Looking To Match A Tube Amp With A Pair Of Audio Note AN-K/Spe


I'm the original owner of a pair of K's which I've had for about 9 months. I really enjoy them and they're placed in a 30 x 12 room with a sofa bordering 10' of that 30. I listen about 10-12 feet away. Speakers toed in accordingly. Pushed by a Pass XA 30.8. Preamp is a Backert Labs Rhumba Extreme. I'm overall pretty pleased with this set up but am searching for greater punch and clarity in the midrange frequencies at lower volume levels. I'd like opinions on 2A3 or 300B SET's or EL 34 or 84 push pull as a means of addressing this. Thanks for input.  -Scott

scottya118

Showing 7 responses by jond

Some great discussion here @rooze @larryi and @tsushima1 I have also heard that Synthesis A40 actually driving the exact same speakers I own AN-J/lx's really lovely sounding and such a good value.  I've not ever owned a 6l6 amp but have always been curious so many folks I know with good ears love them, I also love the KT77 tube as a replacement for the EL34.

That Sansui amp looks great and I'm sure it sounds fantastic I'm guessing if you could find one it would be serious $$$.  And yes iron is king I've been lucky to have bback to back amps using vintage trannies first Accrosound and now Eico and love  that sound.

Hey Scott great speakers! I run a pair of AN-J/lx's with a 15 watt pushpull 2a3 amp to great effect. I am a fan of the 2a3 tube over the 300B, to me the 2a3 is more transparent with more drive than the 300B. However as with all things YMMV. I will say that's a pretty large room for K's do you listen loud?

No Vu Hoang is the owner of Deja Vu Audio and has the best ears in the business in my opinion.

I will just say, as I have the same dealer as Larry,  there is absolutely no agenda, Vu just likes what he likes. As far as caps go he's likely to use vintage caps as current AN caps. He's not telling anyone else not to used Mundorf or Duelund they're just not what he likes or recommends.

@david_ten Does Scott/Found Music have a website? A search just turned up your post and Mike's over on WB thanks.

Scott glad to hear you got to talk to Vu I find he's typically spot on and can diagnose problems over the phone really well as you learned. You're in good hands for sure I wish I had discovered his shop a lot earlier in my own audio journey.

@pesky_wabbit ANK is in fact no longer affiliated with AN UK that's in fact why they changed the name to ANK as they cannot use the Audio Note name any longer.