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

In the realm of 6550s, Phillips Holland are well-made extremely reliable tubes that neither sound good nor bad, they just do their job, and therefore accessible for reasonable prices.

 

For EL84 power tubes, I like Siemens and RFT, made in East Germany.

 

Steve Hoffman likes his AN/E speakers away from corners and walls. I like mine right up against the room corners.

And I love the control I get from locating them in the corners. Just by experimenting with moving them inch-by-inch I can make the bass/mid-bass balance suit my taste.

 

Salectric and Warren Jarrett raise interesting issues and opinions about Audio Note speaker placement. Audio Note generally recommends placement near the corners of the room to take advantage of boundary reinforcement to bass which makes the bass more prominent and improves the effective efficiency of the speaker system. As Warren Jarrett noted, this can also cause images to appear well outside of the location of the speaker box itself; this comes from reflections from the nearby wall and the direct radiation from the driver being "blended" by the listener's mind into a single location between the reflection point and the speaker (i.e., outside of the speaker location). I have often heard this and it sounds fine to me, but, I can also see how someone would find this to be a bit unnatural sounding. I agree that the wide placement from corner location can be made to work reasonably well to afford for a solid center image if the speakers are toed-in substantially. What I have rarely heard with the typical Audio Note setup is a particularly strong sense of image depth. That is not readily achieved in ANY setup that does not involve the speakers standing well away from the back wall and free on any nearby strong reflection points.

Alldesigns involve compromises, and with Audio Note speakers, you get a rich, "saturated" sound, beautiful tone, a musically natural and "relaxed" sound (not brittle and edgy or hyper-dynamic) without the sound being overly muddy and lifeless, but, you might have to give up certain imaging tricks that some other systems pull off, particularly in terms of very specific image placement laterally and with a sense of differing depth of the soundstage. I like Audio Note speakers because I happen to like their balancing of priorities and compromises.

 

you make some interesting points but I don't know about the depth part. i can get the stage on Es to sound really deep (almost like the room is deeper then it really is) but our listening room is tiny. i have also heard AN system with WAY deeper image but had higher level components at another location. in fact, the first thing my wife said was holy s*** i have never heard a system sound like that. i think it is all in set up and respective components.

 

Thank you for your detailed comments. I will keep this in mind next time I set-up a pair of AN/E speakers. Having "little awareness or where the speakers are located" is always very high on my list of goals for any set-up.

 

some of those look nice ... really nice.

 

To me, the most important aspect of "depth" is the sense of a soundfield that completely envelops the listener. I have heard that with Audio Note as well as other speakers, particularly in smaller rooms and where the listener is relatively close to the speakers (near-field listening). The sense of instrument placement in different layers or depth of the stage is the other sense of depth; whether this is something real (i.e., reproducing something specific to the recording venue, or somehow encoded in a stereo recording by the producer) or is artificial, I don't know, but, I do get that sense with some recordings and with some systems, but, almost always when the speakers are standing well out into the room. I like it when I hear it, but, for me, it is not as important as the general sense of being enveloped by sound (a "trick" better accomplished by tube gear, by the way).

I have heard demonstrations where a stereo pair of speakers were playing a mono source and most of the listeners were unaware that the music was mono because the sound-field sounded so large and enveloping. When those people were asked to locate the instruments, that is when they realized they were listening to mono because the apparent origin was a single point in the middle, but otherwise, the sound was HUGE. Because they deliver such rich and full sound, Andio Note speakers do pull off this trick with ease.

 

any Paladin owners out there? if so, what 45 valve's have you tried?

 

What does one do when an audio dealer’s website uses an image of your living room/system without permission or credit? As a side note, they also have a price list current to 10/10/2018...

Audio Note kõlarid, stereo- ja lampvõimendid, CD-mängijad jm. UUS!

I suppose I’ll ask them to remove the photo. We’ll see how that goes.

 

Oh my gosh, spartree, that would make me feel uncomfortable. I hope they quickly remove your photo

 

And I have not used them as a driver tube as you would be doing in the kit1 and so, it's quite possible you prefer others. The context of the use was only relevant to the substitution in the output board of an M6, not as a general rule. The ones I use are the Philips SQ type.
Cheers.

 

Spartree- I couldn’t find your picture? (and peter Q will not be pleased about the price list)

 

I contacted them and they were apparently quick to remove it!

 

I have owned one for a year. Rolling two set of new production tubes. Solid plates from EML and KR Audio 45. KR Audio's are good tubes but Emission labs outperform them by a good margin. I'm tempted to order 45 mesh plates from EML.. NOS tubes seem to be rare and therefore difficult to find and the prices go up. EML 45 have a 5 year guarantee and they are super

 

thank you. i really appreciate your input. i know this is such an special amp ... i will have for the store showroom.

 

Warren, l have my K/LX in the room are you saying if they were in the corners l would get more bass control.....

 

The AN K was my first AN speaker and I believe Peter noted that with solid walls and in corners you get bass to 36hz. Free standing you are around 50hz.

But - the K is a little different because it is a sealed box design and so the bass is quite a bit different than the ported models. The great thing about AN speakers is they're not too heavy - you can just try them.

With the AN J and AN E - one thing I would say as I say often is not to give yup on the corners too fast - because of AN's odd break in behaviour where I found them to go through a couple of stages - I would not mistake the corner for the break in phase. Once you have 500+ hours on the things - then try the corners again.

In my old place in Canada I had them 2-3 inches from the wall and it was actually "too far" away - I put them HARD into the corners such that they were virtually touching the back and side walls. So close t the side wall that you could not pass a speaker wire between the speaker and wall. And about the for the back wall.

Even most of the audio shows where the speakers are in the corners I usually think they're too far out.

For me they worked best when the speakers (admittedly the J/Spe) was when the speaker stands were actually touching the side and back wall.

This is what I mean

 

@Richard Austen thank you will try this method.:)

 

This thread always activates the upgrade bug. I would love to listen to some Audio Note gear but I would have to travel to Ontario to get that chance. I think I would look at a Preamp/Stereo Power Amp setup but would really need to audition the available options in my price point first to determine what would work. Level 2 gear seems like the right price point so maybe an M2 Phono Balanced Pre with a P1 SE Signature. But then Level 3 gear is tempting (M3 Phono Balanced Pre). There's just too many Stereo Power Amp options to choose from at level 3 that really makes things confusing and overwhelming. I can't rule out an Oto SE Phono Signature for simplicity & space. If anyone has suggestions on where to start I am all ears, thanks!

 

It looks like the prices are gone now too.

 

I have heard AN speakers in a number of rooms where they just didn't click. Some of it may be down to the rooms themselves, i.e. impossible rooms, and some of it may be down to speakers that weren't sufficiently broken in, but some of it may also be because they weren't setup right, i.e. that the owner hadn't gone through enough experimentation.

I have found that after I put in the work of experimenting with toe-in, my E's image surprising well considering their design and position. About as well as my previous Verity speakers (Fidelio and Parsifal), but not as good as my Pioneer S1-EX, though, but they are designed for optimal imaging so not much of a surprise there.

It goes with the story, though, that because of room constraints, only one of my speakers is in a corner, and it's a slanted wall, so the corner isn't perfect. The other is close to a 1 meter tall bookshelf, so sort of a halfbaked corner.

 

Yes, and come to think of it, my DAC has had its gain raised some, so I shouldn't generalize. Maybe the E182CC gets overdriven in my DAC.

 

My own experience is similar. I have mine riding on Herbie's Threaded Stud Gliders because 1) I am always working on the room (including adding or moving walls), 2) The floor is textured so it's a bear to move them with spikes, and 3) even after a year I am still experimenting (sometimes necessitated by changes to the room). Here you see them in their current location, which is on the continuum from "out from the wall" and moving towards "hard against the corners."

Please forgive the unfinished nature of the room.