May I show-off my new website, for those who know (and know of) me? Audio Note at The Audio Home..

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Warren Jarrett, Oct 28, 2017.

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  1. plimpington2

    plimpington2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland
    I agree the AN UK website is lousy at best. The AN Kits website is MUCH better and more informative. And has prices too.

    Judd
     
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  2. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    I would like to remind all of the SteveHoffman.tv members, living locally or on travel in the Los Angeles area, that any of you are invited to call me, visit, and enjoy the Audio Note and Voss equipment that I have on display. I will not expect a purchase from you, just a relaxed afternoon or evening.
     
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  3. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    I have had a few new visitors, to the Audio Home in Fullerton, as a result of this thread. Would anyone else like to spend an afternoon or evening with me, to hear the Audio Note systems on display?
     
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  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Warren, I was told your big room has changed. More vintage gear? Can you talk about it? Curious.
     
  5. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    The big room ("Room 1") in The Audio Home originally cycled back-and-forth between our premium Audio Note demo gear, and our Voss Audio demo gear. But I moved the Audio Note stuff to the smaller rooms, and the Voss Audio is all back to the factory for final updates before full-scale production release.

    So now, coming within a week, will be a used pair of B&W 800 speakers - somewhat vintage ones, not current ones - called B&W Matrix 800. These will not be for sale. Since my first visit to a CES, in about 1984, the introduction of this model B&W stands-out as the BEST SOUND I have ever heard in my life. I will put the $100,000/pair Ginrei amps on the Mids/Highs, and biamp with a 4-channel ARC amp, one amp channel for each 12" woofer.

    Nothing in Room 1 is for sale. Right now, It is all vintage gear that I am a big fan of, and that I have tweeked for MANY years to sound wonderful together. But, when the 800s arrive, then I will bring in some equipment that is current.

    My turntable will remain the vintage Goldmund Studio, with EXTREMELY vintage Rabco/Shreve linear tonearm, and various vintage Denon 103D and 103M that I have upgraded the styli with either Boron or Diamond cantilever.

    Room 1 is just a pleasure audio room. An experiment to hear what is possible. Nothing in it is for sale. It is for reference listening.
     
  6. Art K

    Art K Retired but not tired!

    Location:
    Corvallis, Oregon
    Lovely site.
     
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  7. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Your site is beautiful, and the presentation magnificent.
     
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  8. lonelysea

    lonelysea Ban Leaf Blowers

    Location:
    The Cascades
    Those speakers are legendary! What a great opportunity. My kid has chosen to attend a college in Los Angeles, so I have no excuse in terms of visiting The Audio Home in the near future. Looking forward to it!
     
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  9. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    They are indeed legendary speakers in audio history, some say still one the the best 3 to 5 speakers ever made (along with Infinity IRS and Wilson WAMM). I am very happy someone on this forum remembers them. In my mind, they are certainly the greatest single model of speaker that B&W ever made. Here is the original Stereophile review from 1991, with an update in 2008. (How many speakers does Stereophile re-visit after 17 years?):

    B&W Matrix 800 loudspeaker

    Note from the review pictures, these speakers don't look ANYTHING like any other speaker ever made. Over 6 feet tall, 4 x 12" woofers that can be individually amplified, and a small speaker enclosure for the tweeters and midranges, 1/2-way up the totem-pole design. But it was the sound itself that was so revolutionary. I hope they sound as wonderful in The Audio Home, as I remember them from CES more than 25 years ago.

    And, 93 dB efficiency. Bi-amplified, the woofers remain 93dB efficient, but the mid/high speakers can be un-padded-down for 96 dB efficiency. This means an Audio Note SET power amp should work very well, dedicated to the mids/highs.

    I will drive the 4 x 12" woofers with either an Audio Research 4-channel amp, or a HK Citation 4-channel amp (made in the Mark Levinson plant while Harmon Intl. briefly owned them), both of which have been sitting in my storage for at least 15 years.

    So Room 1 is turning into a "What is Possible" room, with very little to do with anything I sell.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2017
  10. lonelysea

    lonelysea Ban Leaf Blowers

    Location:
    The Cascades
    Have the B&Ws undergone much in terms of restoration? My Matrix 802s held up well, only giving up a voice coil in one of the bass drivers in 20 years of daily use. Also, did the previous owners install the bass-alignment filters that were available for this speaker?
    Hope to see pics of these things on your website when you get them!
     
  11. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    I won't know what restoration or actual condition the speakers are in until I receive them. I expect them to be excellent, considering who I bought them from. They are shipping now cross-country, so I will see, and I will repair or replace whatever is necessary to bring them up to perfection.

    Regarding the bass-alignment filters, I won't know that either until I see them. They do include a Krell active crossover, so I haven't figured out yet if this precludes the need for the filters, or if I still would benefit from them also.
     
  12. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    Hi - I think I understand why Audio Note doesn't have a very hard price list - I have posted this video in Strictly for Audio Note fans but I will post it here as well - the new factory tour.

    What you notice is that what virtually every other company does is they make say 5 amplifiers 2 CD players, a couple of DACs. Some like McIntosh have Clearaudio make their turntables. So 99.99% of audio companies build and build and build these products and then they stick the finished products on shelves and then wait for dealers to order them. Well if you build 100 amps you know how much your amp is going to cost. You've already built it and it is sitting on the shelf.

    Audio Note doesn't do this. Dealers may carry one OTO (out of the 6 versions) and one SORO (out of the 6 versions) and then they may carry one AN K, one AN J and maybe two versions of the E. And they may carry a various assortment of other stuff. But as a customer you have to make a few leaps of faiths in that you have to spend a lot of time at the dealer listening to what sort of gains you can hear from one level to the next.

    Personally I am a fan of having a lot of choice - and once I am used to having a lot of choice it frankly chaps my hide that big name heavyweights charge the same money for worse sound and no choice on the model and 2-3 colour options. But because some of these prices are very high and because Audio Note unlike everyone else stocks parts not finished products then generally the way it works is you listen - you decide what you like - you give the dealer the $10,000 up front - the order is placed - they build it for you - you wait the 2-10 months or whatever and you get your product. With more than 700 products - it would be impossible to list all the prices - if the price of silver goes up - then all the prices go up.

    Someone noted the Kits prices - but they make very few items. I suspect Audio Note separated largely due to the numbers of phone calls they got about the kits and questions like how does an L3 kit match up to an M3 finished product.

    I think their approach is a good one but it's probably not as easy to "sell" from a dealer standpoint because there will be an awful lot of impatient people out there that want to leave the store that day.

    I am a bit luckier in that the Hong Kong market I believe is Audio Note's biggest selling dealer so they actually do have stock of the big turntable and higher end pieces but even these guys are sold out of demos much of the time. They sold all their AN Es and the demo and all the AN Ks and the AX Twos - So for awhile all they had was the J/LX and this is a flagship store. But when the speakers are hand made by a father and son in Austria in place that gets electricity from a stream with natural light - it's no wonder. This isn't stamping molds in a Chinese plant that dumps toxins in the local lake and pays people $2 a day pumping out 100 pairs (or many more) speakers a day on assembly line like my KEF LS-50.

     
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  13. klonk

    klonk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Warren, it seems you are a music lover first and the gear is just your way to sonic happiness, which as a person who likes AN a lot, fully agree on. Unfortunately I am geographically far away from you, otherwise I'd be a frequent visitor and customer. Regarding B&W, I had B&W 801 Series 3 and B&W 802, don't remember which Series and I never got them to sound right for me. Good luck with the B&W 800, they look mighty impressive and I hope they sound that way too.
     
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  14. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    There is no question about being a music lover; I am just crazy about almost any kind of music. My record collection now numbers more than 50,000 LPs, plus RTR tapes and CDs. I have been to countless live shows and concerts. Most evenings I listen to one of my audio system(s) for many hours. When I start listening after everyone has gone to bed, 5 to 8 hours later some people are getting up in the morning for work... but I haven't turned off the stereo yet. I almost never stop listening sooner than 5 hours at a time.

    But, if the gear's purpose was only to get me to my "sonic happiness", then the systems at my home and now in Room 1 or 2 are plenty good enough to take me there. No need for the B&W 800 speakers or the $100,000 Ginrei amplifiers.

    No. Besides the music, I love the sound itself, even with music that I don't particularly like. And I like how the sound is different, in different GOOD audio systems. So I thrive on having a few systems to choose from.

    And, I really, really love audio equipment. To me it is exotic and beautiful. It is adult toys, to me, and I am still a little boy, loving to play with it. For example I own way too many legendary "vintage" preamps, but I just consider them "good", not "vintage". Let's see if I can remember all of them: a Melos 333R, Beveridge RM1/RM2, Counterpoint SA5.1, Conrad Johnson Premier 7, the Krell that Dan D'Agostino's son recommended to me as the best sounding his dad ever made WITH a built-in phono stage, and, uhmmmm, well, many more. I am loaded with cartridges, turntables, tonearms, amplifiers, speakers, cables, tricky tweeks, and on-and-on.

    So, it is a trilogy of loves for me: Music, Sound and Equipment.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2017
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  15. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    You silly, twisted boy, stop having FUN with music. Audiophiles are supposed to act very serious. :^)
     
  16. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Cool site for sure. Good guy!
    [​IMG]
     
  17. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    Oh, I forgot to mention the CAT preamps. I have two of them of different vintages, a Signature and an Ultimate. They are amazing to listen to, as are the other ones I mentioned... Oh, and a Music First Audio Baby Reference.

    Almost as good as an Audio Note or Voss Audio preamp. :whistle:

    These other great pieces of equipment help me to keep my reference grounded, my ear tuned and honest, so that I can truly evaluate the brands I sell, in context with not only the latest sonic fads, but also with the entire history of "good sound".

    Oh I can definitely "act very serious", but mostly I am just crazy about my "music, sound and equipment". :crazy:
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2017
  18. klonk

    klonk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Warren, thanks for your elaborate reply:). I like the part about sound, because I feel in a similar way, if you have a good audio system you can even listen to music you don't like so much or badly recorded/mastered music and enjoy it. You should be called a audiophile marathon man, all the hours you spent in front of your stereo system in one go. All the best.
     
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  19. klonk

    klonk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Off course, I also like your comment about adult toys. I like my toys too. :agree:
     
  20. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    I spoke with Steve about this announcement, and he approves, that it is a good gesture to his forum members:

    As a Black Friday/Holiday/Loss-Leader special, I would like to offer my demo Audio Note integrated amplifier, the Oto SE with Phono, for less than 1/2 price, and far less than my cost. There is only one, it has been used extremely little, looks and operates like new, and comes with the full manufacturer's warranty. I will absorb the sales tax myself, and provide free shipping to anywhere in the USA (48 states). Market price is $5108. I usually offer 15% off, for a like-new demo. But this one is available to SH.TV MEMBERS ONLY for $2500, until the end of this year, Dec 31.

    I will place a proper ad in the FOR SALE forum, with full details and links to pictures.
     
  21. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Yikes, that is a great deal. The Oto is mint, has beautiful sound and is lovingly made in England. Someone grab it!
     
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  22. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    I have received a few inquiries about the OTO, by PM, which I will answer here, for all to see.

    This is a standard Audio Note Oto SE/Phono integrated amp, with built-in MM phono stage.

    Color is black gloss with gold knobs.

    SE means single-ended (not push-pull), 10 wpc, with stock EL-84 power tubes.

    It includes the original box and all original packaging. It will be shipped immediately upon receipt of payment in full to me, via FedEx, or local pick-up. I prefer cash, Paypal, bank check in the mail, bank wire transfer, or deposit into my bank account. No credit cards please.
     
  23. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    Regarding the B&W Matrix 800 speakers, coming this week to The Audio Home in Fullerton:

    December 1, 2 and 3 (Friday, Sat & Sunday) are going to be the big days, when the new B&W 800 Matrix speakers will be put-together, installed, and tweeked. At about 300 pounds each, I WILL NEED HELP. I already have 2 helpers scheduled BUT I NEED MORE.

    If ANYONE else reads this post and can visit during that weekend, please PM me, and tell my you can come to help too.

    I will make sure that all participants during any of these three days have fun, learn a few things and are well fed.
     
  24. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    I have had a few people call me, write me, think about it, almost buy it, etc. THANK YOU for all your interest. This has been an adventure for me, to offer my first Black Friday sale item.

    As of today, the OTO is bought and paid for. Please check back over the next few weeks, and look for the buyer's posts, about receiving the OTO, hearing the OTO, and whatever else he cares to comment on.

    Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Holidays.

    --Warren
     
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  25. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Glad its GONE! ;) Having it out there was just too much temptation!
     
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