ANK Audiokits Have Arrived! Follow the Build Here

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Raylinds, Feb 6, 2015.

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  1. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    I cannot speak to the AN UK versus AN Japan issue, but ANK Audiokits is no longer associated with AN UK. The owner of ANK is Brian Smith who bought the kit business from AN UK when Peter decided to exit that market. Brian still sources some parts from AN UK (like their tantalum resisters and film caps) and uses AN designs in many of the kits, but is sourcing some parts from non-AN UK sources. For example the C-Core output transformers are AN design but Brian has found another vendor (I believe in Canada) to build them to his specifications.

    Probably the most AN UK related product in the catalog are the speaker kits- AN UK builds the crossovers and supplies the drivers that are matched to them.

    David can correct me if I got anything wrong.
     
    jh901 likes this.
  2. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Very quick version:
    Audio Note used to be one company with Peter Q in England and his former business partner in Japan. After they split, they became Audio Note UK and Kondo or Audio Note Japan. Audio Note Kits is a former off shoot of Audio Note UK.

    There is also Shindo in Japan, with somewhat similar products and a similar sounding name.

    You can get a much more detailed description if you read the history online. I spent my time listening and enjoying AN UK gear :)
     
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  3. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC

    This is good news when you can't stop playing records! I will second the NOS RCA 5U4G rectifier. I picked one up at a friendly price and I really liked what it did. Better central image, more of the recording acoustics, a little warmer and richer sounding as well. Overall, quite nice for not too much money. I look forward to some pics : )
     
  4. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    After spinning LPs late into Sunday night and getting up for work, I was exhausted last night and went to bed early. I will post pics in the next day or two.
     
  5. smctigue

    smctigue Forum Resident

    Ray, how did you ever make out with the Kit speakers? Are you happy with them?
     
  6. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    It has been very frustrating. I started working on them at a friends woodworking shop a few blocks from me about three months ago. Through a lot of circumstances, we have not been able to get together since then and he is now in Paris until next week. I hope to be able to finish them then. sigh.
     
  7. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Shindo as in Haut-Brion, etc.? Shindo Labs? I never knew there was an Audio Note connection...!

    Or are you saying there's a Shindo in Japan that is unconnected with the Shindo that markets here in North America?
     
  8. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    No not saying Shindo is connected to Audio Note, but that some find the two names Kondo and Shindo get mixed up, especially as they are both from Japan and build top notch low powered tube gear.

    As you know, Audio Note Japan is now Kondo. Just mentioning another similar brand that also builds great stuff : )
     
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  9. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Hang in there Ray! You're going to love them once they are done. Very much worth waiting for.
     
    bhazen likes this.
  10. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    Thanks- I'm sure I will. Right now the monoblocks and pre sound great with my Paradigms. I know my speakers have long been the weak link in my system, so if they sound this good with the Paradigms- they should sound amazing with the AN-Es
     
  11. rbp

    rbp Forum Resident

    Looking forward to this thread restarting.
     
  12. mdelrossi

    mdelrossi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn nyc
  13. utahusker

    utahusker Senior Member

    Me three:righton:
     
  14. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    So after many months I was able to work on the speakers. Here is the first veneer panel attached for the top of the speaker:
    [​IMG]


    Here are the sides, bottom, and top veneered:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  15. utahusker

    utahusker Senior Member

    Those grains are going to pop when finished.:edthumbs:
     
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  16. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Wow Ray, you are going to love those once they are finished. They are beautiful!
     
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  17. mdelrossi

    mdelrossi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn nyc
    Is the veneer paper backed?
    If not make sure the plywood endgrain is filled and sanded smooth. You wouldn't want it to telegraph through that beautiful veneer.
    Those are going to look stunning:thumbsup:
     
    Raylinds likes this.
  18. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    The great thing about DIY is that you can basically make a one of a kind AN E that no one else on the planet is going to have. I think it's pretty awesome that Audio Note provides 20 different finishes and real wood - most companies don't - some cheap MDF with a choice of 3 colours - but at $10k you should expect more IMO.

    I find audio a bit too stuffy to be honest - I wish they had more the DIY approach and offered outlandish colours that mirrored some of the fantastic art work on LP's. Wouldn't it be awesome to out and out have speakers with the actual LP artwork on them - everyone has their favorite albums - or instruments. Why does it have to be a black box? I was a goalie in Hockey when I was a kid and a huge element for us was to create a goalie mask

    Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Ken Wreggett
    [​IMG]

    WAF - well why not include them - with the big fat speakers like AN's and other even bigger ones you can do a lot in the world of Art to make a statement and add the speaker to the room and make it serve two purposes.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    And because I live in Asia

    [​IMG]
     
  19. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    The veneer is paperbacked, but to be sure, I filled the plywood endgrain with Bondo.

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    So, I finished the veneer on one of the speakers:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    So now I need to finish it. The veneer will darken up nicely when I apply the poly.
     
    ceynon, utahusker, james and 8 others like this.
  21. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Looking forward to seeing that.
     
  22. Don Parkhurst

    Don Parkhurst Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Wow! I love that! I can't wait to see the finished speaker! Have some patience once it is finished. Mine are still burning in. They are capable of crazy resolution!
     
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  23. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    I like the bottom of the speaker below the woofer - it reminds me of the opening sequence of the original Dr. Who back in 1963 (25 seconds). And it's interesting how the theme changed with the technology too
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2015
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  24. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    Ha- that's great. That space was just screaming for a nice figure in the grain. There is a similar figure on the top.
     
  25. rebbi

    rebbi Active Member

    Hi, Ray,
    I just discovered this thread this morning and have read the entire thing! Great work!
    Your posts constituted a huge nostalgia trip for me because last December/January I built an ANK Kit 1 integrated SET amp and I had such huge fun doing so. I can't wait until finances permit me to build another kit - maybe a DAC or a phono preamp.
    The other funny thing is that I did something similar to what you've done in this thread: I blogged the entire build of the Kit 1. If you're interested, the Kit 1 build (and my ongoing audio blog) are here.
    Your build looks beautiful! I don't think I'd have the stamina (or workspace!) to do so many simultaneous builds, though! :yikes:
    I would LOVE to buy and build one of the speaker kits. :agree: But for the foreseeable future it's beyond my means. :shake: And Brian (who, as you've indicated, is a prince of a guy in terms of customer service) told me that the Kit 1 really likes/needs one of the 98 dB silver voice coil models, which is even more out of budget...
    By the way, if I did ever build one, I think I'd take the simple route and just stain and finish the raw cabinet. I'm wondering about the veneering process, though. How do you finish the edges of the cabinet so that the sheets of veneer look continuous over the edges and the underlying plywood doesn't show through? I've always wondered about that!

    Oh, and as you mentioned several times, the silver ANK speaker terminals and RCA's are quite beautiful to look at and nice to handle!
     
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