Hugh R. Dean

It is fully made in Australia by Hugh Dean, the designer, and available on order anywhere in the world.

Sad news from Hugh DeanDIYHiFi.org , View topic - Sad news from Hugh Dean
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Sad news from Hugh Dean
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Post subject: Sad news from Hugh Dean
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Hugh R. Dean

Sad news from Hugh DeanDIYHiFi.org , View topic - Sad news from Hugh Dean
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Sad news from Hugh Dean
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Sad news from Hugh Dean
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Hugh R. Dean

Various "White Papers" on the subjects of Audio, Sound, Electronics, and more, by Hugh R. Dean, Principal of Aspen Amplifiers P/L.

Running a business is difficult for a gearhead like Hugh Dean, and I struggle daily with the strategic issues.
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Hugh Dean
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Hugh Dean
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Hugh Dean
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Over the last three months Hugh has worked with Ginger on the Nirvana Plus, the ultimate upgrade for the AKSA power amplifiers.
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In the next couple of weeks Hugh will finish the photography and documentation for the 55W, and will then be in a position to offer this upgrade to old and new customers alike.
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Hugh is presently working on the instructions, and assembly will be quite straightforward.This product should be available as crossover, plans and fasteners very soon, and will be notified under Products on this website... Cost is expected to be in the $AUD240 range, including the crossover, all plans and fasteners.As for the Aksonic, the buyer will need to buy the drivers (both 5" Vifa) and the timber.

The GK-150/160 proceeds slowly.This has taken an inordinate time because Hugh has just not planned it well, and the suppliers have dragged the chain.
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Hugh Dean
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Ben Williams and Hugh Dean are coming to the end of Level 1 DAKSA development.
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Level One will be Entry Level, priced around $US450, and will be a basic DAC using the premium PCM1702 chips with a unique, folded cascode I/V converter, designed by Hugh in collaboration with consultant Fred Dieckmann, a Texan electronics engineer of wide ranging analog and digital experience.
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Hugh, Ben and Michael take this opportunity to thank all Aspen customers for their past and present support throughout this year, and to commend you to your soldering stations and the heady smell of rosin as the Northern Hemisphere re-enters winter!
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Hugh Dean
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This meet was intended to build networks amongst AKSA owners in Sydney, put a face to Hugh Dean, introduce Ben Williams, the designer responsible for the digital control circuitry of the GK-1 and ultimately, the AKSADAC, and Michael Hollmann, my parts assembler and tireless Aspen worker.
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This has been a source of enormous satisfaction to Hugh, who feels the GK-1 is up there with his power amplifiers..... Thank you, folks, this is wonderful feedback (from a guy who is FORCED to use negative feedback under duress but just LOVES the 180 degree phase reversal!!).
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News from company principal and designer Hugh R. Dean about the imminent shipping of the exciting new GK-1 preamp!
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News from company principal and designer Hugh R. Dean about the imminent GK-1 preamp release, changes in the business environment and completion of a full year as sole trader!

Technical development and production preparations continue at Aspen.We look forward to consolidation and a new, exciting product for Xmas 2002!And there's more to come!

Interested present and future customers of Aspen Amplfiiers will be pleased to hear that sourcing, photography and documentation, the three remaining tasks for the GK-1 preamplifier project, are coming to a closure.Hugh admits that these phases have been the most difficult, challenging and logistically frustrating of all; the R&D, though difficult, was sheer pleasure compared to these aspects!

An example: motorized, dual gang, log cermet pots from France.
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News from company principal and designer Hugh R. Dean about the new website, and continuing and exciting product developments here at Aspen Amplifiers P/L!
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With Darl Singh, whom many of you know as Pleb Plebian on our forum at Harmonic Discord (how can we thank these guys enough??), Hugh has been developing the full featured preamp, designated the GK-1.Darl is blessed with an exceptionally good system located in the basement of his home.This system is revealing to the point of ruthlessness, and Darl can hear it all - he has ears to rival a bat!Amongst other components, he boasts biamped AKSAs with a Plinius 100W Class A sub-woofer amp, a Marchand active crossover, Lambert speakers with an NHT 1259 sub-woofer, and a Mark Levinson ML-1 preamp.Using email and an internet phone, Darl slaved over a hot iron in Hamilton, NZ while Hugh pontificated over schematics in Melbourne.Hugh designed the electronics and the pcb, while Darl built the beast and subjected it to rigorous listening tests.
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The use of a sophisticated communications multiplexer to switch the signal at ground potential is a concept explained to Hugh by no less than Nelson Pass!
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Hugh R. Dean
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However, it's a cure, not a prevention, and this prompted Hugh to burn the midnight oil and redesign the TLP to banish the problem once and for all.
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Hugh R. Dean

Research/Technical Director
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News from designer Hugh R. Dean about continuing and exciting product developments in the AKSA camp!Much has been happening at Aspen and www.printedelectronics.com. Our future is unfolding, and here's a glimpse:

The 100W AKSA continues to win friends and converts, and is impressing with its astonishing bass performance, wonderful sound stage and midrange slam.Sales of both amps continue to gain steadily, with most going to North America and Canada (and even a few being sold in Australia!!).But we would like to sell even more AKSAs, so please tell your friends and post your reviews to the numerous hifi forums on the net.

Hugh has recently committed considerable R&D effort to DC to DC converters, preamplifiers, amp tweaking, and more speaker design.His particular research interest at present is Blumlein's work of the twenties and thirties.
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Hugh is spending between four and six hours daily answering questions of present and future AKSA constructors.The answers to many of these questions are available on the website in the FAQ or the News and Orders sections.With all his other jobs, and being the only technical guy in the business, time at the keyboard is cutting seriously into his energy and his business obligations.Complicating thepicture has been a recent car accident, when Hugh broke a rib, lost a car, and bruised his pride; so please exhaust all other avenues before you email him; first try the website, then the three big forums at www.audioasylum.com, www.harmonicdiscord.com and www.diyaudio.com.
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Hugh R. Dean
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News from designer Hugh R. Dean about recent, exciting product developments at the AKSA camp!Much has been happening at Printed Electronics and Aspen.Here's a glimpse:

* The 100W AKSA has debuted and is winning wide acceptance.
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Hugh is presently working on two further amplifier designs, but seems loathe to reveal any details as yet.However, one involves single ended technology, but with a twist.It will be Class AB; an unusual concept, a gasoline motor doing diesel engine tricks, as he describes it.
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A note from designer Hugh R. Dean about an exciting new high power AKSA!Well, folks, finally it is done.
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A note from designer Hugh Dean, responding to discussion on the JoeNet, the "Sound Practices" email list, in early May 2001, made interesting reading!
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At Aspen Amplifiers we are pretty chuffed by all this, as the design embodies the heart and soul of our designer, Hugh Dean.

Hugh Dean Hugh was born the eldest son of a South Australian farmer in 1951, and educated at boarding school in Adelaide, the State capital. His mother trained as a doctor, but never practised; she is highly literate and has published books. His father was an intensely technical and driven man, and founded a company some years ago which still manufactures and sells windmills around Australia.

Hugh inherits this fascination with all things technical, and loves technical writing. He entered University in the late sixties, but failed to complete an Engineering degree because of problems with the Math. This salutary lesson in life taught him that math models are wonderful tools, but deep technological insights are essential.

He joined the Australian Army as a conscript soldier in 1972 just as Australia disengaged itself from the Vietnam conflict. He resumed his education in the Army, converting to teaching, eventually taking a degree in Education, with majors in Science and English Literature. He was appointed to Officer rank in 1976, and served as an academic, eventually reaching the rank of Major and finishing his time as an IT Project Officer computerising 33 Defence Pharmacies across Australia.

Looking back, he feels the Army helped him in three important areas; a good education, a clear understanding of people, and a solid financial background. Hugh married Sri, an Indonesian lady from the Women's Army Officer Corps in Jakarta, in 1983, and they have two daughters, Soraya, 23 and Alessandra, 20. Presently Soraya is living and working in London, while Alessandra is completing a Fashion Design degree at RMIT, a large University in Melbourne.

Hugh retired from the Army in 1993 at age 43, soon finished a Masters degree in Business Information Technology, and began work part time in 1994 with an IT consulting company in Melbourne as their Research Consultant. During his seven years in the IT industry, Hugh was thus able to indulge his great passion, hifi research, whilst still supporting his family on a modest income.

These were exciting and fulfilling years, and he first developed the Glass Harmony hybrid amplifier, which uses a tube front end and a single ended mosfet output stage to produce 28W rms.
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During the eighties, Hugh suffered a health crisis, but recovered and is now fine. However, it left a lasting impression, and convinced him that one must leave something behind. It is rare to find passion in life; in case anyone wants to know, this is the source of his love of audio. Hugh's hobbies include listening to music, reading biographies and Science Fiction, fixing and tweaking automobiles, and cafe society, which he loves - as Melbourne AKSAphiles will attest!

Hugh wants to build the simplest, best hifi amplifier at the lowest cost in the world. And he believes that even if he were deaf, he'd still design amplifiers.....!

After much internet research and careful thought I finally decided to order an AKSA 55 Nirvana Plus amplifier kit from Mr. Hugh R. Dean from Downunder.
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When I ordered the Nirvana plus kit Hugh was unable to supply the premium quality power supply caps. When they arrived Downunder he kindly sent them on to me at his own expense. I scrupulously followed all kit instructions, and even read through them twice before commencing just as Hugh suggested!! This was the single most crucial step since it cut down considerably on rework times and greatly spared my patience.

The instructions were clear and concise, conveying the strong impression that Mr. Dean had really done his homework well. During assembly (which was fun by the way!) I had a couple of questions:

HA: Hugh, I have looked through the manuals and I can't find the instructions for the power supply?
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Thank you Hugh for the great AKSA kit, the best possible support and your obvious love for DIY Audio.
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Hugh was a
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To paraphrase Hugh, it can be built on a kitchen
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Plus break-in period prompted several e-mails from me to Hugh. In this time, I found Hugh extremely patient, courteous, and absolutely committed to his amps and getting the best out of them.
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With mild interest I took a look at the website and read about Hugh Dean, his philosophies and products, and the rave reviews from his customers. Having no DIY skills myself, the notion of buying kits and building them myself was quite daunting. Besides, these kits were ridiculously inexpensive (less than many of my "tweaks"). Surely they were only good performers "for the price" and not serious contenders, let alone upgrades, to expensive audiophile brand components that come complete with rave reviews from professional audiophile magazine reviewers? Interesting, but I think I'll pass.

That is where things stayed until early 2002 when the same friend was in town and visiting Hugh.
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I fetched my trusty audiophile pre-amp (US$3500) complete with NOS tubes, my favourite test music, and headed back to Hugh's for a showdown. Now we'll see what's what! Well, Hugh and my friend were very gentle, but the proverbial egg was all over my face. In several areas, the TLP was clearly better than my reference pre-amp. If it were not for the fact that the GK-1 was under development, I may have signed up for a TLP right then.

After many months of anticipation, the GK-1 was finally released. Back to Hugh's for an audition.
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It is very doubtful I would have done it had I not lived within driving distance of Hugh and been able to audition the GK-1 first hand. After that, I couldn't swap my designer label bragging rights for far better sound quality quickly enough (or without grinning stupidly). My friend also bought one to replace another very highly regarded Australian tube pre-amp.

The prices included above are simply to give readers some idea of the price/performance of Hugh's products and those with which they rank.

My sincere thanks go to Hugh for his time, patience, and wonderful sounding products at ridiculously low prices. Bravo!
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Having Hugh only an hour away was a real blessing!!!
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In addition, the price was attractive and Hugh Dean (designer and proprietor of Aspen Amplifiers) answered my initial e-mails with speed, grace, and good humor. It took about a week for the kit to arrive in the USA after I faxed my order and few more weeks to get all of the additional bits on hand. Construction and biasing went well, although I blew the output stage transistors on one channel... not careful enough attaching the multimeter clip leads I guess. Hugh replaced them quickly at a nominal charge.
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Then I heard that Hugh was shipping the Nirvana upgrade for the TLP and two heartbeats later I fired off a fax to Melbourne to order one.
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The designer, Hugh Dean, was always ready with an answer to any emailed question I had during the construction process.
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I wrote this to Hugh, and with patient, careful explanation he gave me every confidence, always providing excellent feedback,motivating me to move forward. My fears disappeared when I began construction, as the instructions were clear and Hugh gave marvellous, patient email backup all along the way.
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I sincerely thank the designer, seller, and supporter of this incredible product, Hugh R. Dean.
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Thank you Hugh Dean!
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Some may be asking, what's an AKSA and who is Hugh Dean? AKSA, or Aspen kitset amplifier, was a design challenge to create a 'tube amplifier' using semiconductors with minimalist topology. After months of research and many more months of listening tests [leading to significant modifications], has Hugh Dean succeeded where others have failed?
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Having communicated with Hugh on several occasions, I can attest, he is both a gentleman and a scholar.

So, how happy am I with the AKSA? As happy as a clam. At its affordable price, I plan to build two more copies to triamp my system. (The 100W version will be ideal to power the subwoofer.) The monies saved will go towards a SACD player to fully take advantage of the amplifier's retrieval of detail. The circuit's simplicity also invites experimentation, and if you are like me, curiosity is a prerequisite for this hobby. Realistically, I seriously doubt Hugh Dean has left any fun for the rest of us. He leaves no stone unturned.
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If I had any questions Hugh e-mailed with the answer in less than one day on more than one occasion.

After much internet research and careful thought I finally decided to order an AKSA 55 Nirvana Plus amplifier kit from Mr. Hugh R. Dean from Downunder.
...
When I ordered the Nirvana plus kit Hugh was unable to supply the premium quality power supply caps.When they arrived Downunder he kindly sent them on to me at his own expense.I scrupulously followed all kit instructions, and even read through them twice before commencing just as Hugh suggested!!This was the single most crucial step since it cut down considerably on rework times and greatly spared my patience.

The instructions were clear and concise, conveying the strong impressionthat Mr. Dean had really done his homework well.During assembly (which was fun by the way!) I had a couple of questions:

HA: Hugh, I have looked through the manuals and I can't find the instructions for the power supply?
...
Thank you Hugh for the great AKSA kit, the best possible support and your obvious love for DIY Audio.
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Hugh was a pleasure to deal with, and I was soon the proud owner of a box of neatly packaged little electronic pieces, plus one big heat sink.

A few weeks later, my AKSA was born.I had no problem in assembly - the instructions were very clear and well illustrated.I over-ran my initial estimate of time required to complete due to having to set up and clear away for each building session.To paraphrase Hugh, it can be built on a kitchen table, but you will work better and quicker if you can set aside a dedicated work area.
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Although I assembled the kit with no real problems, the extended Nirvana Plus break-in period prompted several e-mails from me to Hugh.In this time, I found Hugh extremely patient, courteous, and absolutely committed to his amps and getting the best out of them.I have no doubt that I would have had his complete attention if I had run into problems during the building of the kit.
...
With mild interest I took a look at the website and read about Hugh Dean, his philosophies and products, and the rave reviews from his customers.Having no DIY skills myself, the notion of buying kits and building them myself was quite daunting.Besides, these kits were ridiculously inexpensive (less than many of my "tweaks").Surely they were only good performers "for the price" and not serious contenders, let alone upgrades, to expensive audiophile brand components that come complete with rave reviews from professional audiophile magazine reviewers?Interesting, but I think I'll pass.

That is where things stayed until early 2002 when the same friend was in town and visiting Hugh.
...
I fetched my trusty audiophile pre-amp (US$3500) complete with NOS tubes, my favourite test music, and headed back to Hugh's for a showdown.Now we'll see what's what!Well, Hugh and my friend were very gentle, but the proverbial egg was all over my face.In several areas, the TLP was clearly better than my reference pre-amp.If it were not for the fact that the GK-1 was under development, I may have signed up for a TLP right then.

After many months of anticipation, the GK-1 was finally released.Back to Hugh's for an audition.Wow!
...
It is very doubtful I would have done it had I not lived within driving distance of Hugh and been able to audition the GK-1 first hand.After that, I couldn't swap my designer label bragging rights for far better sound quality quickly enough (or without grinning stupidly).My friend also bought one to replace another very highly regarded Australian tube pre-amp.

The prices included above are simply to give readers some idea of the price/performance of Hugh's products and those with which they rank.

My sincere thanks go to Hugh for his time, patience, and wonderful sounding products at ridiculously low prices.Bravo!
...
Having Hugh only an hour away was a real blessing!!!
...
In addition, the price was attractive and Hugh Dean (designer and proprietor of Aspen Amplifiers) answered my initial e-mails with speed, grace, and good humor.It took about a week for the kit to arrive in the USA after I faxed my order and few more weeks to get all of the additional bits on hand.Construction and biasing went well, although I blew the output stage transistors on one channel ... not careful enough attaching the multimeter clip leads I guess.Hugh replaced them quickly at a nominal charge.
...
Then I heard that Hugh was shipping the Nirvana upgrade for the TLP and two heartbeats later I fired off a fax to Melbourne to order one.
...
The designer, Hugh Dean, was always ready with an answer to any emailed question I had during the construction process.

Felipe Sa, Portugal - October 2002

I have just finished construction of a 100W version, and am very, very impressed.

When I received my AKSA package I was a little unsure if I could build something that would give genuine high fidelity performance.I wrote this to Hugh, and with patient, careful explanation he gave me every confidence, always providing excellent feedback,motivating me to move forward.My fears disappeared when I began construction, as the instructions were clear and Hugh gave marvellous, patient email backup all along the way.
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I sincerely thank the designer, seller, and supporter of this incredible product, Hugh R. Dean.
...
Thank you Hugh Dean!
...
Some may be asking, what's an AKSA and who is Hugh Dean?AKSA, or Aspen kitset amplifier, was a design challenge to create a 'tube amplifier' using semiconductors with minimalist topology.After months of research and many more months of listening tests [leading to significant modifications], has Hugh Dean succeeded where others have failed?

To my assessment, the AKSA is extremely detailed, but without harshness, even less than many tube amplifiers.
...
Having communicated with Hugh on several occasions, I can attest, he is both a gentleman and a scholar.

So, how happy am I with the AKSA?As happy as a clam.At its affordable price, I plan to build two more copies to triamp my system. (The 100W version will be ideal to power the subwoofer.) The monies saved will go towards a SACD player to fully take advantage of the amplifier's retrieval of detail.The circuit's simplicity also invites experimentation, and if you are like me, curiosity is a prerequisite for this hobby.Realistically, I seriously doubt Hugh Dean has left any fun for the rest of us.He leaves no stone unturned.
...
If I had any questions Hugh e-mailed with the answer in less than one day on more than one occasion.

Well, my friends..... over the past 6 months I have been living with a nice little amplifier designed by a good guy called Hugh Dean, owner of Aspen Amplifiers.I am writing this because I want to explain the positives of this little jewel in our diy comunity.This is because I have seen in some other forums that some guys try to accuse Mr. Dean of taking too much money for nothing out of our pockets ...Well, I hope that this small contribution helps to prevent such things happening again.

Arround six months ago I started to build Aksa 55 N+ amplifier.The information provided was more than enough to help me to build this nice kit.Also, if I had any questions I was free to ask Mr. Dean for help.

The quality of the pcb boards is very good.They are small but not too small - just about right for DIYers that want a very compact looking amplifier - in fact Mr. Dean told me that he has invested (during his development time) around 600 hours to fully develop the amplifier boards.
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I must thank Mr. Dean for his help and ideas - he always had time to reply to my (sometimes stupid) questions.He was always kind - I did not feel at any time that he was angry at somebody or something - he was always calm and helpful.I want to thank him also for developing his amplifier, and no guys, I don't have my wallet in his company, I am telling this because I want to tell it; because I am happy and satisfied.

The amplifiers are AKSA kitsets, designed by Hugh Dean - a Melbourne-based amplifier designer.Full details can be found on the AKSA web-site (www.aksaonline.com).