Where to look? Refined Audio room? I usually go in with a plan of rooms I want to visit, but that usually gets blown up. So much to see and hear!
Greetings from the Refined Audio room 745 at Axpona. Please come and visit us.
We will be playing records with a Pass Labs XP-17 Phono preamp and XP-12 line level preamp into a First Watt SIT 4 and Cube Audio full range speakers.
There will also be a demo of the latest proof of concept E-Beast electrostatic headphone amplifier along with a mock-up of the upcoming production model.
We will be playing records with a Pass Labs XP-17 Phono preamp and XP-12 line level preamp into a First Watt SIT 4 and Cube Audio full range speakers.
There will also be a demo of the latest proof of concept E-Beast electrostatic headphone amplifier along with a mock-up of the upcoming production model.
I will be there Saturday, but will not be showing the Hill plasmas this year; I wish I could but the cost is horrendous.
One of the better rooms I saw today was Kimber Kable in room 1118, they have a pair of PASS XA25 amps with 4 matched speakers for an A B interconnects and speaker cable comparison.
Well worth the visit.
Well worth the visit.
Do NOT miss Refined Audio in room 745, the CUBE speakers are a single 8" driver with bass, bass and more bass. Amazing!
By the way, ask Jon to see and hear the Beast. First time for me to hear Stax headphones.
By the way, ask Jon to see and hear the Beast. First time for me to hear Stax headphones.
One last post, one of the pleasant surprises is hearing music I've never heard before. This year it was Danni Carlos singing U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".
A little photo story (not from me): https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/axpona-24’-mike-lavigne-pics.38610/
I was there Friday, will be there again today. Brought my daughter, her husband, and his brother, they really enjoyed it.
I notice the PCB has alternative pinouts for the JFET's, I wonder if Nelson was thinking of using K170's.
Now that AXPONA 2024 is in the rear view mirror, I thought I would share the information on "The Beast" that the Refined Audio folks were so kind to share. (I sure hope I get all the info correct!)
1 - The input uses complimentary pairs of K170's and J74 JFET's as a buffer, which feeds the Cinemag input transformer.
2 - The J113 JFETS are arranged in pairs of two, using one JFET to bias the other as followers in unity gain. (I think they said it has 124 JFET's per channel) They provide the current for the amplifier which will produce 5 watts out of the speaker connections on the back panel.
3 - The voltage is provided by the output transformers (v3.0) which are hand made, silver core, 40 AWG using Bees wax instead of varnish. The output transformer is dual primary and secondaries.
4 - The volume control is from Poland and uses relays and precision resistors, a very satisfying series of clicks are heard when raising and lowering the volume. I really like the volume display, very different yet the same digital display. They are not happy with the fact there is no balance control in the volume control assembly. (Since I'm not into headphones, I guess that would be important.)
5 - The headphone amp is designed to drive electro-static headphones.
6- The version close to production was next to the prototype, not nearly as nice looking as the prototype they refer to as the "toaster".
Production, marketing, branding are all "in progress", maybe next year we will see the final production version in the Refined Audio room of AXPONA 2025.
1 - The input uses complimentary pairs of K170's and J74 JFET's as a buffer, which feeds the Cinemag input transformer.
2 - The J113 JFETS are arranged in pairs of two, using one JFET to bias the other as followers in unity gain. (I think they said it has 124 JFET's per channel) They provide the current for the amplifier which will produce 5 watts out of the speaker connections on the back panel.
3 - The voltage is provided by the output transformers (v3.0) which are hand made, silver core, 40 AWG using Bees wax instead of varnish. The output transformer is dual primary and secondaries.
4 - The volume control is from Poland and uses relays and precision resistors, a very satisfying series of clicks are heard when raising and lowering the volume. I really like the volume display, very different yet the same digital display. They are not happy with the fact there is no balance control in the volume control assembly. (Since I'm not into headphones, I guess that would be important.)
5 - The headphone amp is designed to drive electro-static headphones.
6- The version close to production was next to the prototype, not nearly as nice looking as the prototype they refer to as the "toaster".
Production, marketing, branding are all "in progress", maybe next year we will see the final production version in the Refined Audio room of AXPONA 2025.