Following a video interview for Stereophile's video channel (watch it below and subscribe here), Audio Note UK's Adrian Ford-Crush played tunes from a Level 4/5 system that included the brand's TT Three Reference turntable ($63,000), which debuted at T.H.E. New York International Audio Show. The TT Three was equipped with its obligatory AN-1S Sogon tonearm ($16,730; Sogon refers to a certain high grade of silver litz wire; footnote 1), fitted with an IO I moving coil cartridge ($5586), into an AN-S8 step-up transformer ($18,130).
Digital music was handled with a CDT Four CD transport ($23,100) and the new Izvor ladder DAC ($TBA). Amplification was by the Meishu Konzertmeister 300B integrated amplifier ($65,100), which drove a pair of AN-E/SPx Ltd. field coil loudspeakers ($65,000/pair), which I reviewed in the June issue. Cabling was all Audio note.
The TT Three Reference turntable offers "high mass torque without any of the usual 'high mass platter' energy storage problems," the brand's website states. "A very light, highly inert platter made from Lexan, which has virtually no reflective properties nor any resonance storage problems. Rubber belt driving the platter around its outside rim. Three immensely powerful motors, whose speed is locked together by the power supply unit's completely analogue control system. When the high mass stored in the motors provides torque to drive the light, inert platter, the energy is focused as rotation, nothing else, and the best of both worlds is achieved."
I always visit Audio Note (UK) rooms both for the tricked-out gear and the head-jarring tunes. Techno. Rock. Classical. Nothing gets by the Adrian Ford-Crush headbanger machinery.
Pablo Bolivar's "Aquarium" drenched my senses with calm, subterranean bass tones and spartan yet effective instrumentation. A track I missed the name of filled my head with moody jazz riffs rich with color, oozing Rhodes piano, and excellent layering within a naturally sized soundfield. A drum and bass tune kicked me into white noise, static screen somnambulance, like a sleepwalker dodging cars in rush hour traffic.
I praise Audio Note (UK) rooms show after show, because they play music, not hi-fi. The best systems don't always dazzle and surprise; they offer what anyone can recognize as natural sound played over simple systems that touch the heart, rub against the ears, and satisfy the soul.
Footnote 1: Sogon is second from the top in the Audio Note constellation, sitting right below Sootto, which at least according to Audio Note lore is short for "so over the top."
The TT Three Reference turntable offers "high mass torque without any of the usual 'high mass platter' energy storage problems," the brand's website states. "A very light, highly inert platter made from Lexan, which has virtually no reflective properties nor any resonance storage problems. Rubber belt driving the platter around its outside rim. Three immensely powerful motors, whose speed is locked together by the power supply unit's completely analogue control system. When the high mass stored in the motors provides torque to drive the light, inert platter, the energy is focused as rotation, nothing else, and the best of both worlds is achieved."
I praise Audio Note (UK) rooms show after show, because they play music, not hi-fi. The best systems don't always dazzle and surprise; they offer what anyone can recognize as natural sound played over simple systems that touch the heart, rub against the ears, and satisfy the soul.
Footnote 1: Sogon is second from the top in the Audio Note constellation, sitting right below Sootto, which at least according to Audio Note lore is short for "so over the top."
