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

Ah ... the spirit is willing; but the budget is weak.

 

Does this mean re-foaming will be required every few years/decades?

 

In a non humid area - refoam every 20 years - in a high climate area - every 5-8 years. I live in a high humidity area so that's the lot I live with. Still I had rubber surrounds in another speaker that ripped - so it's not like they're invincible.

 

That I understand!!

 

If you live in the tropics and/or leave them in direct sunlight a lot of the time, possibly. Then again, I've got 30 year old Snell Ks and A/III as well as Es I took on trade a dozen years ago which are all just fine.

 

Throw in a bit of time travel and Lovecraft might have been inspired by PQ.

 

Steve, have you tried any Quad 57s with your new Audio Note stuff yet?
@Steve Hoffman

 

You must know someone who can lend you some?
they were also used in most UK studios in the 50s and 60s for playback.

I know you love your midrange, and nothing comes close, treble and bass
are weak compared to todays super tweeters and subs. but oh those vocals.

they need about 15w of the best push-pull you can find and lots and lots of current.

suits you!

 

The Quad 2905 and King Sound Prince II and SoundLab are all better than the original Quad or the Quad ESL63. These panels all have significantly more frequency range, better bass and treble and IMO bass and treble affect the mid range. A lot of speakers that lack range, lack bass, lack dynamics are considered good midrange speakers (cause that's all they do so your attention is drawn to it) but even with the modern panels I pause at the price performance ratio. They do some things spectacularly well but you virtually have to cross off all modern rock/pop/dance/house/trance/hip hop etc from the playlist. I don't think speakers or systems should dictate the music I play - even if it's not considered music. If a stereo can't play current trance music at acceptable levels it's probably "also" not playing the Karajan symphony disc properly either but is being "forgiven" because it happens to not have enough grunt to excite any room modes.

Besides his ANs are also used in recording studios.


Although the argument isn't totally strong since recording studios seem to use all sorts of differing equipment.

 

That is Gearbox Records in London, it is a mastering studio. I spent a couple of hours there auditioning some Audio Note equipment. What you can't see in that photo is that the ceiling and side walls are treated acoustically and not in a basic manner. They did a beautiful job and the sound is gorgeous through whichever components that they are using at the moment. Really nice people, by the way.

 

Umm, so anything to report?

 

That's more like "spat the dummy".

 

Yes and no. Didn't get to A/B, but did get to listen to the AN-E/Spe... sounds similar to the 30.1 to my ears: more alike than different I guess I would say.
I'll write more after work.

 

Thought I would just bump this up ... any more thoughts you can share about the comparison? Thanks!

 

Rafe will be able to compare the 30.1s to my AN E SPE HEs once they arrive next month. I will want to put about 200 hours on them first, but it should be nice

 

Wow, that sounds like a fun day. I'll look forward to your guys' comments!

 

While I think Audio Note provide reasonable value towards the bottom of their range I think PQ lays it on with a trowel with his upgraded versions using fancy components and silver cable. Silver may not always sound better depending on circumstances. So here price does not relate to cost or even necessarily performance. Those 25K speakers are a £2K product with a high price tag. Drive units are the same as further down the ANE range so can they justify the price with silver cable and a nicer finish? - I would say not. BTW I generally like what I've heard of Peter's products but they do have a certain flavour (colouration). Certainly very musical. Also would point out that any cable they sell is almost certainly made up for them by one of the major cable manufacturers.

 

The difference in the models is well yes a different cable but why not simply go to a website to find out rather than assume. The Upper AN speakers use different tweeters, different woofers, different caps, cables, and in some instances an outboard crossover the size of a Krell.

Here's the thing about the levels virtually every speaker manufacturer in the high end audio industry has very expensive, mid level and entry level speakers. You can pay $2,000 to get the Richard Vandersteen sound or you can pay $70,000 for MORE of the Richard Vandersteen sound. Just as you can pay $600 or $15,000 for the Magnepan sound.

Like You I might say hey $2000 makes sense for Vandersteen but $70,000 is bonkers - they added a bit of cheap MDF and a couple extra drivers (and you probably don;t even get silver wires). But if you are an out and out Vandersteen or Magnepan lover and you MUST HAVE that sound - then spending on the 20.1 or the big Vandys makes sense to the fan of that sound - it seems utterly nuts to me because I can't think of any $15k speaker that I have heard that I would not choose over the 20.1 and $70k for Vandersteen boggles my mind.

Just as spending the jaw dropping sum of $208,000US on a pair of Audio Note E/Sogon speakers is to most people. People bought into the "platform sound" and they get used to it and if they love it they will find everything else deficient. It's not what a speaker does wrong (they all do something wrong) it is what it does right while keeping the weakness at bay that matters.

Here's Stereophile's Wes Philips on the $51k Audo Note speakers http://www.stereophile.com/ces2009/ongaku_means_ecstasy/index.html

$51k is to any normal Schmoe an utterly nutty number for a 2-way bass reflex design. But it seemed to do okay against plenty of gian monstrosities that cost as much or more. Indeed, Wes described all those giant more expensive big name speakers - as noise, in comparison.

But the main point is people often find a "sound type" and they upgrade within it - the horn guy often goes to bigger more expensive horns - the panel guy starts with MMG and winds up with $30,000 SoundLabs.

 

Hey, sorry. been super slammed at work with hockey playoff coverage, and also helping my parents move this week.
I'll post as soon as I can.

 

I'm running AN UK Lexus (copper) interconnects and pretty curious about AN UK Lexus (copper) speaker cable, so I'm happy to read about your thoughts/comparisons, Steve.

Thanks!
–R

 

I plan to use AN wire in my system, so I will be very interested in the comparisons.