I have some Isis speaker cable on order and my feelings about the SPx may change when it has more competition but right now I am very pleased with it.Ĭlick to expand.This cracks me up. I tried Lexus speaker cables and they have a warmer tonal balance with very nice dynamics but less detai than SPx. Again I am sure Sogon speaker cable would be even better but. Slightly lean sounding but excellent detail, tonal balance and dynamics. I have pretty much the same feelings about the SPx speaker cable. have no doubt that SOOTO would be even better but you have to draw the line somewhere. That changes with Sogon which is the best sounding interconnect I have ever used, no trade offs at all. Isis interconnect is warmer but better balanced overall, however it isn’t quite as fast or detailed. The Vx tonal balance is brighter in the highs and the midbass is somewhat lean, and the overall sound is too small for my tastes. For what it’s worth, I think all of the AN wiring sounds very good but there are distinct differences and system synergy becomes very important.įor example, going from Isis to Vx interconnect involves trade offs. This ensures that each loudspeaker in a stereo pair matches a ‘master curve’ and also its partner, to within 0.4dB to the best of our knowledge, no other loudspeaker manufacturer achieves such close matching and tests 100% of its production.I don’t own Audio Note speakers or electronics but I do have several AN cables-Isis, Vx and Sogon interconnects, and Lexus and SPx speaker cable, and Isis power cords. Therefore, to obtain the best possible combination of drivers and crossovers, we have developed a dynamic matching process. Many loudspeaker manufacturer’s will tell you that they provide “computer matched” crossovers, and whilst this may be true in one sense (each crossover may have been matched to have the exact same capacitance, inductance and resistance) this essentially “passive” method does not adequately take into consideration the mechanical and acoustic variance present in the drive units themselves, where minute differences in acoustic behaviour will result in quite substantial differences in performance and sound. (See specifications.)Ĭonsistent performance is a major issue in loudspeaker design and unfortunately all drive units vary slight from each other, even if they look the same and have the same basic specification. The crossover is simple, essentially first order, hardwired and incorporates air-cored chokes and selected bipolar and polypropylene capacitors (either copper foil or silver foil, depending on model.) The internal cabling consists of either 99.99% pure copper or 99.99% pure silver Audio Note (UK) wire, depending on the exact model. This provides the most undisturbed sound field with the widest and most even dispersion possible from a real world cabinet shape. In this position, it will outperform any similarly sized speaker regardless of origin, thanks in part to the shallow cabinet / wide baffle shape which gives the drivers the best possible operating conditions, allowing them to perform as if they are mounted in a virtual wall. The ported cabinet has been designed to be placed close to room boundaries, where the bass performance is augmented significantly by the additional reinforcement offered by the nearby walls. Bracing and internal damping is kept to a minimum and strategically applied to help, not hinder the drivers. Over the years, we have tried many different materials and combinations, a time consuming endeavour culminating in the current design, which utilises the highest quality Russian Birch ply for the entire cabinet. The material choice for the cabinet is an area where a great deal of research and development has taken place. Instead of trying to kill the resonances, we tailor the cabinet to place them in frequency bands where they aid and enhance the operation of the drive units, culminating in a loudspeaker system that makes the most of the preceding amplifier’s output. It calls for a cabinet that complements the chosen drive units, rather than fighting against them. The design of the AN-J Loudspeaker, by contrast, follows an altogether different philosophy.
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