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

As mentioned above, Deja Vu Audio makes custom amps.  These days, they focus on fairly expensive replica/rebuilds of Western Electric amps.  They do get trade-ins of vintage tube amps as well as some of their older, and more affordable, past models.  Most of those older amps are pushpull triode amps, though some are tetrode/pentode amps.  As a Audio Note dealer, I am sure they can make good recommendations on suitable amps for the AN-K speakers.

There is an interesting builder named Tube Audio Labs that makes some very nice looking amps.  I have not heard any of their builds, so I am going on the pictures and the kinds of amps they choose to clone--Korneff, Western Electric, etc.  In other words, the builder copies good stuff.

http://tubeaudiolab.com/

If you are talking about an AN Kit amp, I don’t think they are affiliated with Audio Note (uk). They have put together similar gear based on Audio Note design and buy those parts that Audio Note offers to the market, but, that does not mean they are as good as the real deal.

They are affiliated with and have the full blessing of AN UK. The design is by Andy Grove, the PT & OPT’s are sourced from AN UK. The parts quality is excellent and it is in no way a second rate product. You even get a NOS Telefunken driver/splitter. The level 4 transformers are top quality AN C-Core.

Hi Atmasphere, Thank you for your comments. Just to be clear since the K's are in a larger room (approx 30 x 12) you would prefer a push pull configuration. Correct? -Scott

What Atmasphere is saying that you might want the bit of extra power that pushpull delivers rather than the flea power of the common SET tubes.  What he has been very diplomatic about not mentioning is that he manufactures output transformerless (OTL) amps.  Atmasphere's OTL amps are also worth considering.  OTL amps are very lively, immediate and engaging.  Good ones deliver clarity and dynamics without being harsh or overly "brittle" sounding. 

Many OTL amps were not particularly stable and were prone to going bad, which in some cases, meant damage to the speakers.  But, this is NOT the reputation of Atmasphere amps.  They are quite reliable.

As with any amp, the basic tonal balance is a matter of taste, and to me, the Atmasphere amps are a touch on the lean side.  That might not be a problem with the AN-K, because, if anything, they tend toward being slightly too warm and rich in the upper bass.  In any case, if you have a chance, you should audition an OTL.  The liveliness of this kind of amp can be quite addictive.  I've heard one of their bigger amps with Audio Note speakers (I can't recall the model) and the combination sounded very good to my ears.  The only other caveat is that on several occasions, I've heard a bit of noise coming from speakers hooked up to Atmasphere amps, but in all these cases, the speakers being used were quite a bit more efficient than the AN-K model so they were more sensitive to noise issues.

Just to be clear since the K's are in a larger room (approx 30 x 12) you would prefer a push pull configuration.

Definitely! In a room like that I'd want 50-60 watts. Also you might consider a subwoofer system to break up standing waves in the room below 80Hz. To do this the subs have to be asymmetrically placed in the room so the standing waves are properly broken up- that's not something you can treat with bass traps or DSP room correction, although once the subs are in place and doing their job, those things can be helpful. 

The only other caveat is that on several occasions, I've heard a bit of noise coming from speakers hooked up to Atmasphere amps, but in all these cases, the speakers being used were quite a bit more efficient

@larryi 

If you've had high efficiency speakers you know how careful you have to be about setup to avoid noise! We have a number of customers using AvantGarde and other horns with no worries. For speakers like that we offer a gain reduction plug that replaces a tube in the voltage amplifier. thus reducing the gain of the amp and pesky noises that can manifest upstream from the amplifier.