Audio Note ramblings & review of AN UK M6 preamplifier (which starts at post #40)*

I have spent the last fourty years as an audiophile.

When I was 13 (1976), I had my first personal stereo, which was an all in one Lloyds piece of you know what!

Mom and dad had a Sansui 8080 DB, feeding Realistic Minimus 7 speakers, with one of the first Philips cassette decks. Sadly, they only listened to Nana Mouskouri and Barbara Streisand and Johnny Horton I don't think that they actually liked music.

When I was 12 or 13, a fellow who spent all day selling Sansui gave all of his albums to my friend Robbie Hunt. What a good guy! Robbie asked me what I wanted and kept the rest. Robbie and I have memories much like the movie 'Stand By Me'.

Along the way I went through several stages of favourite music. My enjoyment has always been biased towards blues rock. I drove my parents crazy with ZZ Top's Deguello! Eventually I ended up at The Sound Gallery in Burnaby, BC. Peter Morris was one of those terrific owners who truly wanted the best for his customers. I ended up buying an all rosewood cabinet Luxman system from his main salesman, even though I went in the door wanting to buy McIntosh. Ah, the seventies!

I worked my way through Luxman, Kef, NAD, Classe Audio, VTL, Rogers, Teac (first high end transport and DAC!), Proac, Magneplanar, Apogee, Meitner, Rogers, Cardas, Levinson, Thiel, Krell, Dunlavy, Musical Fidelity, so many others!

I discovered that I want a system to sound like the real thing. Natural tone. My life was headed towards tubes!

After a short spell at Rafe's apartment, where he tested the sense of humour of his neighbours, I knew quite quickly that this was the sound for me. It didn't take long. More tomorrow....

 

You're such a tease Don.

 

Can't wait for it to continue Don.........

 

When I went over to Rafe's apartment, it was just after I had recently finished putting together an excellent solid state system.

I had a Meitner MA-1 DAC that was fed by a Mac Mini, with 4X1TB SSD. The integrated amp was a Simaudio Moon 600i that powered Proac D40R speakers through Purist Audio Design cables. I eventually added a VPI Classic1 turntable fitted with a Dynavector DV20X2Lo.

I found that I was getting excellent sound quality, but that the music was missing something. It didn't have that magical something that the best tube based systems have. I had put together my previous system as a special present for turning 50. Yet, it wasn't emotionally involving. The closest that I had ever come was with my Classe Audio system that had an LP-12 feeding the DR-8 and DR-5 combo, powering Apogee Stages.

I didn't get to hear the OTO SE as loud as one would like at Rafe's cuz he didn't want to get evicted ; ) Yet I still felt that the music had a roundness or a depth that that felt like real people in a real room. Anyone that has been around HiFi for a long time knows that you don't need a lot of time to recognize when a system is doing something right. Forget the 2 dimensional, cardboard cutout sound of cheap digital, this was the beginning of a new stage for me.

After so many years...

 

A short while later I had a trip to London, which gave me an extra day off from work. I emailed ahead and arranged a visit to Gearbox Records, which is a record label, mastering studio and Audio Note dealer.

I had quite liked Rafe's OTO SE, but I had never had less than 70 watts per channel and his amp had 10 watts! I was worried about whether the OTO SE would have any impact or power when the wick was turned up. What I discovered was that 'empty watts' (cheap solid state) can get louder but not have any power behind it.

I was quite interested in Gearbox Records as there isn't any AN dealer in my home town of Vancouver and my job as a pilot takes me to London quite frequently, so I could very well deal with Darryl and simply arrange shipping to Vancouver. Sometimes I am in London as many as four times in a month, so I could make this work if necessary.

When I visited, Darryl and the guys played their mastering system for me for about an hour and a half, then asked if I wanted to hear the Meishu Silver integrated, to let me know what a real world system was capable of. I had been thinking of the Soro SE Signature, which had about 20 watts, to help with my concerns about power. Darryl felt that there was a magic to the 300B SET circuit that the 6L6 just couldn't match.

 

The mastering system that they use was absolutely magical. I found that I stopped listening to music like an audiophile, but rather got caught up in the performance and what the artist was trying to accomplish. Any time you say to yourself 'focus! how is the sound staging, imaging, the bass, the dynamics?' You still get distracted by the music, even when you try to be objective : )

I was also impressed by how much of the magic was reproduced by the Meishu Silver. Not more than about 75% of what the big system could do, but pretty good none the less.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, actually), my airline changed the routes that my airplane was flying and I was no longer flying to London. So, I ended up visiting Soundhounds in Victoria again and really enjoyed the old fashioned style of service. That was the beginning of my adventure into Audio Note land.

 

I'm looking forward to your next installment!

 

Also looking forward to the next part.

 

You should have kept the Luxman.

 

Looking forward to dinner with you on Tuesday. Then a little live Norah!

 

Don, the suspense is killing me, it's worse than waiting to find out who shot J R

 

You know, it's funny you say that. I had to sell it to afford the upgrade to the Classe Audio DR-8/DR-5 combo, with the LP-12 and Magneplanar 2.6Rs, but I have always wished that I could have afforded keeping the Luxman setup.

I have so many great memories of listening to that setup with my friends when I was young. The upside was that I sold it to a friend who was a budding audiophile, so I think that he really appreciated and enjoyed it. So, it went to a good cause!

 

Me too! This will be the first concert for us in the last few months. The last one was Paul Simon and the next one is Brian Wilson.

 

I have to give Rafe credit for steering me in their direction again as it has proven to be a wonderful experience and the more that I am there, the more they feel like family. Their facebook page even has a picture or two of my little SoundHound, Finnigan!

The first change that I made to my system was to look at replacing my Simaudio Moon 600i integrated amplifier with the right model from Audio Note. After much discussion I had planned on the Soro SE Signature integrated (18 watt, 6L6 tubes). The time spent at Gearbox Records changed my perspective though. Darryl had convinced me that the Meishu Silver Phono was the sweet spot in the lineup and that it would get me closer to the sound of his mastering system than the OTO SE or the Soro SE. So, I discussed that with Don Thorne and he agreed. I placed the order and then proceeded to wait a few months.....

I sold my Moon 600i to a very nice guy from Wisconsin who loved it so much, that he sold it to buy the Moon pre/power combination that had more power to drive his low efficiency speakers. Pretty big jump up in price! That drive for perfection can get expensive.

While I was visiting family in Victoria over the New Year's holiday period, I received an email that my amplifier had arrived on the last business day of the year and that it was available for pickup. Woohoo! I met Don Thorne on New Year's Day (his day off) to pick up my Meishu and begin the first stage of my Audio Note journey.

More tomorrow: )

 

Enjoying your journey Don, will tune in tomorrow.

 

I was very excited to get my brand new Meishu Silver Phono integrated amplifier. I hadn't owned any tube gear for a very long time and what I had owned was more of the secondary sort of component, like an old Dyna tube tuner. I had owned some very good solid state gear and was quite nervous about selling the Moon as it is a fantastic integrated.

Once the holiday was over, we headed home and I faced the daunting task of lifting the Meishu up out of the box and onto the stand! The amp comes in a box with four strap type handles; two on each end. Pretty clear message...get some help. Not going to happen, I was too excited! I setup the Meishu in the family room, barely underneath the flat screen tv that was mounted on the wall above it. I hooked up my daughter's Epos M12 speakers as they are a relatively easy load and began my listening journey through the Meishu. This was really a time of adjustment as I was getting used to listening to the 300B based sound and most importantly, the amp had to burn in. Audio Note builds to a very high level of quality. They don't build for gorgeous looks, like Jeff Rowland or FM Acoustics, but they build entirely for sound quality and to last a very very long time. As a testament to that fact, I found out recently that the Meishu Silver Signature integrated that is sitting on the demo shelf at Soundhounds is 15 years old! You would never guess that if you looked at it. In all of that time, they have simply pulled it off of the shelf and set it up to play for each interested customer. It has worked without any problems that whole time. For me, that is a very important point. I try to make any changes to my system carefully and I have kept some components a very long time, so I don't want to deal with the headache of a flakey piece of gear. If it is too much trouble, I sell it (usually at a loss and let the new owner know any issues) and move on.

With the new amplifier, I had the issue to stick with the speakers that I owned and loved or move on to speakers that matched up ideally with the amplifier. I had owned a gorgeous pair of Proac D40R speakers and had loved what they were capable of, but knew down deep that they were truly meant for high horsepower. My 9 SET watts would create beautiful sound, but $14k speakers aren't meant to 'sound pretty good', they are supposed to be supported in the best possible manner, to allow them to shine and blow you away every time you fire up the hifi! The best results with these speakers (in online reviews) always seemed to come from amplifiers with at least 200 watts and even better if they are tubed watts. In fact, I felt that the 125 watts of the Moon 600i was good but not as much as the speakers would have liked.

I had suspected that if I was going to switch to SET amplification then I would have to switch speakers. So, when I put my Moon 600i up for sale, I thought that I would have to put my Proacs up for sale soon thereafter. The Epos M12s that I had bought for my teenage daughter were massive over achievers, considering that I only paid $400 for them. During that period of initial use of the Meishu, I was enjoying it more and more and it was easy to see that it truly needed an appropriate pair of speakers to really let it shine. Of course, that didn't mean that I wouldn't try swapping out some tubes along the way....two pairs of Sophia Royal Princess 300Bs which sound great when they work, Shuguang Black Treasure 300Bs (great sound for the dollar) and PS Vane WE300B Replicas, which were my favourites. I also swapped out the stock phono tubes to some lovely NOS Telefunkens (Steve's fault!) and I experimented with various 6SN7s and 5U4GBs. With care, you can really raise the bar out of this already very good integrated. In my experience, any component that shows these sort of changes so clearly, is a highly resolving component. The best part is that the Meishu Silver Phono is highly resolving, but in a natural manner. I chose tubes that would present vocals with great beauty, but not a false beauty. I also found that despite the reputation of the 300B as being rolled off in the frequency extremes, I was able to get delicate and extended high frequencies at the same time as detailed and powerful deep bass. I am not an electrical engineer, but it seems to me that those amazing transformers inside that case were responsible for the power and detail that the Meishu Silver Phono is capable of. Perhaps the best surprise of all was just how good the phono stage was. I had tried a couple of external phono stages that were known to be very good for the money, but they couldn't hold a candle to the internal phono stage in the Meishu. Adding the Telefunkens raised the phono stage to an even higher level. I didn't ever feel like I wanted to upgrade the phono stage. I was sure that there was better out there, but it was good enough to allow top notch cartridges, tonearms and turntables to really shine. Pretty much the definition of value to this crazy audiophile ; )

 

Thank you for your story about your audio adventures. Very interesting.

 

Who cares what tubes sound like, any thing that looks so good as a tube amp glowing like they do has got me as a fan!

 

So, I haven't been describing the M6 preamp so far, but I really wanted to explain where I come from. So, with a little more patience, please allow me to explain each step along the way so that you can appreciate exactly how I feel about the M6 Line preamp.....

Once I had decided to run the Audio Note Integrated amplifier and speakers, I decided that I was going to also support another dealer in my area; Element Acoustics in Richmond, B.C. I had planned on my analog setup coming from Edward Ku at Element Acoustics and the rest coming from Don Thorne at Soundhounds. I was happiest with the thought of supporting two very good dealers.

I had reached the point that I had tube rolled the Meishu to a higher level than it came out of the factory and along the way I realized that I enjoy spinning vinyl more than playing CDs. I had bought a VPI Classic 1 from Element Acoustics and I had felt that it was close to being my long term analog source. When Edward decided to sell his demo VPI Classic 3 in gloss black at too attractive a price, I jumped at the opportunity.

 

I was quite surprised just how much the Classic 3 was better than the Classic 1. I can't say that everyone will get as much of an improvement as I did, but that will depend on their room, cartridge, phono stage and so on. I felt that I had sorted my analog front end with the Classic 3, with the possible exception of a better cartridge at some point. I was getting excellent sound from the VPI, but the air and details that the best cartridges are capable of, wasn't being reproduced by my 20X2Lo. Not too surprising as it was about CDN $800 at the time of purchase and you have to get something extra when you spend thousands on a new cartridge. Otherwise all of those companies wouldn't be able to sell them : )

I was researching a better phono options when on some British audio websites and I kept hearing how good the Audio Note step up transformers were. I was looking at other options as well and thought that I might end up with a Koetsu or a Kiseki cartridge as I had been quite happy with Dynavector, but it is always fun to try something new. So, I asked a couple of questions regarding the Kiseki versus the Audio Note MC cartridges as audio nuts in England would have much more experience with AN cartridges, than Canadians or Americans. Parkie37 - Hello From Vancouver [Archive] - The Art of Sound Forum »

I bought the AN-S2/H SUT and was really enjoying what I was hearing. I was told that the magic started at the AN-S4 though and that if you were looking for a permanent SUT to use, it would definitely be the S4 or even the much pricier S8. In some other discussions, one or two experienced audiophiles who I respected told me that they would spend more money on a SUT than on the cartridge as they had gotten a bigger sonic improvement that way. I have a part time job teaching a safety course at my company and I use the small amount that I earn to buy records and at this point I changed the purpose of those earnings to start saving for a top notch SUT. I had to either buy the 'High Output' version to use with Kiseki/Koetsu/Dynavector/etc or go with the 'Low Output' version that is designed specifically for the ultra low output MC cartridges from Audio Note/Kondo/Some SPUs (I think).

As I had been enjoying the various Audio Note pieces that I had purchased a lot, I decided to go with the Audio Note Io I or IoII cartridge or the Io Gold. It would depend on the deal I could make with my dealer and how much I could save up. Like so many others, I had several hobbies that I loved, such as photography and playing music, cycling, soccer and so on. I decided that one hobby would take precedence over all others as I wanted to enjoy something that was close to the best available, rather than a bunch of hobbies with mediocre bits and bobs. So, with that in mind, I put my Canon EF 300mm F2.8L lens for sale as well as my Canon EF100mm F2.8 Macro lens and a couple of others (I'm definitely not saying that the 300/2.8L is mediocre! Just the opposite. But some of my other lenses were good but not great). I put my two Fender Stratocasters up for sale as well as an acoustic guitar, banjo, ukulele, violin and a piano. Slowly but surely I was selling off everything that I owned in order to fund this crazy hobby! My drug of choice was vinyl : )

After months and months of saving and selling everything that wasn't bolted down, I put in the order for an AN-S8L SUT and an Io Gold MC cartridge. What really put me over the top with the choice of the AN cartridge was that like lots of other top cartridges, it had glowing reviews, but the rebuilding cost was MUCH lower with the AN cartridges. I am not sure of todays's price, but I believe that it was crazy low, like £700. Which when compared to buying a new cartridge, is very, very reasonable. I was trying to look long term for musical enjoyment. If I had gone out on a limb and bought a $5k or $10k Koetsu or Dynavector, the rebuild cost down the road was much higher. I couldn't see myself buying another cartridge this expensive for a very long time.

After several months of waiting, the cartridge and SUT arrived and when they did, my dealer arranged to come to my house in Vancouver, from Victoria, on his days off and come and setup the cartridge. I used to have a fair amount of experience setting up turntables, but that was 20 years ago and with this much invested, I wanted him to use his 40 years of experience to do it properly. Steve has Warren Jarrett and I have Don Thorne to provide those services. I had also invited Rafe Arnott over to share the experience as he had been kind enough to share his experiences getting an OTO SE as well as the M1 RIAA.

I was really nervous as to whether I would hear an appreciable improvement over my 20X2Lo cartridge, after spending that much money.... As soon as the stylus was lowered into the groove it was obvious. The first thing that I said to Don was 'Holy ****! That sounds amazing!'

 

Just curious but how long would the MC cart last before it needs a rebuild? I have always been in the MM cart camp mainly due to budget (the SUTs kill me). Steve Hoffman loves the new IQ3 - seem to suggest it hangs in with the IO/Sut combos for like 6 times the money. I actually quite like my IQ1 but the 3 is better - the IQ 1 is kind of holding the fort down until it needs a needle - then I'll just get an IQ3. I'm waiting to sign my next two year contract.

This is also my issue with turntables - I grew up with CD and fiddling with very expensive turntables makes me just want to leave it to the dealer. It's the number one reason I have not reviewed the TT2 - I don't feel nearly as knowledgeable about them and don't have 8 tables to compare to or dozens of arms and carts that I can say much about them. Other than stock units against stock units.

 

Richard;

I can't speak to Steve's experience. He has been an engineer and has reviewed components for a very long time. I have huge respect for his experience and the fact that he built a website where music crazys like you and I can discuss these things, but my experience has been that the MC cartridge is much, much better. However, I only have so many hours listening to the MM version. I can only say that the very best cartridge that I have ever heard is the one that I own. Edward Ku was kind enough to play some really amazing analog gear for me. I just found the AN sound to be the sound that I love. It sounds like really good analog. I can't say that it is better, unless I say that it is better for me. Then I can freely say that it is way better than the other brands that I have heard. AN seems to keep in mind what natural sound, sounds like. I DO NOT WANT a cartridge that is hot in the high end. As I write this, I am listening to Taj Mahal and I am distracted. I love the music and find it hard to focus on writing the review : )

 

Sorry, I forgot to say that I am supposed to get 2500-3000 hours out of my cartridge. The standard time is about 2000 hours, but I clean every record with my well loved Loricraft PRC-4, which I love almost as much as my AN turntable!

As for analog versus digital...that is up to you. But, judging by what you have written, I would say that once you hear a well setup AN TT-2 Deluxe turntable with the Io I or better cartridge, you wouldn't be choosing digital over analog. To quote Rafe, after hearing Way Out West on my TT-2 Deluxe/Io Gold/AN-S8/Lo combo versus the DAC 4.1/X DAC/CDT 3 combo.......Jesus, this just kills the digital! It's not even close! I felt even stronger about it. And....I really liked the digital version, but the analog is wonderful. Just so musically rewarding. At some point about three quarters of the way through "I'm an old cowhand", the drummer kicks in and as I was tweaking the position of my speakers, I was actually wincing because of the physical impact of the drums! They just don't sound as good on the very expensive digital setup as they do through the analog setup! Both versions played were the Analog Productions production.

Honestly, buy the TT-2 Deluxe with the external power supply and add a great cartridge. It is the best freaking sound that I have ever gotten out of my system!

 

I had been really enjoying the Classic 3 turntable with the Io Gold/S8 combo, but I had a real problem with feedback as I have a 3 foot crawl space under my listening room. There wasn't anything that I could do about it, so I decided to go whole hog on a quality suspended turntable. I was looking at a top notch LP-12 turntable or the TT-2 Deluxe. There was NO WAY POSSIBLE that I could afford the full TT-3 Full Reference or even the Half Reference. It was simply a crazy price that was WAY ABOVE my budget. Truly, the TT-2 Deluxe is one of the unspoken bargains of the analog world. As much as I love all of the VPI turntables, they are all solid base turntables and I kept having all sorts of problems in my house with a solid base turntable. I ended up selling my Classic 3 and buying......what else, but an Audio Note turntable. Truly, this seemed to make everything in my system gel. Because everything was Audio Note, it worked together really nicely. I would never say that it would work for everyone, but this has been an amazing journey and I thought that I was done with the Meishu Silver Phono setup. I had been given the opportunity to buy the CD-3 by Audio Note and then later, when an older but reliable client retired, he wanted to sell his CDT-3/DAC 4.1/X BAL SIG combo and I don't know how, but I managed to sell more musical instruments, lenses and so on, to buy his state of the art digital setup. It doesn't have the latest ability to play DSD, but it sure sounds like really good analog......

 

Hi Don. I bought the regular TT2 with Arm 1(v2) and IQ1. The dealer's show model. I was about to buy the Roksan Radius 5 but I saw the AN sitting there - and decided to go with what i know - I had a TT2 in Canada with Arm 3(v1) and IQ3.

Peter told me to get the IQ3 but the dealer here didn't have one. So I took what they had - IQ1. But I think the next turntable upgrade will be the new fancy looking three motor turntables. I will never forget the Voyd Reference (AN TT3) I heard several years ago at a fellow audiophile's home who had a then all AN level 5 system. So the new AN turntable looks like a re-imagining of the Voyd Reference with 3 motors. And apparently it will be under $7,000 US. Expensive but I can generally swing $10k on down(because I don't need a car in Hong Kong - so you start being able to save money much faster without the need for a car). I can move my arm and cart over to that table too. Then upgrade the cart. I'm fine with MC - but it's just a huge investment over MM. It basically goes up 5-6 fold because of the SUT. And I don't have a large enough (or good enough) vinyl collection to warrant that kind of money. I also listen to a lot of modern music which is difficult and or expensive to get on vinyl and recorded from digital or even MP3 samples.

It's difficult to choose what to do and where to allocate the money. Putting "some" money to vinyl and "some" to CD is one way - or just keep the vinyl as is and go bigger on CD or vice versa. I have a bunch of new records sitting here because I don't have a record cleaner. I was going to buy one of the cheapie spin clean machines - I have the VPI 16 back in Canada - fat help that does me. I will probably sell that next summer. I'd buy one here but they are BIG and My apartment really doesn't want to see one of those.