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Old 07-29-2017, 03:19 AM
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Default Audio Note An-J speakers at home

Hello folks,

I bought a used pair of AN-J Spe Silver Coils Hemp speakers to Cédric, the boss of the french brand Halgorythme.
I felt in love with these tiny beautiful boxes ( for the ones who like lacquered wood, they are done by Bosendorfer in Austria ).

Audio Note speakers are not very popular in the US, despite the articles of Dudley in Stereophile and the fact that they actually are inspired mostly by Snell before the brand was out of business. Nothing relates them with the current Snell production.

In Europe, Audio Note UK speakers are pretty well considered in the audiophile community but remain a very small market.

Detailed impressions to follow but I can tell you that they are absolutely stunning.
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Last edited by Jerome W; 07-29-2017 at 03:25 AM.
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Old 07-29-2017, 03:27 AM
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At Cédric's place :
IMG_4809.JPG
IMG_4808.JPG
At my place ( bedroom ) :
IMG_4799.JPG
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Old 07-29-2017, 07:26 AM
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Congrats Jérôme!
I heard these at Cédric's and I absolutely loved them.
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Old 07-29-2017, 07:38 AM
SCAudiophile SCAudiophile is offline
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Congratulations Jerome!!!
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Old 07-30-2017, 05:01 AM
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Thank you guys !
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Old 08-05-2017, 01:50 AM
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Default Audio Note An-J speakers at home

So here are my listening impressions.
This is absolutely not a "review". Just simple listening impressions after a few days.

I listened during a few days to them "properly" set up in my bedroom. By "properly", I mean according to AN guidelines : very close to the rear wall, almost touching it and with a high amount of toe in.
The amplifier there is an AYRE AX7e integrated. Sources are a Sansui tuner, a Thorens 124 TT with Jelco SA250 arm and a SPU Classic GM MKII, and the SqueezeBox into a Meridian 566 20 bit Dac.
The sound produced by the AN-J is extremely rewarding.
My first feeling was : "where is the magic trick ? ". How come a little 2 way speaker can sound so large, so deep in the bass and so natural ?
There is an "easiness" and an ultimate musicality which is hard to describe. The AN-J goes very low in the bass, with very rich and saturated tones, and goes up to very high treble with the same qualities. You really get the impression that you are listening to a single wide band driver.
I believe that AN worked a lot on their filter to produce this absolute coherence and the even distribution of the energy all over the spectrum.
I mostly listen to jazz and classical in this system. I did not try any more modern sounding music or even rock. I got the feeling that obviously they have a particular color. They are certainly not in the neutral camp of speakers because anything you throw at them goes out with superb musicality and textures. But I was not bothered at all. The various recordings were sounding very different one to each other and the transparency towards micro informations, ambiance and reverberations is very high.

Then I wanted to try them in my main set up. But due to my electronics being near the rear wall, the AN were now much more distant from the rear wall. About 120 cm.

The preamp was the CJ GAT. Amplifiers were Diafan 300B SET monoblocks. Verdier TT and McIntosh MDA 1000 with Squeeze Box or CD's in Meridian 500 drive.

I thought that the bass would collapse in energy due to the bigger distance to tge rear wall. But this did not happen. But, I lost the richness of it. The bass became "simplified", with less richness and texture. Still I have been able to enjoy a lot blues and rock recordings from Mark Knopfler ( especially the stunning "real Live Roadrunning" with Emmylou Harris) and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
The 8W of my amps were more than enough to drive the AN-J to insane SPL's.
Although pretty satisfying, I got the clear impression that the AN-J is stunning for classical and jazz, but not really suited to rock. A large part of the magic was lost. The speakers were performing nicely. But not with the realism they can reproduce for acoustic music.
But this could come from a non optimal placement in the room so I will have to try modern music in the bedroom.
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Last edited by Jerome W; 08-05-2017 at 02:16 AM.
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Old 08-05-2017, 02:30 AM
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Here are the An-J in my main system :
IMG_4825.JPG
IMG_4826.JPG
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Old 08-05-2017, 05:54 AM
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Very nice set up Jerome. What is the sensitivity of the AN-J speakers? Thanks for the great posts.
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Old 08-05-2017, 01:22 PM
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Hello Carlos.
The standard version is 93 dB. The High Eff version is 99 if I remember correctly.
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Old 08-05-2017, 01:30 PM
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Jérôme

Thanks for your thoughtful impressions of the AN-J speakers. Very interesting.
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