Thank you Russell,
You have owned just about all my amps in the last 15 years, and I am very grateful for your interest and patronage, as I have feel for others here, such as PSP, Jens, AndyR, and many other discriminating people.
I have approached the design issue as a detective over more than 20 years now. I tried to play down the technology; it is secondary, the music is the primal requirement. And because we are people enjoying an art form, we cannot be ignored in the sound chain and there needs to be more work into what works and what does not. I am now convinced that global feedback is pivotal; but I remember something said many decades ago, 'Design an amplifier which is as linear as you can make it, then use a little feedback'. This is my maxim these days!
Cheers,
Hugh
You have owned just about all my amps in the last 15 years, and I am very grateful for your interest and patronage, as I have feel for others here, such as PSP, Jens, AndyR, and many other discriminating people.
I have approached the design issue as a detective over more than 20 years now. I tried to play down the technology; it is secondary, the music is the primal requirement. And because we are people enjoying an art form, we cannot be ignored in the sound chain and there needs to be more work into what works and what does not. I am now convinced that global feedback is pivotal; but I remember something said many decades ago, 'Design an amplifier which is as linear as you can make it, then use a little feedback'. This is my maxim these days!
Cheers,
Hugh
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I couldn't have said it better.
Another thing to note is that the Maya is very very quiet. With only the amplifier on and connected to the speakers I can just barely hear some transformer noise if I have my ear right up against the speaker woofer. The Maya is far more quiet than any other of the Aspen amps.
Listening to the Maya right now and its very musical.
With A tube Pre it sounds pretty fantastic actually.
Simple design has great merits .
Stevie Wonder is in my Room 🙂
Best Regards to all
Garry
With A tube Pre it sounds pretty fantastic actually.
Simple design has great merits .
Stevie Wonder is in my Room 🙂
Best Regards to all
Garry
Hi Garry,
Thanks for your post..... on 20th April I'm presenting the Maya to the Melbourne Audio Club at the Willis Room, Whitehorse Council Auditorium. I have been playing the Maya around Melbourne in recent weeks and everyone is entranced; it is very resolving and the ambient information of the performance is better with this amp that I have ever heard, and indeed all my previous designs. I attach my flyer for the MAC, explaining my upcoming event.
Cheers,
Hugh
Thanks for your post..... on 20th April I'm presenting the Maya to the Melbourne Audio Club at the Willis Room, Whitehorse Council Auditorium. I have been playing the Maya around Melbourne in recent weeks and everyone is entranced; it is very resolving and the ambient information of the performance is better with this amp that I have ever heard, and indeed all my previous designs. I attach my flyer for the MAC, explaining my upcoming event.
Cheers,
Hugh
Attachments
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Yes, completed development and now on sale.
Yet to be put up on the website when I have figured out how to rejigged my websites.
Hugh
Yet to be put up on the website when I have figured out how to rejigged my websites.
Hugh
Congratulations Hugh, your Maya presentation at the Melbourne Audio Club last night went superbly. Rarely have I enjoyed a meeting as much as this one.
Wow, thanks Russell!
I spent a lot of time on the music selection, and I was there at 6:15pm warming the amp and speakers. Nick run the Oppo very well and all my comments between pieces highlighted the aspects of the amp issues I think are important.
I do run out of words. They are there but the retrieval is slow; my HDD spins a lot less these days. But the ideas are OK, and a number of people during the break said that the comments were interesting and surprising.
I can never restrain myself from taking pot shots at the common lore of audio and the 'guru' who give us 'helpful' tips on design. I did not much dwell on harmonic distortion but I did take aim at the consumer, who thinks if the case is neat and the front panel is 15mm Al with CNC engraving and many lights and meters is a good amp. The visual presentation does not make a good amp, but the reverse does not attract buyers. The result is far too much money on the looks, particularly the front panel.
I thought Laurie's VSonics were just exceptional, very good range, dynamics, and resolution.
Thanks for coming along to the meet, Russell! To see you there and many other Aspen customers was very encouraging!
Cheers,
Hugh
I spent a lot of time on the music selection, and I was there at 6:15pm warming the amp and speakers. Nick run the Oppo very well and all my comments between pieces highlighted the aspects of the amp issues I think are important.
I do run out of words. They are there but the retrieval is slow; my HDD spins a lot less these days. But the ideas are OK, and a number of people during the break said that the comments were interesting and surprising.
I can never restrain myself from taking pot shots at the common lore of audio and the 'guru' who give us 'helpful' tips on design. I did not much dwell on harmonic distortion but I did take aim at the consumer, who thinks if the case is neat and the front panel is 15mm Al with CNC engraving and many lights and meters is a good amp. The visual presentation does not make a good amp, but the reverse does not attract buyers. The result is far too much money on the looks, particularly the front panel.
I thought Laurie's VSonics were just exceptional, very good range, dynamics, and resolution.
Thanks for coming along to the meet, Russell! To see you there and many other Aspen customers was very encouraging!
Cheers,
Hugh
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High Hugh
Always a good read to hear anything about the Maya...Is there any further development with the Maya 300 ?
senior
Always a good read to hear anything about the Maya...Is there any further development with the Maya 300 ?
senior
Hi Sene,
Thank you for your post - I have a 200W in the market, and now you ask me for a 300W??? WOW!!
How many would you sell, do you reckon? Lot of heavy work to make a very big amp......
Cheers,
Hugh
Thank you for your post - I have a 200W in the market, and now you ask me for a 300W??? WOW!!
How many would you sell, do you reckon? Lot of heavy work to make a very big amp......
Cheers,
Hugh
New Maya on Order
Hi Folks
A newbie to Diyaudio here, but a previous lurker, and a long time music lover.
I've ordered a Maya 200 from Hugh as (hopefully) the final upgrade of my 20 year old system.
I'm not an ardent DIY guy, but like tinkering (I'm lucky I have a mate that can help), and a strong desire for a bargain.
I've upgraded from Dynaudio Finale kit speakers to GoldenEar Triton 1's, a modified Esoteric Audio Research 802 pre-amp / Sony SACD player to a Lampizator G5/L5 DAC with volume control, and am looking to replace my Perreaux 250P power amp with the Maya.
I listened to the Aleph (the 100W version) which a friend built, in my current system, and was impressed with the level of inner detail revealed and the general 'rightness' of the sound. Voices sound better also.
I've been doing a lot of research into a Perreaux replacement (I live in NZ so demo's are difficult) and based on that research had a very eclectic short list of amps including:
Interestingly the Maya technology appears to be a cross between the Butler / First Watt and Gamut, insofar as it uses 2x large mosfets per channel (Gamut), and the harmonic distortion profile is mostly 2nd order with the ratio of descending level even / odd harmonic distortion specifically tuned from there (Butler and First Watt).
Having said that, Hugh has gotten to this point through his own research / trial and error. My observation is the parameters that are important to him are mirrored in what are (apparently) excellent sounding amplifiers.
The only 'fail' (if you can call it that) is the Maya is not Class A, but I understand from Hugh that he has conquered crossover distortion.
So the Maya looks like a musical, delicate, powerful, truthful amplifier for what seems to be a bargain price. Can't wait!!!
But it'll be a few weeks yet. Trafo's on order, Hugh's awaiting the new casework for the Maya, then I'll post some impressions against the Perreaux and the Aleph.
Cheers
Hi Folks
A newbie to Diyaudio here, but a previous lurker, and a long time music lover.
I've ordered a Maya 200 from Hugh as (hopefully) the final upgrade of my 20 year old system.
I'm not an ardent DIY guy, but like tinkering (I'm lucky I have a mate that can help), and a strong desire for a bargain.
I've upgraded from Dynaudio Finale kit speakers to GoldenEar Triton 1's, a modified Esoteric Audio Research 802 pre-amp / Sony SACD player to a Lampizator G5/L5 DAC with volume control, and am looking to replace my Perreaux 250P power amp with the Maya.
I listened to the Aleph (the 100W version) which a friend built, in my current system, and was impressed with the level of inner detail revealed and the general 'rightness' of the sound. Voices sound better also.
I've been doing a lot of research into a Perreaux replacement (I live in NZ so demo's are difficult) and based on that research had a very eclectic short list of amps including:
- First Watt F7
- Butler Monad (s/hand)
- Gamut (s/hand)
- Ecofan (NZ SE ultra-linear valve based on 6550's)
Interestingly the Maya technology appears to be a cross between the Butler / First Watt and Gamut, insofar as it uses 2x large mosfets per channel (Gamut), and the harmonic distortion profile is mostly 2nd order with the ratio of descending level even / odd harmonic distortion specifically tuned from there (Butler and First Watt).
Having said that, Hugh has gotten to this point through his own research / trial and error. My observation is the parameters that are important to him are mirrored in what are (apparently) excellent sounding amplifiers.
The only 'fail' (if you can call it that) is the Maya is not Class A, but I understand from Hugh that he has conquered crossover distortion.
So the Maya looks like a musical, delicate, powerful, truthful amplifier for what seems to be a bargain price. Can't wait!!!
But it'll be a few weeks yet. Trafo's on order, Hugh's awaiting the new casework for the Maya, then I'll post some impressions against the Perreaux and the Aleph.
Cheers
Muzza,
Thank you for your post; there are a couple of owners looking at this thread, and I hope Garry/Russell will put in their comments!
I certainly see your Class A comments; I actually went after Class A sound, but with my experience (I'd build a Zen, and then designed one called the Glass Harmony which was a Class A hybrid) I felt that Class A was almost too mellow but lacking in dynamics.... My Class AB amps all feature dynamics - it's a part of the animal. As you say, crossover is a major issue, but I have it pretty much under control now.
Cheers,
Hugh
Thank you for your post; there are a couple of owners looking at this thread, and I hope Garry/Russell will put in their comments!
I certainly see your Class A comments; I actually went after Class A sound, but with my experience (I'd build a Zen, and then designed one called the Glass Harmony which was a Class A hybrid) I felt that Class A was almost too mellow but lacking in dynamics.... My Class AB amps all feature dynamics - it's a part of the animal. As you say, crossover is a major issue, but I have it pretty much under control now.
Cheers,
Hugh
Muzza,
Can't say I've heard any crossover distortion issues even compared with my two SET amps.
Where I think the Maya excels is in its tremendous lack of audible distortion and its large sound field. Its dynamics are also excellent.
Nearly all of my listening is done using the Maya. The reason is I find it beautiful and so easy to live with long term.
Can't say I've heard any crossover distortion issues even compared with my two SET amps.
Where I think the Maya excels is in its tremendous lack of audible distortion and its large sound field. Its dynamics are also excellent.
Nearly all of my listening is done using the Maya. The reason is I find it beautiful and so easy to live with long term.
Thank you Russell! Appreciate your input, so much more authentic from a customer than from the designer, who would love his baby even it had polka dot purple spots!
Reading Muzza's post I recognise the concepts of the amps he mentions. Yes, absolutely, in the Maya I was trying to produce very low and higher odd orders, highish H2 and H4, very low phase shift at the 20KHz end, a single pair of very large output devices to obviate the matching issues, and high efficiency. This pointed to AB, and I realise that this might surprise some of the Class A afficionados. There is a lot of information about crossover in the literature, but much of it comes back to careful biasing, correct tempco on the bias generator, and very fast negative feedback which effectively operates to hundreds of KHz. The rest of the amp design addresses component choice and dimensioning, careful pcb layout, voltage amplifier design, independent power supplies, and drive and protection issues for the output devices. Most important is simplicity; the Maya with 8 transistors/mosfets for 200W plus, no more, no less. It is completely discrete; I do not use opamps because I do not need the complexity and fb issues. This is a lesson I learned from Pass, who is a master in this craft. I believe that a simple amplifier is more difficult to design than a complex amp; I have seen 12W Class A amps with more than 40 devices. They achieve vanishingly low THD, but this does not make a beautiful amplifier. Management of THD is more important than minimisation.
Thanks again, Russell!
Cheers,
Hugh
Reading Muzza's post I recognise the concepts of the amps he mentions. Yes, absolutely, in the Maya I was trying to produce very low and higher odd orders, highish H2 and H4, very low phase shift at the 20KHz end, a single pair of very large output devices to obviate the matching issues, and high efficiency. This pointed to AB, and I realise that this might surprise some of the Class A afficionados. There is a lot of information about crossover in the literature, but much of it comes back to careful biasing, correct tempco on the bias generator, and very fast negative feedback which effectively operates to hundreds of KHz. The rest of the amp design addresses component choice and dimensioning, careful pcb layout, voltage amplifier design, independent power supplies, and drive and protection issues for the output devices. Most important is simplicity; the Maya with 8 transistors/mosfets for 200W plus, no more, no less. It is completely discrete; I do not use opamps because I do not need the complexity and fb issues. This is a lesson I learned from Pass, who is a master in this craft. I believe that a simple amplifier is more difficult to design than a complex amp; I have seen 12W Class A amps with more than 40 devices. They achieve vanishingly low THD, but this does not make a beautiful amplifier. Management of THD is more important than minimisation.
Thanks again, Russell!
Cheers,
Hugh
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Oh, I really need to stop eating......
But Narendra is an very elegant looking gentleman, and he and Sridhar smiled through my chats about audio, life and a farmer's son!
You will have in Sunday, Suresh, I hope you build a lovely case for it!
Thank you for your purchase,
Hugh
But Narendra is an very elegant looking gentleman, and he and Sridhar smiled through my chats about audio, life and a farmer's son!
You will have in Sunday, Suresh, I hope you build a lovely case for it!
Thank you for your purchase,
Hugh