps my mains running along with my subwoofer system!

If you take your time, you can build just about anything......

[soitstarts]

Hi all,
Okay, sorry about going off topic here but theres a couple of things.
First, I am in the process of building my first project (Aksa 100N) and this forum has been a great help and inspiration, the level of quality here is awsome. The problem for the likes of first timers like me is that it can be a bit intimidating because everytime you look in here there is another piece of art that, ultimatly, I will be comparing to my finished product  
Thats not to say I think mine will be comparable to the works here, but it is just my nature.. There are plenty of examples of pure art here that really should be an inspiration to all.
The plus side of all this is that my amp will never be completed. once I have it running and have the time, skills and resources I will have a new amp with minimal outlay After spending lots on the electronics, money for the case at this time sits way behind my families needs, being chrissy and all.

Now a quick question. What exactly is anodising? Is it a chemicle process or mechanical process? Do you require a certain grade/thickness of metal? can you do it yourself? the reason I ask is that for my case I have laminated 3 pieces of ally and was going to sand it then coat it in clear coat but I am not sure if the coat will stick without etching. Have always assumed that anodising was a specialised process but I need to be sure before ruling it out..

Thanks for your time and its back to the bench (dining table) for me..

Martin.