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Just wanna step up and say Hi from Sweden!
- Thread starter arf!
- Start date
Hej, Gegge.
Wow. That's some nice stuff!
I think we need to get some details.
What part of Sweden are you from?
Wow. That's some nice stuff!
I think we need to get some details.
What part of Sweden are you from?
Both my parents lived in Sweden. My dad in Stockholm and my mom in göteborg. My dads Luxor radio still holds a place of honour on the mantle in our living room.
Welcome to HFH, your gear list is quite impressive. You have really nice CD players (plural)... really really nice.
Welcome to the Haven !
Welcome to the Haven!
The AN E in the right system and room can be pretty special - an end-game speaker for many. I can understand them displacing a back horn loaded Lowther from an overall performance perspective too - as much as I loved some things about the Medallion PM2A (in the system that hooked me on high-eff/SETs - oh that midrange!), I ultimately went with a more full-range 2-way arrangement as well.
I built a pair of AN-E kits for a friend years back and they spent some time in my system before being picked up. VERY nice speakers and I never went as far as moving my big old Altecs out of the room but remember really liking them. They liked more power than my 2A3, the 300B was especially nice, but a more powerful CJ MV75 was even more like it. I've heard the Almarro A318B & Pass Labs Aleph 3 before in other systems and loved them, and bet they might have been just what the AN-Es needed in my room. Ultimately though, I haven't heard anything (yet?) that would push my old 2A3/45>Altec 604 combination to the curb.
This is a real old picture (maybe 15yrs ago?) and all that remains are the Altecs.
I built a pair of AN-E kits for a friend years back and they spent some time in my system before being picked up. VERY nice speakers and I never went as far as moving my big old Altecs out of the room but remember really liking them. They liked more power than my 2A3, the 300B was especially nice, but a more powerful CJ MV75 was even more like it. I've heard the Almarro A318B & Pass Labs Aleph 3 before in other systems and loved them, and bet they might have been just what the AN-Es needed in my room. Ultimately though, I haven't heard anything (yet?) that would push my old 2A3/45>Altec 604 combination to the curb.
This is a real old picture (maybe 15yrs ago?) and all that remains are the Altecs.
The AN E in the right system and room can be pretty special - an end-game speaker for many. I can understand them displacing a back horn loaded Lowther from an overall performance perspective too - as much as I loved some things about the Medallion PM2A (in the system that hooked me on high-eff/SETs - oh that midrange!), I ultimately went with a more full-range 2-way arrangement as well.
I built a pair of AN-E kits for a friend years back and they spent some time in my system before being picked up. VERY nice speakers and I never went as far as moving my big old Altecs out of the room but remember really liking them. They liked more power than my 2A3, the 300B was especially nice, but a more powerful CJ MV75 was even more like it. I've heard the Almarro A318B & Pass Labs Aleph 3 before in other systems and loved them, and bet they might have been just what the AN-Es needed in my room. Ultimately though, I haven't heard anything (yet?) that would push my old 2A3/45>Altec 604 combination to the curb.
View attachment 26825
This is a real old picture (maybe 15yrs ago?) and all that remains are the Altecs.
As I understand it the original Peter Snell speakers was never intended to be placed in the corners ( having owned both the original Snell JII and Snell Type E .)
Type E originals was without the rear firing tweeter and a different box size(33X14X11) to the following EII & EIII modified/(or destroyed?) by Kevin Voecks ( with the back firing tweeter and box size of 35X13X11)more bass,yes but a disastrous midrange & highs.
There is nothing indicating to a corner placement in any Snell litterature( manuals or other)more the opposite ( from Snell manual):
Neither is there any indication of such a placement ( corner) in any of the early manuals from AN/UK and their "incarnations" of the
Snell Speakers?
I have both the original Snell & AN manuals.
Me thinking this is a later "invention" from AN/UK to make their speakers more adaptable to their 2a3 & 300B amplifiers?
( to play more bass and to be more "sensitive"?) ´but I could be wrong?
My pair of AN E/D II are placed in an "conventional" manner ( aprox. the golden triangle) without any room treatments appart from furniture,rugs and my own "common sense"!
The upgrades ( hemp woofer and silver coil tweeters) made a big leap forward in transparency ,in relation to the original woofer/tweeter
configuration!
Type E originals was without the rear firing tweeter and a different box size(33X14X11) to the following EII & EIII modified/(or destroyed?) by Kevin Voecks ( with the back firing tweeter and box size of 35X13X11)more bass,yes but a disastrous midrange & highs.
There is nothing indicating to a corner placement in any Snell litterature( manuals or other)more the opposite ( from Snell manual):
Neither is there any indication of such a placement ( corner) in any of the early manuals from AN/UK and their "incarnations" of the
Snell Speakers?
I have both the original Snell & AN manuals.
Me thinking this is a later "invention" from AN/UK to make their speakers more adaptable to their 2a3 & 300B amplifiers?
( to play more bass and to be more "sensitive"?) ´but I could be wrong?
My pair of AN E/D II are placed in an "conventional" manner ( aprox. the golden triangle) without any room treatments appart from furniture,rugs and my own "common sense"!
The upgrades ( hemp woofer and silver coil tweeters) made a big leap forward in transparency ,in relation to the original woofer/tweeter
configuration!
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Oh I think you nailed it right there!
I think the Snells where specified as 90db sensitivity but I've seen all the way up to 98db claimed for the AN-E, with the version I had in my room claimed to be 94db.
For reference; the Altec 604-8G I use is apparently 99db real world. When in a corner, I consider a 45 SET (1.5w?) adequate with decent bass, but when out in the room, 2A3 is the minimum for me (3.5w?) and a 300B more like it. Bass takes a hit away from the corners too and I use a separate pair of woofers to 'fill' in the lower end.
If I was selling 2A3 and and 300B amps along with 94db eff. speakers, well, 'recommending' and designing around corner placement might be a good path to take, especially when trying to deal with the usual concerns around SETs - not enough power and control for some tastes. I've heard the Es in several setup situations in addition to my own room, both in room and in corners, and have been slapped repeatedly by AN 'fans' for judging them when they aren't position as 'recommended' - in corners or at least, close to the back wall. I really like them in corners - if they are in a symmetrical room with 2 clean corners not too far apart or too close together (a lot of ifs!) - but also liked them a lot out in the room with the right amps, which for me would be 300B power levels minimum.
So my experience, speakers out of the corners; 2A3 not enough. Loved them on a 300B for the most part but really liked the bass and dynamics with 6550 push-pull tubes on them. I did spend some time listening to the pair I built using the Almarro A318B and think that might have been my favorite amp for them overall. I would love to hear that Pass Labs Aleph 3 pairing - something different and maybe the best of the bunch?
How do you rank all your options?
Also the old AN E models was specified as a 8 ohm impedance speaker,where as the new ones are specified at 6 ohms( I belive)!
To answer Your question,ranking the options, this is what I hear in my room and with my pair of old ears( I´m 70+):
Any combination is dependable on the recording(inexorably reveals a bad recording) be it classic,jazz,rock or whatever ,one of my favorite albums to use when "listening to equipment" instead of music, is the us first press (Atlantic SD7203) LP issue of David Crosby: If I could only remember my name ,
(using at the moment the TT 1 combination : Scheu/Reed/VDH Colibri/DP 2.2 )
and this recording sounds different on any and all amp/speaker combinations.
First and foremost i like the Almarro (integrated with volume control) where the difference between the Guild,Martins and the Gibson acoustic guitars are so easily recognable on the David Crosby album , a little bit harder on all other combinations.
The Pass DB1-Aleph 3 comes in second ,in spite of the slight restricted soundstage (vs the Almarro) ,have dynamics that will "blow Your socks off" (and no combination reproduce acoustic bass like this one ,listening to David Hollands - Conference of the birds ,ECM 1027, for example.
And an favorite playing early Zappa (Uncle Meat,Burnt Weeny..,Hot Rats,Waka Jawaka,Grand Wazoo,Overnight...,One size fits..) and of course Igor ! (Stravinsky that is!)
As I was´nt present at any of the recording sessions or have no idea what the master tape sounds like, I have to trust my own good judgment based on my own empirical data and experience and what sounds good (sounds right ?) to me!
The " You are thereness" and the "it was like Diana Krall was in my room" is something that I never have experienced,the reproduced music coming from a "stereo system" is always gonna be a small tiny facsimile of the real thing no matter how "high-end" you get!( my thoughts!)
Other system combinations depends on my feelings and humor of the day and situations,for example ,
. . .today it would be fun to bi-amp with the Audion 300B on the bottom and the Sun SV-2A3 on top just for kicks and maybe roll some 300B tubes?
PS new speakers (trenner & friedl pharoahs) make my preferences for combinations a little different than before and at the moment I finally settled for the Audion 300B-HW/20TH and the Audible Illusions M3A combination with the T&F `s and the Pass pairing , aleph 3/B-1
coming in second!
To answer Your question,ranking the options, this is what I hear in my room and with my pair of old ears( I´m 70+):
Any combination is dependable on the recording(inexorably reveals a bad recording) be it classic,jazz,rock or whatever ,one of my favorite albums to use when "listening to equipment" instead of music, is the us first press (Atlantic SD7203) LP issue of David Crosby: If I could only remember my name ,
(using at the moment the TT 1 combination : Scheu/Reed/VDH Colibri/DP 2.2 )
and this recording sounds different on any and all amp/speaker combinations.
First and foremost i like the Almarro (integrated with volume control) where the difference between the Guild,Martins and the Gibson acoustic guitars are so easily recognable on the David Crosby album , a little bit harder on all other combinations.
The Pass DB1-Aleph 3 comes in second ,in spite of the slight restricted soundstage (vs the Almarro) ,have dynamics that will "blow Your socks off" (and no combination reproduce acoustic bass like this one ,listening to David Hollands - Conference of the birds ,ECM 1027, for example.
And an favorite playing early Zappa (Uncle Meat,Burnt Weeny..,Hot Rats,Waka Jawaka,Grand Wazoo,Overnight...,One size fits..) and of course Igor ! (Stravinsky that is!)
As I was´nt present at any of the recording sessions or have no idea what the master tape sounds like, I have to trust my own good judgment based on my own empirical data and experience and what sounds good (sounds right ?) to me!
The " You are thereness" and the "it was like Diana Krall was in my room" is something that I never have experienced,the reproduced music coming from a "stereo system" is always gonna be a small tiny facsimile of the real thing no matter how "high-end" you get!( my thoughts!)
Other system combinations depends on my feelings and humor of the day and situations,for example ,
. . .today it would be fun to bi-amp with the Audion 300B on the bottom and the Sun SV-2A3 on top just for kicks and maybe roll some 300B tubes?
PS new speakers (trenner & friedl pharoahs) make my preferences for combinations a little different than before and at the moment I finally settled for the Audion 300B-HW/20TH and the Audible Illusions M3A combination with the T&F `s and the Pass pairing , aleph 3/B-1
coming in second!
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