Adventures at SoundHounds today - good times

[RGA]

We are talking about the E. The K can produce 36hz -6db only if place in a corner.

The AN J/Spe was rated by Hifi choice as Follows: Though this rating was not done in a corner as Audio Note recommends:

"Not as sensitive as the bigger floorstanders in this test, the AN-J/SPe still musters a full 89.5dB (re. 2.83V/1m) from its essentially undamped, reflex-loaded cabinet.

Neither is the load especially tough with a minimum 5 Ohm at 150Hz and an average of 12.3 Ohm to keep any valve amps from wheezing. The port resonance looks very broad indeed, providing a deal of reinforcement from 20Hz-90Hz (-3dB points) while the driver itself rolls off to 60Hz (-6dB).

Bass distortion remains very low indeed at ~0.15-0.2% but climbs closer to 0.6% through the midrange where the pulp-coned bass/mid driver is obviously working a little harder.


The E is rated at 16hz -6db - basically the same as the J but a bigger cabinet.

"There is a Martin Colloms article in HiFi News & RR June 2002 about level 5 AN system . MC checked in the lab AN-E/SEC Silver speakers with claimed sensitivity of 94.5dB. He wrote:

"I checked out the speaker in the lab and confirmed the high 94dB sensitivity, with 3.6 ohm minimum impedance, a wide 28Hz to 20kHz (+/-3dB) response when adjusted for near wall palcement, and a 29Hz tuned port with an in-room -6dB point of 18Hz at reasonable drive levels.."

It should be noted that Peter continously works to achieve better. The sensitivity for example in the 1992 version of the E mustered only 90.2db(a chipboard box copper wiring) in 2000 got 92db and this latest batch are 94db. The higher versions trade a more difficult impedence swing apparently though - the cheaper E's don't go under 5ohms but the more silvered E/Sec by Colloms went to 3.6. This is still pretty easy.

Hi Fi Choice did note with the new E/XL that at two times the speaker dips to 4ohms at the tuning frequency of 30hz and throughout the upper bass lower mid octave of 150hz to 300hz. This could cause some lesser amps some difficulty.

The top E/Sogon is rated at 98db and bottoms out at 12hz are matched to within .1db of each other - I don't know anything about that speaker except that it sells for 69,500 British pounds and have external crossovers.

There are ten different E speakers coming and will have slightly different results in the measuring of sensitivity etc. There is the company measurement which is 2hz lower than what Colloms got but rooms are different and so is positioning - but they get pretty similar results.

Paul Messenger does note some colouration which could be argued as better decay - So listening for oneself is the only way to know. I think it's fair concern because frankly it has to sound considerably different to sound considerably better - so if one is perfectly happy with what is on the market they may not love the compromises made by Audio Note.

All speakers are compromised in some way and while I get overly passionate about the sound to my ear I do want it known that I don't think they're PERFECT speakers. I have heard a number of speakers over the years that do various things at a micro level better - but not to my ear on a macro level.

Mr. Messenger noted several things that are weaknesses and could be off-putting to some listeners(he also curiously contradicts himself) - but in the end the strengths in musicality were too hard to ignore and it garnered the best buy tag even at 2,650GBP. This is the basic E.

It should also be noted that these are just reviews and like I always say you have to listen for yourself - but hey at least Mr. Messenger said as much. I wonder if Hi-fi CHoice will trade the old E they took in 1992 in for the new E with the better cabinetry. Pretty cool to keep the same reference speaker for 12 years - as does one of the Stereophile writers. Enjoythemusic's chief editor has used the J/SPx as his reference speaker for the last 10 years and still going - I'm not a big supporter of reviews but it's interesting to know what the reviewers themselves use to listen to music for enjoyment.

The K as good as it is is a significant step down from the J or E. But it's significantly cheaper as well.

[92135011]

The 3.6 ohms minimum impedence doesnt sound very good. Well not nearly as good as 5 anyways.
I thought that the advantage of the AN speaker was to have a flat-line impedence curve so that it wouldnt go choking on a tube amp or something.
Does the review show the lab results too? like the graphs and stuff?

[RGA]

There is no frequency graph largely because they don't tell you anything - look at soundstage - interesting graphs many measure very similar and yet i dislike a lot of them they consider "good" measuring speakers."

There are not flat line impedence speakers. It is a range of max/min you need to look at. The J is actually easier to drive from an impedence stand point.

Hi Fi choice did give the E/XL 91/100 for ease of driveability (They changed to a 100 scale). The sound got 89/100. And he does say it is very compaitble with valve amps. The J is 5ohms at 150hz while the E is 4ohms. How much difference will this make - zippo when the E is still more sensitive.

It would be nice if Audio Note would update their site once in a while so someomne could get something specific about a speicfic model levels.

In the end though some of their speakers do slightly better when independantly measured and slightly worse on other products. AN Claims 16hz on some E but 18hz on their web-site. AN claims 25hz -6db for the J but Hi-fi choice gets 20hz -3db. In my room I suspect it's AN's number that is correct - then again hearing below 20hz is not a capability of most people anyway.

The impedence does seem to be more of an issue on the E's than the J's so if you're concerned question Peter on it.

He often likes to use the word around - probably because he knows different rooms measurers will do it differently.

Frankly for me it would not matter since my amp will drive either regardless - and Audio Note amps are all geared for their speakers and won't be a problem. Still claiming they don't dip below 5ohms may be a truth for the J but not the E. But the E/D is not the E/Sec or the E/LX.

[RGA]

Actually, if you look real close their site does differentiate the sensitiivity amongst levels.

[92135011]

Dont matter now...I already ordered a kit1 from Brian Smith. He said he would include the black gate caps and the transformer covers for free.
I'm still negotiating with soundhounds on the final price of the speaker and stuff. Got it down a bit (stands to about 350).
I'll post pictures of the kit when I'm finished. Also thinking maybe of doin a website for picture by picture of how to build the kit1. Well depends how much I enjoy building it of course.

[RGA]

Well if you're getting the J none of this ohm business matters since the J does not go under 5ohms.

46min audio
I never answered the actual question about the drivers the woofer is a Foster driver made for Audio Note - I do not know which 8 inch woofer it is modelled off of - but the drivers roll off at 60hz - the box serves as a third woofer due to the design - sorry I did not just answer the question thought you were questioning the overall bass response.

[GSI]

RGA,

Do you have scan of an old HFC articles about AN-J and E? If not, drop your email and I will send it to you.