Amwaj Audio

US audiophile's amazing construction journey... RIP

One Man's Dream - Ken Fritz Documentary about the world's best stereo system One man's dream to build the best music system with no holds [email protected] ...

Stada2 is an excellent Head unit option for our VIK loudspeakers, above VIK's apartment- compatible *isolated* NoBaffle Base (bass) units

here they come!

Burning in.

Really hope this succeeds in the marketplace, as it's been so long coming. Previous DEQX models HDP3-5 provided excellent separate corrections of speakers & room, with effective, flexible crossovers, without needing intricate software expertise. I found them a great balance between superb performance and technical complexity, way beyond lesser, more popular products that left a rather poor taste. Hence a lot rests on this, their 4th generation 🤞🏻🙏🏻

Gen4 4-way loudspeaker & room correction on its way, finally!

Standing room only at the DEQX room at the 2023 Stereonet HiFi Show in Melbourne today. Here's a shot of our co-founder, Kim Ryrie explaining the virtues of analysing and calibrating the group delay of each driver in your active DEQX system.

Stereonet Australia & New Zealand

VIK alum bass frames, "Bases", going to car paint shop, carbon version unpainted; preparing 3DP skeletal frame to compare new mids (6" vs 5") and new AMT; Flex8 in da haus! new DEQX awaited.

progress

DEQX are near production of their newest DSP after the 2020 AKM fire pushed many audio firms into redesign using alternative chips. Next-level performance will be welcome after the long wait!

https://www.deqx.com/early-access-program/

Sorry it's been a while, folks. Jiangsu transportation finally unlocked recently, allowing key parts to be completed: bending & anodising tubes (alloy No. 4) for Head stands, for a key model. So progress continues! Next some painting, assembly, re-testing and packing.

whilst i'm waiting for aluminium tubes to be allowed to travel 60km in Jiangsu to complete an important VIK speaker, here's exciting news for DIY and e.g. DEQX amps. "Massive" improvements over the excellent, previous Ncore amps...😳😃👍🏻👍🏻

We like to introduce to you our new star !!

Nilai Class D technology is here!
We have taken our excisting control-loop topology to a whole new level resulting in an immense performance upgrade compared to Ncore. The overall performance has increased by not less than 10 times!
This massive performance boost results in distortion figures that are 10 times lower, a power supply noise rejection that is 10 times higher and a reduced output impedance that has dropped by a factor 10. These figures may already sound incredible, wait until you hear them come alive through your speakers!
And today, 20 years after the launch of our very first Class D amplifier, we want to thank the DIY-community that has always been very loyal to us. Their support played a very important role in our company’s success. We therefore thought that letting them be the first to exclusively try out this new technology was the right thing to do!

The Nilai500DIY comes with a discrete buffer stage and voltage regulators, just like the NC400 it will be replacing. Together with carefully selected high-grade components the Nilai500DIY is our best amplifier to date. Besides the amplifier we designed a new power supply to match. The PS500DIY includes a PFC and standby power supply. Just like on the Nilai500DIY we selected high-grade components for optimized performance.

For more detailed information check out this link: https://audioxpress.com/news/hypex-presents-new-nilai500-diy-audio-amplifier-module

Finally found! - unhardened aluminium tube to minimise spring-back in mandrel-bending machine (see previous video). This jig (2 halves: red+green) hold tubes whilst they are drilled and slotted to fit yellow joint (not final colours!). Stylish boot with stainless badge covers joint after jig removed.

Amwaj Audio updated their information in their About section.

Kindly WhatsApp me if interested in the soon-available range of compact No-Baffle VIK loudspeakers, comprising interchangeable Heads: PRO, Lii SILVER and Gallo STRADA, on telescopic or separate mounts, plus ROKKA subwoofer Bases each using double, hi-Xmax 15” or 18” drivers. Isolated ROKKAs are like compact side-tables, available separately, easily mixed with e.g. Klipsch, Definitive Tech or KEF compacts. Optional latest DEQX DSP, custom fabric covers, leather and hardwood trim, exquisite matte or glossy true carbon or any-colour aluminium frames - spouse-friendly! Sceptical about No-Baffles? - exceptionally satisfying, fresh, alive - check out $$$ Wolf von Langa. Compact VIK were developed over 5 years compared to Linn's large recording studio KOMRI (we tried many drivers! - can discuss). ALSO, inbuilt isolation means *no structural vibration* = apartment-friendly, imagine that!

Preview of new DEQX models - despite the global chip shortage!
Top Amwaj Audio speakers (eg VIK Pro4) will undoubtedly use the 4-way.

I published music on Tidal to test MQA - MQA Review A deep dive into MQA, and its problems.Testing starts at 5:45Come chat on discord: https://www.thegoldenone.co.uk Support me on patreon and join the private ...

As an audiophile since early 70's with Hamish Robertson-designed, CW&J Walker/Lloyd-Paton-McGlynn-sold 1971 Ariston Audio RD11 (an early LP12 in all but name, a full 15 months before Linn Products existed!), it's tiring to read speculators' conjecture, pushing fantasy as fact, when reality is different.
Like proclaiming how loudspeakers will sound, with the less-experienced relying upon comfy dogma. Armchair judges! Why do some people vehemently defend and promote ill-formed opinion? In fields where I have experience, I find more+more BS. It hurts to think newcomers might believe it - I guess they'll discover truth in time, hopefully soon.
VIK is progressing despite COVID and 4 weeks lost to Chinese New Year. Regardless of the hateful ping-pong between USA and China, I find workmanship and materials from my Chinese suppliers absolutely top-drawer - perhaps because I insist, and specify tightly. I only use top quality: my 316-stainless steel fasteners come from a UK Rolls-Royce supplier, non-slip vibration-proof washers from Sweden. It's quite easy to detect superior workmanship even in VIK's nuts and bolts.
Late 2020, I succumbed to the option of Lii Audio Crystal-10 and/or Silver-10 drivers, as many folk will be tempted to adopt them, after very positive reports. I could even embrace your drivers in my Head designs, if you help in development - I have some exciting leads, although no guarantee before testing! The Gallo Strada option led me to enlarge a hole for a stronger 1st-stage telescopic Head support. All new parts are here, except perfectly bent aluminium. I checked local CNC machining, alas, they let me down after over-promising.
Soon, Friends, the wait really will be over. Pre-production VIKs are a sonic revelation. One full-production Base and 2 Head types will go for UK review and others for sale asap: compact, décor-friendly and at a price point not matched elsewhere (enquiries: please message me via Facebook/AmwajAudio, or WhatsApp +973 39607470).

Hi Friends, quick update (pls message for any more info!) more aluminium tubes en route, for painted frames should buyers prefer. Options: high-grade carbon fibre in matte or high-gloss 3K weave.
These choices will define your build:
Heads: a) 5-star Gallo Strada2, b) Lii Audio Silver/Crystal, c) Pro (2x5" pro wide-range) or d) Pro4 (Pro + AMT tweeter)
Woofers: long throw a) 2x15", b) 2x18"; both with pro DSP amp
Frame: a) carbon, matte/gloss, b) aluminium, auto-paint any colour
Wood: a) painted/dyed, b) solid Blonde Beech, c) waxed Walnut
Bolts: a) natural silver, b) blackened.
3-way VIK Pro4 need high quality DEQX crossovers and DSP (aficionados can use their own) to totally embarrass much higher-priced competition, still at modest cost! All VIK use active low bass.
Here's a look at the Lii Audio Crystal 10" and Fast-8 wide-rangers, before recent testing... Silver-10 is same shape as Crystal-10. If you already have Lii, or Strada, we can send you VIK in a driver-less flat-pack - also greener! - saves shipping of heavy drivers and unnecessary carbon. Especially clients in USA where our woofers come from - order them yourself in 2 days and simply self-assemble (with a video, much easier & simpler than IKEA, haha!!)

essentially a zero-baffle speaker without delayed rear wave of a dipole = super clear, used in our Amwaj Audio VIK Strada

The iconic Strada 2.

A true hi-fi quality loudspeaker that’s equally impressive on a wall or a floor stand, with music or a dynamic movie soundtrack.

x

The fully-steerable head of Amwaj Audio's telescopic VIK STRADA, perfectly integrated with compact, DSP-powered, twin-15" No-Baffle, tactile, revelatory bass! Pure, precise and powerful. Production early 2021. Limited pre-launch discounts & options (ask).

Strada in Stainless Steel & Black 🖤

Amwaj Audio VIK loudspeaker
update - Nov.2020
وعسى ان تكرهوا شيئا وهو خير لكم
“you may hate something that's better for you”
or “every cloud has a silver lining”
Nearly my last update before production - yippee!
Tough Times!
Some examples of the above Arabic saying
(a=issue & b=solution):-
1a) 1st design needed 5-axis CNC wood baffle, no-one would make
1b) found No-Baffle design sounded better, no baffles needed!
(4th design uses 5-axis CNC'd solid wood accents)
2a) very difficult to find quality carbon fibre in my sizes
2b) supplier sent introductory parts in highest quality carbon - thus F1 quality was discovered by chance
3a) took 15 months to develop precise speaker driver isolation (v3)
3b) this helped me massively simplify version 4, still ~98% effective
4a) speaker skirt & veil need top tailor to look nice. Very few would make my pieces (i was chased out several times!)
4b) social media found superb Thai seamstress = haute couture!
5a) “most promising driver” tests always revealed snags, even $$$
5b) my friend tested a model I'd earlier dropped due to distribution issues; now under new owners, the model proves ideal
6a) swivel/tilt bracket needed 3D-printed & aluminium parts, but expert welder unavailable for weeks + cost $$$
6b) earlier providers now CNC from solid = stronger, assembly-less, neat & clean = 100% better!
On the last day of 2019, I had the 1st example of VIK working superbly, with incredible detail and layering (matching electrostatic headphones). It's a most satisfying and exciting monitor (using 1 amp per driver). In Bahrain, a carefully isolated, balanced suspension improves overall results and elicits spooky 3D magic. And in my LIRIK 3-way, DEQX uses the driver as a mid, completely avoiding high-frequency breakup, becoming amazingly open, honest and breathtakingly dynamic. Nevertheless, sensitised folk (without auditioning my version) may feel the driver to be harsh (they might even prefer mellow to real life). Harshness is effectively eliminated using the isolation system, superb amps and my Klimax source - but as not everyone has such access, the hunt started for a "kinder" driver, if available. We tested respectable wide-band driver for their simplicity (2-way system = 1-way Head), including esteemed field-coils. However, most whizzer drivers had weak or harsh treble, or somehow drew attention to themselves, or $$$ . . .
Long story short, that some may reject, but here it comes. In our experience, only very (too) expensive field-coil wide-banders have full high frequencies, strong lower-mids + acceptably-low whizzer artifacts. When you find one, they're often heavy, fragile and work best in an exotic cabinet/horn/large Open-Baffle, needing $$ power supplies - contrary to simplicity and less-coloured No-Baffles. VIK should be affordable, compact, an “easy-lifestyle” thing.
Our solution came by more magic! The 1st VIK will be a hybrid...
a) Head gives fulsome lower mids - no thinness here!
b) no British feeble sensitivity, it gets up and boogies!
c) clean, smooth mid-highs: v.high resolution, no harshness 1-4kHz
d) no whizzer = fuzz-free treble + no narrow dispersion beforehand
e) no lumpy response published only after ridiculous smoothening
f) wide range effectively baffle-less, yet not dipole = lower rear wall reflections = sharper focus and imaging.
Some clients know, Avalon Audio-Video Consultants used to sell and promote Gallo Acoustics till a change in distribution sent us via Dubai, increasing prices above self-import levels (+other issues). However, the new Scottish owners of Gallo are very supportive of my idea and have gallantly agreed to supply us...
Announcement
I'm delighted to reveal the compact, established, 5-star 6moons-reviewed Gallo Acoustics Strada-2 will be the Head in the first production VIK loudspeaker. Yet VIK will differ from what Gallo offer in the following ways:-
a) VIK employs an isolated, dipole, naked, No-Baffle, double-15” active DSP woofer configured within a small footprint. Bass is . . . revelatory!
A stereo pair of VIKs use four fifteen-inch subwoofers for breathy, tactile, slammy bass - excitingly different to traditional boomboxes! Bass + Strada Head combine perfectly, acoustically and physically, and can be wheeled around. Detachable casters make no difference to sound quality thanks to isolated drivers = no spikes needed, at all! VIK can be re-positioned or moved for vacuuming very easily.
b) whilst Strada's CDT tweeter has admirable horizontal dispersion, vertical dispersion is more restricted - this helps avoid floor and ceiling reflections, but also means tweeter height should match the listener. Sitting for TV, Standing for parties - VIK accomplishes this via its adjustable, telescopic height, like a camera tripod. The new mounting also allows swivel and tilt, to spray pure treble where needed.
c) VIK base is vibrationless = no structural vibes to annoy neighbours via floor or walls. No vibrations for photographs, objets d'art or wine glasses placed on Base tops, which can act as a side-tables.
d) VIK merges Gallo supercool with trad accents of solid walnut or beech, rounded corners, silk/linen fabrics & crystal glasstop options (isolated, naturally).
In any colour auto paint (e.g. Mercedes) or luxe carbon fibre. Premium stainless and hard-coated aluminium fixtures. Easily blends in with high-end décor.
Production & Review - early 2021
Lockdowns and quarantine permitting, I'm preparing initial VIK-Stradas. My next FB article will confirm what you need to drive VIK (amp, cable, streamer/TV) - or just message me. Of modest size and price, VIK is both audiophile and décor-compatible and will embarrass many high-end names. Truly top audio today (like at Munich High End, not Amazon fads) is still rare and prices have spiralled. To the Rescue! - VIK with fresh, seasonal fabrics could well satisfy your demands and family needs for decades!

Please Note! - temporary emergency email if needed:-
[email protected] +973 396 07470
(FB Messages should work but website host giving headache)

I've met Max and have great respect for his company's products. His podium can clean up / upgrade many speakers' performances. By design, my Amwaj Audio speakers VIK & LIRIK are already isolated: no spikes, no structure-borne neighbour disturbance... (@ $0 !)

*Loudspeaker Run-in experiences*
- reposted with simpler format for mobiles -
Telling friends of my New Year experience, seems few know about “running-in”. Like new shoes, speakers can take hours of use to sound their best (Gallo Strada can take 600 hours to lose an initial nasal colouration, equally their sub to loosen up; Linn Sweetspot ceiling speakers and Sonance aluminium... many months of use). Some speakers can improve only to regress, before finally stabilising! - progress is often non-linear. Perhaps in dynamic speakers, woven fibres in the spider suspension need to be stretched, who knows? Yet others have no spider - whatever - running-in is real.
*VIK*
Each VIK has two 15-inch woofers + two 5-inch wide-range mids. Without TIDAL or QOBUS and my music server offline, my top player (Linn Klimax DSM) was temporarily unavailable. So I reverted to a CD player, to make my first (production) sounds still in 2019 and celebrate New Year alone, but with music! Late Jan 1, run-in proper started, with familiar tunes scoring around 7/10 (70%) in most aspects, on my scale. This is why I normally cover new speakers with a blanket till 50 hours. By midnight Jan 2/3, VIK had passed 25 hours..... zzz....
Playing conditions:-
a) music source = Linn Ikemi CD playing normal (“redbook”) CDs on repeat;
rock with low bass + medium dynamic range / modern jazz vocal + wide dynamics
b) room: open plan 6x4 + 4x4m + opening into long corridor; random stored furniture and boxes; 1m behind speakers half-height padded screens to reduce early reflections and disrupt standing waves, then 4m space; not noticeably reverberent despite large window to one side; Listening more nearfield than far; Heads at ear level, directly facing listener, mercilessly
c) hookup+speaker wire (same): copper multistrand, nothing exotic (Sonance Gold, directionally consistent, 11AWG bass, 14AWG mids); torqued copper clamps on copper spades instead of binding posts; no tin hookup tags: woofers use spring clamps; mids use crimped silver tags; interconnects: Linn silver + Sonance Gold with gold Neutriks
d) no mains conditioning
e) no antivibrational supports (one speaker on table top, other on trolley)
f) no spikes (irrelevant due to isolation, in fact, locked casters used for mobility)
g) amps (on single 240V): each mid on its own Linn MAJIK 6100 channel (~60W/8Ω) fed only >300Hz, each woofer on Behringer iNuke NU6000DSP (no grimacing! actual ~1.2kW/4Ω (burst 2kW), both channels driven in identical bi-amp mode, fed only

revolutionary (multiple USPs)
custom made to order + match your décor
Quite possibly the best speaker...
a) you've never heard, or...
b) you'll ever hear

Home-friendly #loudspeaker with true audiophile performance. #AmwajAudio model VIK is an exciting, compact, #telescopic no-baffle design that matches your interior décor. Change its look in seconds! #carbonfiber options. Custom made to order now, from us (dealers since 3/1999). 5 years' development respecting many women's wishes = High WAF and living room harmony, finally! From Bahrain to the World, with Love...🎶 . #audio #audiophile #audiovideo #highendaudio #madeinBahrain #hometheater #hometheatre #homeaudio #openbaffle

VIK is about to make music... many incremental improvements since prototype, so how do they add up?! The first hours will be running in...

VIK uses simple DSP to blend its bass with its Head; Advanced LIRIK uses DEQX for stellar results. DEQX-bundled pricing available, with professional remote tuning of YOUR room and speakers . . . click image for video...

DEQX Sub Woofer Integration - Audio as Intended Installation, calibration and sub-woofer integration.