Advice about speakers

[theaudiohobby]

The AN E is designed for home audio not a recording studio - and there are limitations to listening to recording studio designed speakers at home - there is a reason for their differences.

Then why whine about RE not listening to it?

The AN E is full range enough to cover everything but the pedal organ and even then only not capable at loud levels

Well not in my book…it lean midbass and upper bass is not to my taste. It’s limited LF capability would certainly take a toll on dynamics.

Dynamics is not the same as sheer volume level.

Not sure your point here, but the B&W801/800 is more dynamic, moreso in the bass where the E is bass challenged.

The B&W's let you hear what the driver is doing - that may in fact be a desirable attribute for an RE but not for a music listener

That’s a copout, So the RE is possibly more interested in the sound of speaker drivers rather than the music they are recording, c'mon now?

I do not buy speakers for ultimate SPL or ultimate bass response. Full scale classical music is not done justice to except for the live event.

So we should all give up and buy dynamically challenged speakers like the Audio Note, isn’t it? No thank you. I can think of a couple of speakers without their limitations. You do not need a Westminster to understand their limitation. A Kef iQ5 handily showed up the shortcomings of the J.

I hear an audible gap with B&W's which sounds nothing like the real thing. And I keep saying it but it may very well be a reason so many complain about so many recordings being bright, thin and generally poor.

Funny that, your comments mirror my opinion of the Audio Note J, I cannot bear to listen to many otherwise decent recordings on the J because of its leanness and overly aggressive midrange, seems like you need to listen to a more balanced speaker. The Audio Note K/D? is a more balanced speaker in that respect but it’s a small sealed standmount with limited LF capability. And totally but understandably falls apart on full-scale symphonic music.

the AN-K sounds like a full range stand mount. It isn't of course - but at least it gives you that impression

Like a fullrange? The AN-K sounds exactly like what it is, a standmount with limited low-end

My strong held opinions about Audio Note and B&W may irritate you but if you were in my shoes you would not see it that way.

I don’t think so…the Audio Notes I have heard did not cut the mustard. I cannot think of a single area where the Audio Notes excel except their low power requirements but they give up too much to achieve that.

Whether the speaker is in a showroom or my home is completely 100% irrelevant because a speaker is supposed to be designed to operate in many rooms not any one single room.

That rather contradictory isn’t it? You just finished saying that a Tannoy Westminster may be more suitable than an Audio Note E in a larger room and conversely the E in smaller room

While it is true that at home one could "tweak" it to get the best from it - it is also true that most of the dealers I go to set up gear well, in appropriate sized rooms, putting them in the best possible light in order to sell them.

Which include setting up a B&W801 in a domestic sized listening space , I hear you.

I am not surprised that Audio Note speakers are not big in the UK, the ones I have heard fare badly against the competition IMO. Tannoys, Kefs and B&Ws of all shapes and sizes run rings round them.