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Rega io not quite as good as 6k SET!

Woodface said:
I think AN stuff is prone to problems. I wouldn’t have a pure class a amp myself but that is purely personal choice
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AN don't seem to have a great reputation for reliability or build quality.
Class A ,not really an option with ATC actives though.
Do the amps on the back of the speakers get warm?Do you switch them off when you're not listening to music?
 
Mike Reed said:
Or go the middle path of class A s/s amplification; Sugden, e.g. Okay, more s/s than SET valves and still a leccy-guzzler, but would give that 'middle ground' compromise. Even an A21 should be okay for ES 14s.

At a bake-off recently, a newly-bought pair of 300B SET amps and a breathed-on WAD 300B were heard with newly acquire Goldenears speakers (via vinyl and CD). Another friend's WAD 300B p/p heard in the previous bake-off was also very good, yet there was no issues expressed with excess heat; only the cost of 300B valves !!!! Is A-N stuff a bit prone to prob's?
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I don’t know if they are any worse than any other class A tube amps. But anything that gets that hot is bound to need maintenance.The hobby seems to be about finding out what you like and I like ES14s and Class A SET amps. So I’m a bit stuck.
 
Loved my time with audionote amps and before that a conrad Johnson premier 11 a. Great Amps but they did need a lot of TLC. That said I also had a chord amp and a burmester that were both problematic in the summer.
 
I've never really taken Audio Note seriously. Most of their products seem to be other people's products with a large price hike. The TT turntable is a Systemdeck pitched as a high-end turntable when it was really only a mid-level deck. Rebadged Snell speakers with the same bass driver as the Heybrook HB1, again with a huge price hike. Good products but the Audio Note versions are crazy expensive.
 
Darren L said:
AN don't seem to have a great reputation for reliability or build quality.
Class A ,not really an option with ATC actives though.
Do the amps on the back of the speakers get warm?Do you switch them off when you're not listening to music?
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The amp packs get warmish & yes I do switch them off as they consu a bit at idle. I am very lucky to have a dedicated room which has an interior micro climate; cool in summer & warm in winter. Running pure class a would ruin it somewhat.

But, yes, I have fully bought into active speakers.
 
Mr Pig said:
I've never really taken Audio Note seriously. Most of their products seem to be other people's products with a large price hike. The TT turntable is a Systemdeck pitched as a high-end turntable when it was really only a mid-level deck. Rebadged Snell speakers with the same bass driver as the Heybrook HB1, again with a huge price hike. Good products but the Audio Note versions are crazy expensive.
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You might take it more seriously if you went to the trouble of listening to any of it.
 
Alex S said:
You might take it more seriously if you went to the trouble of listening to any of it.
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Maybe, but I'm not a huge fan of valve amps, I'm struggling to see how much better Audio Note could have made those turntables and speakers and the OP's comparison of a £6K Audio Note amp and budget Rega is hardly encouraging?
 
Actually Qvortrup did a good thing by transform Snell J and E to work in corners or close to rear wall.
The original and equivalent Snell speakers were made for free placement in large US rooms.
K and A were different in that regard.

Qvortrup's shop in Copenhagen was tiny in size, maybe he formed the idea there, years before he went to establish Audio Innovation and later Audio Note UK.
 
AN is very expensive and sounds really good, these are not always bedfellows. My AN ownership extends to AX2s that kill anything close to their price (not a lot), apart from in build and looks.

As for "valve amps" good valve amps are good, bad valve amps are bad, just like solid state.
 
Mr Pig said:
Maybe, but I'm not a huge fan of valve amps, I'm struggling to see how much better Audio Note could have made those turntables and speakers and the OP's comparison of a £6K Audio Note amp and budget Rega is hardly encouraging?
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The OP was taking the piss. Of course the AN amps were better and I was simply marvelling at how good entry level stuff is.
I could easily live with it.
I've wiggled the wire at the back and the AN's sound great. You must have a listen because I had decided to only buy amps on specs until these rocked up in a local telly shop. So cost me **** all and talking of difference it is the huge three dimensional quality, no hint of glassiness and a real delineation of the instruments/vocal. ... and that is via ES14s an ancient speaker I can't move on from.
 
My default cost (and size) no object system would be all AN one. Consistently 'right' sounding to me. Have owned bit but

Had an IO for a while. Funky dynamic little thing, especially for the money, but a bit too rough and loose. Had at the same time, and still have, a FW M2 clone - so refined and smooth for an SS amp. Wanted valve-esque without the valves, in theory!
 
Woodface said:
AN certainly know how to charge, make Linn look like amateurs;)
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It’s always surprised me how Audio Note get passed over in the Taking The Piss award on PFM and I am a fan of Audio Note having owned a Oto SE Phono and a TT2 w/Arm 3. I loved the amp but not so much the TT2. Maybe they don’t garner as much attention due to their POA strategy?
 
eevo1969 said:
It’s always surprised me how Audio Note get passed over in the Taking The Piss award on PFM and I am a fan of Audio Note having owned a Oto SE Phono and a TT2 w/Arm 3. I loved the amp but not so much the TT2. Maybe they don’t garner as much attention due to their POA strategy?
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I don’t know much about them but they just seem re peddle old tech, do they actually design anything themselves?
 
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