I have delayed my thoughts at Aspen in the last year or so as I have recovered from my illness, but as the world seems to be hurling itself towards hell in a handbasket, I will take the chance the offer a few snippets about what is happening in the Aspen stable.
Recovery from an aneuresym is very slow. There are many medical complications, many of them are psychological, and if I had not been through it I would not have believed it. Aside from the general weakness, shortness of breath, loss of muscle tone, headaches, speech and writing issues, and minor visual disturbances, the most significant effect on my life has been motivation and depression. When you work hard to survive, when you get there, you have an additional view of life - the deathbed view, where you think on your life and what you can still do in your remaining years. Again, unless this happens to you it is difficult to explain it, but there is a surprising outcome - at least for me - the euphoria I feel two or three times every day that I am still alive, vertical and of full mind.
My first task on coming home from hospital in December 2012 was to productionise and establish sales of the NAKSA 80. This is done, and it's now built in a proper electronic factory using SOTA techniques, compact smds and a very pretty layout. The N80 sound quality is quite extraordinary, and this small, fully built, elegant and powerful amp is selling very well at a very reasonable cost, not much more than the Nirvana AKSA 55 so many years back. The AKSA was a great amp, but the NAKSA 80 is light years ahead! Customers are astonished at the sound quality, and a year on I cannot think of a single design change I would alter with this product.
The second task has dominated my time, Steve and lately Paul in the last six months. This is the NAKSA 125, to supersede the NAKSA 100. This amp is now built and auditioned over a long period. This is amp is from the NAKSA 80 stable, similar sound quality, but at a greater scale - noticeably more powerful. This is a wonderful amplifier and I'm very proud. I will release this quite soon at a cost around the Lifeforce 100/NAKSA 100, watch this space! It too will be manufactured in a factory, so you will be getting something of exceptional sound quality AND assembly perfection.
I do not have the physical energy these days and many tasks around the house and the workbench are much slower off the mark. Much of this is my medications. But my creativity is undiminished, and almost every couple of months I came up with a good idea. This is a tonic, keeps me going........
The NAKSA 125 will be released in six weeks. I ask my loyal customers to be patient with me! This will be my best amplifier since I released the original AKSA 55 back in 2000. The world is declining at present, particularly the economy in Australia, but my company progress is consistently producing new and better products. And my doctor tells me with careful medical care I will remain producing amplifiers for a long, long time!
Cheers,
Hugh Dean
Melbourne, Feb 14
Recovery from an aneuresym is very slow. There are many medical complications, many of them are psychological, and if I had not been through it I would not have believed it. Aside from the general weakness, shortness of breath, loss of muscle tone, headaches, speech and writing issues, and minor visual disturbances, the most significant effect on my life has been motivation and depression. When you work hard to survive, when you get there, you have an additional view of life - the deathbed view, where you think on your life and what you can still do in your remaining years. Again, unless this happens to you it is difficult to explain it, but there is a surprising outcome - at least for me - the euphoria I feel two or three times every day that I am still alive, vertical and of full mind.
My first task on coming home from hospital in December 2012 was to productionise and establish sales of the NAKSA 80. This is done, and it's now built in a proper electronic factory using SOTA techniques, compact smds and a very pretty layout. The N80 sound quality is quite extraordinary, and this small, fully built, elegant and powerful amp is selling very well at a very reasonable cost, not much more than the Nirvana AKSA 55 so many years back. The AKSA was a great amp, but the NAKSA 80 is light years ahead! Customers are astonished at the sound quality, and a year on I cannot think of a single design change I would alter with this product.
The second task has dominated my time, Steve and lately Paul in the last six months. This is the NAKSA 125, to supersede the NAKSA 100. This amp is now built and auditioned over a long period. This is amp is from the NAKSA 80 stable, similar sound quality, but at a greater scale - noticeably more powerful. This is a wonderful amplifier and I'm very proud. I will release this quite soon at a cost around the Lifeforce 100/NAKSA 100, watch this space! It too will be manufactured in a factory, so you will be getting something of exceptional sound quality AND assembly perfection.
I do not have the physical energy these days and many tasks around the house and the workbench are much slower off the mark. Much of this is my medications. But my creativity is undiminished, and almost every couple of months I came up with a good idea. This is a tonic, keeps me going........
The NAKSA 125 will be released in six weeks. I ask my loyal customers to be patient with me! This will be my best amplifier since I released the original AKSA 55 back in 2000. The world is declining at present, particularly the economy in Australia, but my company progress is consistently producing new and better products. And my doctor tells me with careful medical care I will remain producing amplifiers for a long, long time!
Cheers,
Hugh Dean
Melbourne, Feb 14
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Who can you trust these days with a secret? Like the Beatles song: Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? Well, I was lucky to receive a PM from Hugh responding to my post on this forum. To make a long story short, he revealed that he was working on a NAKSA 125!!! Like the Beatles song I promised not to tell. Congratulation on finishing and testing the amp. The man is still sick but he creates this wonderful amp! Hugh, you are the man. One last thing. They say that no man can do it alone. What is your relationship with Steve and Paul? They deserve a lot of praise for helping you with the NAKSA 125.
Thanks Peter,
A couple of weeks on a hot Saturday morning I was walking up an alley to the car park with my wife after a nice coffee at my local café and a very tall, thin lady with a head scarf was walking very slowly up the hill with four shopping bags. I stopped near to her and suggested she seems to be struggling and could I help with the shopping bags. She immediately accepted, clearly relieved. I said that she seemed unwell, was she improving, and she answered, 'No, I have advanced cancer and the heat and weight is too much for me today.'
It is I that is humbled...... here was a well educated, very articulate woman, no children, good career, only 60. We had a chat at her car. What can I say? Some are not lucky, some, like me, are saved.
Audiostar,
Thank you keeping the faith (and the secret!) I appreciate it very much. As it happens, designing amps is all I can do these days, so I'd better make them good.
Steve is a good friend from the US who is married to an Australian and lives here half the year in Victoria, returning to the US to work early December. He is an extraordinarily hard worker, with many assembly skills, and he loves my amps and is interested to be involved. So these days he is a pivotal focus of building and testing my amps, and he loves music and is a very judge of good systems. He takes the train to my home every couple of weeks and we have a long chat and exchange bits for the next design.
Paul is a very clever EE with a long career in radar, software, and telecoms. He is a farmer's son, like me, and my age. He has the eye on circuit details and fine documentation. Like many engineers he loves music, his wife is a music teacher, and he has been a wonderful help on the documentation, which since my illness I find difficult. He owns a N80 and recently listened to the N125. Paul is very left brain, a profound ability with maths. This has been wonderful for Aspen; he is the best user of LTSpice I have seen. We do argue about THD, however, it's amusing.
My two friends have helped me hugely. And they give me confident to keep moving.\
BTW, it occurs that flying to the US via Hawaii is a very good way to split the trip. It really is too far direct from Melb to LA; a stopover in Honolulu would be smart. Maybe meet you one day?? My daughter living and works in NYC!
Cheers,
Hugh
Cheers,
Hugh
A couple of weeks on a hot Saturday morning I was walking up an alley to the car park with my wife after a nice coffee at my local café and a very tall, thin lady with a head scarf was walking very slowly up the hill with four shopping bags. I stopped near to her and suggested she seems to be struggling and could I help with the shopping bags. She immediately accepted, clearly relieved. I said that she seemed unwell, was she improving, and she answered, 'No, I have advanced cancer and the heat and weight is too much for me today.'
It is I that is humbled...... here was a well educated, very articulate woman, no children, good career, only 60. We had a chat at her car. What can I say? Some are not lucky, some, like me, are saved.
Audiostar,
Thank you keeping the faith (and the secret!) I appreciate it very much. As it happens, designing amps is all I can do these days, so I'd better make them good.
Steve is a good friend from the US who is married to an Australian and lives here half the year in Victoria, returning to the US to work early December. He is an extraordinarily hard worker, with many assembly skills, and he loves my amps and is interested to be involved. So these days he is a pivotal focus of building and testing my amps, and he loves music and is a very judge of good systems. He takes the train to my home every couple of weeks and we have a long chat and exchange bits for the next design.
Paul is a very clever EE with a long career in radar, software, and telecoms. He is a farmer's son, like me, and my age. He has the eye on circuit details and fine documentation. Like many engineers he loves music, his wife is a music teacher, and he has been a wonderful help on the documentation, which since my illness I find difficult. He owns a N80 and recently listened to the N125. Paul is very left brain, a profound ability with maths. This has been wonderful for Aspen; he is the best user of LTSpice I have seen. We do argue about THD, however, it's amusing.
My two friends have helped me hugely. And they give me confident to keep moving.\
BTW, it occurs that flying to the US via Hawaii is a very good way to split the trip. It really is too far direct from Melb to LA; a stopover in Honolulu would be smart. Maybe meet you one day?? My daughter living and works in NYC!
Cheers,
Hugh
Cheers,
Hugh
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Hugh,
Let us not forget the support of your wife. With her help you will be getting better every day. By the way, walking is a good exercise. And maybe one day when you are much stronger you can see me in Honolulu and than your daughter in NYC.
FYI: There is one last secret. You have to use a crowbar to pry it out of Hugh. Good luck in making Hugh talk. He is one tough cookie.
Let us not forget the support of your wife. With her help you will be getting better every day. By the way, walking is a good exercise. And maybe one day when you are much stronger you can see me in Honolulu and than your daughter in NYC.
FYI: There is one last secret. You have to use a crowbar to pry it out of Hugh. Good luck in making Hugh talk. He is one tough cookie.
That's the way my parents do it. They keep their nose to the ground for a return package deal (airfares and accommodation for 3 to 5 days) then hunt down cheap internal return flights to LAX and Phoenix. The result is often cheaper than a LAX return. They head over there to visit family two or three times a year.
Good to hear about the 125. More amp than my place needs at the moment but damn nice to know it exists. Chin up, Hugh.
A bloke I'm aware of in the Hunter Valley got cleaned up on his bike by a 4x4 at the end of January whilst riding to work. It didn't kill him (surprisingly) but a fractured skull and spinal injuries (just the top of the injury tree) are hardly trifles. He's already motivated himself to the point that he's already now shuffling with the aid of a frame despite facing another two months in the hospital regardless and is expected to walk and ride again...eventually. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...as long as you don't focus on thinking about what could have killed you.
Hi Hugh,
I can only salute your phenomenal perserverance!
With all the challenges you have encountered it is a really great feat to finalise a superb stereo amplifier and then having it sell well, too
Being the proud owner of two NAKSA 80s, I cannot endorse this amp enough, and will recommend it to any music lover, because what it does is sheer music
And now you top that feat with yet another new amp, more powerful than the NAKSA 100! Hats off! It tends to be a challenge retaining sonics, as the wattage goes up, but I'm certain you would not release the new "baby" unless you were fully satisfied that it lives up to the new NAKSA "standard" sonically
One question, then: Will we see even more powerful amplifiers from your hand? I know a few people here who have been asking for a really powerful NAKSA!
Cheers,
Jens
I can only salute your phenomenal perserverance!
With all the challenges you have encountered it is a really great feat to finalise a superb stereo amplifier and then having it sell well, too
Being the proud owner of two NAKSA 80s, I cannot endorse this amp enough, and will recommend it to any music lover, because what it does is sheer music
And now you top that feat with yet another new amp, more powerful than the NAKSA 100! Hats off! It tends to be a challenge retaining sonics, as the wattage goes up, but I'm certain you would not release the new "baby" unless you were fully satisfied that it lives up to the new NAKSA "standard" sonically
One question, then: Will we see even more powerful amplifiers from your hand? I know a few people here who have been asking for a really powerful NAKSA!
Cheers,
Jens
Hello Everyone,
Now that there is some news out about the new 125 amp, I can write a few things.
This new 125 is a superb amplifier in every way and worth everyone's consideration, no matter what amp one is now using.
I have been living with the 125 amp for several months now, in both my American music system and how here in Australia. I can testify to it's fine performance as well as it's reliability.
Hugh has often asked me to describe the sound of the 125. All I could ever really tell him was that it was "MORE". It's just more of everything. It is more bass, more dynamics, more resolution. And when it comes to music, well, what else is there.......
When Hugh had the 125 prototype back in December/January, which is what I have, he was astounded at the first sound. He showed it around quite a bit with very favorable feedback. One has to live with this one awhile to more fully enjoy it.
And I'm about to visit Hugh again soon, as we begin on the next project. Things are always moving forward. Though I must say, the 125 is pretty near the pinnacle of achievement.
Steve
Now that there is some news out about the new 125 amp, I can write a few things.
This new 125 is a superb amplifier in every way and worth everyone's consideration, no matter what amp one is now using.
I have been living with the 125 amp for several months now, in both my American music system and how here in Australia. I can testify to it's fine performance as well as it's reliability.
Hugh has often asked me to describe the sound of the 125. All I could ever really tell him was that it was "MORE". It's just more of everything. It is more bass, more dynamics, more resolution. And when it comes to music, well, what else is there.......
When Hugh had the 125 prototype back in December/January, which is what I have, he was astounded at the first sound. He showed it around quite a bit with very favorable feedback. One has to live with this one awhile to more fully enjoy it.
And I'm about to visit Hugh again soon, as we begin on the next project. Things are always moving forward. Though I must say, the 125 is pretty near the pinnacle of achievement.
Steve
I always looked forward to reading the end of the year News at Aspen. To add to the News: Australian unemployment jumps to 10 year high. Hawaii has a 850 million surplus!
You want to know about AKSA in the old days? Check out AudioCircle, under Archived Manufacturer Circles. This is a must read.
Aspen Amplifiers
You want to know about AKSA in the old days? Check out AudioCircle, under Archived Manufacturer Circles. This is a must read.
Aspen Amplifiers
Hi old Buddy. It took me a while to actually understand what you went through and still are going through. Short of miraculous, or maybe it is. I am very willing to offer my support to any project that you want to tackle if it is in my field of expertise, even if it is just engaging in a a polite argument every now and then. I will do what you need and I can offer it.
Great news on the Aksa 125, Hugh , at least for me as I'm considering some Magnepan speakers for next year.
The 80 will work well in my current system.
Best of luck on your continued recovery.
(You are quite inspiring!)
Hope you're enjoying the music I sent you.
I'll have another batch ready to send soon.
Brad in Houston
, at least for me as I'm considering some Magnepan speakers for next year.The 80 will work well in my current system.
Best of luck on your continued recovery.
(You are quite inspiring!)
Hope you're enjoying the music I sent you.
I'll have another batch ready to send soon.
Brad in Houston
Hi Huge.
Good to hear, that you are on your feet again. Things can easily go the wrong way.
My own mother did in September get an nerve infection. Actually the immune system attacking the nerves. It is called a Guillain-Barré syndrome.
It attacked from the shoulders to the eyes. But your brain is intact and recovery is nearly 90%. But she had no swallowing reflex which is very dangerous. And the syndrome can also attack the lung muscles.
What i would say is. We should all be thank full for what we have, as it can go fast the other way.
The best recovery is allways to have something to do that is close to your heart. In your case Audio!
Best wishes from Denmark.
Good to hear, that you are on your feet again. Things can easily go the wrong way.
My own mother did in September get an nerve infection. Actually the immune system attacking the nerves. It is called a Guillain-Barré syndrome.
It attacked from the shoulders to the eyes. But your brain is intact and recovery is nearly 90%. But she had no swallowing reflex which is very dangerous. And the syndrome can also attack the lung muscles.
What i would say is. We should all be thank full for what we have, as it can go fast the other way.
The best recovery is allways to have something to do that is close to your heart. In your case Audio!
Best wishes from Denmark.
Dear Hugh,
Steve alerted me to this 'conversation' a few days ago.
My heart goes out to you for sharing your highs and lows with your friends here in this forum. You are a courageous man.
Related to what Sonnya says above, I am so glad that throughout this 'dark night of body and soul' your passion for audio creation has continued to shine through.
I am also glad that the production line is now fully operational, (hopefully) leaving you to tinker, explore, and create new sonic marvels.
As I remember saying to you when you came out of hospital, you're still here so there must be a reason for it! So far the audio world has been blessed with two new NAKSA amps. I'm sure there are already more ideas stirring and swirling in the resilient, fertile, imaginareum that is 'The Mind of Hugh!
Blessings to you my friend.
Graeme
Steve alerted me to this 'conversation' a few days ago.
My heart goes out to you for sharing your highs and lows with your friends here in this forum. You are a courageous man.
Related to what Sonnya says above, I am so glad that throughout this 'dark night of body and soul' your passion for audio creation has continued to shine through.
I am also glad that the production line is now fully operational, (hopefully) leaving you to tinker, explore, and create new sonic marvels.
As I remember saying to you when you came out of hospital, you're still here so there must be a reason for it! So far the audio world has been blessed with two new NAKSA amps. I'm sure there are already more ideas stirring and swirling in the resilient, fertile, imaginareum that is 'The Mind of Hugh!
Blessings to you my friend.
Graeme
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