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

I think they both use a similar approach, classic design but trying to update the technology. I'm pretty sure a current AN amp/speaker etc. would easily outperform it's equivalent made in the 50's

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I agree with the majority of what you are saying but I think the new Technics range, whilst looking and having the functions of a DJ turntable, they are not meant for DJing. Everything I've read and heard about them suggest they are superior/or as good as to anything in it's price range. There are vinyl lovers trading in their LP12's, Thornes, Rega's etc. Dealer who I've spoken to who have both the technics and high end belt drive turntables generally say the technics is the best deck in it's price range which has got me thinking.
I suppose the best way of figuring this out is to actually hear them but unlikely to be able to hear them side by side. I'll probably get an IQ1, new belt and I think they have recently got a used Arm 1.. and see how it goes, if I do switch, I can always keep the IQ1. and the arm 1

 

Curious if you tried the Paladin amp with the Alnico's , would like to hear your thoughts .
If you feel 8 watts are not enough power , I'm guessing the Paladins were way under powered.

I use Wavelength triton nce 300b mono's (also known as triton blue ) and have plenty of power .
I haven't heard from anyone that has tried the Paladin amp with the Alnico's.

 

Australians are obsessed with real estate, buying and selling, renovating, you name a suburb and someone can tell you the latest selling prices, someone else can tell you what schools are in the area, another can tell you the demographic of the residents and another can tell you what it was like to live there 20 years ago. What does this have to do with HiFi?
You walk into any house on the market to inspect it and out of 200 houses, you might find one with books in it and it will take you 600 houses to find a room that feels like a room just for reading and if I had a room just for reading, then I would have a Paladin running a pair of Alnico’s and a CD4.1 and a M8 line and associated accoutrements and I would hardly ever leave that room and I would never look at another house again.
In another room, would lurk the Ongaku Kensei, waiting for its opportunity to open portals into another universe.

 

I find the discussion about AN-E AlNiCO SPx interesting. I have listened to my pair for 3 years now and find them so refined and smooth, organic and effortless. I have listened to many of the other models, and they are above most anything else, but they do not have that effortlessness and smoothness that AlNiCO has. I attach a couple of pictures to show how close they are to the walls. I have several times tried to pull them out from boundaries, but always put them straight in again. The bass and scene stage get right in place again.

 

Thank you for the reply , I get it , I do most of my reading listening to the Alnico's , low volume and the Wavelength amps have good low level detail .
Ongaku is way out of my price range but I'll keep looking for the Paladins.

 

If I ever do a component build on an amplifier again, highly unlikely, it would be on a pair of custom Paladin mono’s using the large format output transformers. Peter would hate to do it and it would not be cheap but I still have Blackgates, Shinkohs and other processes that could be applied to make it truely a work of art. I think I might even do the top plates in platinum leaf for something truely unique.

 

so a legend size Tx on the paladin. if only i had the money i would be very pleased to fund @finn AN-SKUNKWERKS.

 

Do you know what the current cost of the Paladin Signature ?

 

Could you re-upload the images? Thanks.

 

I hope it works now. As you can see the AN-E is as close to the walls as possible. In this position they sing effortless and the bass is very musical and deep.




In this last picture you can see that one of the corners is not complete as in the other corner. I will see later if I can get a picture of the whole system.

 

I see very nice system and one good boy (girl).

 

Thanks roole! Bella, a Welsh Springer Spaniel, is a girl. She finds Audio Note smooth and pleasant, but sometimes get startled by the reality of the presentation. Yesterday there where a sudden dynamic guitar in the room and she looked to the other side of the room: it says a bit about the holographic quality of Audio Note

 

I’m not sure about the name but if it gets legs, you can have it for the mid spring -summer-mid autumn months to give those 4242’s a break and reduce some of the thermal load in your street.

 

Love the dark blue/green wall colour.

 

I’m not a frequent poster but I follow this thread very often. This is my first AN system and I’m so delighted to hear some confirmation that I got it right. My Alnicos really sing to me and it’s just as Finn describes: SPx bi-wires, Sogon balanced interconnects with M6 Signature and Tomei Kensei with stock tubes. I’ve got the 4242s, I just haven’t used them yet except to make sure they worked. The last pieces were power cord upgrades. I have to force myself to leave my music room at night to go to bed. And trust me, my musical taste is all over the map and the Alnicos play everything very well.

 

Wow! What an awesome system you have there. I've never heard a system at that level, except on You Tube over headphones, for what that's worth. But I can understand your enjoyment.
Johnny Winter jamming with Muddy.

 

Where in Norway do you live, @Musicophile? Would love to hear your setup.

 

Hi Atle, I live in Oslo. I see from your inspiring thread on hifisentralen that you do to. Let us meet and listen to each other systems.

 

Perfect! You got a pm

 

The 7N7 tube in my Kit One was pushing 6k hours, and I felt that the sound started to become a bit harsher awhile back, so I thought I would try to change it. Even though the 7N7 is rated for 10k hours, I nevertheless heard an improvement from the fresh tube. I'll give it some more time to settle in, and then next up are the two 5687, which have 5.1k hours on them. After that I'll also try replacing the GZ37/CV378 rectifier with a fresh one. I have several to many of all of these in my stash. That's not the case for the power tubes, however, so I'm telling myself that the Emission Labs 300B XLS are good for the 20k hours that JAC Music unofficially said that he expected them to last

 

Hello All,

I would like to share the rest of my adventure with the AN-E SPE HE Signature...

During my dealer last visit for the tune-up, I found that it played better (my dealer was not completely satisfied) and he offered me to take one more time AN-J SPE SE to compare the two pairs.
So I went to pick up my J SE on Saturday.

With the AN-Js the balance is very successful and I find this feeling of drive in the bass, natural with this completely free and relaxed restitution... (I didn't manage to have that with any AN-E).

Since Sunday, I have been living a dream, everything is in place, with a consistency never before achieved!
The Meishu with the AN-Js is the best I've heard in 10 years in this same room.

So for me, there is no longer any doubt, I will live happily with this incredible marriage Meishu/J

 

Hi,

A previous set up of mine was a Meishu line with AN J's - it sounded brilliant, especially after I refoamed the J's as they were really quite old...

When I then bought the AN E HE SPe Sigs, it was an improvement but not to the level that I really expected, I then ended up changing Amps to the Tomei and it fell into place again...

But if I ever went back to a Meishu, I'd definitely be looking to partner with a top end pair of J's I think.

Cheers and many hours of happy listening.

Nige

 

All,

I am about to move to all AN cabling of my system: CDT2/II with Lampizator Baltic 3, M5 Phono, Vindicator Signature and AN-E SPE/HE. In the digital domain, I aim to go for AN Vx from DAC to Pre and Poweramp and SPE Biwire from Vindicator to Speakers. Now, I am still undecided on the digital connection: I have a AN Lexus Digital on loan and wonder how the upgrading to a) AN-Vx Digital b) AN White Pallas II c) AN Brown Pallas II would differ/Improve the sound quality. Relating the analog line a friend of mine recommended to try Pallas White or Brown from my AN S2 to the M5 Phono instead of going for AN Vx. I am unfortunately not able to get the Pallas cables for a test hence I hope for the collective knowledge in the fantastic group.

 

Hi Gerd,

I am in the same questioning as you concerning the digital link.
I really like the Lexus Digital, but I'd be curious to hear any Pallas Digital that seems fine with low signal transfer.
Regarding the speaker cables, for me the SPE Bi-Wire is perfect since the transition to a Level 3 amp