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Finally! My SAKSA 85 up and running :-)

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Around 4 months ago I had received my SAKSA module. I also had sourced a 300VA toroid transformer from Reichelt.de, so only an enclosure was missing. But the process of ordering it from Italy was not as straightforward as i had thought. After an initial contact all my mails with the dwg files they needed to drill all the holes remained unanswered for months till I thought the company was out of business. Well, it isn’t as finally at the end of July I received an answer. My mails had for some reason not reached them (???) and now they were closing for holidays till end of August….:mad:

Well, not to bore you with all this mishap, around ten days ago I received the enclosure and since a couple of days I am listening to the best power amp I have ever had!

For many many years a pair of NAD stereo power amps were (in two way active mode) powering my Manger speakers - not really high end, but not bad either (the NADs, not the Mangers, these German drivers are just wonderful). Before that I had 2 monstrous 400W Uher power amps, which finally failed and two attempts to get them repaired did not work out too.

The last couple of years I was upgrading the source components. (Philips CD 304 CD Player from around 1984 with two of the famous 1540 DACs, modified to non oversampling by Roman Groß, Sansui TU-X1 tuner, heavy plinth record player based on a 1980 or so Lenco L75 drive with 12“ Jelco arm and hana SL moving coil pickup (per lencoheaven.net), Ed Schilling's „the Truth“ line stage and a Nelson Pass B4 active crossover). Still, the sound of the system was not completely what it should be.

That has changed now.

The SAKSA apparently replaced the last weak link in my chain. It is still a bit early to give a final assessment. But one improvement is profound, very satisfying and immediately obvious: Whereas before loud musical passages like a fortissimo orchestra mushed up the sound and were shrill and hard on the ears, now the instruments stay separated, and the space does not collapse anymore. The clarity is amazing, the details and the space around the instruments is way better then ever before!

In summary, I have the feeling that the whole system is now without any obvious weak link. A life long road to the best possible (and affordable) audio reproduction has come to a point where I am satisfied and have no urge to improve anything any further. Well recorded music is pure bliss and friends comment that they have not heard recorded music any better.

The SAKSA 85 was the last missing piece in the puzzle! Thanks Hugh for this marvelous amp! :yummy:

Oohps, I forgot: I have to order a second module! Because for my active system I need two!! The case I ordered is large enough for two modules,

I just wanted to test one just to be sure before ordering the second module (currently a cheap but decent little digital amp with 2x50 watts is powering the bass speakers as a stop gap and the SAKSA is driving the Manger transducers.) Hugh, if you read this, please take this as a purchase order for another SAKSA 85.

When I have listened more extensively I will report back. And post some photos…
:)
Peter from Austria
 
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Hi Peter,
Thank you very much for your terrific post! I'm delighted your SAKSA hit the spot! I always thought it was one of my best amps, almost up with the Maya, and to here this affirmation I'm really very happy. You've made my day!

I will work on your second, Peter.... I have good stocks of them in inventory.

I have spent about 25 years on audio design, and I feel that at this point I'm really kicking goals. There is a lot of psychoacoustics in audio and it's much underestimated. And the spatial characteristics of amps are not well understood, sixty years down the track.

Ciao,

Hugh
 
A quick photo with my mobile phone. On top of the pile the little stop gap digital amp (SMSL SA50) powering the woofers, then the B4 active crossover, then the housing of currently one SAKSA. When the second module gets put in, all 4 LEDs will light up. Unfortunately no photos of the inside yet. I was just too eager to get it finished and playing to take photos during assembly. :blush: I will catch up on that when I get the second module.


At the moment Bach's Goldberg variations (solo harpsichord, Christiane Jaccottet playing) fill my living room.
OMG, never has it sounded so "there", so live and "actually in the room". Not much difference to the artist being really present with her instrument. I'll have to listen to my CD collection all over again. Hopefully my hearing will be up to it when I am 99 .....;)

9k=
 
Thanks Hugh for the nice comment!


Actually the plan was to get an engraving done on the front plate: "SAKSA 85 twin" and I had it also prepared correctly in Adobe Illustrator but the resulting dwg file showed up on the italian computers outlined and not as full characters and they apparently could not correct that. I did not want the characters engraved outlined so we skipped that. Better unpretentious than ugly.

You wrote:

First Watt, huh? The SAKSA is in good company!

No. I would say:
SAKSA 85, huh? The First Watt is in good company!
Ha Ha. :cheerful:

Just kidding.
They both deserve each other.......


Peter
 
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Do fancy cables make sense?

Due to a very narrow space behind the shelf the photos of the back side are suboptimal.
The cables are rather untidy as a) the speaker cables (the US „AntiCable“) are solid copper and very (!) stubborn and b) I have to run
the second pair of cinch connectors up to the little digital amp.
That will be much better after the second AKSA gets put in the enclosure and all cables run into one
enclosure.

One question came to my mind: Couple years ago the ongoing urge to optimize the system led me to replace my ordinary 2,5mm2
stranded cables with the not really cheap anticables. The result was between wishful thinking and scarcely noticable.

On the other hand, within my AKSA all my connections are done with cheapest spades with very small contact areas.
Still the improvement of the AKSA compared to my former amps is easily and at once noticable, so the cheap connections
don’t seem to have any detrimental effect !?

So does it make sense to put any attention on fancy cables before one has optimized ALL connections WITHIN the amp?

Should I solder the connections inside the amp?

Is there a consensus here in this forum? What are your experiences?

Some comments would be much appreciated.

Peter
 

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Hi maty tinman,
Unfortunately just one lousy photo of the inside. I was just too eager to get it finished and playing to take photos during assembly. :blush: I will catch up on that when I get the second module. In the middle of the case the second transformer will sit, on the empty side the second AKSA. The wiring is not as it should be, its a bit sloppy. The blue tape on the front panel keep the 2 rectangular LEDs in place. Looks perfect from the outside and horrible on the inside. Will construct some brackets as a final solution.
 

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[Big IMG] http://maty.galeon.com/WP-imagenes/hum/Saksa-85-one-module-pan53-inside.jpg

The wiring is not as it should be, its a bit sloppy. The blue tape on the front panel keep the 2 rectangular LEDs in place. Looks perfect from the outside and horrible on the inside. Will construct some brackets as a final solution.

Lucky that I was not wrong and I have not uploaded the photo of my underwear :)

Wiring, maybe something like:

[IMG, link] https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-hypex-nc500-based-amplifier-front-jpg.33776/

You know, "Twisting by the pool".
 
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Ha ha! :)))

I knew it!

Thats why I did not post this photo in the first place.... lol


Be merciful on me, thats a work in progress (and my first self built amp too).
When the second module arrives, I will care for the details. Shorten any cable which is too long, twist the cables coming from the transformer, take care of the LEDs, make everything neat and tidy.


But with the photo you refered to you raised the bar to olympic hights!
I'll do my best to come as close as possible... :)))
 
But with the photo you refered to you raised the bar to olympic hights!
I'll do my best to come as close as possible... :)))

Same modules but in mono from other ensambler, NORD:

[IMG, link] https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3920/l1FE0X.jpg

You know, beautiful case -> buyer is willing to pay more to show off, but as soon as he takes a look inside, with that wiring and over the wires above the transformer ..
 
Peter,

Within reason, I have never found that heavy, expensive wires inside and/or out of any amp have much emphasis on sound quality.
One exception: I have found silver wire over copper have a bad affect on the sound, adding HF hash on the presentation. This sort of wire is used in the aerospace industry because it can carry high current, low weight and strong resistance to corrosion. Usually sold with Teflon insulation (Whitemore and Tygadure).
I try to use six nines with multiple layers of copper wires, rated to eight amps, suitable for speaker and power supply wires.

Nice photos!!

Hugh
 
Thanks for the clarificaion Hugh. Only one question remaining due to the naming of wire in different countries/languages: What is "six nines with multiple layers of copper wires" ?
[Can I look up (on the internet) a picture or a classification table of wire in the english speaking countries? ] Sorry for bothering you with a question the answer of which most of you will know...
 
Wiring

There is an intermediate term. Just take into account the physical laws, for example, that force and energy decrease exponentially, with the squared distance.

What areas are the most sensitive? The transformers and the coils thus radiate. The power cables, if they are long and the audio section.

No one who has a little idea will think of passing certain wires over a transformer that is not shielded!

Seeing the wiring and the layout of the modules many things can be deduced.

[IMG, link] https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...mplifier-module-teardown-optimized-jpg.28904/

I wrote:

There is a good distance between the SMPS and the modules. The power cable is covered with a mesh. The breathing grilles are far from the audio circuitry. You can tell they know what they do when they mount the amplifier so well!


Star quad, the best geometry to build audio and power cables

Star quad, the best geometry to build audio and power cables
 
By the way, Hugh, I have managed to further improve the sound of my second system, better optimizing Windows for multimedia and other media player settings. It will be more and more a whim to change the amplifier! Last week I made two improvements. The sound is more analog and pleasant than before and... and I have managed to increase the depth of the sound despite usually listening in near field!
 
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Hi Rom,
thanks a lot! I fixed the cable, it was a bit loose. The space on the backside is very constrained, one has to be careful not to get a short circuit by touching cable terminals.
I am really looking forward to have everything (the 2 SAKSAS) in one case neat and tidy.
 
Maty,
thanks for the law to work or look from ("that force and energy decrease exponentially, with the squared distance") and the links and pictures, much food for thought. I am aware that I have to thoroughly rework the routing of the cables inside the amp. Was thinking about making some "pillars" (brackets) to fixate the cables apart from each other to achieve maximum distance. The sub-chassis with the grid would facilitate that. As I mentioned before, I will do that when the 2nd module arrives.
 
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