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

I just acquired a lovely pair of AN-K LX Hemp to go with my Oto and have them about 10 feet apart in corners firing across the room and they sound great . No problems with soundstage and I have them toed in so I can see the outer faces of the cabinet. I’ll probably play about with the placement a bit to fine tune.

 

I had similar experiences with Salectric. When they are corner loaded, it did not sound lively. I have tried many different positions with my AN E near corners but mine sounded the best when they are away from the side walls and corners. I feel I lose intensity of the sound but gain better sound stage and openness; closer to live performance

 

Great album!

 

I believe you can buy grills separately - some sort of magnet type of thing - but you'd have to take them off for listening. The grills might be aftermarket add on - I can't remember now but it was mentioned on one of the forums.

 

I would not give up on the corners - the corner position is ideal but I remember that it took a lot of work to find their "hot spot" where it all comes together - interestingly the distance to the corner and side wall is important and so is the toe in.

So with my AN J I put them in the corners and had them face my listening chair - boom boom boom rang the side walls (wood frame walls). I had to toe them in but this messed up the soundstage. So pulled them out - but it lacked the life I heard at the Flamingo when Peter ran the room back at CES 2010. The Flamingo is a concrete building.

Anyway - I found that putting the speaker harder in the corner and working the toe in it all came together - but it took a couple of months of adjusting - because on some albums it was fine and others I'd get a one note boom - often on so called good recordings like Diana Krall! Odd.

Here in Hong Kong (Concrete) it became so much easier to work with. I understand why Warren Jarret brought his own corners - hotels suck. It's interesting to me because I often read polar responses from people with AN at shows - winner of best sound at show - then the next show - meh - mediocrity! And these dealers don't have no 3 months to fiddle.

I used to make the case that Audio Note should just sell their own "corners" for the speakers for people who don't have corners or have crappy walls. The corner adds that visceral "pressure" of instruments that doesn't really get transmitted in a free standing position IME. And this isn't a super expensive thing to do - Warren should have a builder make them and he could go into a side business selling AN E/J corners! If I were in Canada -I'd buy em as my room back there doesn't have them.

 

What are the faux corners made of?

 

So I came back from an afternoon at Elephant Holdings the dealer for Audio Note UK.

What things did I audition and learn?

1. New cable Audio Note Sogon Minor that sits between SPX and Sogon. 60 something strands. No I still can't afford it.

2. I am definitely a 2a3 man. When I first heard the Empreas Silvers a few years ago I felt they were the best bargain in audio and while I felt the Jinro had a.more dense more sophisticated sound I just ultimately liked the evervescant lightness of the Empress Silver more.

3. The M6 Signature is utterly superb. This is a 2 box preamp.

4. The original OTO mated the the new Rogers LS 3/5a designed by Andy Wittle (who designed the AX two) is a ridiculously great match. For the first time I can say I thoroughly enjoyed an LS 3/5a. This is the best of the best of them...unfortunately it is probably the most expensive of them as well.

5. I may wind up buying a fairly new second hand AN K/SPe if the fellow customer can agree on a price and trade situation. Lol. I go in to buy an amp and of I end up buying speakers....lol. but I love the AN K. We'll see. The trade specifically is $500 Canadian under his asking price plus KEF LS 50s in perfect shape along with my LM 215 CD player. Thus I am selling him KEF LS 50s and Line Magnetic 215 CD player for $500 Canadian total.

 

This is the link to the corners

 

regarding the M6 vs the M3, in believe in prior posts you have mentioned there was indeed a difference but that the price differential was high.

i have indeed heard the M3 (and it really does punch WAY above its class) but i have not heard the M6. in your opinion, what are the main sonic differences? does the M6 just allows more emotion and life to come thru ... better dynamics, etc.? i ask because i only have space for one pre-amp and was planning to order the M5 but your post and enthusiasm has me thinking more about the M6. i know, in a perfect world i would have both because they both serve a different level’s but space limitations and the moment preclude that. the pre-amp will be used to demo the Paladin, Vindicator, Conquer and the Neiro MBs.

thanks RA.

 

The M6 I referred to avove is the M6 Signature not the regular M6. The regular M6 is better than the M3 but at the time it didn't justify the twice the price price tag to me. The money saving could go to a Dac 3.1 balanced over a dac 0.1 so my way of thinking was that an M3 with a Dac 3 and E SPx AlNiCo speakers is better than an M6 with a Dac 0 or E/spe He speakers. I'd personally rather spend the extra 10k to get the better speaker or better dac or better turntable where the differences are a lot bigger IMO.

The M6 sig to me is a much bigger improvement and I would make the jump from M3 to M6 Sig or M8. But the price of the M6 Sig I believe is double that of regualr M6. Around $40,000+ and doing the same sort of math.

One note though. The M6 is level 4 and it then follows you should match it with all leve 4 gear. So when I compared tje M3 and M6 it was with level 3 amps and copper wired speakers. So the difference may be a lot easier to notice if the dealer had my speakers and level four amps like a Neiro instead of Empress Silver.

Level 3 is expensive but doable. Level 4 gets into crazy territory.

 

You do indeed notice the substantial improvement to the M6 Preamp (mine has the built in phono as well as the balanced connections for the CD input) when you use level four components and the higher end silver cabling. I noticed that the system breathes and has much better resolution with the Sogon interconnects over AN-Vx or any copper cables. I have heard the M3 and really like it, but haven't had the chance to compare them side by side. That being said, it wasn't too hard to recognize that in a level four system, the M6 is superior and for me, worth the expense. I worked a second job for a year to pay for the upgrade. Which was good because they had a real backlog of orders due to Brexit. My M6 took nine months to build. About twice the normal time required, but there were extenuating circumstances. I needed that time to sell all of my worldly possessions and work that second job to pay for it : )

 

Thanks for sharing your experience so far Bryan. I do much the same as you when breaking in and comparing. My go to LP or CD is Way Out West by Sonny Rollins. I look forward to hearing your opinion after 250 hours. I would love to know how they compare to my WE 300Bs from the late 90s or early 2000s.

 

I've been following Audio Note gear online in various reviews and forums for ages now, even commenting or asking questions here and there, because AN as described by my friends and fellow-travelers here, has always sounded like a pretty ideal way to listen to music.

So, anyway, today I finally actually got to hear some AN kit! My local got in a used pair of AZ Two speakers, set 'em up being driven by a Naim streamer and amp. Pulled up some Nick Drake on Tidal, and ... after all this time, having read reviews of AN speakers, including the AZ Two's ...

They sounded exactly as I imagined they would.

I mean, how often does that ever happen?!

They were warm, bloom-y, organic, not screaming 'detail' at me, but a nice wholeness to the sound. (A bit tubby in the bass, probably needed an Audio Note otaku to tweak the location in the room.) Which is exactly what every thoughtful report or review of AN loudspeakers has led me to believe! Amazing ...

No point or punch line here, carry on everyone.

 

The Empress Silvers that are being discussed here look very much like the Kageki's which I own. Has anyone compared the two? Also, how many have run 45s in these amps (either by modifying the amp or just running them unmodified)? I know another Kageki owner that likes the sound of that amp with 45s in them (the 45s don't last very long under these operating conditions).

 

I can't speak to the Kageki but I would not necesarily make the leap that more expensive units os the same are always better. Here in HK one of my dealers prefers the original OTO over the Sig. He feels it is more emotional while the Sig is more hi fi. Just as they much prefer the less expensive OTO to the SORO. Indeed I prefer the 1/3 the price Empress Silver to the Jinro.

If you have a product that is really really good and then you upgrade it ... well it is now a different thing. Sometimes better but not to everyone.

When the dealer described the Neiro as being more sophisticated than Empress . Well it may lose some of what I like about the Empress. More dynamics but will it lose ambiance in trade...

It does make for a fun company though. But next to impossible to try all the stuff out.

 

The Legend.

AN is the most amazing audio company ...

 

Here is a recent review of the Audio Note Jinro:
https://hifipig.com/audio-note-uk-jinro-integrated-amplifier

I think this is only the 2nd Jinro review I've seen by an audio publication, the other being Stereophile's 8 years earlier:
Audio Note Jinro integrated amplifier

 

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the legend to appear on your doorstop anytime soon. It's a project with a long development history , I saw the renderings back in 2016 and given the potential cost, I'd start whatever illegal activity that is going to pay for them today. Cheers.

 

@Mulroydave Was unaware AN made a K with a hemp driver......

 

I think a lot of potential customers don't understand what sonic differences are involved in the different levels and for example, why a Kageki sound different to an Empress. Most of that is probably down to lack of information about the output transformer differences and the influence on the resulting sound. Until you are able to hear what the higher level components are capable of reproducing from the recordings you own, it's almost impossible to consider the cost involved and that's why Level 2 and 3 components are accepted relatively easily. Further up the levels and the arguments over perceived value and performance come into play. However, once you do hear a high level system play, it's impossible to forget what it sounds like. Too often we forget what it is like to be "thrilled by performance" and just accept the everyday as what's best, be it food, wine, art in all its forms, human endeavour , public office, the list goes on.
Philosophical I know but "thrill by performance" is at the heart of these higher levels of components.

 

It was a mistype. - actually I have AN/J with hemp

 

I think you are right and that a major factor is economy: many people either don't want to or have the money to buy a level four or five system. Many also don't care much about the differences and gladly listen to Sonos. But for those who care deeply about music and the quality of its reproduction, the higher level AN systems are very special. The barrier is financial.

 

Nice to see another J user here the E's totally outnumber us! Mine are also LX but paper not hemp. Great speakers enjoy!

 

some pretty compelling video of VB at HF Deluxe with the new AN dacs.