ANK Audiokits Have Arrived! Follow the Build Here

I agree. Those look great!

 

Ray,
How long did it take for them to be shipped after ordering? The ANK website says shipping within 3 weeks at the latest. I ordered mine August 11, the (made in Canada) cabinets indeed shipped after three weeks, but for the rest of the stuff I can't even get a shipping estimate after over two months of waiting. Apparently the holdup is AN UK, or Austria actually, where the kits are assembled. I even offered to take either the 02 or 03 kit, whichever would be available sooner, but still nothing.
Thanks.

 

They took close to three months to get but they are certainly worth the wait. Unfortunately, Brian has little control over the timing of AN UK, but they will ship them soon, I am sure. Wait until you see the quality of the kit 04 and then hear them. You will be glad you waited. Since they also build the other speaker kits, they won't ship any faster- just hang on for the o4- you'll be glad you did.

It was easier for me to wait, though, as I was building the amps and the pre.

 

Thanks Ray. So at least my experience is not exceptional. I understand Brian has no control over AN UK delivery, the more reason NOT to make hard promises on the website about 3-week shipping lead. I would accept a longer wait time - it is a small batch boutique product after all - I just wish they were upfront about it. Under-promise and over-deliver is a good rule to follow.

I am so anxious to get the speakers. I've been trying to get tube-friendly speakers since last winter and have already had two false starts before this. I just hope to finally get something before my hearing goes of old age ... Oh, I told Brian I'd take either the 02 or 03 kit, the 04 kit is out of my league.

Alex

 

You are right, of course- setting proper expectations is important in customer service.

Are you going to be driving them with the MC275?

 

I will try. It is a bit of a daring experiment with the AN kit. That's part of the reason I want the 02 kit and not the 04 as I am not even sure this speaker design is going to fly in my room. My room is a strange shape and while relatively large (14x28 with pitched ceiling), only half of it is the listening area. I cannot put the speakers in corners, but they could go flat against a wall.

I tried to reorient the room with the speakers in the two distant corners and it sounded decidedly weird. I think the ceiling pitch creates some kind of undesirable effect if it does not go sideways to the direction of the sound.
I have tried DeVore O/93 in the room and ultimately got rid of them. They had to be placed too far into the room to sound their best and there was no place left to sit. There have to be two sitting spots and in this room with the O/93s the image collapsed if you did not sit right in the center between them. Still, they sounded divine with the right material, but for some denser music less so.

The little PSBs image astoundingly well, have wide usable listening area and have very respectable bass for their size. The midrange, however, is a bit commonplace. I got spoiled midrange-wise with the O/93s.

Anyway, looking forward to the kits as I haven't DIY built any major audio gear in decades...

 

I do not have my speakers in corners and they are about the same distance from the back walls as the speakers in your picture and they still sound great. I think they will work well in that room- place them where your speakers sit now and experiment with toe-in (AN-Es seem to like a lot of it- mine are set to cross just in front of me). The only thing you really give up not having them in the corners is some efficiency, but your Mac should have no problem, I'm driving mine with 20 watts.

BTW, try throwing a comforter or blanket over the TV when plying music- it made a noticeable difference when I did that.

 

How do they sound on-axis, or with a traditional mild toe-in?

 

Tonally they sound fine, but the soundstage is less coherent. With the proper toe-in the speakers literally disappear with the instruments across the soundstage. With little or no toe-in, some of the harder panned instruments come from the speakers.

 

Thanks. That is exactly my position as well. Having had a semi-omni speaker for so long, I found the imaging of my current speakers to be razor sharp, and as you say, hard panned instruments did draw attention to the speakers. I've found that by focusing them a foot or so in front of the listening position also improves the soundstage for the other, less-than-optimum seating positions. That's really handy when the dog is hogging the sweet spot.

 

2 Stressless recliners in the (stereo) sweet spot! Wow, this is something I haven't seen before!

 

Great. I will, of course, experiment with many positions .

Unfortunately, I can't do that. I use the TV screen during listening. I have made slides of track lists and lyrics to all my albums and project them on the screen from a DLNA server while playing, for example:
http://www.khain.org/priv/slide1.png
http://www.khain.org/priv/slide8.png
As English is not my first language and the lyrics to most music I listen to are complicated, I can't make out everything by listening and this is a big help.

 

Yes, they are fantastic. I tried to replace them with a sofa to be able to sit closer to the true sweet spot, but it didn't hold a candle to them. I can sit for hours in this recliner, on a sofa I start to fidget after ten minutes. I have put aside the leather ottomans they came with and replaced them with homemade cloth covered cushions to cut down on reflections. I also cover the headrests with Polartec fleece covers while listening. I've had them for ten years and would not give them up for anything.

 

All these suggestions to improve the sound and no one has come up with a double reclining listening sofa. I would buy one !

 

http://www.koinor.com/en/products/sofas/elena/

 

http://www.smartfurniture.com/products/Stressless-Legend-Loveseat-Lowback.html

 

Thanks for the suggestions, but I think we are hijacking this thread... Let's get back to ANK Kits....

 

No worries- it is information others would likely find useful.

 

OK, since you don't mind, I'll elaborate on my experience with the sofa. The reclining sofas suggested above are indeed almost as comfortable as the recliners (I have only tried the Stressless, but the Koinor seems to be based on a similar principle). If I didn't have the recliners, I would strongly consider them. I initially bought the recliners because they were light, could be easily moved by one person and the seating was easy to rearrange for non-listening purposes. As the room morphed into a more or less dedicated listening room, I tried to replace them with a non-reclining sofa, which, as I mentioned earlier, was an awful move. I was lucky to be able to return it.

I then considered getting the Stressless reclining loveseat. My wife and I spent a lot of time in a showroom trying to justify plopping down another $3k for it. We compared the distance of our ears from the true center between the speakers with the recliners and sofa. We realized we would gain less than 5 inches with the sofa. Additionally, on the sofa, as we gravitated to the middle, we ended up elbowing each other in the ribs. On the recliners we still get full freedom of movement and maximum comfort without bothering the other listener. We figured it was worth the extra 5 inches from the sweet spot, not to mention $3k saved .

The high headrest on the recliners is a concern, but I keep it pushed all the way in and when I listen, it reclines low enough to not cover the ears. I also made pull-on fleece covers to cut down on reflections.

Now back to the ANK kits. I still got nothing but two empty cabinets, but in addition to the speakers, I am itching to try a DAC kit to see if I could make digital pleasant again. I'm hesitant because I'd want to get a scope at a minimum to test the build. By then it would be cheaper to have them build it for me. I am also not sure which DAC kit is the best bang for the buck. Maybe the 3.1 to get the transformer coupling?

 

I am also considering building the new 5.1 DAC, but am not in a hurry as I am having too much fun with my analog.

 

I would love to hear how good that DAC is. Although it's a bit expensive, it isn't nearly as pricey as some gear out there. So, that's my way of saying..."yes please, go ahead and spend the money and tell us good it is" : )

 

$6200US for the factory assembled DAC 5.1 versus say a second hand Factory built DAC 3.1 balanced - which one wins I wonder? The DAC3.1 seems to be the sweetspot in terms of price performance - it's the one I have my eye on - but bought the turntable first.

 

What does a 2nd hand DAC 3.1 go for USD? Also, what table did you end up getting?

 

I am thinking $5-6K for a second hand one though I've not seen one.

I bought a TT2/Arm 1V2 and IQ1. Peter tells me I need to buy the IQ3. LOL. But I'm not made of money. Pointless to spend large when I currently use a $40 Radio Shack "little rat" 9v phono stage.

 

RGA - Please don't muddy the waters. By referring to the assembled kit as "factory built" you're likely to give some the impression that it's being built at the AN factory in England, which, of course, it isn't.