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

Thank you Simon. That combo must be very good. James at AN rates the M3/Quest combo very highly. M3 to M6 will be interesting. I haven't heard that myself as I went Jinro to M6/Tomei Kensei but I do believe that the current M6 makes the M8 somewhat irrelevant! I hope the AN day goes well. PQ told me yesterday you are sold out.

Thanks Don. The M9 has had 30 hours post mods on it so (as you will have experienced with burn in) it sounds a little "strangled" . However the resolution. lack of grain, blackness between notes, timbre and tone on vinyl is ridiculous. You should look into the new valves for your power amps. They are fantastic!

 

Yes we were sold out until we noticed some #%*€ in Japan had block booked nearly all the places, it’s taken 4 days to sort but plenty of tickets available for those interested.

 

Rob,

Did the updating mods include Silver Tantalum resistors? Just last week I added yet another set of AN silver tantalums to my phono preamp, and I have been experiencing ever since the amazing improvements I have come to expect each time I add a silver tantalum. They are simply the best! My phono preamp, line stage and power amps now have Silver Tantalums throughout.

 

They did indeed Sal. Also the new Attenuator, a few new BG's and improvements to RIAA and CD inputs (not certain of the specifics) I was just told it was all well with doing. Weeks to full burn in of course but this is one serious piece of hifi.

 

Excellent! Enjoy the ride.

 

That’s excellent - congrats. And thanks for the info about the escrow. I’ve picked up a few pieces of used AN equipment while on my current assignment in Germany (M2 Phono, Quest, AN-S2). I plan to ship them over to the guys at Audio Note for a 110V conversion before I head back to Canada. I will also have the M2 brought up to current spec as it’s a few years old. Not sure what the options will be for the Quest pair, but we’ll sort that out at the time. Anyway, enjoy the M9!

 

We take the issue of protecting our customers very seriously, the internet has spurned a huge increase in all manners of fraud, from misrepresenting a product, to offering something so cheaply that is designed to part the careless, greedy or too trusting from their money and from our perspective every customer, whether buying new or second hand is an Audio Note customer who deserves protection and service as far as we can extend it, so we conjured up an escrow service where sellier send their product to us (or an agent of ours) for verification, the buyer sends us the payment agreed once verified and we send the money to the seller and the product to the buyer, who then pays a small fee plus whatever shipping charges are involved.

This has proven to be very effective in weeding out sellers who misrepresent, lie or try to coax money from buyers without actually having the product offered at all (and there are more and more of these, sadly), so as part of this we monitor the for sales sites, block or stop problemstic offerings in addition to offering escrow.

Some certainty in an uncertain world perhaps?

Peter

 

Audio Note's cellist, Vincent Belanger, played in the AN room at the Copenhagen Highend show this past weekend. I couldn't attend so I was glad to learn that he would visit the Audio Consult store in Copenhagen yesterday. This was my first time hearing him play together with AN gear, and it made a lot more sense than I thought it would. It really felt natural when he played harmony with himself--I can understand why AN do these demos. It is for the music lovers among us, not the hifi buffs. Thus I thought that he would have a hard time at shows, but to my pleasant surprise, he told me that it is his impression that about 80% of visitors are music lovers and "get it" when they visit the AN rooms.

 

Here's a recent picture of my flea powered system Just received the amps.

 

What color wood finish are those AN/E, pictured in Copenhagen, with Vincent.

I am looking for recommendations: a medium darkness color (lighter than Palisander), with an equally dramatic grain pattern.

 

Congratulations, Rob! May it bring many years of joy in your life!

 

I would also like to know the wood veneer used on those E’s. It might be the nicest I’ve seen. I’ve been meaning to visit Copenhagen...

 

Thanks Fred. 300 hours in and the new BG's burn in has meant the sound just gets better and better (allowing for the usual frustrating yo yo improvement effect).

I have to say that I feel that the M9 is poles apart from the M6 in every area of the sound quality. Not just with vinyl as CD has improved tremendously which really has surprised me. By comparison the M6 is somewhat 'grainy' and 'bleached' with way less space and resolution. Frequency extremes are also much better. I'm not a huge fan of Kassai caps compared to BG's even when voiced correctly but this improvement extends way beyond that. I'm playing so much more of my album collection now which is surely what it's all about! I think the Otto and Jinro are amazing amps for the money. But if money isn't an issue then M9 with a level 4/5 power amp really is a huge leap in listening satisfaction IMO. We who own this level of equipment are truly blessed.

 

They might be Tulipwood. Thats what I have and it looks very close

 

It's Olive wood.

 

Yes, and they look gorgeous in high gloss. The pattern is too visually busy for my home but with the right interior design to go with it, it would look fabulous.

 

Now it is time to do it again. This year, I have a pair of new/demo speakers, with full factory warranty, AN/K-SPe in Poplar Burl vaneer finish and High Gloss finish. Until the end of this month, I will provide them for 1/2 price, plus 1/2 the cost of shipping.

 

I wanted to share a quick, easy, cheap and easily reversible tweak I've made to my old E-Ls. I’ve basically boxed in my tweeter with strips cut from a roll of jute mat, available from any carpet store. They’re held in place with blu-tak, so they can be easily removed.

At least in my system/room, the results have been remarkable. The sound is smoother, more coherent, and spacious, with lots of natural detail. I can hear the recording venue and decay more clearly.

If anyone else wants to try this, please share your results.

 

A few questions on some AN amps.

1. Between the Oto SE Signature and the Soro SE, which would you say has the warmer sound?
2. Is there much difference between the stereo Conqueror and the monoblock Quest?
3. How much of a benefit/difference in sound is the extra wattage from the monoblock Conquest vs. the monoblock Quest?

 

Along those lines, no one seems to talk about the P2 SE—17W, under $3k—but it seems like it should be in the same conversation as the Soro and Oto. Is there a reason why it’s less popular?

 

I considered the P2 SE, but opted for the Soro SE Phono. Why? Because I was convinced that the M1 (with the Soro being M1 + P2) was a step up from my existing pre amp. And the cost of acquiring them as separates was quite a bit higher IIRC. I think, for me, to go with a standalone P2SE I could only justify it by moving up to an M2 Phono and that would have been very much more expensive.

I realize that my situation is not universal, but it's not unique either.

 

And one other question I have is how much of a difference is there between the regular (high?) and low gain options of the AN amps?

 

It’s my understanding that the Audio Note preamps have quite high gain and as such, you don’t need as much gain from the power amps, so they offer the low gain option to match with AN components. I found that my previous M6 Line preamp had the ideal sound levels in my living room when the volume pot was at about 9:30, at absolute most, 10:00. So the low gain monos would work well with that preamp.

 

the interesting thing about this is that as you mention you have old AN-E's and the newer AN-E's sound quite different from the ones you own so I would expect different results if applied to current speakers. glad it works you though. duntech and other manufacturers used to do the same thing so not uncommon.

 

current AN preamps with the new style attenuators with low gain amps don't reach reasonable output levels until 2.30-3 oclock on the switch positions so quite different to the old units. with high efficiency speakers, the low gain amps where considered a better option to allow a more flexible gain range. with the new attenuators, that no longer seems to be required although the 6j5 driver tube sounds much better than the 6sn7 in the standard gain version if you choose high quality NOS versions as used in the quest mono's.