Anybody have a 300B Tube Amp?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by stereoguy, May 30, 2014.

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  1. Quiet Earth

    Quiet Earth Forum Resident

    I'm not a big believer in "this amp is good for rock music and that amp is good for jazz music". The same generally goes for speakers. I don't usually think in terms of "these speakers are great for rock music and these speakers are great for classical music". If the amp or the speaker is good, then it is good enough to play all music, period.

    What is critical is matching the amp to the speaker. If the amp and the speaker work very well together then you can play whatever kind of music you want.

    If you notice that some recordings have outstanding bass or outstanding dynamics or excellent stage perspective while other recordings do not, that is a good indication that your amp and speaker are doing exactly what they should be doing. They are showing you the differences between the recordings. Contrast.

    The more contrast you have, the better your system is at resolving music in all recordings.
     
  2. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    Matching is critical. No doubt. I would disagree that a good combination of an amp and speakers is good for all kinds of music. Granted you can play any music, but certain kinds sound better on low and high powered amps with matching speakers. Steve explained it in details on page 1. I came to the same conclusion myself too and then I read his story on page 1 again and found a confirmation for my theories.
     
  3. Quiet Earth

    Quiet Earth Forum Resident

    That's fine and I understand. I am trying to convey what works for me and what I understand as a listener, not a theory or a set of rules. People often say your mileage may vary. I guess I was describing my mileage. I drive my own car.
     
  4. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    I understand and respect your opinion. My observations were a result of my own listening experience. I guess you're right about the mileage.
     
  5. Quiet Earth

    Quiet Earth Forum Resident

    Right on. :cool: I respect your opinion too. And I believe you.
     
  6. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Total agreement here.
     
  7. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    All right. Got a new AN 300b SET stereo Conqueror amp from the dealer. Sounds fantastic. Strings, piano, vocal as expected. Low noise, micro dynamics, everything. Rock sounds great. All music sounds great for that matter. Beats every amp in the $5K range. I am finally done with my SET amp search. Build quality - outstanding. Aesthetics - minimalistic. Sound - like I said, no other new SET amp in the $5K range can compare. Please disregard all I said about having two amps for rock and vocals. Those were not-so-good 300b amps. Audio Note lives up to its name and reputation.
    Just to recap. I initially considered Manley 300b, Synthesis Celebration 300b, Air Tight 300b, AN Quest. All $10K amps. AN Conqueror saved me $5K. Maybe it's not as good as Quest, but it's pretty close and half the price. It sounds good for me.
    Also, AN Lexus interconnect and speaker cables make a noticeable difference versus AQ King Cobra and generic speaker cables. And also reasonably priced.
     
    Rick58 likes this.
  8. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Outstanding
     
  9. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    Congratulations, you will not be sorry. Which speaker cables did you get SP-e? and which interconnects. I am considering AN cables.
     
  10. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    Thank you! It was a very long path. The funny thing is that AN Conqueror was the very first 300b amp I tried. But I decided to check other options and finally came back to the Conqueror.
     
  11. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    I got two 1m RCA Lexus 50 strand ones with silver connectors. The speaker cables are Lexus LX 96 strands with gold plated banana termination. All copper wire. A noticeable improvement over AQ King Cobra RCA. And I had 12AWG OFC generic speaker wire from a spool before. Read too many articles claiming that lamp wire is no worse than aftermarket speaker cables. Well, AN are better. It's $460/meter, but it makes a ton of difference.
     
    Rick58 likes this.
  12. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    I'm auditioning the AN M2 line stage preamp feeding an AVID Pulsus phono stage into it right now. The demo model, previous model, with painted AN letters instead of the new gold plate. Dealer's price on it is $1,900. I think I'm going to get it. I don't know about such prices for equipment of that quality. The sound is phenomenal! The new M2 with MM phono is $5,500. I already have a phono stage, so a line preamp is a good deal. For that money, especially.
     
    Rick58 likes this.
  13. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    I'm also seriously considering AN-E speakers. The dealer has a brand new pair of AN-E SPe regular efficiency in palisander ($7,500) and a demo pair of AN-E LX reg. eff. in makkasar ($5,500) and a pair of beat up AN-E SPe in some light wood finish (maple?) for half-MSRP I guess. With speakers I'm leaning towards getting them new. Any opinions here?
     
  14. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    Go for it- that is an incredible price for that piece!
     
  15. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    Sergey,
    The only difference between the Lx and the SPe is that the SPe has silver internal wiring and the Lx has copper. Since you have copper Lx speaker wire, I don't see any benefit to getting the SPe, so I would go with the Lx. If you had silver speaker wire, the SPe would keep everything silver, but in your setup I don't think that having silver wire in the speaker and then putting it through copper would make a difference.
     
  16. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    Thanks for the clarification, Ray! What you say makes total sense. Copper all around makes it consistent. The only reason I am leaning towards the new pair of SPe is that because the dealer can deliver them today instead of waiting for 3 months to get another new pair of LX's. He offered me to have the demo pair of LX though. $2K saving over SPe. But not new. Been in use for a year at least. And the finish looks odd. Makkasar is the weirdest finish in their line. Tigerwood they call it. I guess you're right. LX is the proper choice. I guess I can wait for a new pair. The irony is that I was going to order them in palisander too. Unless the dealer lowers the price of SPe to the LX level, which is not that far :)
     
  17. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    Someone from Holland wrote here that he got a pair of AN-E in piano black. It's a $2,000 upgrade as it turned out. But they will look cool. They also offer British Racing Green, Vibrant Red, Navy Blue and many automotive colors. They can do a color of your choice too, for even a higher price. British Racing Green will be a good choice for DB7 lovers.
     
  18. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    I would go for the demo LX unless you really hate the finish. You save $2k and don't have to wait 3 months. But if you can negotiate down the SPe, that would be great! They would sound at least as good as the LX. Someday you may also consider upgrading your speaker wire to the silver. Normally, silver wire can sound too bright, but not the AN wire- it just adds a little detail.

    Either way, you are going to have one killer system.
     
    Rick58 likes this.
  19. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    Very cool, congrats on all the new fun gear! I think I lean toward silver for interconnects - as Raylinds says it adds a little detail. I have 'inexpensive' silver balanced ICs (sim. to Kimber KCAG) from source to preamp and silver/copper hybrid Synergistic Research ICs from pre to amps (actually, from processor to amps with balanced copper ICs from pre to processor). My current speaker cables are older AP Oval 9s ... there, I can't see me going to silver but who knows. My system now has 'just right' amount of detail ...
     
  20. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    The color of the demo model looks weird. I negotiated the sale of AN-E SPe instead. Apparently, the prices went down due to fluctuation of the Pound Sterling (due to failing oil prices??), which turned out only during the negotiation process. That saved me some money upfront and the dealer made a good discount and a good trade-in price. Selling on eBay, paying shipping, eBay and PayPal fees wouldn't have been much more. I got them with very heavy, led-filled stands made for AN-E for $600 too.
    Finish - palisander. The only finish I liked on the website. Matches my hardwood floor too :) . The rest of finishes looked a bit odd for speakers to me . Except for Black Ash. But nearly every speaker manufacturer makes Black Ash finish. Not unique. Palisander is great looking.
    And I had a chance to open the boxes and tear the plastic off them.
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2015
    Raylinds likes this.
  21. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    And so I was told. The internal silver wiring in AN-Es adds details. Regular LX speakers will be too warm. But SPe give me enough details and spark. Silver in general makes bright sound. But not AN, as you guys mentioned. And it's because of the silver strand extrusion process that they use. Apparently, they use cold extrusion. That also makes the strands stronger and more flexible. That's why AN-E silver cables are flexible versus other extruded silver cables, like AudioQuest, which are extremely hard. AudioQuest use PVC, which is not the best dielectric either. Anyway, as you said, so said the dealer. To get more brightness, silver AN cables. More expensive, but it's a way to tune the system without getting new speakers.

    Klipsch RF-7II were very bright. And at 102db/m/W there was hissing when playing vinyl via Conqueror and M2 on account of high gain. McIntosh MC275 has lower gain and my previous preamp (Icon Audio LA4, tube) has low gain, so the speakers didn't hiss. But the new AN-Es don't hiss as Klisches did with the AN gear on account of lower sensitivity (94.5db). Still breaking them in. Only two hours listening. Full break-in takes 25 hours.
     
    Rick58 likes this.
  22. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    I stand corrected. Full break-in of AN-E takes 100 hours according to the manual (RTFM).
     
  23. captwillard

    captwillard Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville
    I agree to some extent. You can have a setup that does chamber orchestra, acoustic music, and jazz very well. Maybe that setup has a nice set of bookshelf speakers driven by a low power amp. Ultimately, the system should sound good with rock as well, maybe even with orchestra, electronic music, or rap. However, a system with a more powerful amp and full range speakers, may give you more out of certain recordings. Now the more powerful system should also sound good with acoustic music, jazz etc... I know because I made such a move. There are certain things that my tube/bookshelf system did better, but my solid state/floor standing system does more right overall to my ears.
     
  24. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    Wow that worked out great! You are going to be in sonic heaven! I found a sample of the Palisander finish on their web site- nice!''[​IMG]
     
  25. Sergey Godunov

    Sergey Godunov Member

    Location:
    Centreville, VA
    Thanks, Ray! The real finish looks a bit darker. And so do makkasar, olive and birch, which are those that I've seen in the real life. I guess their pictures are generally brighter than the real thing. But nevertheless, they do look awesome. And sound awesome too even before the full "running in period" (the British alternative of breaking in :) )
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2015
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