Audio Note Kit - L5 Mentor - build experience

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by jmpsmash, Dec 4, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. waterclocker

    waterclocker Forum Resident

    Location:
    NW Indiana
    Thanks! In my searching, I saw some favorable posts about the AN 100k. Someone said it was
    close to the Khozmo even, them having used both. Sounds like a good value upgrade if I don't
    want to plunk down the cash for a stepped.
     
    jmpsmash and JMAC like this.
  2. jmpsmash

    jmpsmash Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA
    This thing is a beauty. Feels better than all the other stepped attenuators i have tried. ANK sent the green one which has one pair of resistors per step. the red shunt one they show in the website photos has the red which has only one resistor per step plus a shared one. the red shunt don't keep a constant input impedance while the green step does. It weighs a ton.

    [​IMG]
     
    jonwoody, dogilv, Ilovefooty and 7 others like this.
  3. Joe Spivey

    Joe Spivey Forum Resident

    Same here too! Audio Note pot is much better and easily worth the additional cost. I read comments while building the crack advising to upgrade the pot during the build. Well I ignored those recommendations. I shouldn't have.
     
    jmpsmash and JMAC like this.
  4. DyersEve726

    DyersEve726 Schmo Diggy

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    Ugh, all this talk is making me want to upgrade the AN coppers in my DAC so bad! This hobby never stops costing more money, lol.
     
    SandAndGlass and jmpsmash like this.
  5. jmpsmash

    jmpsmash Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA
    I installed the Khozmo last night. Haven't done much listening as I was so tired from work. Initially I feel there is slightly better clarity and definition. Rather small though, and I don't expect changing the pot will give night and day difference like changing a tube would. As for whether this is worth $200?? I don't know. :)

    The Khozmo has a much more gradual "gain", the curve rises smaller so my normal listening level is now at 11-1 o'clock and I have 24 steps to get there. I am glad I didn't pick the dual mono. Just counting the steps to match the 2 channels will drive me crazy.
     
    JMAC likes this.
  6. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    I've been there, and would never choose to do so again.
     
    timind, SandAndGlass and jmpsmash like this.
  7. jmpsmash

    jmpsmash Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA
    it is a bottomless pit for sure. I am already looking into my next upgrade, which is going to be a 300B amp, that will be the project for 2019. or at least... one of them!

    Regarding your DAC, I would suggest splurge for the VCaps. It is ok for source components to be more neutral and clean. You can add flavor down the line. Cannot do it the other way around.
     
  8. Troffymoff

    Troffymoff New Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I purchased an EL34i kit and expected a high quality item for a high price, but as I see I am not the only one disappointed. I am missing parts, however if I can't get them from Brian I can probably source them locally except I am missing the front plate which I can only get from ANK. Missing cables, components, having 6 black RCA's when there is clearly initials from Brian that he checked the bag is very sloppy considering such a high end product? I even received an empty bag with an initial as checked!! This was my test case to later purchase much higher end products from ANK but it is a dismal quality failure. I would recommend to go elsewhere. Currently I am at an impasse and frustrated I can't finish. Pretty pissed off
     
    timind and SandAndGlass like this.
  9. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I take it that you might have been expecting two black RCA's and perhaps four red or white ones?
     
  10. Nascimento Brasil

    Nascimento Brasil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sao Paulo/Brasil
    Thanks everyone for the posts, I was thinking of ordering an ANK L5 signature phone stage, but give up after reading this topic! Do you know ANK's relationship with ANUK?
     
  11. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    Congratulations on building a great preamp! I built one a few years ago, along with mono block SET amps and speakers. My build thread is here. I have the two mono step attenuators and once I got used to them, I really like them.

    I also had to deal with missing parts, but Brian always got them to me eventually. A little frustrating, but not the end of the world- There was always something to work on while I waited for the missing parts. The best thing to do is inventory the parts when you first get the kit so you will hopefully get any missing parts by the time you get to their use in the build.

    I had no problems with the speaker instructions, but had some confusion over a few parts of the Mentor and amp instructions. Brian was very responsive to my questions, so it was not a big deal.

    I am very, very happy with my system and feel that the minor annoyances were worth it (YMMV).
     
  12. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    My understanding is that ANUK wanted to get out of the kit market and Brian talked them into letting him take over the kit market and run it out of his home in Canada using ANUK parts and designs. Over time, Brian started to make modifications to some of the designs and find alternate local sources for some of the components like the C-Core trannies in order to keep costs down and keep the kit process fairly reasonable. As a result of these deviations, Peter refused to let Brian continue using the Audio Note name, so Audio Note Kits became AN Kits.

    Brian still sources many components from ANUK and most of his designs are ANUK, but the amount of design deviations vary from kit-to-kit. For example, the speaker kits are very faithful to ANUK's design and components, though the crossover components are different. As far as I know, my SET amps are ANUK design, but the C-Core trannies are not ANUK but manufactured in Canada based on ANUK design. The Mentor has deviations from ANUK, particularly in the PSU, but the PSU is an excellent design. The PSU keeps power in reserve so can react very quickly to changes in power requirements. This makes it respond very quickly to changes in volume and makes it very dynamic.

    If anyone has any information contrary to my understanding, please feel free to chime in. I believe there is a lot of discussion about this in my original build thread here.
     
  13. Nascimento Brasil

    Nascimento Brasil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sao Paulo/Brasil
    @Raylinds Thanks for the clarifications!
     
  14. jmpsmash

    jmpsmash Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA
    Some update. Some time in the middle of February, Brian finally sent me the correct gold color knobs for my L5. And with that mine is pretty much complete.
     
    jusbe and Nascimento Brasil like this.
  15. jmpsmash

    jmpsmash Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA
    My view is that. These are good kits, and they are of good quality. You do pay a premium for it. On top of that, have the expectation that you will need to pretty much send emails daily to remind of missing parts. Expect the whole process to take months.

    So if that's OK with you. Go ahead. Otherwise, you might end up starting another thread and venting frustrations like others have. :)
     
  16. Nascimento Brasil

    Nascimento Brasil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sao Paulo/Brasil
    I live in the country "difficulty" the post office takes in average, more than 30 days to deliver an order, from the date of arrival in the country, certainly would not work!
     
  17. Nascimento Brasil

    Nascimento Brasil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sao Paulo/Brasil
    To avoid hassles, I ordered the version assembled by the manufacturer of the preamplifier ANK Mentor L5!
    Brian was very honest with me, but some things happened! I ordered and paid for internal silver cables Audio Note UK, he put silver cables from a brand I don't know about! The left channel was replaced with the right channel, an assembly error!
    The Kozmo pots are very bad, they behave with the said @jmpsmash, they are no constant!
    I am thinking of exchanging the two Kozmo pots for a TKD Ko-on 2CP-2511 100K dual log potentiometer!
    As it is a "shunt", will I have problems exchanging the Kozmo monos, for this stereo TKD potentiometer?
    I also exchanged the two Audio Note capacitors for Vcaps, I gained a lot of treble extension, I recommend this exchange!
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  18. jmpsmash

    jmpsmash Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA
    @Nascimento Brasil , sorry to hear that. You should complain about the silver cable, as the AN silver is very expensive.

    as for the pot, it should work. Which Khozmo did you get?

    maybe post photo of what you got.
     
    Nascimento Brasil likes this.
  19. Nascimento Brasil

    Nascimento Brasil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sao Paulo/Brasil
    Today I spoke to Brian, he is sending me for free in pots to replace the Kozmo that are defective!
    I want to remember that it came from him to offer the Alps pot free!

    jmpsmash, this photo is from my Mentor 5, did you receive these same Kozmo pot?


    [​IMG]
     
    jmpsmash likes this.
  20. jmpsmash

    jmpsmash Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA
    that looks like the shunt version of the Khozmo. Which is a very good quality pot already.

    one thing nice about Brian is that he won't hesitate and will make sure you are happy with your purchase even if the cost of the replacement is quite expensive. the only issue is that usually he is the one who created the issue in the first place, like missing or wrong parts. :)

    those yellow cables are AudioNote AN-A cable, it is a litz copper. is that the cable you asked for silver?
     
  21. Nascimento Brasil

    Nascimento Brasil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sao Paulo/Brasil
    As I said before, Brian was very honest with me!
    Yes, it's the shunt version!
    I had ordered AN silver cables where the blue cables are, but according to Brian, AN cables are very difficult to work with, especially over short distances, he put silver, but from other suppliers!
    The most important thing is that it still doesn't have 100 hours of use and that it plays very well!
     
  22. Nascimento Brasil

    Nascimento Brasil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sao Paulo/Brasil
    After 45 days of waiting, Brian finally replied that he is very busy and will not send the defective pots!
    Draw your own conclusions!
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  23. Gjo

    Gjo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    OK, so who is happy with their ANK L5 Mentor, and who is not?

    Why?
     
  24. Salectric

    Salectric Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Every few months it seems I come across another of these threads complaining about ANK and they all speak of missing parts, poor communications and broken promises. Buyer beware!
     
  25. Claude M

    Claude M Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Yeah "broken promises" with me as well. Would have built their phono stage and other stuff but was left with a bad taste. Oh well their loss.
     
    SandAndGlass and thegage like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine