Audio Note UK gear coming to me for review & studio use, Ginrei, M9, AN-E SPx Alnico, Sogon wire..

I understand the skepticism anyone would have for tube amps, SETs, and speakers like the Audio Notes. If I had read about it without listening I too would be scratching my head as to why anyone would drop large coin on such things. When I started out in this I owned B&W and was saving for Bryston. I knew all the specs and measurements by hand and I said -Tubes are ridiculous - all that money for 8 watts - check the THD - it's awful. Bryston baby was half the price 120 watts but you get a card with your purchase that shows you how your particular unit measured - usually in the 160 watt range - even better than spec.

I was on a forum in argument on the other side saying the same things when people were telling me go and try the smaller brands. I would say - well Bryston and B&W have to be better because they are used in recording studios. Bryston's measured performance is about as good as amplifiers can get. B&W is the biggest selling hi-fi loudspeaker manufacturer. Reviews are almost always positive. State of the art sounding materials if you read the tech. Drivers that can stop bullets, tube tapering technology, sculpted cabinetry to reduce diffraction, they even have a rather amazing video on how they're made.

Audio Note is practically an industry Luddite when you look at it all in comparison to the likes of a B&W and Bryston. And as a B&W owner and at that time an Arcam owner stuff like AN was absurd. It was while shopping for the N805 and MM De Capo i that I had gotten the dealer to pit his favorite. The AN K came out on top. And that was it. All the distortion and watt and noise floor arguments got swept aside - the AN's made it sound like a piano was in the room. The B&W sounded like a hi-fi system where you could talk to your friends about the noise floor.

 

When a member says what's Neumann got to do with hifi then I despair
That is wilful ignorance
When dealers proselytise vastly expensive products and accept no challenges I despair, this is a forum not an advertising space
The Snell E III was well liked , the peoples speaker at $900 in the 90s
Stereophile rated them Cat C restricted LF
They didnt image well or resolve detail compared to Quads
To elevate them to $100,000 per pair, even with better drivers and big externall crossovers is nonsensical imho

 

Art Dudley of Stereophile bought the AN E (to replace his Quads), Peter Van Wellinswaard (a contributing technical writer) for Stereophile bought the AN E, Wes Philips of Stereophile claimed that a system with the AN E was the best system he has ever heard. He owned big SS and Dynaudio at the time.

I sometimes get called out for being a bit too over the top in my praise for the sound of Audio Note but I ask you - Wes Philips was one of the most popular writers at Stereophile for being technically grounded - a SS guy, a low efficiency measurements first sort of reviewer. Here is his take on a"crazy priced" Audio Note system and it almost sets the standard of going "over the top" and indeed virtually throwing the rest of the audio indestry under the bus.

http://www.stereophile.com/ces2009/ongaku_means_ecstasy/index.html

The entry level models may be under-priced for the market in fact since the competition that I have seen cost more than double the basic 4 AN E models and aren't better. The Harbeth M40 is $14,000 or 3 times more expensive and I have directly A/B them - the AN E IMO is better - the M40 can sound very good but I don;t see or hear why it should run nearly three times the price.

The $100k models may be deemed obscene but $100k to some people is like $5 to you or me. They can drop those sums like I buy a Starbucks. A great many a company are charging $50k and $100k. And people can talk about what Stereophile awarded something but it really comes down to one man - John Atkinson. Have you investigated how they come up with their awards or their ratings? Cause it's pretty ridiculous - to be fair they kind of provide the "it's ridiculous" spiel before you read it but that doesn't stop people from assuming A is better than B. Art Dudley bought a speaker in Class B for $12,000 and from the exact same brand there is a Class A speaker for $3k. John Atkinson claims that ANY and ALL speakers in Class A (regardless of price) is superior to ANY and ALL speakers in class B (regardless of price) - So he is basically saying Art is a dope for spending $9,000 more than he needed to spend.

I have the class A KEF LS-50 (Stereophile is basically saying that it is a better loudspeaker than ANY speaker to EVER be awarded class B (RLF) or below) They also gave the speaker "2013 Product of the Year."

Wes Philips is more right than he is wrong - the speakers ain't perfect - there are speakers that do things the AN E just doesn't do (although the Alnico version of the tweeter makes me rethink that somewhat).

 

Well in the morning I shal be finally getting my home demo of some fine AN gear

Empress Silver Monoblocks
Conqueror Monoblocks
Jinro integrated
M3 pre
Dac 2.1x
AN-Spx speaker cables


I can't afford all of the stuff they are bringing to me but it will give me a flavour of what I can achieve, the whole object of the demo is for me to get an amp that will suit my room and speakers, I'm really hoping that the Empress will do the trick, I just hope that the Jinro doesn't spoil me too much as I can't afford one!

All in all it should be a good session, I'll report back here in due course......

 

Please do!

 

I am VERY much looking forward to your comments, comparing the amplifiers:
Empress (2A3)
Conqueror (300B)
Jinro (211)

And, I am SO glad I didn't get involved in this back-and-forth complaining about and supporting Audio Note. My love of their equipment and sound would have been too easily interpreted as merely trying to sell it. But, actually the reverse was true for me: I sell it BECAUSE I have been so impressed by it.

I made the mistake already, in another thread, of telling people who have never seriously listened, to stop telling all of us what we should hear (or buy). I was verbally attacked with disrespectful allegations.

Some people just don't believe in "magic", and I can understand their resistance to accept "the unknown", even using their own ears.

 

A further update as to the events from yesterday.

First I must thank Dale and Phil from Audionote lounge who drove the 200 miles from their location in Brighton to my house in the West Midlands. When the guys came in I was playing Alison Krauss live on DSD format through my current setup and all was sounding pretty decent to say the least, the Mastersound ain't a bad amplifier I just wanted to improve on what I had.

After they guys unpacked the car they setup the Empress Silver Monoblocks using my speaker cables, and the Bel Canto 2.5 Dac as the pre, we used a AN mains block and AN mains leads. The immediate effect of playing the Empress was just how much more room presence was gained, there was also an added amount of realism to the instruments that I'd not heard before, quite frightening in all honesty!

Next up we changed the speaker wires for AN silver, again a further improvement was added, the music was a lot tighter and the bass had more control

Next up the guys added the M3 pre amp, these pre amps are the size of an Oto! Adding the pre gave further grip and control, more music was played and I noticed improvements in everything we played

Next in went the Conquest 300B amps, I've never been a fan of 300B amps until know, boy oh boy can these rock. I've never experienced music like this in my house before, this had to be the most enjoyable listening session I've experienced, I'm still bowled over as I write this, on the previous setups the speaker did a fantastic disappearing act they really did but with this set up I had to keep looking to see if anyone had taken them out of the room and a live band had been brought in, it really was that good!

I wanted to try the Conquest with my BC Dac 2.5 so we took the M3 out and added my Dac, oh dear, the speakers have just returned and the live band has got back in the car, the Conquest showed up my Dac for what it is a Dac and a pre in a box!

We were going to try the Jinro but for some reason my Mac started playing up and time was getting on, the guys did have a long drive back. They have kindly left with the Empress Monoblocks which kept me up till 3 in the morning. Some 9 hours after they had gone, the Empress works really well with the BC Dac, if the Conquest had worked with the Dac then I would have loaned this, financially at the moment I couldn't afford the M3 pre but this session has given me a taste of what is achievable for me and one which I will be working towards, all being well.

Again many thanks to Dale and Phil who made the 3 hour trip a worthwhile experience and one that I won't forget I a long time, know here's last nights Lotto ticket gone !

UK prices are

Empress Silver Monoblocks £6,250
Conquest Silver Monoblocks £10,642
M3 pre with phono £6,772

 

Just in case anyone is wondering how big the Jinro is, here is a picture of one in a custom paint colour, these amps are huge and weigh a ton! It's a definite 2 man lift that's for sure, just a pity my Mac started to play up and I couldt get the chance to hear it

 

Fantastic stuff. Thanks for posting!

 

It's a shame they didn't bring one of their CD playing rigs - it might make you rethink computer audio entirely as well. I love their monoblocks - I too was stunned by the 300B monoblocks because usually I find them a little soft dynamically and the bass is a little wooly. NOT with the AN's. Transformers do matter after all. Iron grip deep powerful and resolute and while they're expensive - you get what you pay for.

I'd kinda like to have a home demo of some of that gear as well now that I have AN E speakers.

 

Thanks LeeH. There is nothing like a home demo - congrats to the lads from Audionote lounge for making it possible.

 

Thanks for the review Lee. This is exactly why I get so frustrated with people who trash AN gear without a true serious listening session like you experienced. You may not fully agree with Peter and Andy's design philosophies, but the results speak for themselves. Yes they are expensive, but you get great innovative design, high quality parts, and stellar workmanship, and that doesn't come cheap. There really is magic, there. Whether one feels they are worth it is up to them, but make sure you have a proper listen before you decide.

 

I couldn't agree with you more my friend, I like the AN sound which is why I brought the speakers to start with and always looked at buying an amp in the future and so on and so on.........

I first heard Audionote several years ago at the Bristol UK Hifi show,walked into the room and they were playing some tunes at the time, think it might have been Queen - Another One Bites The Dust on vinyl, this has been ingrained in my brain for a long long time and I'm slowly getting towards what I want in my system in my house! Sure there will always be people that trash the brand, that's upto them we all have a choice to make, but for me and my ears it ticks quite a few boxes!

 

This is going to be interesting, I am really looking forward to the reviews and (hopefully) pictures.

 

Wow- what an incredible collection of gear. I cannot wait to hear your impressions. Sogon 50 silver interconnects.

 

Wow! This will be a lot of fun for you!

I'm really interested in hearing your opinion of the IoI MC cartridge and the AN-S4L SUT. I'm waiting for my AN E SPE HE speakers, but am looking forward to the next step, that may be upgrading my AN-S2/H and Dynavector 20x2Lo combo to the AN combo. The SUT is designed for that cartridge, so it should work perfectly together. I can't wait to hear what you and Warren think of it.

Also, how cool to be able to go from one room with the OTO SE Signature to the way upscale room. My guess is that the more expensive room will be awesome, but it will be great to hear just how much of that sound you get with the OTO setup.

That's just a guess tho!

 

Jealous! Sounds like SO much fun!

 

This is gonna be goooooood...
Keep us posted Steve!

 

Indeed. I am grateful to our host to carry this on his home insurance!

 

I am fortunate that my dealer in Hong Kong has almost the same set-up. The AN E/Spx Alnico HE Hemp is the speaker I wanted. BUT the price was just too high so I bought the AN E/Lexus - when money comes available I will upgrade it to that speaker. Many questioned why I would buy Lexus over Spe but with the future upgrade plan it made little sense to spend on the SPE or the HE versions if the I would replace the wiring and drivers - This is another great thing about this speaker line - being able to upgrade the things later. Start with the entry level (the cabinetry is the same for all of them - LX up) so you can start with the cheap ones and add more refinement later.

The other thing is that the rest of my system really wasn't (and isn't) up to the the AN E/Spx Alnico level of speaker and that resolution may show up more warts in my electronics and actually lead to worse sound. There is a reason AN has levels and they don;t want you to go off level by too much or you won't get the best balance. Right now my desire is
M6 Preamp Phono -
Empress Silver monoblocks (My Spaghetti Monster I love these amps)
Dac 3.1x (holding for their new DAC technology)
AN E/Spx Alnico

I have to say though the AN E/Lexus has been truly surprisingly good. The ear adjusts and while it doesn't have the resolution of the bigger silver models - it has a slight warmth - I have to say that 7 months owning them (geez I have to review the things soon eh), they really only lie by omission. Still, the Alnico start stop behavior or whatever it is doing IMO is on an entirely other level.