Strictly for fans of Audio Note UK (all things Audio Note UK)

So if you are not an uber rich audiophile you have to make some compromises on building your AN system. You have to pick and choose where best to put the dollars. My system is almost full Audio Note.

But I put a down-payment on a 2 year old town house this summer on Vancouver Island so short of cash for my Audio building.

Point is the stereo plans get cut down. I want the CD Two/II but I also want the Empress Silver Signature monoblocks - an IQ3 cartridge and possible the new TT3 turntable and Arm 3.

So I picked up a stand in transport today - the Cambridge Audio CXC for $450. I was having a hum issue with my Line Magnetic 215 - strangely enough though the problem only exists when using the Coax - as a stand alon CD player - dead quiet. Coax to AN DAC - hum. Cambridge Audio to AN DAC - zero noise - So something is amiss with the LM Coax out - or there is some sort of mismatch there.

The Cambridge sounds really good for this sort of money - seems decently built too but the remote is crap. I mean it's well built but it is designed to operate 3 CA components and so only the bottom 1/4 of the remote operates the CD player and there is no number pad for direct track access. Shrug - I mean if you are making a CD transport you would kind of expect a pretty good user friendly remote. My 22 year old Cambridge Audio CD 6 had a GREAT Remote control - even looked nice and still works perfectly to this day. Lastly I greatly prefer the big AN display versus this tiny ass display - I need new glasses for this thing.

Usually I listen to entire CDs and just skip forward and back - but still.

Long story short - if you are looking for a good stand in until you can get the Philips Pro 2 AN transports - this one is pretty solid.

See yes I don't just buy Audio Note

 

Peter Q will be turning in his listening room!

 

i serious love AN. some new AN news.

Audio Note UK DAC 2.1x Signature | Facebook

 

I am starting a seperate thread, but thought it might be a good idea to also pose my question here:

Could the AN Oto SE (or Sig if funds allow) be a good amp choice for my newly acquired DeVore Gibbon 88s? Other suggestions are welcome too.

Thanks!

 

I've never heard that exact pairing, but before I got AN-E's I used both the Oto and Oto Sig with DeVore Gibbon 3XL's and enjoyed the combination quite a bit.

 

Cool, thanks! I think the 3XL should be comparable in terms of specs. Can you please describe the qualities and shortcomings (if any) of the 3XL - Oto combo?

 

hey don. the system i ordered is really close to to what you began with ... what is the size of the room you used your Meishu in?

 

Running a bit of a mismatched system here AN front end, Dac-3 Signature, and back end, AN-J/lx's, with custom Deja Vu Audio preamp and amp in between. AN Lexus speaker cables interconnects are Kondo KSL-vc (copper) and Auditorium23. Fed by an Auralic Aries Mini via a Jorma digital cable. Great synergy all the way around Deja Vu is an AN dealer and their gear has a very similar sound though my amp is pushpull and not SE. Fairly new here and wanted to chime in on the AN thread as I sit here streaming Miles Davis radio on Tidal.

 

Jonwoody, Can you share any details about the DejaVu electronics?

 

The AN K Lx IMO is a MUCH MUCH better speaker than the 3xl and costs less. My dealer in Canada carries both lines.

 

Sure! But you may have read this before you left a comment on my system page on Audiogon, I am jond there.

The amp is a stereo pushpull amp with a pair of EL34's per channel, three 6SN7's up front and a 5AR4 rectifier. Triode wired running in Class A putting out 17 warm sweet powerful watts per channel. Vintage Acrosound transformer from the 60's. With Gold Lion KT-77's and a recapping about 5 years ago with NOS Aerovox Caps from the 1960s.



The preamp is an older prototype with a built-in tubed crossover and phonostage, but I run it just as a linestage at the moment. Lots of great parts, Hovland caps and XLO internal wire and an ALPs volume pot from 1977 that was selected because as Vu says it was the best sounding volume control they tried at the time. It's not much to look at but it sounds great and synergizes well with the amp they were both built by their old designer Pavel.

 

I forgot to mention the preamp uses 6 6dj8's 2 12ax7's and 1 12au7. It also has a standby feature so it's never really off unless unplugged. Currently running Matsushita National Union 7dj8's from Upscale. I don't remember what the 12's are various NOS tubes from Deja Vu.

 

You are a solid contributor on the 'Gon. Glad to see that you are here as well.

 

Thanks Bill its good to be here seems less fraught with controversy and sniping here! And lots more people.

 

I started off with the Meishu Silver Phono in a room that was 12X16. However...AN borrowed my system for a local HiFi show. That room was about 50% bigger and had a couple dozen listeners taking up space. My crazy friend had music peaks hitting about 101db in that room with good MFSL recordings. Pretty amazing for 9watts!

 

Well, I have occasionally hit the ceiling of my Kit One's powers in my 8.8x4.4 m room (appr. 26x13 feet). Usually with drum-heavy music and red wine involved, though

 

ok thanks! that is just about the size of my room ... thanks for the info!

 

Thanks Jon. Yes, I do recall your system from AudioGon. Welcome to the forum! There are lots of Audio Note fans here.

 

Jon & Sal,

Vu is currently assembling a big custom system for a customer. The transport will be the crazy top-of-the-line model from Audio Note, and the DAC will be the new model that is coming out that will be above the DAC 5. I heard the transport with a DAC 5 (Vu tested the DAC for a couple of days before putting it back in the box), and maybe, if we are lucky, that transport and the new DAC will be briefly together at Deja Vu before it goes on to the customer.

 

Larry, what speakers will be in this custom system?

 

Sal,

I believe the custom system will be using G.I.P. Laboratory field coil drivers-- a 555 replica compression midrange (15A replica horn), twin 18" woofers (probably the 4181 replicas) per channel, and the 9501 tweeter (a jazzed up replica of a 597 tweeter). The woofers will be mounted on an open baffle.

The amps are based on the Western Electric D-Spec 300b push pull amp (no capacitors in the signal path, lots of iron). The field coil drivers will be powered by a custom-built tube power supply. The linestage and amps are at Deja Vu right now. I heard them driving a GIP 4165 12" driver in an open baffle (either used full range or with a tweeter via a simple first order high pass filter network).

 

I am sure those speakers will sound great!

 

Larry nice that sounds amazing I have been to the new shop three times but all when they were just getting setup and tweaking things so haven't listened much. I need to get in there to get the caps in my Dac upgraded soon got too busy over the summer.

 

Jon,

I wondered who got the Pavel preamp with the built in crossover and phono stage. Because this stuff is custom built, you could get anything you want in it; I thought maybe a can opener toaster oven for my own.

Vu's current builder Aldo D'Urso also does custom builds. But, it took quite a while to convince him to build with a remote control for volume. He had to listen to a bunch of motorized pots before he found one that he liked. Also, because I insisted on balance control, it took him a long time finding decent Davin stepped attenuators for the build. I also needed a preamp that had transformer outputs to match the transformer inputs on my amp.

 

Larry,
I didn't buy it from Vu directly I bought it from a guy out in Denver Rob Loggie I think he may have had a home dealership at the time 2006 or so I think. I actually came close to trading it back to Vu a few years ago for one of their more current in house preamps a two piece unit using a pair of 305 or 310 tubes I can't remember exactly. Sadly there was a mismatch between it and my Pavel amp so I never really heard what it could do.

Obviously the synergy is great with my amp and one thing about Pavel's great it never breaks. In 10 plus years of ownership I had a rectifier blow in the amp and take out a resistor, and needed the volume control cleaned on the preamp a few years ago that's it. I really under use the preamp I just use the linestage but getting a Thorens TD124 from Vu next year so will finally start using the phono stage.

I've met Aldo and heard his gear both at the shop and at Cap AudioFest, if you have one of his preamps you are blessed his gear sounds amazing! It's funny about remote control I am very suspicious of it and would never buy a remote preamp but if anyone could make it sound good it's Aldo!