Florida Audio Expo 2024

The Audio Note Room

Ken Micallef  |  Feb 25, 2024

When some folks think of Audio Note, they picture of low fog over English lakes, Earl Grey tea, The House of Commons, and Big Ben. Tubes for sure. Likely, Classical music. Well hold on to your remote control, 'cause this latest sighting of Audio Note, at the Florida Audio Expo, was more drum'n'bass than Dvořák, more techno wampum than Die Walkure.

Owner Peter Qvortrup talked as I considered his English copy of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. Audio Note Sales Executive Adrian Ford Crush and Federico Unda of Miami dealership Soundlux Audio worked the hi-fi. I made notes about the surreal techno the pair unleashed, which included on LP "Distant Planets," from the album Distances by Pablo Bolivar and Nacho Sanchez, and Steven Bambidele’s "Dark Sense of Humor (Farfisa)" from Summing Up, his debut album, which came out last year. I have a soft spot for techno tribalism, so heaven was mine—even more heaven considering the serious kit that was pounding the tunes into my brain, aided by my ears and a freaky light show that turned the equipment various shades of plum.

The analog source was an Audio Note (duh) TT-Three Turntable with the Audio Note Three/II tonearm ($2465) and the PSU 3 power supply ($16,500), their IO 1 moving coil cartridge ($5028), and an AN-S8 Step Up Transformer and Pallas output cable ($16,000). When digits flew, it was an Audio Note CDT Four CD Transport ($21,100) that threw them, to an Audio Note DAC 4.1x/II Balanced ($20,740).

The Audio Note M6 Phono preamplifier ($25,000) exchanged electrons with the Jinro Shochu Power Amplifier ($38,000) …

… which in turn sent its watts out to a pair of AN E / SPx Ltd Field Coil Speakers, which looked just like previous AN speakers, yet these use—you guessed it—field-coil drivers in the horns and cost $65,000/pair. Qvortrup says that 30 pairs of the SPx Ltd have already sold.

Audio Note AN SPx Bi-wire speaker cable ($11,826) made the new speakers feel like they were part of the system. AN Vx Pallas Interconnects and ISIS power cords rounded out the high-end accoutrements from the mother country.

COMMENTS
Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on February 25, 2024 - 1:21pm

I say you can't say you have lived a full life if you have not heard an Audio Note system play LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House."

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on February 26, 2024 - 8:57am

Yeah, I NEED to hear that at the AN room this year. WITHOUT a doubt.

bhkat's picture
Submitted by bhkat on February 25, 2024 - 6:01pm

The vids I have seen of Audio Note systems always sound good.
Though, some lack of self-awareness to have a book that recommends a cap on personal wealth in a room that sells what is essentially a CD player for $42,000 and a system that costs over $150,000....from a company that sells components that can cost more than $100,000.

GAKU-ON's picture
Submitted by GAKU-ON on February 26, 2024 - 3:17am

Hi BH, glad you like the sound first of all.
Secondly, reducing extreme wealth might actually sell more as affluence would be more widely distributed and a cap of $ 10,000.000.00 as the author proposes does make a lot of sense, but this is not the only reason why the book is an important addition to our discussion of what kind of society we want our children to live in.
I study all the various trends and important discussions in the areas of social economics, macro economics and social development and have done since I went to university, music and audio are not my only interests.
If you like I can send you a list of books :-)
Peter Qvortrup
Audio Note
[This comment has been edited to add Mr. Qvortrup's affiliation.- jca]

bhkat's picture
Submitted by bhkat on February 26, 2024 - 3:16pm

Who would enforce the cap? Why not 500,000? And suppose the arbiter of the cap decides that anything more than a Bose Wave radio is wasteful and shouldn't be made or sold. Thankfully, we have capitalism where people get rich by selling people what they want instead of raiding their villages and taking everything and enslaving the villagers.
I don't have time for recreational reading right now as I have to study for my medical recertification exams but thank you for the offer.

GAKU-ON's picture
Submitted by GAKU-ON on February 27, 2024 - 2:45am

The cap would have to be high enough to incentivize people and low enough to prevent undue influence on the democratic processes.

At the end of the day we have to choose what kind of society we really want and this book is part of the broader discussions where democracies should go to survive, and that is a long discussion.

Question is do rich people make what people want or do they convert needs into wants to gain wealth?

It is also worth factoring in the fact that wealth depends on good property rights, a good and impartial judiciary, good infrastructure, an educated population and many other things that the "common good" i.e. Government creates and controls, without these wealth would not be possible, bear that in mind because wealth is not created in a vacuum.

Peter Qvortrup
Audio Note

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on February 26, 2024 - 9:07am

The AN E / SPx Ltd Field Coil Speakers may be spoken for, but will it be for possible Stereophile to borrow a pair?

And I am hoping Audio Note will be present at AXPONA this year. I showed up late last year and missed an audition.

GAKU-ON's picture
Submitted by GAKU-ON on February 26, 2024 - 10:54am

Hi Glotz,

We are showing the field coil AN-E/SPx Ltd at AXPONA, we have not got enough of these to free up a pair for review yet and given that we have sold over 40 pairs since introduction 4 months ago production has not quite caught up so it may take another couple of months' to have a pair or two available for review.
Peter Qvortrup
Audio Note

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on February 26, 2024 - 10:56am

Thank you so much for your response... and your artistry.

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on February 26, 2024 - 10:39am

My stupidity will be obvious....it seems they should be cheaper than many of the 'permanent' magnets we now use.

In my pee wee brain, field coil is 'plug and play.'

Then I see the actual builds and wise up.

Anybody know of an 'affordable' field coil speaker? (Under 2K?)

Such a fascinating aspect of speaker building.

GAKU-ON's picture
Submitted by GAKU-ON on February 26, 2024 - 10:49am

Hi Anton,

Not sure if this helps, but there are no modern field coils that come even close to $ 2K, but if you look around you should be able to find early examples from the 1930s/1940s which still work pretty well and around which you can make a really decent sounding speaker.
In Germany and in the US especially there were several makers, the drivers normally come out of old radios, as they were not sold separately, it was from experimenting with old German field coils that I learned about the FCs starting in the 1970s.
Peter Qvortrup
Audio Note

GAKU-ON's picture
Submitted by GAKU-ON on February 26, 2024 - 11:04am

Hi Anton,

Field coil magnet systems were the very first to be introduced in loudspeakers long before permanent magnet technology as we know it today even existed.
When Kellog & Rice patented the moving coil loudspeaker in 1925 it used a field coil magnet system.

The main reason the field coil technology was abandoned in the 1940's was due to cost, manufacturers of loudspeakers first went to AlNiCo but switched to Ferrites as soon as they became available as ferrites are much much cheaper that either AlNiCo or field coils.

Hope this answers?

Peter Qvortrup
Audio Note

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on February 26, 2024 - 12:57pm

Nothing but fond memories here for how great your rooms sound.

My favorites were the THE Shows at the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

If any of that crew is still around, tell them I still have daydreams about how fun that room was.

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