How do you feel? We hope that you are feeling well, in strong health. We hope that CV-19 has stayed away from you and those you love. It is our fervent wish that you are finding comfort and joy in your music.
What can we expect in the near future? It's hard to know for sure, so ABCaudio have taken steps to insulate ourselves against unnecessary disruption. We just received a further stock replenishment from our OEM partners, meaning we have maintained a plentiful supply of raw materials and assembly parts that will see us through many more months. Whatever happens, EWA cables will continue to be built and shipped from here, the locked-down yet beautiful Sussex countryside.
In the meantime, orders have been placed with our lead manufacturer and further raw materials secured, meaning EWA cables will continue to be manufactured and terminated by us. We expect our next raw cable shipment in the new year.
EWA amplification is proceeding at a rapid pace - Colin J Wonfor is pressing ahead with the latest of the M-100 series class A amplifiers - the 'WB' variant. As Rolls Royce would once had said, power output is "adequate" for all purposes. Starting at a generously endowed 80 Watts true RMS power, it will produce fully 1280 Watts RMS into 0.5 Ohms (both channels driven), and will do so all day long.
We are still waiting on the first set of chassis from our case-work manufacturing partners - which means they currently are stuck somewhere behind a closed border! However for now, here are the circuit boards:
Note the sixteen high current paired output devices (all precision matched), and the 300,000 uF bulk capacitance per channel. This amplifier also features the wonderful 'Sense' - feed forward error correction that corrects for any deviation from true, from the input of the amplifier right up to the loudspeaker terminals.
Colin has also been refining the wonderful M-50 series design, which can operate deeper into class A than ever before, now in full dual differential configuration. What this means is the M-50 will be truly dual mono and balanced from input to output, down to having discrete left and right boards. This was something EWA could not previously do, but it is our pleasure to meet the demand for balanced operation. Pictured is a test mule (one channel shown) - this produces 35W RMS power (18W in class A), and 275 W RMS (both channels driven) into one Ohm. The production version will start at 50 Watts..!
There are plans for a full M-50 range based on these boards: M-50 pre, M-50 power (stereo), M-50 power (monoblocks), and M-50 Oberon Integrated. This M-50 refinement will appear first as the Oberon super integrated amplifier. The advantages of this new configuration are significant, but are in no way a departure from the current M-50 sound signature - it will sound like the current range, but slightly more insistent grip and control - it will feel more powerful.
If that's not enough for Colin in his little workshop of wonders, he is putting the finishing touches to his latest SECA (single Ended Class A) power amplifier. It currently outputs 30 Watts RMS and doubles it's output into four ohms - truly remarkable for a Single Ended design! We are told it sounds utterly exquisite, which is exciting to say the least. You'll recall, Colin designed the highest performance, highest power SECA amplifiers ever built - a range of amplifiers starting at 20W, 50W, 150W and 300W.
Until recently, Colin's favourite sounding amplifier he ever designed was that TOCA SECA 50W model built in about 1980 - until he developed the M-100 Turbo Sense Push/Pull class A amplifier, and now the latest EWA SECA (I expect the WB to be up there as well). So EWA are expecting a great year to come.
What about trading under Brexit conditions? As yet, no-one knows for sure what will happen, but we expect to continue providing great service to you, wherever you are. Customs and excise duties may become a fact of life, but we will still export to Europe in the most efficient manner possible. We have great courier partners, who are assisting us greatly preparing for the changes to come.
Shipping further than Europe - well that shouldn't change at all. Our worldwide shipping partners have been superb during the CV-19 crisis and closed borders notwithstanding, we are confident that business can continue as normal.
So there it is! EWA = AWE Inspiring Audio, and will continue to do so in 2021. Things are rough at the moment for many of us, but EWA and ABCaudio remain ready when you are.
Stay safe!