YG Acoustics add in Stereophile

I moved my system from "private" to the forum. You can see it by clicking on the systems link.

I have a pair of Anat Ref II Studios. I am now running them with a Burmester 911 Mk 3 amplifier, connected in balanced mode by a Burmester silver XLR cable to an MBL 5011. The sound is quite good, but being a hobbyist I'm always looking for improvement. In the fall, I hope to try out other premaps. Three likely candidates are: (1) the Burmester 011, whch should partner well with my amp; (2) the MBL 6010D, which I imagine to be an improvement over the already good 5011; and a Halcro pre, which, based on previous experience, I regard as virtually a laboratory instrument. My musical tastes are largely classical, and I listen to CDs, SACDs, and FM radio, so a line stage is all I really need (the Burmester has phono inputs).

I just listened to Anat Reference II Studio speakers at my close friend's home. He is the only dealer in California and he has sold 4 pairs of these this month and he has a pair for himself at his home. He is also part owner of Qsonix.

My friend have had many high end speakers go through his home in his fantastic rather large listening room over the years. I have listened to Dynaudio Evidence Temptation and MBL 111E in this room through his favorite Wolcott tube amplifiers and Tara Labs speaker cables. These Wolcott tube amplifers are amazing as they even drove the notoriously difficult and inefficient MBL 111E speakers without any problem.

I must say Anat Reference II Studio speakers sounded phenomenal at all listening level with convincing detail, dynamics and realism I've never heard from Dynaudio Evidence Temptation nor MBL 111E speakers. It was very spooky indeed giving an illusion that there is a live performance there in front of you regardless of the source of music material. Symphonics sounded like symphonics at concert hall while jazz material sounded like people jamming in front of you.

I would say that it has similar neutral sound as Dynaudio Evidence Temptation but with more musical truth having layers of veil removed from it. I don't like MBL 111E sound at all as its lacking dynamics and transients to its sound.

Having said this I did hear the Anat bottom out when my friend had volume level very unrealisticly loud on one of the very dynamic music passages. I went close to see the midrange while music is playing and you can see that it is working hard at loud levels with its driver excursions quite active. I felt the very solid aluminum chassis on its side at this volume level and you can feel it vibrating some what but no where near the level of vibration you would feel from other speakers having wood cabinets at that sound level. This is true for the seperate bass module below it as it was hardly vibrating as well.

So, under most realistic listening levels, I would suspect that Anats won't bottom out at all. But if you crank its volume level to loud party levels, bottoming out can conceivably happen as mentioned in this thread as I have heard it today. Having said this, I would be very happy to have these speakers if I could afford to own these speakers as I would never play music as loud as my friend played it today.

Stereo_phile, your finding are very interesting indeed. It would concern me if the sides of these speakers were vibrating as you have mentioned along with the midrange driver working so hard.

Regarding the vibration, these cabinets are aluminum so that would add a unwanted sonic signature which I would not think is pleasant. Regarding box speakers this has always been one off the negatives, the box interacting. There are box speakers out there that I have experienced that do not have this issue, Egglestons, Artemis and I have heard that the Rockport Altairs to name a few.

Interesting that your friend "slash dealer" has a very large listening room and that you kept making reference to him having many high end speakers along with mentioning he had MBL 111's and that the dynamics did not match up to the Anat Reference II Studio speakers.

Your friend should be using the MBL 101E's and not 111's, the 101E's would be better up for this task especially if it is a large room and secondly choice of amplification would have an effect and your issues regarding dynamics and transients would be non existent. The Anat Reference II Studio speakers do have a powered sub correct so you are only driving the top.

If comparison are to be done they should be done comparing apples to apples and not apples to oranges.

I personally have not heard Anat Reference II Studio speakers but a few who have have told me they are nothing special but others have said the yare worth a listen so I look forward to hearing them but if the cabinets which are aluminum are vibrating would concern me as it would add unwanted sonics.

The Dynaudio Evidence Temptation, I have heard these many times and would have to disagree with your findings but they are your opinions, I also read that you got rid of yours and read why. I believe there were other issues going on and the speakers were not to be the blame. I heard the Temptation's sound best when paired up with McIntosh 2KW amps and 1000P pre-amp in a rather large room where they can breath. 6-8 feet space behind the speakers to the wall, 5-6 feet space from the outside of the speaker to the wall and aprox. 8-9 feet between them and not like they were positioned in your room as per your pics. I would suspect the speakers you chose might be a better fit per size wise which are very nice speakers also but at the same time if the set-up is the same as per your pics it would be far from ideal and in my opinion you are not really getting to hear the full potential of the speakers. The Anat Reference II Studio speakers may work even better due to their design.

Kusina on 11-17-08: your post said I have a Burmester 911 Mk 3 amp. While the Burmester 011 pre is perfect for it, I chose not to use that pre because it lacks a balance control. After trying an MBL 5011, I ended up with a Krell Evo 202, which has a 50 ohm output impedance (the Burmester amp likes a pre with a low output impedance). After some experimentation with interconnects, I purchased a Kimber Select 1136

Your reply above seems to differ from this can you clarify.

Everyone...please don't read specs..listen with your ears - preferably in your own environment. It makes no difference at all if a speaker manufacturer says it's the flattest speaker..even if the boast is true...over what range?...at what sound pressure level...what about resonances??...how integrated are the various drivers themselves?...is it time aligned?...how fast do the drivers respond...do the speakers react to subtle dynamic swings,etc., etc.