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Living Voice Auditorium, DeVore, Audio Note AN-E

Audio Note AN-E LX owner here.

I'm a big rock and/or roll, metal, indie rock, electronica etc fan, and found that they weren't particularly wonderful with the OTO SE I had (albeit still very good!), when I upgraded to a 20w P/P New Audio Frontiers valve integrated with huge transformers, the upgrade to the bass, speed and finesse made me - honestly - giggle to myself. I thought I was listening to new speakers. The bass had real crunch and texture now, and felt like they went deeper, which was exactly what I was looking for. The kick drum on Deftones could knock your hat off; Nine Inch Nails had real venom now; Tool were mesmerising.

To OP's point, I think you can get what you want with the AN-Es, but I dare say it'll take an amp with real heft to get there. As suggested elsewhere, perhaps a top-notch class A SS, or something like a powerful Class A PP valve amp.

Saying that, all the speakers you listed are fabulous in their own ways, so Lord knows how you'll pick your way through 'em! Good luck

i have Snells and felt the way with a line magnetic 518ia. 22 watt SET but fast and big and slammin’
 
@ the Audio Note and Living Voice owners: We are moving in January currently I'm trying to decide if I would place my hifi stuff in the living room 28 s.m. or 14 s.m. separate room.

The thing is that we are looking for a new couch. I like hearing in bigger rooms with distance > 2.5m but the position and furniture is a little asymmetric. The couch has an L-shape which isn't good for a well left-right balance.

Therefore I curious if anyone has experience with room sizes like my 14 s.m. with Audio Note AN-E or Living Voice speakers.
 
Why did you get rid off the Harbeths? If you have the space needed and suitable amp capable of driving the Harbeths they really are a good solution for punk, rock, metal, jazz, electronica or whatever. I've owned C7ES3, 40.1, SHL5 and currently have 30.1s with a Rel sub. 30.1 surprised me with it's rocking abilities and resolution. Much better resolution compared to those 3 other Harbeths I previously owned. I can understand why some think C5 or SHL5 are better (easier to ear) but IMO with wide variety of music 30.1/30.2 are a very good option. With a good sub even better if you need to hear some of that low end.

I think if you really consider AN speakers you should pair them with AN amps to get the best out of them. Anyways at least for me they can sound wonderful with jazz and something smooth but usually don't impress me with rock, metal and punk. That can sound decent with AN but needs careful system matching. Don't get me wrong, I have heard very good AN systems but usually they are not the best option with distorted quitars. And you really need to have a room where you can place them into corners to get the best sound. Someone said they can be paired with some other amps too. I believe it's possible and can sound good but then you might lose some of that AN sound. Might be a good thing or bad thing.

I've also heard some of those LV Auditoriums. Can sound really good if everything is right and doesn't cost too much second hand. Still not my first choice. I might also consider big old JBL monitors or even Klipsch Heritage series speakers. Really addictive sound if you get it right and have the room for them.
 
Because I'm looking for a speaker with higher sensitivity then Harbeth speakers.
As you said you need and amp capable to drive them. You can use a Harbeth with a 25 watt valve amplifier but the sound with unnatural music is then a bit on the boring side and the dynamic is to limited.

There are roughly two groups in Hifi for me
A: Solidstate & mid - low efficiency speakers
B: Valve & high efficiency speakers

A is trying to replay as accurate as possible the sound on the recording while B is trying to fool you with an illusion of an live event in your home even when each instrument/voice was recorded separately in the studio.

I'm slowly moving from A to B but tonality is still very important to me.
I have heard some high efficient speakers that have had problems with tonality but were superior in doing dynamic, scale and weight/dense and I like the illusion of a live event in my room, even if it is because of the distortion of a valve amp.

I have never heard string instruments and voices sounding more real (to my ears) as played with a good valve amplifier.

The Odeon speakers which I have owned in the past have this live factor like Living Voice but are sounding way better with more complex music compared to L.V. but Odeon is more on on the "in to your face" side and less laidback as Harbeth or Living Voice.

Harbeth speakers are very good IME. It is still one of my favorite brands and they sound very natural to my ears but they let you take the position in the control room with non live recordings. Compared to LV they can play unnatural music better with a good ss amplifier.

I'm looking for something in between LV and Odeon. Therefor I mentioned DeVore and Audio Note because I have read that they are also more on the B side of replay.
 
Because I'm looking for a speaker with higher sensitivity then Harbeth speakers.
As you said you need and amp capable to drive them. You can use a Harbeth with a 25 watt valve amplifier but the sound with unnatural music is then a bit on the boring side and the dynamic is to limited.

There are roughly two groups in Hifi for me
A: Solidstate & mid - low efficiency speakers
B: Valve & high efficiency speakers

A is trying to replay as accurate as possible the sound on the recording while B is trying to fool you with an illusion of an live event in your home even when each instrument/voice was recorded separately in the studio.

I'm slowly moving from A to B but tonality is still very important to me.
I have heard some high efficient speakers that have had problems with tonality but were superior in doing dynamic, scale and weight/dense and I like the illusion of a live event in my room, even if it is because of the distortion of a valve amp.

I have never heard string instruments and voices sounding more real (to my ears) as played with a good valve amplifier.

The Odeon speakers which I have owned in the past have this live factor like Living Voice but are sounding way better with more complex music compared to L.V. but Odeon is more on on the "in to your face" side and less laidback as Harbeth or Living Voice.

Harbeth speakers are very good IME. It is still one of my favorite brands and they sound very natural to my ears but they let you take the position in the control room with non live recordings. Compared to LV they can play unnatural music better with a good ss amplifier.

I'm looking for something in between LV and Odeon. Therefor I mentioned DeVore and Audio Note because I have read that they are also more on the B side of replay.
I understand and I have also realized the benefits of high efficiency. That's why I also like JBL and Klipsch and might consider them myself at some point. Big JBLs are excellent with dynamics and more complex music and offer lifelike performances if everything is right. They need a lot of space though. DeVore is also interesting but not much chances to hear them over here. Avantgarde Zeros also offer high efficiecy but might not be the perfect option if vinyl is the number one source like it is for me.
 
I was able to sold my Unison S6MKII finally and bought a used Croft Integrated R (I have owned Croft in the past) which I received today. Now I can't say that the Living Voice R3R can't rock. Sure there are other speakers that hit harder and can play louder but I'm impressed how different (in a positive way) they now sound.

I have written and talked to several people who have owned and listened to LV and it seems to be that they all had more or less the same impressions. With a SET / (very) low powered amp the can't handle complex music and lack dynamic and drive.

I don't wan't to say that they need much power but I have the impression that push-pull works much better then SET despite the fact that they are very efficient with 94dB sensitivity and an impedance minimum of 4.5 Ohm @ 180 Hz.
 
Hello there,
one week later I'm still impressed how the sound of the Living Voice R3R has changed with the Croft Integrated R.

I like the sound so much that I deleted the add (I tried to sell them before I received the GCI-R) despite the fact that I have had a customer for them which was really pi.... because I won't sell them to him.

I'm so impressed that I'm really curios now to know how much better the versions of the higher range are, especially the IBX-RW3 (I could only afford a used one)

https://www.tnt-audio.com/casse/living_voice_ibx_e.html

I'm totally blown away. I will sell the GCI-R because I'm going back to tube amplification but this time I'm looking for push-pull stuff which I hope will fit better compared to the Unison S6MKII SEP.

The Audio Note Oto makes me curios too because Graeme Budd from TNT liked it, despite it is SE-design and has only 10 watt of power, with the LV IBX RW3.

[Review] Audio Note Oto SE - integrated amplifier - TNT-Audiowww.tnt-audio.com › ampli › audi...

The Unison S6MKII with 35 watt was way to lush to my ears in the combination with the LV R3R.

If someone has advices for good matching valve amplifiers (max budget @ 5.000€ pre-owned) for Living Voice Auditorium speakers I'd be happy.

Important to me is that it doesn't heat up the room as much as the Unison S6MKII does (about 300 watt idle) and a remote would be very nice.
 
I hear Shindo amps are supposed to be absolutely wonderful with Living Voice speakers. Lots of owners have them paired, and even some reviewers have the combination as reference points.

If I ever move away from my Audio Note setup it would be to Shindo / Living Voice...
 
Thank you ver much for the advice @rescuest3ve . Unfortunately Shindo is way over my budget.:oops:
If someone has advices for good matching valve amplifiers (max budget @ 5.000€ pre-owned) for Living Voice Auditorium speakers I'd be happy.

Which Audio Note setup do you use? Have you listened to Living Voice? If yes, how would you describe the difference between the two speaker types?

I can imagine the models in the ranges will sound different but I think there will be a Audio Note and Living Voice "house sound"
 
Thank you ver much for the advice @rescuest3ve . Unfortunately Shindo is way over my budget.:oops:


Which Audio Note setup do you use? Have you listened to Living Voice? If yes, how would you describe the difference between the two speaker types?

I can imagine the models in the ranges will sound different but I think there will be a Audio Note and Living Voice "house sound"

Hifi shark might help you out with that - I've seen a few Shindo bits on there second hand!

I have Audio Note DAC, TT2 Deluxe and AN-E LX speakers, but with a New Audio Frontiers Performance 2A3 integrated. I used to have an OTO SE amp, which was very very good, but the NAF - wow! You can pick them up relatively cheaply second hand (mine was circa 2k from 10k new).
 
Very interesting. I have thought about the NAF Legend MKII for the LV.

In Germany there is also a used NAF 845 SE Signature for sale for a fair price but the 845 produces even more heat (350 watt idle) then the Unison S6MKII and valve replacement would be very expansive.
 
I would definitely give a NAF a listen to if you can. Mine transformed my system, and was cheaper (second hand) than the OTO SE that it replaced. And that's in an all-Audio Note system, too.
 
The Legend MKII is a demo unit which I can maybe try at home. The 845 SE Signature would only cost 600€ more (4 years old) but I can't try it at home.

The Legend MKII is interesting because it is a push pull triode class A amplifier which is a rare combination. I can imagine that it would sound great, 18 watts isn't that much but still more then the 10 watt of AN Oto (I know it is only a bit less then 3db difference).
 
I have heard some high efficient speakers that have had problems with tonality but were superior in doing dynamic, scale and weight/dense and I like the illusion of a live event in my room, even if it is because of the distortion of a valve amp.

What you are hearing is NOT the distortion of a valve amplifier unless you are running the amp flat out!
 


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