HiFi costs explained...

[andyr]

Of course Hugh's products each make the music sound different from each other, otherwise there would be no need to design and make new products. That of course is not to say that they don't all contain similarities to each other as well.

Nono, Steven! cc undoubtedly holds to the view that once you get to a certain level ... all amplifiers sound the same! So Hugh's are obviously not up to that level (co they sound different)!

Don't feed the troll.

Regards,

Andy

 

[pinkmouse]

VH, as this is a diy site, I'd suggest building a Baby Aksa. If you build it just on a wooden base and forget a case for now, you can probably get going for about £100. If you like it, it'll keep you going 'till Hugh gets back on his feet, and you can order one of his newer amps, and if you don't, you haven't really lost much.

 

[Nanook]

stvnharr, agreed. And very affordable HiFi.

There are hours and hours of design work, and all that that entails. There are a great many hidden costs that end users never see or think about.

see :

Now of course there are other factors such as the cost of commodities that are used in the manufacture of electric/electronic components and the actual costs associated with engineering the product.

I stand behind my comments regarding maximizing the dollar content in audio gear: DIY, or used is the way to go. If DIY just ensure that you save something for a respectable enclosure (it doesn't have to be fancy)

Amps other than the ASKA 55 or "baby ASKA" to consider are the 41Hz amp6 basic (a very good sounding Tripath based amplifier kit available at a very reasonable cost), good used integrated amps (British usually ) and single driver loudspeakers (without cross overs so the real expenses are the driver and the enclosures---not to everyone's taste but can be very good and very satisfying. It depends on your personal requirements). Turntables can be made or a retrofit of a tt to a better plinth (often for a significant fraction of the cost of a new turntable.). I even make my own tonearms that I think (and others have confirmed) sound way too good to be made on a kitchen table. A very simple passive "preamp (actually attenuator and input switching device) using a good potentiometer can beat up on a lot of preamps. The only thing lacking is a cd player (a used one in good nick or a re-purposed Sony "Greystation SCHP-100X or a cheap and cheerful dvd player), a tuner (often available used at a very reasonable price) and cabling.

I've built a "budget reference" system for review purposes out of some used stuff and some home-made stuff for under CAD$200 complete (receiver, TT, cdp/dvd player speakers and stands) or about £130. Although much of the wiring is "free", at some point in time it did cost some money.

HiFi can be very affordable!

 

[andyr]

One example of this must be why do people have huge mono blocks when they could just have a small integrated...

Why did you stop at just an "integrated" (amp)? You could've asked "why do people have huge mono blocks when they could just have a small receiver?" (which includes a tuner in with the preamp & power amp)?

If you have everything in the one box ... it becomes difficult to upgrade - you have to replace the lot in one go. If you have a separate preamp (and phono stage) and power amp(s) ... you can upgrade each part without touching the rest.

But there has to be some agreement that one is better than another either technically or in design.

Why on earth do you imagine there would be unanimous agreement on this?

Regards,

Andy