Parkie37's Audio Note System

[Audio Al]

Hi Don

I have the same RCM as you , I can only wish for the rest

[petrat]

Fantastic result!

We would like need DEMAND more close up photos

[struth]

Looks great Don

[southall-1998]

Audio Note certainly make nice sounding amplifiers. My father uses a 'standard' Meishu Line integrated amplifier, to drive his old J's. Sounds really nice.

Maybe someday he might tube roll with the 300b's. Any good modern ones? My father likes a full, rich, warm kind of sound.

S.

[Parkie37]

Good to hear that you are gobsmacked by them Don. Have you got the low gain version of the Kassai?

I have heard the AN Empress Silver and have been impressed.

Hi Alan;

I have the regular Kassai and I have to tell you that I have boatloads of gain! In fact, that and the fact that I have to use an external phono stage with the M6 as it is a line stage version, are my only complaints. I have the music thundering away with the volume pot at 09:30 position. I have a terrific technician at my local AN dealer, so I think but don't know for sure that I may be able to have the gain adjusted a little. Having the 98 db efficient AN-E SPE HEs is proving to require far less gain than I have available. When I was using the Meishu Silver, I would turn the volume pot to about noon in my room, when I wanted to really turn the music up. That would give me 90 db worth of music. I was able to get a real feel for what I was playing and adjust between 11:00 and 1:00 on the volume dial. You can imagine my surprise when the music was about to start and I had the pot at the 12:00 position! I immediately turned it to zero and inched it up until it was just right. Just happened a lot quicker than I expected : )

[Parkie37]

Good to hear that you are gobsmacked by them Don. Have you got the low gain version of the Kassai?

I have heard the AN Empress Silver and have been impressed.

I meant to add that my dealer feels that the Empress Silvers are one of the absolute stand outs that they make. Not as much power as some other amps but a real taste of the best that they offer for much less money.

[Parkie37]

Hi Don

I have the same RCM as you , I can only wish for the rest

It is a wonderful record cleaning machine!

[Parkie37]

Fantastic result!

We would like need DEMAND more close up photos

Thanks Peter! Like you, I have been in the right place at the right time to pick up some gear that I had never expected to be able to afford. Fortunately for me the previous owners of the amps and the digital setup had a momentary lapse of reason

I will take some photos in the next couple of days and share those. The ones that I took last night while setting everything up are not very good. Your basic grainy cell phone pictures : (

Tomorrow is my birthday and I have the house to myself during the day , so it will be time to enjoy some blues, jazz, rock, world music, whatever inspires! (I am starting to feel like you are 'Team EAR' and I am 'Team AN' )

[Parkie37]

Looks great Don

Thanks Grant. I can't seem to afford any other hobbies any more as I have sold off almost everything that I own in order to afford this stuff : ) Oh and the phono stage is a Graham Slee Era Gold V Phono Preamplifier, so I guess that I am not a total Audio Note fan boy

[Parkie37]

Audio Note certainly make nice sounding amplifiers. My father uses a 'standard' Meishu Line integrated amplifier, to drive his old J's. Sounds really nice.

Maybe someday he might tube roll with the 300b's. Any good modern ones? My father likes a full, rich, warm kind of sound.

S.

Hi Shane;

I'm quite familiar with the Meishu and I love that amp. I found that it really rewarded you when you took the time to tube roll. Not all tubes have to be expensive! I had a NOS RCA 5U4GB that was the equivalent of £25 that sounded great in my Meishu. I tried four or five types of 300Bs and my favourites for a tight budget were the Shuguang Black Treasure. They are a definite step up from the stock tubes and are still relatively affordable. The stock tubes are U.S. $178.00 and the Black Treasure are U.S. $325.00. These tubes are built to last for years, so the extra $147.00 is worth the investment in my opinion.

I found that the best sound from a 300B can get quite expensive. The most expensive seems to be the Takatsuki at U.S. $2400.00 per pair and it isn't exactly a bargain for the Elrog's at U.S. $1300.00 or the Sophia Royal Princess at U.S. $1200.00. The Elrogs have a huge failure rate due to the type of construction that is employed. The Sophia Royal Princess has proven to be unreliable to me but not necessarily to others. I went through two pairs before I gave up on them. I hadn't planned on spending that much money, as I thought that they would last for years and be a worthwhile investment. In the end, the PS Vane WE300B Replicas had a different sound than the Sophias, but equally rewarding. A more traditional sound, but warm (not overly so) and detailed and excellent extension at both ends; great bass and beautiful high frequencies. The PS Vane are beautifully built and were perfectly reliable for me. They were a much more sophisticated and musically enjoyable sound than the Shuguang Black Treasures. Everyone has their own budget, but I felt that the extra money was well worth it with the WE 300B Replicas. They currently sell for U.S. $935/pair. Expensive but quite a bit less than the most expensive 300Bs out there (their build quality is just as good or better than their competition, other than the Takatsukis). Kevin Fiske wrote a review on them here:

http://www.dagogo.com/psvane-we-11-replica-300b-review

My personal recommendation, if you hadn't guessed already, is to simply buy a pair of the WE 300B replicas and enjoy years and years of beautiful sound. I found the other budget 300Bs couldn't come close to the Black Treasures, let alone the WE 300B Replicas.