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Audio Note UK - impressive at KLAV

H

highcut28

pfm Member
I was at an AV show recently (KLAV in Kuala Lumpur).
The manufacturer that made the biggest impression on me was AudioNote UK.
CD source, DAC, Tomei SET integrated amp putting out just over 20 wpc, feeding standmounts - 2 way with 8 '' woofer, rear ported - that were placed in the corners.
I think the spkrs were the AN E model, at 95+dB per watt sensitivity
My 2 friends and I were really impressed. A pretty wide variety of music was played.

Question is why does Audionote sound so good?
OK, the source is prob very good.
The amp is the middle model of 3 integrateds that differ by the amount of silver in the OTR winding and rest of wiring. (Ongaku is all Ag and more expnsf of course. The cheapest is all copper. The Tomei uses Cu and Ag).
The corner placement of the rear ported spkrs apparently extends the bass by a few dB.
There was certainly plenty of bass.
We awere in a hotel guest room. Average size.
Carpeted, prob wallpapered i think.
I cant remember if there were diffusers or absorption panels - prob not.
I believe AudioNote have won 'best sound' accolades at other AV shows.

Makes u wonder how much power is needed in a domestic system?
Wonder if putting spkrs in the corner would work with my NS1000 to achieve that 'pressure' of sound in the room ?, but they are not ported (let alone rear ported).
 
I was at the KLAV show the previous year and was also very impressed with the AN UK system. A really nice, big musical sound.
 
Ongaku is all Ag and more expnsf of course
Click to expand...

Are you referring to this amp?


Audio Note Ongaku
It shocked the audio world. $60,000 for an amplifier! In 1988, Hiroyasu Kondo’s, minuscule-powered, 27Wpc SET integrated amplifier set the mark for luxury pricing of audio components. This was the first production amplifier to use handmade silver electronic components (transformers, caps, and wire).

Has it gone up since? What price is it now? Is Kondo still connected with the company? Are we talking Japanese kit being shown in KL? Is it imported to the UK?
 
I was impressed by the sound quality in many of the rooms at KLAV this year, there were several more I could not decide on as the music choice - percussive Chinese, was out of my familiarity range.

The only ones that did not work for me were Triangle and Focal, which are too bright for my taste as usual.

Music choice is always a problem for KLAV with a few cultures to cater to
 
abbydog said:
Are you referring to this amp?


Audio Note Ongaku
It shocked the audio world. $60,000 for an amplifier! In 1988, Hiroyasu Kondo’s, minuscule-powered, 27Wpc SET integrated amplifier set the mark for luxury pricing of audio components. This was the first production amplifier to use handmade silver electronic components (transformers, caps, and wire).

Has it gone up since? What price is it now? Is Kondo still connected with the company? Are we talking Japanese kit being shown in KL? Is it imported to the UK?
Click to expand...

AN UK i believe had a close relatioship with Kondo and AN Japan.
Not sure how that has evolved since the passing of Kondo San.
I think Peter Qvortrup is the man behind AN UK.
AN UK 's Ongaku is a 27 wpc SET integrated.
At the KLAV they demoed the cheaper Tomei.

A check on AN Japan website reveals that it too has an Ongaku model.
That prob has evolved from the one u mention above.
 
The AN-E speaker is I believe basically the old Snell model.

Audionote UK seem to have hoovered up a number of 'defunct' brands over the years, in a sort of 'High End Richer Sounds' fashion. Snell and Voyd spring to mind.

Mull
 
Mullardman said:
The AN-E speaker is I believe basically the old Snell model.

Audionote UK seem to have hoovered up a number of 'defunct' brands over the years, in a sort of 'High End Richer Sounds' fashion. Snell and Voyd spring to mind.

Mull
Click to expand...

Snell huh ?
I am intrigued by the design of the AN UK speakers.
A pal informs me that these are all using thin walled boxes (thinner than the BBC style monitors apparently ) and have the rear firing ports.
Ideally positioned in the corners where bass is boosted.
 
For me, the best system I've ever heard was a full AN one that had the Ongaku at its heart.

Compared it to a full FM Acoustics system that cost several times more and the AN system won, hands down.
 
I think the answer may lie in the design philosophy. Less is more. Single Ended ( mostly ), coupled with high efficiency speakers. AN is not the only route however, I have discovered it is possible to achieve similar results for far less.
 
highcut28 said:
Snell huh ?
I am intrigued by the design of the AN UK speakers.
A pal informs me that these are all using thin walled boxes (thinner than the BBC style monitors apparently ) and have the rear firing ports.
Ideally positioned in the corners where bass is boosted.
Click to expand...

PQ was former Scandinavian distributor of original Snell design back then

I remember he mostly managed to get the "K & "A to perform very well IMO.

The "K with Quad II and similar low powered amplication
The "A needed much more and usually was having transistor poweramplication behind

The early snell "J & "E were too bosted in bas region and needed Space Space & Space to perform, even that I thought they were slooow and bit thick, rather tiring IMO

Sure AN-UK current goal was to adjust x-over and parts making speakers suit closer to wall possible, excellent idea and credit to Peter even his prices are insane mostly
 
Yes I recently had an audio note m-one pre amp which cost a mere 395 and sounded like it cost much more .
 
I thought that rear ported speakers needed plenty of space behind, yet those above were pushed into a corner of all things ! Something different about the AN-Es?
 
highcut28 said:
Snell huh ?
I am intrigued by the design of the AN UK speakers.
A pal informs me that these are all using thin walled boxes (thinner than the BBC style monitors apparently ) and have the rear firing ports.
Ideally positioned in the corners where bass is boosted.
Click to expand...
They are essentially a budget 2 way design from a long time ago when speakers could be larger but needed to be more sensitive because of lower power amplifiers. The lively cabinet, light cone operating in breakup over much of the passband, uneven frequency response,... all contribute to the coloured sound. If they were priced around £1000 a pair which their design perhaps suggests I doubt they would be successful in comparison with the more neutral sounding competition. Dressing them up a bit, charging an extremely high price supported by some marketing and you have what appears to be a successful product. Why?
 
killie99 said:
Care to share?
Click to expand...

The core philosophy of AN has always been simple is best, ie fewer components in the path of the signal the better. Most of their amps are SE designs and the speakers are as already stated, simple paper or hemp coned and heavily based on Snell designs.

If you go down the SE low powered route then obviously options are more limited for speakers but it is possible on a reasonable budget. I have heard many systems, from high powered esoteric transistor based designs through Electrostatics, to the polar opposite ( SE & horns ). In my opinion, SE can sound really amazing, offering an incite and preservation of tone and realistic harmonics that evade most systems I have listened to.

The Chinese market produces vast amounts of Hi Fi gear. With careful research it becomes obvious that it is possible to purchase well made esoteric gear at a fraction of the cost of Western boutique suppliers, who often source their products there anyway, re-badged of course.

Line Magnetic, Consonance, Melody for example produce excellent valve based designs that will work reliably and produce excellent results.

Open baffle speaker designs offer the possibility of high efficiency, low colouration and lifelike sound that will make most box speakers sound deeply flawed.

I guess point is if you are prepared to think out of the box ( no pun intended ! ), it is possible to assemble a very high end system for less than silly money.

For the record, my own system comprises an L78 in a solid plinth with Consonance 12" uni-pivot arm, FR cartridge, NOS DAC, Line Magnetic amp ( 211 SE design ) and speakers based on a Lampizator design, open baffle with 40 year old Saba midrange and tweeter coupled to a 15" bass through a simple crossover.
 
wirbeltier said:
Have you listened to them in a AN system?
Click to expand...
Like most in the UK with an interest in home audio I have come across them now and again and find their appeal to some a bit baffling. What is it about them that is attractive compared to a similarly priced 3 or 4 way speaker with a higher technical performance?
 
I always seem to hear AN demoing simple music eg "girl and guitar", To my ears AN sounds a little "different", thanks to some obvious colouration and warming low order distortion. Some people like this a lot
 
I have tried and tested most of their equipment up to level 4. In my opinion they are the valve mans Naim. Yes very musical with very good PRAT and that touch of valve magic sprinkled on it for good measure. But not too much!! That was over 7-8 years ago so I dont know how the latest equipment stacks up against the competition. I think at the time the main reason i moved away from Audio Note was that there were alternatives that 'better structured' the music which felt more natural and made listening that little bit more special. Same reason I moved away from Naim in more recent times. I also remember feeling that other valve gear I had did surpass the Audio Note gear with even better and more natural timbre and tone. But that was then not sure about today's products, although from the photos I have seen the circuits and materials used appear to be on par. I have though been told by several sources that the DACS have improved since then and that the Hemp Cones in the ANE speakers have helped improve the tone and timbre for a more natural warmer sound than the ones I was use to.

I need to re-acquaint myself with Audio Note just to see if things have really changed and moved on.
 
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