SOUND TRAVELS

Hugh Dean has been manufacturing amplifiers in Melbourne for more than 20 years. He owns a company called Aspen Amplifiers. His Maya and Saksa solid-state power units were marketed as ‘bespoke’ units in Australia and overseas. His current products can be seen at www.aksaonline.com. The VSonics loudspeakers in his system were designed by Laurie Menogue. Aspen Amplifiers sells them in ‘kit’ form for DIY builders and Hugh built a pair for himself.

An erudite audio scholar, Hugh Dean rejected a career in IT to pursue a life in audio manufacturing to satisfy what he says is his ‘lifelong obsession’ with audio.

Dean’s location in the leafy suburb of Rosanna in Melbourne’s north-east remains a cornerstone of the local hi-fi scene and he says that his small business still satisfies him, 24 years after selling his first commercial amplifier. That