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RE: AN/E Kit 4?

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In Reply to: RE: AN/E Kit 4? posted by AstroSonic on February 28, 2009 at 09:52:30

Have you asked Brian? ;-)
I wasn't aware they had problem delivering alnico tweeters,my bad,I just read the description for kit 04.
I have owned a pair of those with alnico on both drivers,fantastic speakers!!

Follow Ups:

RE: AN/E Kit 4? - AstroSonic 11:44:55 02/28/09 (11)
Glad to hear that you have a pair and are pleased with them. I raised the question on this forum because I did not see them on Brians kit website, but did see them on the UK site. I figured that folks here might not be aware of them and would be interested.

Could you tell us a little about them? How do they compare to other known speakers, particularly the ceramic AN/E's. What are you driving them with?

Regards,

Bob
- RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Rune 04:29:54 03/01/09 (10)
  I sold them along with the interstage signature 300PSE kit iHiB output and interstage,L3 signature,DAC kit 2.1 with 5687 and 028 transformers,because my plan was to stop playing around with expencive hifi.Well,that lasted a little while after I sold it all,but now I'm back on the merry go round ;-) I wish I could get back the kit 04 for the price I sold them for,but the new owner is very happy with them.
  I'm also very happy with the Horning Alkibiades speakers I have now,but I might be tempted to try some kit 03 or 04 again later.
  I have owned a kit 03 as well,but I never got to hear them side by side.
  I find those speakers hard to describe,because I'm not sure I've heard a character in them.In general they are one of the most complete speakers I've heard,because of its naturalness,coherence,balance,eveness aso.,resulting in the speakers kind of dissapear, and the music becomes more important than sound and speaker.
  The difference between kit 03 and 04 is just that everything sounds more natural on the kit 04, and it connects even better to the music and performance,allthough I found that hard to believe could be possible when I had the kit 03.
  I had the kit 04 for many months before I got the alnico tweeters,so I got to hear clearly what the alnico tweeter did compared to the ceramic one,and I was in no way prepared that it could make that big a difference.The ceramic almost sounded blown in comparsion beacuse the alnico ones was so much clearer,finer textured,richer and naturally resolved.The old ones just drew attention to themselfes in comparsion,sounding fuzzy and unclear,sounding like a tweeter,while the alnico just imparted much more clearness,richness and beauty to for example cymbals,more like cymbals can sound in real life.The speaker just dissapeared even more and even drums and upright and electric basses sounded more real when I changed the tweeters.
  I didn't feel I was missing something before,and found it hard to believe it could be bettered,but it could!! :-)
  I did an effort to try to describe the kit 03 here : http://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Speakers/Audio-Note/Speaker-kit-03/speakers/222710.html
  
  Edits: 03/01/09
  - RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Paul Folbrecht 10:21:32 04/11/09 (0)
    That's funny - I also sold my Kit 3 speakers later asked to buy them back - my buyer also said no. :)
  - RE: AN/E Kit 4? - AstroSonic 11:12:34 03/04/09 (0)
    I see that the AN/E Kit 04 has been added to Brian's Audio Note kit website. I am curious about the cost (currently listed as "Enquire").
    
    Bob
  - RE: AN/E Kit 4? - AstroSonic 14:35:00 03/02/09 (7)
    Thanks for sharing your observations on the sound quality of the kit 03 and 04 loudspeakers. Evidently, the comtribution of the alnico drivers is far from subtle, and well worth the asking price for those able.
    
    Regards,
    
    Bob
    - RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Paul Folbrecht 14:09:23 04/23/09 (6)
      But the Alnicos don't come in HE. That's a big minus if you like, say, 45 amps.
      
      In fact if they did I would have bought an HE Kit 4 over a factory SPe HE.
      - RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Rune 11:38:14 04/28/09 (5)
        
        In Reply to: RE: AN/E Kit 4? posted by Paul Folbrecht on April 23, 2009 at 14:09:23
        
        That was a concern for me too before I bought them,but in real life the kit 04 seemed easier to drive with a standard kit 1 300SET than I experienced with the kit 03.This was at least my experience,but I might be wrong,and I can't speak for what happens when using lower power amps like 2A3 and 45.
        Maybe if we are looking at maximum loudness,the kit 03 MIGHT be able to play a little bit louder with the same amp,I'm not sure,but I felt at normal listening levels that the alnico bass/mid had more natural dynamics and energy in the room,and more linear,meaning it has less a character of its own.The cheramic magnets seem to sound more stressed and distorted,IMO.
        I think it can be looked at a little bit like what Audio Note says about nickel in transformer cores,they are able to let through lower level information and more linear at all levels,less phaseshifts,meaning one probably get in real life a bigger dynamic range and more eveness and balance in the whole frequency range.
        With the 300B kit 1 I felt the speaker kit 04 was easier to drive than the kit03,and had more of the right energy in my favourite area as a drummer and bassplayer,mid bass to lower mids,and to my ears a clearly more natural tone to all instruments,a richness in colour to all instruments,finer texture,higher resolution(or whatever one like to call it) ,which I don't hear to the same degree in kit 03.
        To put it this way,it don't surprise me the least that Audio Note use alnico drivers in their 2 best and most expencive speakers :-)
        
        Edits: 04/28/09 04/28/09 04/30/09
        
        RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Paul Folbrecht 17:52:34 04/28/09 (4)
        
        In Reply to: RE: AN/E Kit 4? posted by Rune on April 28, 2009 at 11:38:14
        
        Dude,
        
        These are CRUEL things to say to a gent awaiting delivery of his factory AN/E Spe HEs.
        
        Wait till the field coil version - will be even better.
        
        RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Rune 00:13:36 04/29/09 (3)
        
        In Reply to: RE: AN/E Kit 4? posted by Paul Folbrecht on April 28, 2009 at 17:52:34
        
        Sorry ;-)
        I'm pretty sure that the finished AN Es has better balance and eveness than any of the kit speakers,so I guess you will be a happy dude when the speakers arive!
        
        Field coil would have been fun,yes indeed.I don't know how far Audio Note has come in their research,maybe we will see a AN 3-way speaker before field coil drivers ?
        
        RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Paul Folbrecht 13:19:27 04/30/09 (2)
        
        In Reply to: RE: AN/E Kit 4? posted by Rune on April 29, 2009 at 00:13:36
        
        3-way? I hope not. No way the magic & the coherence could be equal the two-way. Nor would it be as easy to drive. Nor would it even likely go any lower in the bass - how could it? Why?
        
        I guess the only advantage it might have over their perfected two-way speaker is allowing extremely high SPLs. No interest to me.
        
        RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Rune 07:25:06 05/01/09 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: AN/E Kit 4? posted by Paul Folbrecht on April 30, 2009 at 13:19:27
        
        I don't think any speaker ever gonna be perfect ;-)
        They all have loads of compromices to them.Crossing at 2.2kHz is not "perfect",asking a driver to do both 2.2kHz and 20Hz is not "perfect".
        Making an incredible midrangedriver covering lets say 150 Hz to 6-7000Hz,I believe would have the potential of sounding even more magic in the ears most sensitive area,but then off-course I haven't seen such a driver on the market which I believe is even enough,and like you said, it might be impossible to make a bassdriver that will be as easy to drive as the 8" in the E's .
        I'm quite sure if they come with 3-way it will be great,but as you also said, that if 2 drivers are hard to get to sound coherent,3 will not be easier :-0
        
        For me Audio Note E is one of the best made compromices in speaker design !
        But I'm sure that will not stop Peter & Co from trying to make something even better.It might be a 3-way,it might be field coil drivers,it might be better caps aso.
        
        I on the other hand, am very close to buy speaker kit 04 once again :-)
        
        Best,
        Rune
        
        RE: AN/E Kit 4? - Paul Folbrecht 07:49:16 05/02/09 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: AN/E Kit 4? posted by Rune on May 01, 2009 at 07:25:06
        
        Rune,
        
        I pretty much agree on all counts. I have tried LOTS of speakers and certainly learned they ALL have *some* trade-off at least. The AN/E has the least of them and the least objectionable, IME. Like I said in my review awhile back, it is not a '10' in every category, but it is probably a 9 in nearly every one or an 8 at the least. (I'd have to say 8 for macrodynamics in comparison to a horn.)
        
        If you like complex music and you like it loud, a 3-way may be the way to go. I find the inevitable reduction in coherence in jazz & vocals to be unacceptable.

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