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In Reply to: REVIEW: Audio Note Conquest 300b mono blocks Amplifier (Tube) posted by astrostar59 on December 28, 2006 at 13:36:43:
Thanks for the review,I too love Audio Note gear and PQ does indeed care.
If I might give you a tip for the next upgrade... Please consider the AN speakers. I once heard the Zingali on Audio Note gear and well.. do consider the AN speakers.
Follow Ups:
I'm getting good results over here with mine. Of course there's always room for improvement. Just out of curiosity, which Zingalis left you so disappointed, and why?You know, I thought that there were bigger differences between the 3 levels of the AN Quest amplifier than the entire "Overture" range of Zingali speakers. This is just a basic generalization and not intended to stir anything up. Remember, I like Audio Note products too.
Specifically, I thought that the entire character of the Quest amplifier changed as you go from basic, to silver, to silver signature. This would be like going from decent, to very nice, to "That's it! That's what I want! Can I write you a check?". On the other hand, the entire range of the Overture series just gives you a little more (or less) of the same character as you move through it's line. This would be more like, "Wow, these are all very nice. I'll get the biggest ones that I can afford". Again, it's just my opinion, and your mileage does vary.
I think the Zingalis sound very good with Audio Note amplifiers. What's not to like?
I think the way you describe the Zingali is what a speaker company should reasonably do. I think speakers are the msot critical part of the purchased chain. I understand UHF magazine's view that source is most important because a speaker can;t put back what the source misses - but at the saem time if a speaker is so poor that no source is going to save a speaker that can;t produce what is on the disc.I am NOT saying this about Zingali at all so don;t misread me please. But I think Audio Note speakers connected to Audio Note equipment (and hopefully one day soon Audio Note classical recordings) is on to something I have heard from no other maker. I have a set of Audio Note J/Spe speakers very very far from the top of their line. They are something like $3600.00US. I have listened to Martin Logan Odyssey, Prodigy, B&W N801, N802, 802D, Wilson Sophia, Totem Mani-2, Totem Shaman, Dynaudio Countour S5.4, Evidence Temtation, Revel Ultima, Magnepan 3.6, Paradigm Signature S8, and too many more to list(Quad, Sonus Faber, JM Labs, Apogee, etc), and none of these I would trade you strait up for the J/Spe let alone the E/Spe.
I truly think a system designed as a system is better than individual componants designed in a vacuum with people purchasing X brand that might maybe will work with some other Y brand.
Take the open sound of a Quad 989 panel - mix that with dynamic power of a large horn - add a significant amount of deeper bass than any panel can muster and most any horn and add a more balanced breathy and "live" sound and you have an AN E.
This is not to say that AN is the only answer to speakers but so far very few compete well that I have heard -- I have enjoyed a speaker from Tannoy recently and Zingali is a HE speaker maker which I tend to gravitate towards. Despite the warts of a K-Horn - it still beats any slim line design multiple stacked 6 inch woofer 85-87db speaker that I have heard -- but then that's why the K-horn has been around so long and still sells. In a way The AN E is horn like without being a horn so it does not fall prey to some of the horn weaknesses
For the many audionote loudspeakers and systems I have heard owned while very well designed and enjoyable where far from the dynamics of large horn systems. You only have domes and cones no way they can excite air pressure like compresion or other horn systems.Glad you enjoy, great you found what you like, wonderful you try to turn others to what you enjoy but come on 8in driver -1in dome = large horns is a bit of a stretch.And does a disservices to some folks for they might just purchase on your advise expecting this dynamic range of a large horn.And from your list I dont see a large horn at all makes one think.
I am sorry I did not mean large horns in the very large horn kind of way. I want to be clear that a horn speaker like the K-horn has more Macrodynamics and other horn speakers of this size and large such as the Avanteguarde also posess more macrodynamic prowess. I was speaking to some of the larger but still "typical" floorstanders from Klipsch and this ilk like the kg1.4(Think this was the number). And microdynamis are almost always blurred by large speakers (as well as driver integration problems). The Avanteguarde duo for example is very expensive but I found it difficult to relax to - it had a boom shout issue that doesn;t go awya and while loud with big impact seemed more brutish than tubeful in soft passages. My Wharfedales also suffer this as does the K-horn.OTOH the E does not have the shoutyness that some bigger horns have that can be often very tiresome after not too long listening. But for the sheer visceral impact a big horn is IMO better than a big stat. If AN was not around or I had a very large room to fill -- horns would be the way I would go -- the rubbish about off axis weakness has always bugged me since serious listeners usually listen between their loudspeakers.
Lastly, there is a big difference from an entry level AN E based system and the Level 5 AN system that I heard early last year when it comes to openess and power when corner loaded in a medium room.
I really respect Audio Note for making all of the audio components for a system, including the basic parts to build those components. That experience gives them a real advantage in knowing what matters the most, and what merely qualifies as interesting but not very useful.For example, I don't understand the usefulness of some of today's so called "reference" speakers. So many of these impressive designs are made by companies that believe that it's up to the customer to figure out how to drive the damn things to get good results at home.
Well with all the speakers out there advertising that they are "reference" usually is a warning to me that they are anything but.I think a company that designs the entire chain has an advantage not only in their end result but basic logic. How many people on these boards spend piles of money on interconnect and speaker cables? A lot. Now assuming that cables make significant differences it remains completely ludicrous to read a review of a cable by some outfit using SS amps and slim 85db 4way speakers when you have a tube HE system at home. People then buy based on the review of the new life changing cable that ends up stinking up the joint. (This goes for amps or CD players too)
That is bad enough but it goes further in the case of cables. IF one believes in cable superiority (and I respect those who do not) then Audio Note is almost the only logical choice to make. You can at least get a system where the cable is the SAME all the way from source to speaker. And really that is the ONLY way to buy cables that makes even the slightest sense. I am betting that more than 98% of people on these bards buying expesnive cables have at least 4 different cables going from source to speaker. Good results is entirely 100% a fluke.
You get an AN CD Transport, DAC (or Turntable) interconnects, amplifier, speaker cables to speakers to the internal wiring of the speakers -- all with the same wire material.
Of course I am not saying you MUST do his to get good sound - of course not. I am not even saying that individual componants from AN are any better than anyone elses in a given price range (Though I think their DACs would improve just about everything).
The funny thing is that according the measurement touting sector of this industry - Audio Note is doing everything WRONG. The wrong sdesign in speakers (shallow boxes, paper drivers, two ways, undamped boxes) Amplifiers (SET - worst measuring highest distortion lowest power), DACs (Tubes, no filters, or anti-jitter or re-clocking and no oversampling -- everything that most every other maker claims MUST be there to get remotely decent sound). And hell most people thing Silver is like nails on a chalkboard and AN loves silver.
So that is 4 things that alone should make terrible music and yet they added all 4 of those things together (and probably a few more that I am missing ahem their top turntable will get scoffs) so it is insane to me that when I go to my local shops to listen to this weeks (This is used in Skywalker sound B&W N801 coupled with the professional Bryston flagship amplifiers that the sound can be so easily wholly trounced in every musical and sonic regard that the industry approved system is just a shell of music.
I have a set of older Wharfedale Vanguard speakers which never were aimed at audiophiles (These are horn loaded and were upgraded versions of the E70. Even these despite their problems are FUN and enjoyable to listen to -- some of the High Fi (which makes me cringe when they bastardize the term) of most every standmount on the market makes me wonder how 95% of the audiophiles on these boards can stomach what they listen to. Of course wait a few weeks until they upgrade something (and that says it all).
This guy reviews the E-70 (My Vanguard looks similar but it is a 3 way not a 4, and the Vanguard is rated 40hz-23khz - 95db sensitive and has a straightforward driver array. I listen to stuff like Paradigm S2 and B&W 705 and I wonder how the hell such things can possibly be recommended to anyone who actually cares about music reproduction? I mean it is simply shcoking -- I am so glad that there was ONE dealer out of the dozens that actually carried stuff like Audio Note and other tube designs. Otherwise I'd probably be stuck like most everyone else in boring products that make music less interesting than my $40.00 headphones.
I don't know who complained about HE speakers that now has us all seeing LE junkers for lots of money -- but that person as Garfield would say "should be drug out into the street and shot."
Note the comparson to the BBC standard Mini-monitor BBC LS3/5a
Hi,It is not about what I don't like about the Zingalis, it is about what I do like about the AN speakers. Really, if you get a chance to listen to the AN-J or E speakers try them. It will IMHO immediatly be clear what I mean.
De differences between the different 'types' AN speakers are also quite considerable. I've owned the AN-E SEC silver signature made in 1997 or so, but most of the current range of lower priced speakers from AN outperformes the old versions (there where many improvements made the last years). I currently use the AN-E LX Signature, but with hemp drivers and AN-Vx wiring.
Further, like other posters said, replacement of the standard 6SN7's is very wortwhile. I like the Kenrad's the best, but they are hard to find. Also IMHO nothing beats a WE300B (Alabama plant new production) whatever people are trying to tell you. For rectifier, do please try a GZ37.
Lastly, if you are 'up to it', leave the amp on always. See other posts from me about this in DIY. The amp will sound better and I think the tubes will last longer.
Regards,
NC
There is a simplicity and rightness to the sound of the AN speakers that just isn't there with many other speakers. It's not that other speakers can't or don't sound good. It's just that they are not the same.For example, I know how I feel when I listen to single driver speakers such as the Omega Super 3s. It's the very essence of what those little speakers can communicate that I wish my Zingalis could do a little bit better. But could they do all that and still do everything else that they do so very well too? I doubt it. I guess that's where we have to stop and make a choice. Even though the Super 3s are limited with respect to volume and any real bass performance, I think the single driver road is the road that I am inclined to travel in the near future. We'll see . . . .
By the way, I did not know that a GZ37 is a direct replacement for the 5U4G. Thanks for that information. I would of course check with the manufacturer before I made the swap just to be sure the design is simpatico with it.
I also want to mention that I got a more obvious improvement on my Quest Silver Sig. by upgrading the rectifier (NOS National Union 5U4g) than I did by trying to upgrade the 6SN7 (NOS Sylvania I think). In other words, I think the rectifier matters a lot. We are, after all, modulating a power supply.
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