AN-J or AN-E with Meishu

I've been flirting with getting AN speakers for several years. I've heard them only at shows -- usually the AN-E, but David Cope was playing the AN-K at the Newport show this year. The AN speakers are always wonderfully, compellingly musical but I've dragged my feet because I worry that I will find myself missing some of the clarity, detail and air of more audiophile-type designs. I mention this because I wonder if what you are looking to get by moving up the AN line will really be there. It seemed to me to that the K had a bit more clarity in the lower midrange than I remember from the E's I've heard, and I found that appealing. Not really the same thing as soundstage and imaging, but it could contribute to those areas.

I apologize for the delay in my response. I'm not getting notification e-mails for some reason.

Dkarmeli: Thanks very much. Very useful advice.

Drubin: Interesting question. I've been thinking about lot about this myself and I'm not sure there's a clear answer. The Ks are famous for their clarity, I think. I bought them because I could not afford more at the time and immediately noticed their obvious qualities. However, since I got them in 2008 or 2009, I have gone through two stages. The first was a gradual frustration with the closed box. They don't breathe as much as I'd like them to. However, in the second stage, which started once I upgraded other parts of my system (notably with a Sogon interconnect, one of the best purchases I ever made, and then a Meishu amp) I started to appreciate the speakers in a different way. The tone is simply fantastic. Vocals and acoustic instruments sound stellar. So I have developed such an appreciation and affection for these speakers that I'll keep them forever. But only because I also moved them to a smaller room of circa 12 square meters. They are perfect in this room. They have command of the room in a way they didn't in my larger living room where they were before. So with the right room size and a bit of acoustic treatment, I strongly recommend the AN-Ks. I guess it's the same with the Js and Es, although I've heard that the Js should be much easer to position. The Ks still don't have a big soundstage, but it's OK, and it can be improved a bit with a few upgrades to my system (I'm using Silver Sonic T14 speaker cables and a cheap battery DAC and digital cable. I can clearly hear the limitations).

I don't get email updated either, good luck Fred!

Just FYI the Meishu was made for the Es