Simco Audio are proud to represent Audio Note - manufacturers of the finest domestic audio reproduction equipment money can buy, using the best available technology and the finest components.
The largest European manufacturer of ultra-performance valve-based audio equipment, Audio Note maintains a world-class standard of quality by keeping as many manufacturing processes in house, including winding their own transformers and foil capacitors.
The largest European manufacturer of ultra-performance valve-based audio equipment, Audio Note maintains a world-class standard of quality by keeping as many manufacturing processes in house, including winding their own transformers and foil capacitors.
Audio Note released its first integrated amplifier, the OTO PP, in 1991. It is a testament both to the amplifier’s design and to the company’s longevity that it is still possible to buy the same model today—still built completely in their factory in Sussex, England—more than 33 years later.
While other manufacturers come and go, as do their products, Audio Note has stood the test of time and is now Europe’s largest and most prestigious manufacturer of ultra-performance valve-based home audio systems.
The company is one of the few to offer complete in-house designed and manufactured systems. From the tip of the cartridge on the turntable, through the cables and amplification, right through to the drive units in the loudspeakers, everything is designed and produced by Audio Note in their factories in the UK and Europe.
A vast range of different options is available to suit every music lover’s requirements; there are over 150 separate and distinct products currently in the Audio Note catalogue, from cost-effective solutions to full systems that truly redefine the limits of performance and one’s expectations of sound quality.
Rafe Arnott goes on the road with Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK - A video from Scot Hull’s youtube channel
As the company’s motto says:
"Music’s Finest Conductor."
Notes from a long time
Audio Note Dealer - Bob Neil
Audio Note Dealer - Bob Neil
Beauty is Truth
“People who characterize the sound of Audio Note gear as ‘analogue’ are not wrong. I can think of no other word that serves as well. Analogue prioritizes beauty, which is an essential attribute of live music, some would say the most important one. ‘Analogue’ is not as transparent, fast, or present as the best digital when coupled with the best solid state electronics. Those are also attributes of live music, equally essential to some listeners. There are audio companies who more or less agree with Audio Notes approach but none I’ve heard do it as well.
The secret is tact: understanding that analogue does not mean warm and cozy, it means beautiful the way live music can be beautiful. This has to do with (1) resisting the temptation to lead with leading edges and (2) with refinement — a subtle refinement applied with consummate tact that only becomes evident in contrast with other gear. Audio Note systems can make their competition sound…unfinished. Audio Note speakers are more transparent and less overtly charming than Classic Spendors, more present and less restrained than Harbeths, to cite their principal British brethren. Again, edges through Audio Note speakers are clear but tastefully attenuated, less so the more silver used in their wiring. Audio Note clarity has a humane glow to it. It is the only audio line I have ever heard referred to as beautiful.
Like the the body and natural warmth of Gilbert Yeung/JMR based systems, Audio Note beauty (there really is no better name for it) can be deeply and permanently addictive, irresistible. No one has ever called any other British speaker irresistible. The Audio Note sound is not dependent on triode tubes, single-endedness, or silver cabling; but it draws on all of them. And there is no single Audio Note sound. The 300B, EL 84, and 2A3 amps sound distinctly different from one another, though you would never mistake any of them for anyone else’s product.
Peter Qvortrup believes that most technological ‘advances’ in audio for the past couple of decades have served to put more between us and the essential beauty of music. By working with established designs significantly predating current high end equipment, his company has designed single-ended tube electronics; filterless and non-oversampling dacs; turntables with several motors and lightweight platters; and broad-fronted, two-way speakers designed to sit in corners, all of which together can seem to take us closer to the essence of music. Qvortrup’s eloquent and complete line of audio equipment makes his fans feel that the competition is missing the real beauty of music.
Though they tend to sound best in all-Audio Note systems, some AN equipment travels very well. The CD players, digital transports, and dacs match up extremely well with all other lines of equipment I have heard, adding an attractive analogue flavor to them. AN electronics and speakers have all of the eloquence of their tubed dacs but generally prefer to work with each other, or at least with other single ended tubed gear. Audio Note single-ended triode amplifiers are especially remarkable for the wholeness of their presentation. Most of them are, predictably, low powered and are usually paired with efficient speakers like Audio Note’s own. Together they can do extremely musical things.
Audio Note electronics may be the key to the Audio Note sound. With an SET based, no feedback system, we hear the slightest flutter of low level sound, especially on Audio Note’s new HE speakers with hemp woofers. Audio Note and Gilbert Yeung/JMR approaches are both extremely effective, and with most listeners the choice comes down to differences in priorities and taste.
Audio Note speakers provide an interesting alternative to Reynauds. Considered by many to be the perfection of the British sound, AN speakers make friends easily and tend to keep them. Their sound is more refined and less overtly physical than that of Reynauds. With Audio Note speakers we hear everything but are often aware of how pure and beautiful the music sounds. With Reynauds, the instruments are closer and more robust sounding, though interestingly, not at all bright. We are especially aware of their physical presence. I like both speaker lines enormously and enjoy seeing what sorts of listeners are drawn to each.
My journey to Audio Note’s digital products, which is how I met the company, began, in its serious stage with a Krell MDT2 & SBP64X, zigged wildly to a Sonic Frontier SFT1 & SFT2-II, zagged partway back to a Naim CDX/XPS and then on to a CDS2, sampling a Meridian, a better Krell, a BAT, an Audio Aero, a Wadia, and an Accuphase along the way! The arrival at Audio Note was a delightful surprise that dramatically altered my expectations and increased my happiness. It is one of the very few digital front ends I have heard that does full justice to both new state of the art recordings and early 60’s jazz. And perhaps more important, every AN digital front end I’ve heard so far outperforms comparable SACD players, comparing separate CD and SACD recordings. Yes, CD’s on the AN rigs beat SACD’s on the SACD players.
Audio Note Analogue. In the spring of 2004, I was a guest of Peter Qvortrup in England and got to hear a premier Audio Note analogue rig, the first time I had heard LP’s in over ten years. As a result, I installed an old Voyd Reference turntable with an AN arm and I01 moving coil cartridge and AN-S4 step up transformer in my reference system; and for a long while I also had an AN Turntable Two, Arm Three/AN-Vx, and IQ3 moving magnet cartridge. Both in an effort to reacquaint myself with the unassuming but utterly convincing power of analogue. My aural memory is not a great one, but based on what I’ve heard so far, I would not have abandoned analogue in 1990, as I did, if I had owned these rigs, which are far from the top of the line. My current rig includes the new TT2 DeLuxe with external power supply, a IO1 cartridge, and an Arm3/Vx. What distinguishes Audio Note analog is its speed and jump, presumably the result of the remarkable torque provided by the use of light weight platters driven by two and, on the more ambitious turntables, three motors. Bass is solid but clear and fast. Audio Note analog rigs can make some other popular models sound bloated and slow.
Audio Note interconnects and speaker cable – AN-Vx or the far more costly Sogon – used either as digital or regular interconnect, are lovely. Still more costly Pallas and Sootto are superb. Lexus speaker cable is so good I used it with AN-E/SPe speakers while I waited for my AN-SPx’s to arrive and was startled at how good it sounded. I’m also told the newer ISIS cable is very fine and it’s definitely time I had some here to audition more critically. Both Lexus and ISIS are all-copper cables with the same structure as the many, many times more expensive silver cables. Lexus and ISIS are naturally warm and full, SPe and SPx speaker cable are more open sounding and articulate from top to bottom. Sogon speaker cable for the well to do and maximally self-indulgent is nearly beyond belief. All Audio Note cable in comparison with my other favorite cable from Crimson is warmer and richer sounding, which is its principal attraction to AN fans. It is most at home in all Audio Note systems which share its virtues.”
“People who characterize the sound of Audio Note gear as ‘analogue’ are not wrong. I can think of no other word that serves as well. Analogue prioritizes beauty, which is an essential attribute of live music, some would say the most important one. ‘Analogue’ is not as transparent, fast, or present as the best digital when coupled with the best solid state electronics. Those are also attributes of live music, equally essential to some listeners. There are audio companies who more or less agree with Audio Notes approach but none I’ve heard do it as well.
The secret is tact: understanding that analogue does not mean warm and cozy, it means beautiful the way live music can be beautiful. This has to do with (1) resisting the temptation to lead with leading edges and (2) with refinement — a subtle refinement applied with consummate tact that only becomes evident in contrast with other gear. Audio Note systems can make their competition sound…unfinished. Audio Note speakers are more transparent and less overtly charming than Classic Spendors, more present and less restrained than Harbeths, to cite their principal British brethren. Again, edges through Audio Note speakers are clear but tastefully attenuated, less so the more silver used in their wiring. Audio Note clarity has a humane glow to it. It is the only audio line I have ever heard referred to as beautiful.
Like the the body and natural warmth of Gilbert Yeung/JMR based systems, Audio Note beauty (there really is no better name for it) can be deeply and permanently addictive, irresistible. No one has ever called any other British speaker irresistible. The Audio Note sound is not dependent on triode tubes, single-endedness, or silver cabling; but it draws on all of them. And there is no single Audio Note sound. The 300B, EL 84, and 2A3 amps sound distinctly different from one another, though you would never mistake any of them for anyone else’s product.
Peter Qvortrup believes that most technological ‘advances’ in audio for the past couple of decades have served to put more between us and the essential beauty of music. By working with established designs significantly predating current high end equipment, his company has designed single-ended tube electronics; filterless and non-oversampling dacs; turntables with several motors and lightweight platters; and broad-fronted, two-way speakers designed to sit in corners, all of which together can seem to take us closer to the essence of music. Qvortrup’s eloquent and complete line of audio equipment makes his fans feel that the competition is missing the real beauty of music.
Though they tend to sound best in all-Audio Note systems, some AN equipment travels very well. The CD players, digital transports, and dacs match up extremely well with all other lines of equipment I have heard, adding an attractive analogue flavor to them. AN electronics and speakers have all of the eloquence of their tubed dacs but generally prefer to work with each other, or at least with other single ended tubed gear. Audio Note single-ended triode amplifiers are especially remarkable for the wholeness of their presentation. Most of them are, predictably, low powered and are usually paired with efficient speakers like Audio Note’s own. Together they can do extremely musical things.
Audio Note electronics may be the key to the Audio Note sound. With an SET based, no feedback system, we hear the slightest flutter of low level sound, especially on Audio Note’s new HE speakers with hemp woofers. Audio Note and Gilbert Yeung/JMR approaches are both extremely effective, and with most listeners the choice comes down to differences in priorities and taste.
Audio Note speakers provide an interesting alternative to Reynauds. Considered by many to be the perfection of the British sound, AN speakers make friends easily and tend to keep them. Their sound is more refined and less overtly physical than that of Reynauds. With Audio Note speakers we hear everything but are often aware of how pure and beautiful the music sounds. With Reynauds, the instruments are closer and more robust sounding, though interestingly, not at all bright. We are especially aware of their physical presence. I like both speaker lines enormously and enjoy seeing what sorts of listeners are drawn to each.
My journey to Audio Note’s digital products, which is how I met the company, began, in its serious stage with a Krell MDT2 & SBP64X, zigged wildly to a Sonic Frontier SFT1 & SFT2-II, zagged partway back to a Naim CDX/XPS and then on to a CDS2, sampling a Meridian, a better Krell, a BAT, an Audio Aero, a Wadia, and an Accuphase along the way! The arrival at Audio Note was a delightful surprise that dramatically altered my expectations and increased my happiness. It is one of the very few digital front ends I have heard that does full justice to both new state of the art recordings and early 60’s jazz. And perhaps more important, every AN digital front end I’ve heard so far outperforms comparable SACD players, comparing separate CD and SACD recordings. Yes, CD’s on the AN rigs beat SACD’s on the SACD players.
Audio Note Analogue. In the spring of 2004, I was a guest of Peter Qvortrup in England and got to hear a premier Audio Note analogue rig, the first time I had heard LP’s in over ten years. As a result, I installed an old Voyd Reference turntable with an AN arm and I01 moving coil cartridge and AN-S4 step up transformer in my reference system; and for a long while I also had an AN Turntable Two, Arm Three/AN-Vx, and IQ3 moving magnet cartridge. Both in an effort to reacquaint myself with the unassuming but utterly convincing power of analogue. My aural memory is not a great one, but based on what I’ve heard so far, I would not have abandoned analogue in 1990, as I did, if I had owned these rigs, which are far from the top of the line. My current rig includes the new TT2 DeLuxe with external power supply, a IO1 cartridge, and an Arm3/Vx. What distinguishes Audio Note analog is its speed and jump, presumably the result of the remarkable torque provided by the use of light weight platters driven by two and, on the more ambitious turntables, three motors. Bass is solid but clear and fast. Audio Note analog rigs can make some other popular models sound bloated and slow.
Audio Note interconnects and speaker cable – AN-Vx or the far more costly Sogon – used either as digital or regular interconnect, are lovely. Still more costly Pallas and Sootto are superb. Lexus speaker cable is so good I used it with AN-E/SPe speakers while I waited for my AN-SPx’s to arrive and was startled at how good it sounded. I’m also told the newer ISIS cable is very fine and it’s definitely time I had some here to audition more critically. Both Lexus and ISIS are all-copper cables with the same structure as the many, many times more expensive silver cables. Lexus and ISIS are naturally warm and full, SPe and SPx speaker cable are more open sounding and articulate from top to bottom. Sogon speaker cable for the well to do and maximally self-indulgent is nearly beyond belief. All Audio Note cable in comparison with my other favorite cable from Crimson is warmer and richer sounding, which is its principal attraction to AN fans. It is most at home in all Audio Note systems which share its virtues.”
Click here to continue reading Bob Neils detailed notes on the various Audio Note components.