Audio Note AN-SPE HE Speakers

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Don Parkhurst, May 21, 2015.

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  1. raferx

    raferx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Despite myself!
     
    ceynon likes this.
  2. Quiet Earth

    Quiet Earth Forum Resident

    Way to go Don! Congratulations on your new speakers. :righton:

    :tiphat:
     
  3. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Thanks so much! I have been enjoying the new speakers and the best part is that my youngest daughter has been playing records, WITHOUT ME ASKING HER TOO!!!

    Holy Heck!
     
    kfringe and raferx like this.
  4. David Cope

    David Cope Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gales Ferry, CT
    The cabinets are the same. The drivers are not. The HE speakers have a larger magnet structure and silver voice coils where the non-HE voice coils are copper.
     
  5. beowulf

    beowulf Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chula Vista, CA
    Their whole model designation thing is confusing. Ok, so what model and price range do the AlNiCo drivers start appearing in?
     
    triple likes this.
  6. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    Audio Note make fairly simple speakers built on the old Snell designs. Doubt the components are that expensive for the lower models and the price hike for the silver versions are crazy. Good sounding speakers but in value terms not wise to venture into the higher priced models. I have heard (revamped) old Snell models sounding as good or better.
     
    jupiterboy likes this.
  7. jupiterboy

    jupiterboy Forum Residue

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    Snell made some great speakers.
     
  8. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    I have not heard Snell myself, but the designer of my speakers mentioned them as very good, and I totally trust him.
     
  9. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    Don,
    Congratulations on the arrival of those stunning speakers. Are you planning to provide a more detailed review at some point? I would love to hear more of your impressions.
     
  10. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    beowulf - it is listed on their website but not up to date from what I can tell. It tells you which model has the Alnico - AN E Sec Silver. http://www.audionote.co.uk/products/speakers/an-e_01.shtml

    But I believe the newer AN E/Spx Alnico is a model down from the SEC silver uses Alnico - and is less expensive but I don't know what it goes for - it is the pair Steve Hoffman has been sent so he may know the price - Around ~$25,000???

    Still even at that price it was more than good enough to see off stiff competition in the minds of the review magazines here to earn

    [​IMG]
     
  11. james

    james Summon The Queen

    Location:
    Annapolis
    I'm listening to j/III's and a 30 dollar TPA-3116 amp right now. Love them
     
    jupiterboy likes this.
  12. beowulf

    beowulf Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chula Vista, CA
    Thanks, yes I've been to their website, but thought I heard another model designation being thrown around every once in a while where AlNiCo was mentioned but didn't seem to be listed. Anyways, that $25K for the AN E/Spx is about as crazy sounding as Harbeth charging $20K for the 40.2.
     
  13. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Crazy is relative. Personally I like the fact that you can buy your AN E in a $210,000 version and a $7,000 version and down to $2,000 for the AN E Kit 2 http://www.ankaudiokits.com/newSpkr.html

    Since most drivers are not expensive and very few companies use expensive silver cables - but instead use copper and most companies use cheap MDF cabinets and very few hand calibrate each speaker to make sure they're identical to their matched pair - I kind of wish there were more companies that offered stripped down versions and or kits. At least you get the platform - you can choose to be as nutty as you like.
     
    Pomodori likes this.
  14. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    That's really cool that they offer these as kits. I was looking for just that when I built my DIY's and sadly, didn't find anything. With that said, I know what I'm listening to here for about $1500 out of pocket for drivers, wood, and crossover parts (including incidentals like binding posts and cabinet interior treatment) and the end result is extremely satisfying. With these monitors (essentially very large bookshelf speakers) I will not consider a speaker upgrade for a very long time. They fit my listening space and preferences perfectly. Regardless, kudos to AN for offering options to the adventurous to save a few bucks!
     
  15. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Yes I am Ray. I have been putting hours on them and want to get about 400 hours before I finalize what I have to say. They have been changing quite a bit so far!
     
    raferx likes this.
  16. VinylRob

    VinylRob Forum Resident

    Don, you are one fortunate fellow, those AN's are simply gorgeous! And I'm well aware of just how good they sound.
    Enjoy!
     
  17. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Thanks Rob! I am really enjoying them so far. The interesting thing is that I thought that they were close to what they were capable of with my cheapie Monster Cable speaker cables. I am really enjoying the improved resolution, bass, pace, timing and so on with the SPx cables. Along the way I have sold off so much stuff that I had used before and used that to fund the upgrades. I am really glad that I did. The other bonus is that I am reducing clutter in the house at the same time that I am getting better sound!

    One thing that I have enjoyed the most with the change from high quality solid state to the 300b setup, is that the recordings that are less than perfect are still really enjoyable. You don't miss the fact that they are poor or adequate recordings/masterings, but it is still fun to listen to them. That hasn't always been the case with past systems that I have owned. Right now I'm listening to Elvis' Sun Sessions and it's putting a smile on my face : )
     
  18. Groovesick

    Groovesick Forum Resident

    I am a new member to this forum, but have been reading the Audio Note threads with great interest for months now.
    To add to this discussion, here is a pic of my new AN-E Spe HE sig. in white. I just love their understated looks!
    Being only two months old, the speakers are still breaking in. I am still trying to get a full measure of what they can do.
    They are set up in a relatively small room of about 16 square meters (AN recommends them for rooms being a minimum of 19 square meters). Despite the limited space, they sound surprisingly open and non-boomy. The bass they make sounds more real and organic than almost anything else I've heard. They are being driven by my OTO signature together with an EMM Labs XDS-1 v2 digital source. I have an Garrard 401 which I am contemplating to bring back from the dead, but am also looking into other tables. Looking forward to sharing my experiences (and questions) on all of the above on this forum!

    [​IMG]
     
    J.Uotila likes this.
  19. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Ray, just a quick update. I have slowly been adding hours to my speakers and recently the improvement has been quite slow. That was until I switched to lead shot in the stands as I have suspended wooden floors. If I had a concrete floors, I would stick with kitty litter. The lead shot started to tighten up the excess bass and I was having fun again.

    Then.....Rafe leant me some speaker footers that immediately improved the the bass even more. I think that I owe him some money now!
     
  20. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    I will be adding about another 200 hours before I write anything up as I want to make sure that the speakers are no longer changing.

    I really enjoyed hearing the O/96s in my system when Rafe dropped by. Fun comparison. For me, the AN E SPE HEs were better, but I think that they suited my tastes more.

    If I had owned the DeVores first, perhaps I would prefe them. Lovely speakers. I feel that my small to medium sized room suits the Audio Note speakers more. I think the DeVores would be fantastic in a larger room, especially with monoblock AN amps or Shindo amps.

    I will say that we had a lot of fun hearing the two pairs of speakers when Rafe visited and that I ended up eating and drinking too much and playing the music a bit too loud : )

    Always a good sign in a system, in that I forgot to focus on the 'audiophile' descriptors!
     
    kkibrisli and raferx like this.
  21. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    I would be interested in knowing more about the footers.
     
  22. raferx

    raferx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Skylan Q-Bricks.

    [​IMG]
     
  23. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    Thanks!
     
  24. raferx

    raferx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Place directly under speakers and on top of the center of each stand post.
     
  25. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Me likey!!
     
    raferx likes this.
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