First impressions at California audio Show

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

It's really strange that Art got ruler flat bass at 25hz and Hi Fi Choice in their buyers guide puts the AN E at 22hz-3db. Not getting any much bass under 100hz as The Audio Hobby suggests seems curious to me. Perhaps you are not used to hearing bass with such low distortion.

Well, my H-PAS subs can do 115db at 20hz with only 2 percent distortion in my small 12x15x10 room with a 150 watt amp. I know for a fact the Audio note speakers cannot come anywhere near that loud with that low distortion figure. So reality might be counter to your assertions.

Incidentally I have the High Altitude Drums and auditioned it with Ray Kimber himself doing the demonstration along with the Recording Engineer who lives about 10 minutes from my house. It sounded better on the AN E than it did with the equipment (Sony/Pass Labs.EMM Labs/Kimber cables). Though I would not really rank it up with the most engaging of music. It's a bit more of a "stunt" disc which will play to certain strengths. The Joe McQueen 10 at 86 from the same RE and ISO Mike isn't a "stunt" and sounds quite excellent.

Well, putting our personal bias aside, it did not sound great(it did sound good) in this instance, and it certainly didn't sound as good as the Lotus Granada speaker system reproducing it, , the YG system reproducing it, or the Acoustic Zen system reproducing it.

I find it rather amusing that you would find a live acoustical recording a "stunt" recording, but would lend any credence to a Lady Gaga or Madonna recording manufactured in the recording studio. There is nothing "stuntish" about acoustical brass horns, various acoustical drums, or an totally acoustical pit section recorded live outdoors(where it should) and properly mixing with the air as these instruments should be recorded. I think in this case, the word "stunt" is an extremely poor choice.

Though I do find people's listening experiences fascinating - people who actually listened and found issue with certain aspects is completely acceptable.

Agreed. Some folks listen for one thing, others another. As a recording engineer, I listen for timbre, texture, and tonality mixed with dynamics, accuracy and subtleties. If a speaker can do all of these, it is a good speaker or system. If it cannot, then it is good with what it is good with.

[RGA]

Well, my H-PAS subs can do 115db at 20hz with only 2 percent distortion in my small 12x15x10 room with a 150 watt amp. I know for a fact the Audio note speakers cannot come anywhere near that loud with that low distortion figure. So reality might be counter to your assertions.

I would never disagree with this. I don't know if you have misread me but the AN E is not a bass hound loudspeaker. What it has is exceptional bass in room for the size and efficiency of the speaker. Audio Note uses a Snell Type A as their master curve. Peter Qvortrup is the only manufacturer I know of that on a public forum listed the speakers he likes better than his own. There is a "domestic" aspect and "sale ability" aspect at play here. The AN E is rated to 108db so it's not a wall cracker. Constantine Soo for what it's worth is using a big Genesis sub or two with the AN E. Peter has been working with some British Subwoofer manufacturers for quite some time as well. So yes there are limits and certainly with the Ultimate Drums disc - the AN E is not capable of that. But you can't say that Any standmount with a 6inch woofer has the capability either - in fact you can't say that most floorstanders from the likes of Wilson or Sonus Faber or B&W are truly capably of 115db at 20hz with less than 2% distortion. Art Dudley reviewed the Wilson Sasha (Wilson the brand that most reviewers drool over) and he mustered more bass from the AN E. $27,000 floorstander with big drivers versus a relatively small box with an 8. The point is that it hangs in with most floorstanders at far greater cost.

That would leave a LOT more cash for subwoofers. You could spend $20k on Subwoofers for the E and place them out in the room if corner loading is bothersome.

Well, putting our personal bias aside, it did not sound great(it did sound good) in this instance, and it certainly didn't sound as good as the Lotus Granada speaker system reproducing it, , the YG system reproducing it, or the Acoustic Zen system reproducing it.

That's fine. I have not heard the Lotus (though the amps with the Magico Q5 was one of the ten best rooms I heard at CES, I'm not a big fan of the YG Acoustics but less than great equipment where I heard it. The Acoustic Zen room was outstanding at CES - I did my top 5 rooms and they were in 6th place. The Audio Note dealer in Colorado and arguably one of the biggest high end dealers in the world liked the Acoustic Zen so much they picked up the line. So I am with you there. It's odd that we can agree on so many things and not quite on the other things. Although I am glad that you liked the AN set-up and can see why I and some others like it so much. That's all you can ask. Who knows maybe they will grow on you with more auditions. I disliked them intensely when i first auditioned them - so you are a step ahead of me.

I find it rather amusing that you would find a live acoustical recording a "stunt" recording, but would lend any credence to a Lady Gaga or Madonna recording manufactured in the recording studio. There is nothing "stuntish" about acoustical brass horns, various acoustical drums, or an totally acoustical pit section recorded live outdoors(where it should) and properly mixing with the air as these instruments should be recorded. I think in this case, the word "stunt" is an extremely poor choice.

Don't take it the wrong way - it is live s a showstopper but for me it is not music that I would ever just sit down and listen to for the enjoyment of listening to it. I would not sip wine listening to it, I would not want to get up and dance to it, I would not relax to it, or get involved in that CD in any emotional way shape or form. It is a "spectacle" to me similar to the scene in Terminator 2 where the sales guy puts the movie in to show the treble when T2 is frozen and gets shot into a million pieces. Certainly it's well recorded and certainly it can show off parameters of a system.

Like I said above - the AN E is still a stanmount speaker and they use a massive Type A speaker as their reference master. Peter Snell made the Type A because the Type E has limits. And this is why you are correct that speakers that bigger speakers have more capability on pedal organ or this drums CD. I own AN J speakers and they are further limited on that disc. The issue is that since I don't own a lot of Pedal Organ music (or even like it) - the Saint Saens is incredibly boring to me - and listening to the Drums CD is more about speaker testing than any sort of enjoyment what is the point of paying a huge premium to listen to music that most people will never buy? And besides for the difference in price you can always add the subwoofer - or better yet two.

Agreed. Some folks listen for one thing, others another. As a recording engineer, I listen for timbre, texture, and tonality mixed with dynamics, accuracy and subtleties. If a speaker can do all of these, it is a good speaker or system. If it cannot, then it is good with what it is good with.

Most audiophiles listen for those things and most of us hear petty good. Perception of the information that is fed to the brain is an entirely different thing. The hearing mechanism is a machine - the brain is an interpreter. Most people hear things similarly - they have to in order for recognition to work. On a bad car radio - Sarah Mclachlan's voice is recognized within seconds over Dido(assuming you were familiar with both) - even if you have not heard either singer for 5 years - you will "remember" who they are and tell them apart - $3 clock radio or 20 billion dollar stereo. People hear and recognize sound in a similar way.

The Percpetion of sound being "right" or "wrong" entirely takes place in the brain. So while you say you listen for X, Y, Z in a speaker so do I as do others. The interesting thing is that perceptions cross over from time to time and differe. Both of us like the Acoustic Zen and I think we both liked the Teresonic room similarly and both know the weakness of the room. This proves that we are "sharing a similar ear" part of the time at the very least.

I also like that Acoustic Zen can be driven with flea watt gear. It's nice to have options. Anyway, enjoy the show - hope you are able to pick up albums for cheap. CES was nice - that High Altitude Drums I got for $10 including tax. Sweet.