A little over 2 years ago I was in the market for new speakers. I don't recall the thread here but @Richard Austen suggested that I look into this speaker. I read everything I could about them (which given their long production time, the information and impressions were very scarce). Because I liked what I read I figured I would call up my local AN dealer. No dice. So I called a few out of state. No dice. Not being one to take no for an answer I called every AN dealer in the entire United States and none of them had a pair... however, Audio Federation said that they show TWO pairs available to order from Audio Note. She told me to not hold my breath since sometimes the stock levels shown are off. Bear in mind, at this time I was just checking around, not ready to commit. A few weeks later I get an email from Cornelia (Neli) at Audio Federation and said that a pair showed up in her order. It was the white ash option (the other pair was white ash as well). I passed on them as I wasn't quite ready.
A year later (2019), I send her an email after getting back on the market and she let me know she still had the pair she ordered. I passed again as I thought surely the other speakers on my radar were superior. I think there's even another thread where we discussed these speakers a little more in depth. We talked about the cabinets, the construction, the price, etc. and after this I decided to let them go again.
Well, a couple weeks ago I sent her another email (Sorry Neli) and guess what.... she still had them. She let me know that she had actually forgotten about them for a long time and never advertised them but was actually about to list them for sale publicly. I decided to call her and let me tell ya, if you've never spoken to Neli, you're missing out. She's a wealth of information and very nice. It was clear that these speakers were meant to be with me. So, I paid up and was eager for their arrival.
This time, I was ready. I had my hopes for them after sending back the Elac UniFi 2.0. I wanted something different, I wanted something voiced, and I wanted something that wasn't exactly "HiFi". I was willing to take a chance on the Audio Note AX-Two and I'm glad I did. What I received is a speaker that sound unlike other stand mount speakers I've had. See, if anyone has paid attention to some of my threads they'll know that I've built a few DIY speakers, posted threads here and on other forums and have been for the better part of 10yrs. I'm a fan of single wideband drivers the most but have had a few bookshelf speakers with all sorts of drivers and from different designers. I've had designs that used ScanSpeak BE tweeters, ScanSpeak illuminator woofers, Mundorf resistors and caps, copper foil inductors, blah blah blah. They've all been interesting in one regard for but various reasons I never connected with those speakers. Thousands of dollars in trial and error. And look, I don't regret any of it. In fact, I'm glad I went through all of this because it helped hone exactly what kind of sound I wanted. What kind of presentation. What strengths I really valued. Money well spent, in my opinion.
The AX-Two is something different. It uses older Vifa drivers. 3/4" soft dome tweeter, 6" woofer. Nothing special or crazy, really. Just good drivers. And most importantly designed by Andy Whittle who was able to put relatively ho hum drivers and a bog standard quality crossover into a bog standard quality cabinet and get some of the most interesting results I've heard. Look, this thing looks cheap. From the white ash vinyl veneer, to the slightly gapped 45* angles in every corner that you can pinch back together with your fingers. The terminals on the back are OK, pretty typical (way better than the UniFi 2.0) and overall these LOOK like they're from a white van. However, they're actually solidly built cabinets made of 3/4" MDF. They pass the knock test and I don't see any reason these would be called "resonant cabinets" at all. Sure they could use a brace I'm sure, but perhaps as the literature says it's all by design. Who am I to question the results.
What we have here is a prime example of someone who knows how to design a speaker (Andy Whittle) and using his expertise to put rather ordinary drivers, cabinets and crossovers together and creating something truly exquisite. The resulting sound surpasses what you'd think is possible if you judged this book by it's cover.
Within the first hour of unboxing them I knew that these were special. Their open and natural midrange, their way of presenting the information to you instead of blasting it into your face, their balanced sound, all of it really ticks the boxes most of these other speakers couldn't dream of. The AX-Twos are richly textured, midrange has body to it, bass is tuneful and not flabby one-note, treble is delicate and well integrated into the music instead shouting "Here I am!". This brings me to another thing. The crossover is spot on. Andy did a tremendous job here. The drivers act as one driver in their presentation. In comparing these with my Mark Audios I was blown away by how cohesive the sound is. I'm using them nearfield on my desk which tends to exaggerate most designs where the tweeter and woofer don't quite overlap well enough. Here, you'd never know it was a multi-way design. As time has gone on, these speakers have just gotten better and better. These speakers have allowed me to just sit back and enjoy music again. I'm not picking out sounds, critiquing this or that, wondering what could be better. It's not that these don't show these things, it's that their way of presenting the music just draws you in.
This is a music lover's speaker and it's a real shame it was discontinued in 2018. Word on the street is they're considering rebooting this design with a higher build quality cabinet but that will result in a higher price. Vifa was the manufacturer of the cabints in the past, AN has now purchased a factory to begin their own construction.
In any case, there's my opinion of this speaker. They're staying right where I put them and I for once in quite a few years feel content in saying, this is the speaker I've been looking for. This is the speaker I can settle on. I'm satisfied.
-Steven
A year later (2019), I send her an email after getting back on the market and she let me know she still had the pair she ordered. I passed again as I thought surely the other speakers on my radar were superior. I think there's even another thread where we discussed these speakers a little more in depth. We talked about the cabinets, the construction, the price, etc. and after this I decided to let them go again.
Well, a couple weeks ago I sent her another email (Sorry Neli) and guess what.... she still had them. She let me know that she had actually forgotten about them for a long time and never advertised them but was actually about to list them for sale publicly. I decided to call her and let me tell ya, if you've never spoken to Neli, you're missing out. She's a wealth of information and very nice. It was clear that these speakers were meant to be with me. So, I paid up and was eager for their arrival.
This time, I was ready. I had my hopes for them after sending back the Elac UniFi 2.0. I wanted something different, I wanted something voiced, and I wanted something that wasn't exactly "HiFi". I was willing to take a chance on the Audio Note AX-Two and I'm glad I did. What I received is a speaker that sound unlike other stand mount speakers I've had. See, if anyone has paid attention to some of my threads they'll know that I've built a few DIY speakers, posted threads here and on other forums and have been for the better part of 10yrs. I'm a fan of single wideband drivers the most but have had a few bookshelf speakers with all sorts of drivers and from different designers. I've had designs that used ScanSpeak BE tweeters, ScanSpeak illuminator woofers, Mundorf resistors and caps, copper foil inductors, blah blah blah. They've all been interesting in one regard for but various reasons I never connected with those speakers. Thousands of dollars in trial and error. And look, I don't regret any of it. In fact, I'm glad I went through all of this because it helped hone exactly what kind of sound I wanted. What kind of presentation. What strengths I really valued. Money well spent, in my opinion.
The AX-Two is something different. It uses older Vifa drivers. 3/4" soft dome tweeter, 6" woofer. Nothing special or crazy, really. Just good drivers. And most importantly designed by Andy Whittle who was able to put relatively ho hum drivers and a bog standard quality crossover into a bog standard quality cabinet and get some of the most interesting results I've heard. Look, this thing looks cheap. From the white ash vinyl veneer, to the slightly gapped 45* angles in every corner that you can pinch back together with your fingers. The terminals on the back are OK, pretty typical (way better than the UniFi 2.0) and overall these LOOK like they're from a white van. However, they're actually solidly built cabinets made of 3/4" MDF. They pass the knock test and I don't see any reason these would be called "resonant cabinets" at all. Sure they could use a brace I'm sure, but perhaps as the literature says it's all by design. Who am I to question the results.
What we have here is a prime example of someone who knows how to design a speaker (Andy Whittle) and using his expertise to put rather ordinary drivers, cabinets and crossovers together and creating something truly exquisite. The resulting sound surpasses what you'd think is possible if you judged this book by it's cover.
Within the first hour of unboxing them I knew that these were special. Their open and natural midrange, their way of presenting the information to you instead of blasting it into your face, their balanced sound, all of it really ticks the boxes most of these other speakers couldn't dream of. The AX-Twos are richly textured, midrange has body to it, bass is tuneful and not flabby one-note, treble is delicate and well integrated into the music instead shouting "Here I am!". This brings me to another thing. The crossover is spot on. Andy did a tremendous job here. The drivers act as one driver in their presentation. In comparing these with my Mark Audios I was blown away by how cohesive the sound is. I'm using them nearfield on my desk which tends to exaggerate most designs where the tweeter and woofer don't quite overlap well enough. Here, you'd never know it was a multi-way design. As time has gone on, these speakers have just gotten better and better. These speakers have allowed me to just sit back and enjoy music again. I'm not picking out sounds, critiquing this or that, wondering what could be better. It's not that these don't show these things, it's that their way of presenting the music just draws you in.
This is a music lover's speaker and it's a real shame it was discontinued in 2018. Word on the street is they're considering rebooting this design with a higher build quality cabinet but that will result in a higher price. Vifa was the manufacturer of the cabints in the past, AN has now purchased a factory to begin their own construction.
In any case, there's my opinion of this speaker. They're staying right where I put them and I for once in quite a few years feel content in saying, this is the speaker I've been looking for. This is the speaker I can settle on. I'm satisfied.
-Steven
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