Audio Note speakers

[MattHooper]

Choosing a sound system is not about morality. However, the arguments you make are on the slippery slope of variable ethics and relative morality.

Not at all. That's like suggesting a restaurant meeting the different preferences in their customers with options on their menu amounts to a slippery slope to moral relativism.

(FWIW Moral Philosophy is an interest of mine and I'm in the camp of Moral Objectivism...or Moral Realism...depending on one's interpretation of those terms).

Cheers.

 

[Ron Texas]

Hi Fi as a death march.

So, choosing Hi Fi gear you find pleasing = something to do with moral threats and the slippery slope to how you feel threatened by people whose gender identity doesn’t conform to your own.

And this idea is so overwhelming to you that it compels you to drag it into chatting about a brand of speakers.

Getting back to the topic, the speakers demo really nicely and are reasonably unobtrusive regarding placement. If someone enjoys the sound, I think the world can survive the moral peril their existence creates.

Oh, I'm making threats now. You really need to tone down your rhetoric. There is nothing threatening about anything I have written. These speakers remind me of discussions of the so called Hi-Fi sound. It demos well but after a few months the buyer gets tired of it and doesn't understand why.

 

[Anton D]

+1

Single driver speakers were my satisfaction destination after a long journey of speakers, including Audio Note AN-E and AN-J. I keep objectively superior speakers around but my mains are single driver.

Which drivers do you prefer?

 

[Anton D]

Oh, I'm making threats now. You really need to tone down your rhetoric. There is nothing threatening about anything I have written. These speakers remind me of discussions of the so called Hi-Fi sound. It demos well but after a few months the buyer gets tired of it and doesn't understand why.

I apologize if English is not your first language.

A moral threat is something you may feel endangers a system of ethics/morals. I meant that these things frighten you as they are a ‘threat’ to your ethos/mythos. You feeling fear/threatened by the existence of these speakers does not mean you are making physical threats.

You feeling threatened does not imply you threatened anybody!

 

[Waxx]

Which drivers do you prefer?

If you ask me, Mark Audio, and especially their 10M mark 3 (often called 10..3), altough in general this is the brand that stands out, and they are not that expensive.

 

[Anton D]

If you ask me, Mark Audio, and especially their 10M mark 3 (often called 10..3), altough in general this is the brand that stands out, and they are not that expensive.

Thank you!

I’m going to check it out more.

 

[Selkirks]

Which drivers do you prefer?

I swap between 15" Audio Nirvana Classic Alnico and Markaudio Alpair 11MS speakers. They replaced Tang Band W8-1808 and Markaudio Pulvia 7.2 HD.

 

[Anton D]

I swap between 15" Audio Nirvana Classic Alnico and Markaudio Alpair 11MS speakers. They replaced Tang Band W8-1808 and Markaudio Pulvia 7.2 HD.

I will go look for threads about this so as not to interfere with this thread!

Love this single driver stuff!

 

[DanielT]

Some people, especially the ASR members, will view the role of audio equipment as to "get out of the way" and be as neutral as possible and "not have a sound of it's own."

That may be so, but it's a bit fascinating to see pictures of the members' HiFi systems. Why don't more people hide their HiFi solutions? Speakers I can of course understand the challenge in trying to do that as most people probably don't want big drapes in their combined listening rooms, living rooms where behind they put the speakers BUT the electronic part of the HiFi stuff? It is as easy as possible to put away amplifiers and DACs in cabinets so they are not visible. Then the audio equipment has gotten out of the way.

DIY subwoofer, why not build them into furniture so they are not visible? Or flat subwoofers that you can place under a sofa and so on.

Then we have the whole vinyl retro craze trend where, on the contrary, you would like to have a record player in a clear field of view, where the signal is also not as good quality as the best lossless streaming. Everyone at ASR knows that this is the case with the signal, but despite that, record players are used.

 

[Anton D]

I agree about ‘out of the way.’

I think we will eventually have ‘invisible gear,’ like you describe!

If I had the budget, having all my electronics hidden would be cool.

Record player could still be mounted in a recessed spot, but, again, at too high a cost in space and dollars for me.

I keep records and CDs in the basement, so no issues with inflicting those on the living room.

I would love hidden gear and all you see is my phone!

 

[DanielT]

If you ask me, Mark Audio, and especially their 10M mark 3 (often called 10..3), altough in general this is the brand that stands out, and they are not that expensive.

I swap between 15" Audio Nirvana Classic Alnico and Markaudio Alpair 11MS speakers. They replaced Tang Band W8-1808 and Markaudio Pulvia 7.2 HD.

Tip in case you haven't seen this thread:

Sphere shaped speakers with CHN110 drivers

I got inspired by an earlier thread here and decided to build my own sphere shaped speakers too The idea is the same, I will be using the largest Ikea Blanda Matt bamboo salad bowls (having an outer diameter of 28cm) The drivers will be Markaudio CHN110 full range models (I have used these...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[Mart68]

It's all very well to have an anything goes philosophy but in the real world that has consequences.

Take this (mostly positive) review of an Audionote system where the reviewer discovers that the system is dictating his choice of music:

Reviewing Reality: The Audio Note UK Experience – The Audio Beatnik

theaudiobeatnik.com

''The tweeter’s forward presentation in the presence region made it unforgiving with modern, post “loudness-war” recordings. If a recording was mastered with bright treble, I heard it. This made it tricky to enjoy some of my favorite electronic music, as I found myself trying to turn up the volume to hear more of the bass energy, only to have the treble energy start to overpower the other frequencies.

Conversely, the Audio Note system scaled up its performance appropriately when I played a higher-quality recording with more dynamic headroom. With audiophile recordings, the tweeter’s treble energy was spot-on''

Or this advertorial, https://www.techradar.com/reviews/a...-systems/audio-note-zero-system-963545/review

where something (a pang of conscience maybe?) prompts the reviewer to mention

''the tonal balance exhibits a mild degree of upper midband forwardness and this sometimes results in a sense of peakiness.''

But then he remembers that he's supposed to be selling this stuff:

''However, after listening for a few minutes, this impression diminishes and one quickly adjusts to what's on offer.''

In other words - 'It's badly flawed but you can get used to anything.'

I did find another full Audionote system review https://www.monoandstereo.com/audio-note-level-3-system-review/

But that reviewer seems more concerned with how long it took the equipment to 'break in' (a month, in case you wondered) and only played audiophile recordings on it, with the exception of 'Morrison Hotel' which wasn't as 'harsh' as on his 'reference' system (I know, god only knows).

I propose an audio show challenge where we take a £30K Audionote system and £30K of 'ASR approved' equipment and set both up behind a curtain and see which the general public prefer, playing the music of their choice.

I don't have any doubts about the outcome.

 

[CapMan]

So certainly one can advocate for neutral gear.

I’m kinda with @Ron Texas on this - isn’t the raison d'être of this forum to provide fact/science/engineering based information on audio products.

Tuning the sound to a preference is totally cool, but tone controls and EQ re the way to do it .

Imagine I design a car that pulls to the side in a certain specific way. Pretty crappy design, but just maybe you live in an area where the roads have exactly the right camber to offset that steering “feature” - it’s clearly preposterous, but not miles away from what’s being advocated in this thread

 

[Mart68]

I’m kinda with @Ron Texas on this - isn’t the raison d'être of this forum to provide fact/science/engineering based information on audio products.

Tuning the sound to a preference is totally cool, but tone controls and EQ re the way to do it .

Imagine I design a car that pulls to the side in a certain specific way. Pretty crappy design, but just maybe you live in an area where the roads have exactly the right camber to offset that steering “feature” - it’s clearly preposterous, but not miles away from what’s being advocated in this thread

Back when I was at school a friend had an old Ford Granada that would do exactly that. He called it 'Auto-Turn' and he would demonstrate it by removing his hands from the wheel and the vehicle would make a graceful turn on its own.

Of course it did this because either the suspension or the tracking were knackered, so it only worked if you wanted to make a right turn. Again, some parallels to this thread.

 

[CapMan]

Back when I was at school a friend had an old Ford Granada that would do exactly that. He called it 'Auto-Turn' and he would demonstrate it by removing his hands from the wheel and the vehicle would make a graceful turn on its own.

Of course it did this because either the suspension or the tracking were knackered, so it only worked if you wanted to make a right turn. Again, some parallels to this thread.

Perfect if you live in a ‘block’ system that can be navigated in circles

I imagine if the suspension components were replaced with hemp and the Granada had a 5N silver wiring loom things would only get better …

 

[CapMan]

Why don't more people hide their HiFi solutions?

You know why …. the gear is everything, it is the end and not the means.

I had two racks of Naim boxes to play CDs and would delight in answering questions from guests on what it all did. And obviously they all assumed it would sound great before the first track was even played… in hindsight it was just totally obnoxious and unnecessary

 

[Mnyb]

You know why …. the gear is everything, it is the end and not the means.

I had two racks of Naim boxes to play CDs and would delight in answering questions from guests on what it all did. And obviously they all assumed it would sound great before the first track was even played… in hindsight it was just totally obnoxious and unnecessary

You must have a Hifi shrine to put the sacrifices on ! An open shelf solution that expose all the stuff works nicely for this

 

[Mart68]

Have to say I do like to have the equipment on display - not for visitors since I rarely have any - but for me.

Lots of buttons, switches, lights, LEDs - I love to look at all that stuff. I never get tired of watching the motorised volume control turning.

Been fascinated with it since I was a schoolboy, never grew out of it, make no apologies.

 

[DanielT]

I agree about ‘out of the way.’

I think we will eventually have ‘invisible gear,’ like you describe!

If I had the budget, having all my electronics hidden would be cool.

Record player could still be mounted in a recessed spot, but, again, at too high a cost in space and dollars for me.

I keep records and CDs in the basement, so no issues with inflicting those on the living room.

I would love hidden gear and all you see is my phone!

You know why …. the gear is everything, it is the end and not the means.

I had two racks of Naim boxes to play CDs and would delight in answering questions from guests on what it all did. And obviously they all assumed it would sound great before the first track was even played… in hindsight it was just totally obnoxious and unnecessary

Hiding away is one thing you can do if it's one's tea bag, but I actually do the opposite. I bought an old Luxor stereo cabinet from the 1940s (I think). I will have it as an ornament in my living room. The seller thought it even worked but there is no way in hell I'm plugging in an eighty year old tube amp just to test that.

More Luxor. Their 7082 amp amp that I now put in lamps in. Done for the simple reason that I want to see the VU meters.
I also bought the 7082T series tuner to match as a set. I only sporadically listen to old classic FM radio, so it was mostly for gear lust that I bought that tuner. For the sake of the matching look.


(a rubber plug has apparently fallen down by the left VU meter, I'll have to fix that)

This thread has a crazy amount of OT in it. I know I am of course guilty of it too. It doesn't concern me. On the contrary, that it is what makes this thread interesting. For those who really only want to read about AN speakers, it might be a bit frustrating.

 

[DSJR]

"If it makes you happy" is the whole point of the hobby. There are multitudes of wonderful ways to enjoy it!

For me it was never a 'hobby,' more a way of life, the music (what limited tastes I appear to have) ruling absolutely. I went through a stage in my life and career where the gear told me what I was going to play (those 1980s UK made 'domestic PA systems' that you lot over the pond simply couldn't understand at all ) and it kind-of went with the 1980s UK popular music productions which were all bright and shiny with loads of reverb. Try playing a well recoirded orchestral, choral or piano recording through such systems and you'd be recoiling out the door most often! At least the underplaying rig I use right now allows production changes and so on to be heard, the criticism being the speaker balance *in this room* errs a bit to sounding a little bit 'nice' all the time, even on rougher productions...