Audio Expresso!

The arcane delights of DIY audio with AudioXpress magazine

By Simon Brown

May 2005

AudioXpress magazine

A friend of mine guards his copies of the DIY audio magazine, AudioXpress, so closely that it was years before I saw a one. Occasionally I was granted a photocopy of a notable article. This just made me wonder if I needed to know a funny handshake or take part in midnight rituals involving disembowelling electrolytic capacitors before being admitted to the inner circle who were allowed to touch the holy book (well, magazine) of the Tube Gods.

So it was with some surprise that one day I walked into a Jaycar store and saw AudioXpress openly sitting on the counter. I became a subscriber within days of picking up that first copy, with nothing more magical than a credit card transaction.

While a 'paper' magazine, AudioXpress has a good website where they offer introductory deals (currently, four issues for $US 20 [~$NZ30]) and assorted DIY stuff.

AudioXpress is a "Three for the Price of One" magazine; being a combination of three older US based DIY magazines, Glass Audio , Speaker Builder and Audio Amateur. In my mind this is a great plus as the editors usually manage a good mix of valve, speaker and semiconductor articles.

There are a occasional equipment reviews too, though these often seem to be more about the writer's test equipment than the audio equipment under test. Like many specialist magazines, the ads are frequently interesting too. I've discovered all sorts of things are available to help my DIY efforts.

There is something there for everyone, whatever their interest, skill or budget. Articles go from the "unsolder the blue wire, add a 47 ohm resistor", step-by-step description to those that remind me that of how little I remember of my engineering degree.

Budget wise, articles range from the writer who urges readers to economise by scavenging transformers from junked microwave ovens to those where money is literally no object (more valves than a Ferrari).

If this seems somewhat of a witches brew, it's nothing to the mix of styles of writing and technical expertise. Most of the articles come from the pool of readers. These folk are dedicated and frequently very accomplished. On one hand there are a number of really top audio designers who contribute to AudioXpress. Like Nelson Pass and his profoundly elegant if profoundly inefficient Zen single ended transistor amplifiers. Joe D'Appolito's superb speaker designs appear regularly too. Others are not so skilled, so it's a case of "Reader Beware!" However many mistakes will later be ruthlessly exposed in the Letters column, where the debate is, shall I say, "robust".

This explains why my friend was so reluctant to lose even one copy of AudioXpress . Even if you find a design you want to build, it's pretty useful to have later issues for any follow-up correspondence. Also some articles span more than one issue.

AudioXpress is a great magazine, just don't ask to borrow a copy from me.

Simon Brown is a long term AudioEnz writer. He is also involved in supplying DIY hi-fi components via DesignBuildListen

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