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RE: I'd question Dudley ears ...

Posted by RGA (R) on August 7, 2007 at 05:28:40

In Reply to: I'd question Dudley ears ... posted by limono on August 6, 2007 at 18:34:49:

I can't address Lowther but the proponents of it love the lack of a crossover and driver handoff - thus a complete cohesiveness. Art also uses the Quad 989 as his reference loudspeaker (which he mentions in the review of the AN E) --- the Quad and panel lovers of the world hold Quad up as some beacon of perfection. And the 57 measures horribly has no frequency extremes either and can't play even remotely loud...yet....

I am critical of Stereophile as well but if they asked me to review for them I would because it would give me the opportunity in a way to right the ship. Obviously Art is getting the speakers he would be favorable to as likely do the other reviewers. The Stereophile Paradigm owner who gets the new Paradigm 60 to review for example.

I don't give Audio Note a complete free pass and yet no doubt I am considered a cult follower by many. For example I never heard the Zero cd player but to me it's a silly product that has no skip functions on the machine and only on the remote(the cheap remote breaks and you're stuck, or speakers that have no banana plugs?

I was not at all impressed by the sound of the AX One - I like the Meishu but to me it makes no sense at the price over the Soro. I would upgrade to their separates and bypass the Meishu. While this is not a direct knock on the Meishu (because I like its sound a lot) for me it seems illogical.

The speakers were of course measured by Martin Colloms who is more of an expert than JA in this field and was also the editor of Stereophile. He is also the founder of Monitor Audio. If Colloms measured the speaker 18hz -6db with 94db sensitivity(then you can be sure it's right) and Paul Messenger's Hi-Fi Choice did the same (and this with the less sensitive drivers) and even Art got 25hz flat then I have to wonder. AN provides so few specs anyway. Why lie? No one buys Audio Note for the specs anyway. I mean for heaven sake this is a SET manufacturer making tube no oversampling DACs. The only advertising is on the website so it's not exactly like they shovel measurements at people. 18hz -6db is hardly a number that someone is going to say "right this is the speaker for me" and phone up a dealer and have it shipped to them.

No this is a company people listen to and frankly with the looks, the tube pain in the ass factor, lack of warranty, lack of measurements support, has to be THAT much better than the B&W/Bryston like set-ups of similar money. At least to my ear it is THAT much better because frankly I like the idea of a 20 year warranty and the easy resale appeal and the scientific acceptance factor.

But in the end the B&W 801 is rated to 25hz -3db and in my audition the E had a deeper low end (granted the ear is less accurate but it is certainly more important). The E simply sounds so much better and it costs significantly less - it can of course cost a lot more but the E/LX over the N801 or Wilson Sophia - to me it's not even a contest.

As for mistakes by the company (I am unfamiliar with cap problems) and issues with Quality control I am sure Audio Note has their fair share of these as most any company has. I would expect tube amps to have more "issues" than your average amplifier. My speakers for example are not free of blemishes and some people would be unhappy, they also had a connection problem with the silver bar attaching the HF/LF sockets. Just not tight - easy fix but when you spend the money on a company you know nothing about the worry sets in a bit.

I would hope that AN would respond well to problems in an acceptable way. If your theory is correct and they resolve the problems quietly behind the scenes then I see no problem with that.

I don't think AN fans thought Kondo was a kook. There are people who are in the Kondo camp and the Peter camp. I read the posts of both of them on AA and I think I understand it well enough. Kondo was the original founder and designer, Peter was the deciding ears, created the company growth plan and put up all the money.

I suppose Peter could have put up a post about the death of Kondo, but my bet is that it would have done more damage, especially with the anti-AN UK crowd ready to jump.

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