(04/02) Approximate Audio Note pricing in Canada.
SPI has generally concentrated on several levels of Audio Note gear. Because of the way AN is designed, with often 4 subprices per skew, its practically impossible to give over the head pricing. Plus here is food for thought, AN has the largest most dense Price List of all with over 220 pages in small print. It's massive.
Here's is the general prices' per level of AN gear.
Level 1 overall : 4,600.00 to 7,500.00
Level 2 overall : 6,500.00 to apprx 11,000.00
Level 3 overall : 10,500.00 to apprx 23,000.00
Level 4 overall : 23,000.00 to 40,000.00
Not included is approx pricing for AN cables, arms, turntable, many speaker jumper levels and other parts.
We have everything in those skews that are important. Plus we hold a lot of AN parts and cables, we've held this AN load for a long time. It will be complicated from today today omward to demonstrate our wares within our home setting. Hopefully one day, all of us will be in a better head space than we have been for the last 3 or so years.
(04/02) Linn Products
As an extension of the above article for AN, Linn has chosen for the most part an all out on display for everybodies eyes, pricing per skew on their website. It's also in Canadian dollars. We got involved with Linn again over 2 and half year ago. We've been the only Ottawa based dealer that have been able to financially entertain this revered and iconic British line up historically. Its not a cheap line up and like all other line up, prices have been raised. We cover most general Linn skews from Analogue to amps, pre's, sources to speakers.
We will be looking forward to dedicating a Linn webpage quite shortly, just as available Audio Note.
Keep an eye on our website for more info.
Audio Note in 2023.
(02/02) : Boy oh boy talk about these phenomenal changes taking place in our industry. WE REMAIN DANCING, while trying to still have fun. As most audiophile know, we remain an active AN dealer. We will push thought 3 brands in particular, including our Trigon that has carved out a niche for itself. We will be more than happy to work and point towards some of out all time AN's fave's. You may still be surprised what we like a lot. This being said, it does not take much time to arrive at the over 10 k mark. .. but surprisingly a few are under 6k.
Having just received several AN gear at this time, that remain sealed in their respected boxes, we will look forward to take these out soon enough. The same can be said with Linn. Our Linn LP 12 now has a permanent fixture in my home. We will work something up when things quiet down Covid wise.
Looking forward to building an AN webpage for our clients soon enough.
Magnepan Products
We are awaiting a most likely visit from Wedell Diller and his wonderful wife Elizabeth. He will be bringing with him a new product, the big brother of the already iconic LRS. No dates are set and it may be that with some complications in the market place and or Covid upswings, it may be cancelled on us.
So we hope to be able to make you folks meet one of the most iconic actors in our industry. Wendell has drank and swore with the best in our industry (think of a classy version of Roy Hall). The moment we know more... you will know more.
We making much headway with...
Burning in much of our new gear at home. Just this week alone we're taken out another 3 new components that will see the light of day as this is being written. This is one thing I did not want to touch, but we may change our ways and simply do our burn in at work instead at home.
Several new pieces from Linn will be introduced. As we rush this burn in, we have equally formalized our planned weekly reopening this coming September. We have several new pieces of new Naim gear that are now ready to be introduced this late summer. We know this world of ours is complicated, but we would still like to push this demonstration venues over the long haul. Guess what, we still have much to introduce.
We have seen 3 cycles of LRT construction, and not 2 as stated elsewhere. Yes these are harsh on accessibility, but they do end eventually. We just had the bad fortune of following these planned projects Eastward. As I tend to do, we always plan an event when this construction ends.
I have stolen my Naim Uniti Star for the summer, while I get busy with all our vacation times. Don't worry it will come back folks.
Linn is swinging hard with new add on's for their LP 12.
Effective today, The Lp 12 will start to sport 6 or so different and new options. These Lp 12's will equally be called something else. Every model is being touched and tweaked with exception of the Klimax.
Majik LP 12's will now come in 2 models, one in MM and the other Magik Twin will be in MC. The Akurate Lp 12 will now be called the SELEKT Linn Lp 12. New arms and cartridges will be added, and some older skews are now being discontinued in the weeks to come, or till stock runs out.
More info is now available on the Linn website. Don't forget our incoming LP 12 clinik July 23rd. For those that emailed me, I do not charge for anything while this LP 12 clinik is ongoing. However should you need some parts or a belt, those are charged. Equally, I cannot proceed with any repairs.
Of course a Linn system will be playing all day folks.
Streaming amplifiers, we have them for Ottawa
Lets start with Audiolab Omnia (2,800.00), Lumin M 1 stream (3,000.00), Naim UNITI Atom (4,800.00), Linn Majik DSM (6,000.00), Naim UNITI Star (7,600.00), finally, Linn Sekret DSM (starting at approx 8,000.00 and up)... all on actual display and available for demonstration now. Plus 4 other models of actual streamers.
Linn LP 12
Discover the magic, we can make it happen now.
Linn LP 12 Finally after 9 months, on working display
Linn UPHORIK, Awaiting delivery
Linn SEKRIT DSM, awaiting delivery
Thorens tables, Several models, all levels, On display and awaiting delivery
Audio Note TT2, awaiting introduction
LUMIN D 2 streamer, , awaiting delivery, some Lumin in stock
Triangle speakers, 40th anniversary models, awaiting delivery
Trigon Reference Phono stages, on display
Nagaoka Cartridges, MP 110, 150, much stock
Analogue accessories, at all levels, NEWLY added, on display and in stock
12/2019
Our AN clients will be contacted directly about this set up. It will be something real special, we promise. At time this page is uploaded , our AN clients should get the precise info regarding this day. This is an exclusive private client event and of course those invited will be treated like royalty, I would not have it any other way ;-). Date to follow in our communication and, pictures to follow a well.
Audio Note event in late 2019
Wireworld Eclipse 8 series, on display
Look but don't touch !
We are ready to wager to retailer in the world or very few possess 2 Audio Note Meishus amplifiers in stock and ready to play anytime. Consider this a heads up to our AN clients base that in this 4th Quarter, one or both will be accessible for your prying eyes and desires.
To prove we are damn silly boys indeed by any standards, even more than any Canadian standard, we also have the 2 top level 300 B Conqueror power amplifiers. This makes 4 300B Audio Note amplifiers in all. We are silly and maybe just not rights in our collective heads. So it is we have much to offer, anytime where Audio Note is concerned.
For special events exclusively.
Audiolab 6000N streamer.
New
"... a complete success, this new Bliss Jubilee is for those that want a mini monitor experience, a sober neutral presentation, with a beautiful finish and supremely musical..."
Haute Fidelity magazine , Paris
JMR Jubilee series will be in complete display
JMR Bliss Jubilee
JMR Euterpe Jubilee
JMR Lucia
We may not know where these will go within our walls, as we are fully loaded with speakers, including other JMR products as well but I suspect we will find room. Of course as always, we expect some improvements over the previous models. The Euterpe Jubilee has just been granted of or the 7 top speakers available in Europe. Quite the honor, it just barely came out.
Summer is here, but much activity on the sales floor of SPI. JMR buffs, see you all soon.
It might be said that the Folia has more in common with the Bliss Silver, but walking with a smaller stick, lighter on feet, and it will be fun if not important to hear the differences. The Lucia is said to be quick and fleet footed, giving breath and a sense of airiness and pin point accuracy where instrumentation are concerned. Why not decide for yourselves and test the journalist that are lucky enough to write about such audio product. If we are to rely on JMR feedback, La Folia focus of attack will be more towards the Bliss Jubilee than the Anniversary. I do admit the Bliss anniversary are loved. Another point of contentions, odd it may be, European audiophile that are JMR fans have been buying the La Folia and Lucia's in droves. I believe folks here are awaiting the Bliss Jubs.
Fun in the sun for sure. Driving duties will be via several companies. The system will be at the level that is somewhat real world and reaching towards the high end. Coming sometime coming sometime this Autumn.
More of these set ups will take place as the year progresses
PS : One of the best review magazines worldwide has adopted the The Jean Marie Reynaud Lucia in permanence in their office system
Yes its for real folks !
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Our mascot, Marius Maximus reflection, overseeing my picture
We offer now several 2 box solutions at several levels. Our Sim 240i with 260T ( transport ) is one of them, and also quite the performer. These 2 Sims stood alone at the 5.5k ish mark. We did have for a while before both were discontinued, 2 TEAC component at around 1,700.00. These played very well, but for our clients, the Sims were key considerations for the most part.
Now with Audiolab we can offer the 6000 series, making use of AL transport and AL 6000 amplifier with internal DAC. No one will argue about esthetics with all our AL gear, but these 2 clock in at around and a tad over 2,000.00 or so (( playing as we speak )). This same amplifier has garnered top honours surpassing in all shoot outs the now classic Rega Brio ( quite the feat, we know, w must of sold in excess of 40 to 50 of those Regas ), AL 6000 did quite the feat, we know first hand.
Then we have the AL 8300 series. Again using the same 6000 series transport however with a 8300 level amplifier. Offering more than just power over the 6000, it add more texture and emotionality to the music. More control as well. Hovering at about 3,000.00 or so. So this makes now 3 offering of 2 box solutions.
So perhaps we should say is our 4rth, is give it to AL to come out not that long ago a AL CDQ all in one CD, DAC, PRE-Amp and a phono stage that is not negligible and further more offering much more than what this implies. Just the CD portion of this machine is a 8300 CD player... with many more bells and whistles.
We have opted to invest with AL power mono blocks. Made to be mated with the above CDQ, la piece de resistance is that both these components were designed to be played together. Absolute power mated with texture and smoothness. The mono's are not meek and mild, their 250 WPC, will make one think of the grip that the likes of Naim, Krell, Exposure and Sugden possess. Does power absolutely corrupt, absolutely it does. Coming in at over 5,200.00 for the pair, they both compete with most of not all 2 box solutions that I know of. The CDQ can also be used with a smaller AL amplifier ( 200 wpc ) or other power amplifiers from other companies. Im looking forward to combining the CDQ with the Atoll AM 200 power amplifier. Something will tell me that it should be another special combo... I will advise at a later date.
On official display once fully burned in. As all that is stated on this website, we have them all on actual display just for you folks.
Trigon in Ottawa
It is a relatively new line up at SPI, since 2016. It's placed where it belongs, in the middle to upper high ground of high end audio within our walls. The line up starts at somewhere between 4-5,000.00 and up from there.
JMR Euterpe Jubilee received honors
Join us on the fun with several JMR models on comparative display, a real first for us ever. Our Euterpes will be on one system, while both our Abscise and Cantabile models will alternate. Folks will be able to hear what the magic is about with this brand. A unique experience awaits those who come and visit us.
Dates and details to follow very soon.
Zut alors... the story about the Linn LP 12 we work on.
I was working on a real vintage LP 12, once owned by a well-known LP 12 fella down south that passed away. That table was definitely old, had been repaired but one sensed that it has been respected and taken care of throughout its life. He was a precise in his ways, nice to see for a change.
I had to replace the arm... and even though vintage 12s are easy to work on, you hit rules of un- intended consequences. I hate those, this one, the previous owner's ghost was throwing them at me nonstop. Lot of parts with LP 12's, but once I was in the middle of the job with that vintage 12, it dawned on me it was like I had thrown a grenade or 2 on my benches. I should have taken a pic or 2, I always do, I now regret it.
Just that pic alone would have explained why I had to walk away of this outside LP 12 work and only do ours. But admittingly it would have been cool for you guys to see before and after. Once the structure is all good and built, then we must proceed to adjusting it as well as to oiling, adjusting symmetry, VTA, Cart alignment, etc . A lot of good work there, but this work will come back to me after I retire to make a bit of red wine money (don't freak out u mother's. ..I'm not retiring !!! ;)).
Roger and I will be adding a lot of LP 12 pics of some tables that could not be saved, and to many new ones that were pictured in different state of dress. I started to take pics of my work about one hundred, or more tables ago. I did not count, but let's say... LOTS. Never thought of starting from the get go... problem, cell and digital cameras did not exist then.
In the new year, I will explain what has been affected in our new Analogue ways and what has not. It will be clear and concise. Something tells me it will be a heavy year where new LP 12 sales are going to be at.
Just make sure you enjoy the pics when we upload them. Cheers.
Trigon in Ottawa
It is a relatively new line up at SPI, since 2016. It's placed where it belongs, in the middle to upper high ground of high end audio within our walls. The line up starts at somewhere between 4-5,000.00 and up from there.
In 2017, this one TRiGON line up managed to amass 2 the best shows within our walls where transistor gear is involved. They have fronted 2 Nordost yearly events. The Trigon Trinity all in one, managed to be awarded THE component of the year ( Called POYA awards ) in 2016, surpassing our own Sim Audio Ace. In one of the first Nordost events, The Trigon Energy blew away the entire group of attendees, being backed by nobody else than a Volents Paragone VL 3.5 speakers. People still recall this event and the performance they heard, yes still. One of our crew possesses a TRIGON amplifier, just try to take this amp from Steves dead cold prying hands. As Judas Priest song sing...you got another thing coming
Trigon will now effectively see growth in our main upper line ups. The sound is on the complex side to explain, but think it better to come and see our TRIGONS right here at SPI. Like most folks will have experienced, hearing TRIGON will not leave you indifferent. We promise !
TRIGON EXXACT amplifier
We have sold several, and as I stated, even trying to gets Steve's Exxact amplifier, would happen from his cold dead hands. At his age, that is bound to happen soon ;-)
The Exxact exudes much drama and flair. Its a quite exuberant amplifier, and it does all of this with poise and control. Playing this amp on JMR speakers is a near god send. The JMR's really get along with any of these Trigon amplifiers. On display for the month of July and August in our main room.
NEW and INTRODUCING
Upon our arrival after our August vacation, we will be looking forward in introducing the much awaited and anticipated Audio Note Cobra, a full 8 months after having received this. This amplifier is the latest from AN, but because of the pandemic, and the consequent retail closures worldwide, this is its first introduction most likely in Canada. Not to be taken lightly, our Audio Note AN-K speakers will be doing the honors on a Funk Firm Gett turntable.
The AN-K is a miniature AN-J or AN-E. Possessing virtually the same build quality as both its brothers, it is made to be used in small to medium small rooms. High Quality stands are a necessity. Banner with date will soon appear on our home page.
Will will follow through this set up with of course... Audio Note cables. AN-C with classic Lexus speaker cable, we have no choice, the K's are that good and musical. Looking forward to seeing you all , But due to Covid we must pencil in your visit.
ALL NEW
Many of our back orders have arrived while we were closed. Rushing the burn in process of our new Naim gear, Linn streamers and speakers, Audio Note analogue, new Audio Note arms with AX VX cables, a full load of Audio Note cables AND speaker jumpers. Just as lock down arrived between the 2nd and third wave, Jean Marie Reynaud Lunna, Bliss and Euterpe arrived, these remain un played with few hours on them. Both are exceptional.
This pandemic did cause the departure of some new arrival line up in the last several month through no fault of our own. Sad as we has been building up our new " just in " inventory for our clients. We have taken measures for this not too happen again. June / July will see not only new gear from Audio Note, but we will be bringing in most if not all of the expensive AN gear we removed as the pandemic started.
Our first day back, Kris and I started to organize a display gear front row again. Again in the NEW category, with more too come more Linn is being brought in as we speak. Our demo Linn LP 12 and those ordered for our clients, will see the building process start happening very soon. Linn LP 12 parts have also begun to come in. NEW Wireworld products, analogue accessories and so much more.
Without swamping you with too much information, I will add that our Clearance page will soon me uploaded. Lastly, to date, we are trying to figure out how to navigate with the sea quest of changes happening in the business world. We have managed very well, despite the many turmoil's we have seen in the last close to 18 months. See you all soon folks. I must say, its nice to be back.
Linn Lp 12
Our return into service will be done efficiently as we can, however we will be entertaining some delays with our Linn Lp 12 works, repairs and rebuilds. We have several new Linn LP 12's that we need to build from the ground up. I will make sure I place some pictures of this work on this very website. I even have some pics of a rather intensive repair and refurbishment job that I did right before Xmas for one of our clients. The client was very happy, both for the work done (he had never heard it sound so good) and for the fact I busted both nuts delivering said refurb right before Xmas.
For our new clients, we only use original Linn parts, as well as belts for your Lp 12. We also have most likely the worlds largest LP 12 micro parts selection. Where our approach to fixing your LP 12 up... Expect a wait time, as we do these repairs without rush, always...and I mean... always. With the departure of Steven, I should be able to use his desk to work on any table, this fact should help make the process faster.
Lastly, on a particular forum ( CAM ) its stated that we do not fix Lp 12 anymore. At the time, when the gent called us, our Steven stated we did not and he was right. I needed to take a break from fixing tables. Soon after that time, I did return back after taking a 2 year break. I can now say I keep a smile on my face when I fix your beloved Lp 12's.
About Audio Note
So it goes we have been doing AN for a very long time, in fact we remain the one original AN retailer in North America. Its our longest serving line up. We get many calls about this line up, but we also get folks asking us how much these gems cost 2 to 3 times a week. We stopped providing retail pricing more than several years ago. We did notice links for such enquiries with the same AN skew being offered as used by on liners on all sales forums... 100% of the time. Here is a funny punch line, we've never received a thank you for responding, 100% of the time. Why we only provide pricing at time of your AN demonstration. Lastly, since this is made very clear and visible on our website, why we choose not to respond.
SPI carries much display of AN gear, most likely more than any retailer in Canada. This brand is expensive to entertain. Always has been. But since Covid has hit the world, the wait times match the wait times for Magnepan. Deposits are required before we proceed with any purchase order. I can say this without smirk, listening to AN gear, and where this sound will bring you, is well worth the wait.
We're looking to see if our realities will allow us to have our yearly annual AN event. Time will tell.
How our return may play out.
We can venture we will be hit hard. We're officially opening up next week. This week has reserved how our return to commercial activity will be... we suspect it will be hectic and you folks will keep us very busy. With our Stevie Wonder out of the picture and retired, there will be some dancing and adapting on our parts. Right our of the gate, we will be catching with quite a few clients. Organizing our shop will be the order of the day in this first week.
We will have to catch up with a phenomenal 6 Linn LP 12 work orders, plus 2 new builds. Its a lot of work. We have simplified our Tables offerings. Now we carry Linn and Funk Firm. Our entry will be met by a complete Linn system for a few weeks, then a Naim system. Magnepan is extremely popular at this time, so we will need to respond and make sure our floor models are playing hard and plenty good for this summer.
We will be taking a shortened vacation time sometime in August when most are away. We will know more later as to timing.
Other than that, the above carries us well into August. So plenty to going on this summer. Our website will equally be kept vibing and vibrant.
Linn all in one units.
I rushed a buying spree in late 2020, hastily preparing for what seemed for our 2nd Covid lock down. I was right, it happened. Without skipping a beat, this permitted me to burn in at home some most wonderful gear. The Naim Star took forever to burn in. When the markets came back in active mode, Naim was front and center, because burning was central on the Naim side of things. We've been doing Naim long enough to know how a burned in Naim unit sounds like. But before we had time to fully burn in our Naim, we were facing a 3rd lock down. So Naim came back home and burn in continued. I am happy to report that our Naim is now burned in.
As stated in another article, I am glad to say our return will be full of these 1 box wonders that are very musical and yes high end in every way. But both these lines have been sculpted and as for Naim reduced in order to make sense in our present market place. There are some wait times associated with both lines, but not as much as some of our other line up. Our new beginnings will take shape with these types of products. So welcome back folks, so now you know what awaits you all.
Ottawa has it's own Cobra, as Vincent Belanger noticed, it bites...
Upon our return in April, after a very hectic weekend, our Cobra will finally be playing. The dates may be willy nelly due to Covid, but Im hoping to have it playing on our 1st day back at work on our shop floor. Reviews and interest are high, and this can be confirmed by a quick Google search. There are only so many words that we can state re: this Cobra amplifier, comes a time that we have to just play the bloody thing and let the AN Cobra have a final say.
I did not have the luxury of burning it in fully at home, so it will be doing just that in April at the shop. Of course there are other toys we are concerned with, in terms of optimizing them through burn in.
Below is a link with our celebrated Vincent having fun doing this video as an ambassador for Audio Note. Share a smile, high end audio does not have to be so serious all of the time. Lets be all fuddy duddy ;-)
Here we go again...
As 2021 rolled around as we reopened less than 4 weeks ago, we were taken aback by 3 things.
The first is how some folks have so much time to create mayhem and chaos for the small business owner... and how so quickly we maintained decorum and a strict sense of defence or firewalls to protect ourselves. We held the line against these vicious contemptable cretins. This was not our first rodeo, but we managed just fine considering the severity of it all but we lost much time doing so. Time loss was veritable in this case, we will make up for it.
The 2nd was how we are noticing some of our suppliers just disappearing without saying a word this year alone. We do eventually discover this happening... so we move on quietly. We will be supporting from within, shoring up our existing line ups. Much is being done with Naim, Linn and Audio Note at much expense. We will maintain our secondary line ups of course.
Then there may be a 3rd thing here, as Roger and I were finishing up after a weekend of working on our online space, once again, the latest Absolute Sound magazine with the 2020 components of the year awards, stated that Magnepan LRS, .7, 1.7's, 3.7's were amongst the worlds best for the up teeth time, again all of them, they are, product of the year. Really!!! This line is both a labor of love and a good move on our part. The line up has taken a shit kicking by way of what it cost us to ship here. The shipping has doubled in the last 2 years. But still we hold the line on our Maggies.
Towards the end of March, we will be setting up several models in both our dem rooms. Together with Trigon Reference streamer and Trigon amplifier, our maggies will sing well yet again . We can now see linkage between many who admire gear from afar, not committing to anything and lines quietly disappearing from the general national supply network. Perhaps the way of the world in our new reality. This story line is far from over, but let us continue our part in showing you all the importance of this industry. Music First, I say ;-)
Its been the best of times, its been the worse of times.
We are having a ball working for you all, however as I am discovering once again, living in an on line world has its downsides. Not to worry, we are seeing to this presto.
So it goes without saying, let it be said that its been rather R&R behind the scenes in the last 2 weeks. Consequently, we have a fair bit of catching up to do. This coming week, after Saturday March the 13th, we will be gearing for the final introduction of our Audio Note Cobra... finally. Final listening sessions at home in the coming days.
There is much headway that we are working through. We are trying hard in bring in affordable BUT high end nonetheless. Why we finally will be receiving our Naim Nait series Cd player and amplifier. A bit of a wait, but its expected in the next few days. Of course these will be burned in on site. We no longer have the luxury of burning in our gear off site. But this also means world class gear for those on a budget, on site faster, we promise.
Our new Linn gear will also see the light of day, we have these, still awaiting our Linn LP 12 that is back ordered for perhaps another month. We will combine JMR's speakers with a Linn DSM. Acoustic Solid table awaits the union. The Linn DSM will be taking over from the not shy, pull no punches Naim Uniti Star.
The one JMR that will be playing will be the often unlucky JMR Euterpe Jub...in our on again, off again Covid closures. I had a really joyful time at Xmas time burning in our new JMR Bliss Jub. It played on several amps at home, I will even show you some pics of the set ups upon your visit. The Euterpe's will joining in on the fun in a week or two. Expect wait times upon ordering, but they remain far shorter than the Harberth wait times.
We will be adding to our Clearance page very soon… behind the scenes drama set us all back regarding these issues. We should have these uploaded in a jiff folks. Hang tight.
By the way, as we speak, we are quite busy with appointments or RV's. Its the only ways we do our biz. Many new faces dont know this, and although Kris is more than happy to oblige sometime, we will start to ascertain our by appointment demonstrations. We can accept no more than 3-4 appointment's per work day. Each set up takes approx 1 hour to prepare and dismantle and place out of the way. So with our limited availabilities…
DEMONSTRATIONS BY APPOINTMENT
On this note, see you later folks. Once again thanks for your support
NEW : We have started to organize behind the scenes all our new gear that will begin its introduction soon after our opening our doors again after our 2nd wave. Much will need to be introduced, but it will be neither here or there as internal visitations will be limited. One of our bedrooms at home is now full of new gear awaiting to be delivered on our business site. Our coco bird is somewhat pissed off at me ( its his room being invaded )... so is my wife, oh well. Stand by, it will be a quick start upon our return.
Audio Note TT -2 Deluxe with AN ARM 2
Arriving soon onto our shores and within our walls , we will have more than a few standard bearing turntables . All on actual display. Why we will need to prepare for our opening, as supporting the amount of turntables takes room. Remember folks, once settled in onto their own shelves, they should not be moved. Let us plan out on having some analogue fun soon enough.
Re: Linn LP 12. Our Linn order will arrive in a few days. However our Linn Krane arm will be back ordered. It seems the Linn Krane is in very high demand world wide, so will need to await our turn in that line up. So sorry folks.
Audio Note Meishu NEW
This AN Meishu will finally be introduced on our floor in a few weeks time. Its truly one of the best in the world. Much like our Audio Note Cobra that we have been awaiting for a long time. They will be seen and heard by you folks pretty soon we dare say folks.
Funk Firm mats NEW
Well we lied, their not new, but they are quite popular. We carry a lot of them but have had some run in's with the 3mm format. We ordered all colors before Xmas 2020...but alas UPS lost them all. So we emptied our our supplier, we have 1 Blue and a shitload of Black. We will order plenty more in every color, including new green.
Jean Marie Reynaud, Lunna, NEW.
Now playing in our main room
We did just receive our new load of affordable Wireworld cables , more is expected . Interconnects, speaker cables, jumpers, power cords and the list goes on. This is part of "We're listening approach" in investing to offering more to our younger clients that are just starting out.
Our JMR Bliss are burning in with our Naim UNITI STAR at home at the present. Sounding good right out of the box, they shall not take much time before being brought into our shop walls. This cannot be said of our Naim Star, it is starting to sound but only after some 200 or so hours of burn in. Its sounding better and better as burn in wears on.
Hello again folks, let's try for a happier 2021 year ahead of us.
It will be difficult to discern, but our website will be seriously tweaked, yet again. It will simply reflect what is going on in our audio market place.
Overarching all this excitement, for a time, is that dark cloud above our heads called Covid. We suspect it will bring into collapse so many good people and business' everywhere. Despite this, my team and I will make sure we keep a close eye on this drama. Once again we say, we are ready and in really fine shape. We can carry this fight for a really long time.
This was a first year that many of our old clients did not receive a note from me at years end. I had barely managed to hold on, such we were kept so busy.
So I say here to our old clients ( and new one's as well ), thank you for standing at our side and supporting us in those so many years. You are all deeply appreciated by all of us here. We look forward to seeing you all after the storm has subsided. Please have a safe New Year.
Linn calls this " the first step into serious Hi Fi, we agree. The Linn Majik 140's have been in production for 15 years, and without a doubt I am quite certain these have been refreshed like most companies would do this. They have the capacity to be placed in active mode, or passive. They are relatively full range, more so in active mode ( you need a full Linn system to go active ), and they still sell well worldwide. We recommend combining the 140's with a Linn system, but hint hint, Naim components have always went extremely well with Linn speakers ( but one will be incapable of going active ). BTW, the inverse was also true, when Naim made their own speakers Linn always sang beyond near belief when associated Naim speakers.
We will look forward to demonstrating our entire Linn set up's later in the year when Covid starts to leave us.
Welcome back Linn Hi Fi just in time for 2021.
The many new insertions of bigger companies is our contribution to maintaining the best we can a steady and stronger supply chain for our clients. This attempts in pushing this through will be solidified this beginning in 2021. By providing Linn we will be able to provide added options where technology are concerned. From either Exactbox technology, analogue Linn Lp 12 parts and repairs and display, amplifiers and streamer. Also add to this Linn active speaker. Our orders were just on the verge to being sent, but have been delayed as Covid shutdowns are happening worldwide, including in Scotland.
We are hoping to receive the many skews very soon.
Having received all our JMR speakers right on the 24th of December, well we could not demonstrate these until this new year. On January 9th, the only day where we were open to prepare our pending closing, we hurriedly open and placed our JMR Lunna's and listened to these. I was the first to be taken aback, and quite so. Having called Kris over, he to was taken aback, and yes, quite so. Upon setting these up, the JMR Lunna's displayed a great sense of Holography and coherence while sounding extremely organic... OUT of the box. Small in stature, these will be good in small to medium size rooms, and the Anigre finish ( think 1st generation JM Labs Utupia's, right, you know what we mean ), mean the looks match the sheer volumes of class and musicality.
As I write this now, the replacements of JMR Bliss have been taken out of the box at home and will see burn in on a Naim Uniti Star, which need more burning. Entry of these models will be when we open up again.
As we just started dealing with Linn, we did notice plenty of new components that were just starting to be released into the market place. Then when it was time we bit, these many new moves from Linn were available to be brought in into the Ottawa market place. It was an easy insertion.
What comes out as NEW and revised, are the Linn Lp 12, a NEW Krane analogue arm, the NEW Karousel bearing which we will all have on display on our sales floor.
Entirely revised and NEW Majik DSM and NEW Sekrit DSM. But we will also receive NEW Linn Majik 140 speakers. We will be adding further to these skews. I have a good idea, but shhhh, its a state secret for now. We will be able to demonstrate a full Linn system and for those many that have not heard any Linn, perhaps when the markets open up again, well, give us a call.
Welcome Naim and Focal
Promises that will need...
...to wait their introductions once again. We promised bringing in much of our AN gear back into play so many new folks can see for themselves what the hub bub is about. We decided not to proceed as long as we were closed to Covid. We did this for security reasons. As we enter the very dark period before us, I look beyond this tragedy and actually look forward to opening up again. What I miss most, and I am certain my crew, are those small informal events focused on specific lines that are telegraphed way ahead of time on this very website, and our AN has been cherished in this regards. Once we are okay to open up again, well, Kris and I will start doing our magic on our sales floor. It will be a fair bit of work bringing all our AN gear back.
Looking forward to also display Linn and Naim. We have now uploaded our Events and LOUNGE376 web key. Look for those keys in a sub menu.
We further look forward to updating what became our most popular web page ever, our TESTING 1,2,3 web page. On this webpage, I simply go about detailing how we go about testing our gear so we can actually know what the gear does and how well it performs under real life conditions. Its quite a good read actually as is. But it will be much improved.
So we will be keeping ourselves plenty busy and we look forward to initiating our delayed plans into reality in a few months time. Until then, stay safe.
JMR on display
As we are arriving at our JMR demo days, 1 week late of course, we will be providing comparisons between our Bliss Anniversary and our La Folias Jubs. We are expecting our Bliss Jubilee and or the revered Lucia sometime this summer. Comparisons of this sort are rare, but with our new dem-IN shop system instilled last April, we can do exactly that for folks that like to do this sort of thing... of course you do, we all do ( This new venture will not be limited only to JMR products ).
It might be said that the Folia has more in common with the Bliss Silver, but walking with a smaller stick, lighter on feet, and it will be fun if not important to hear the differences. The Lucia is said to be quick and fleet footed, giving breath and a sense of airiness and pin point accuracy where instrumentation are concerned. Why not decide for yourselves and test the journalist that are lucky enough to write about such audio product. If we are to rely on JMR feedback, La Folia focus of attack will be more towards the Bliss Jubilee than the Anniversary. I do admit the Bliss anniversary are loved. Another point of contentions, odd it may be, European audiophile that are JMR fans have been buying the La Folia and Lucia's in droves. I believe folks here are awaiting the Bliss Jubs.
Fun in the sun for sure. Driving duties will be via several companies. The system will be at the level that is somewhat real world and reaching towards the high end. Coming sometime in June... one of many Saturday events ! A first we believe anywhere.
More of these set ups will take place as the year progresses
PS : One of the best review magazines worldwide has adopted the The Jean Marie Reynaud Lucia in permanence in their office system
Trigon in Ottawa
It is a relatively new line up at SPI, since 2016. It's placed where it belongs, in the middle to upper high ground of high end audio within our walls. The line up starts at somewhere between 4-5,000.00 and up from there.
In 2017, this one TRiGON line up managed to amass 2 the best shows within our walls where transistor gear is involved. They have fronted 2 Nordost yearly events. The Trigon Trinity all in one, managed to be awarded THE component of the year ( Called POYA awards ) in 2016, surpassing our own Sim Audio Ace. In one of the first Nordost events, The Trigon Energy blew away the entire group of attendees, being backed by nobody else than a Volents Paragone VL 3.5 speakers. People still recall this event and the performance they heard, yes still. One of our crew possesses a TRIGON amplifier, just try to take this amp from Steves dead cold prying hands. As Judas Priest song sing... you got another thing coming
Trigon will now effectively see growth in our main upper line ups. The sound is on the complex side to explain, but think it better to come and see our TRIGONS right here at SPI. Like most folks will have experienced, hearing TRIGON will not leave you indifferent. We promise !
Audio Note systems display
December 8th yearly farewell xmas send off will spell a few firsts of a new introductions of Audio Note gear. These December events, we always use our classic AN-E's as the front man for our desired and designed systems. We also tend to use quite elaborate AN gear as well.
This year, we will be using its little brother, the AN-K speaker system. Its imperative that the appropriate AN stands back the AN-k up. Something we will be having of course.
As to having a world class AN source, we will be using a AN 4.1 x Cd player. Clearly one of the best in the world. Have not decided where we head on the analogue front.
As to amplification, well, let it be said that we will be reasonable, something we are not usually on those days. We will be using one of the most used amplifiers that AN uses at show fest. The AN OTO SE Signature. One of the best in the world. We may opt to use my baby, the AN Meishu as well. God audio can be viciously fun. Either way, the one that will not play, will be used in shop for the remainder of the week following December 8th.
Cables will of course be all Audio Note, from the Lexus to the Sogon and across those in between models. As far as AN goes, on that day, other if I pull a switch on amplifiers, it would be one of the most affordable AN systems to date.
Novembers AN system, Kris will be building a real affordable AN system around the AN P1, M1, Aqua DAC, but for a week, Tannoys REVOLUTIONs 8F's will be used. After our full week is done, then we will also be using a coup de grace with a very special and classic model called the TRIANGLE Antal EZ.
Of course, AN cables will be power for the course.
She begins early on Saturday the 10th of November. Our AN display ends on the 24th. No appointments necessary.
Our private affair. How high can we go folks ! Watch us go.
On this entirely different plain, Audio Note will be sharing the lime light with a few others... equally great companies. For those that have good memory, as far back as 2012, our variant system will be sharing quite a few attributed.
Not intending to let go of the surprises that are reserved in that private affair or ours, let me say, that it will be certainly one for the books. We are heading quite with a rare and elevated Audio Note variant system. Even Audio Note show fest systems will pale in comparison, this system will be at a very high level of play.
So it goes without saying that on that evening, our friends will be sharing plenty of laughs and yes, music and spirits to boot. I even plan on staying the night at the shop to continue listening at this system after all have left... may not be there next day, but my boys will take care of you all. How do you guys like them apples ! Life is tough, we do need to roll with it sometimes.
Comedy aside, this is by strictly by invite special evening.
Copland KT 120 amplifier
How many systems are we supposed to have playing for you fine folks... countless I say. The more the merrier Santa Claus would say, its never enough James Bond would say, well, you guys get my point.
An entirely different flavor, and with a lot more power to spare. In many ways, this one system is the one to remember because of what I will be placing around what is one of the best tube amplifiers bargains around. This is the only system where an analogue rig will be front row and center. Our Copland ports a 4 tube internal phono stage and pushes with relative ease approx. 75 wpc. It's all academic.
Acoustic Solid table take the honors. As many know, our shop is kept to busy to play vinyl, but we will make it a point before our holidays, but for a brief while.
Just to make matters better as in good, better and best, I intend to play with your emotions on this set up. Some of our guys will forget where the exit to our shop is. It will be easy to do this, The Tannoy Kensington's will do this every time. These need no introductions whatsoever.
So in a matter of 5-6 weeks, SPI will have played more than 7 different Oxford systems, with many to spare. I have not even mentioned our complete Line Magnetic system on Audio Note AN-Z speakers playing in our green room late October for more than a week.
However debuting December 13th our Copland affair will cap off a cherry on all our Sunday's. Great I could not find a better way to finish off our 2018 together.
So a happy and merry Christmas are in order folks.
We finish off our 2018 with JMR
Should there have been a brand that has closely honed in its careful attention to its sound and design detail in general, JMR would be on top of many list. Extremely well know on the Euro front, it still makes people think aloud here on this side of the pond. The feedback is all good, no surprise really.
Already in high mileage mode here with us, our JMR models have already acquired 2 main shows at the OXFORD Reference level : In October of 2017, mated with our ROKSAN BLAK series, and in May, our second NORDOST show. As Bruno ( Nordost master of ceremony ) privately said to me privately... "the speakers are really good". This man has listened to a lot of great speakers in his day. We concur.
Even our very own Kris is likely to buy a pair of 7K JMR Cantabile. Kris is a prickly listener.
For the better part of January, 2 French brands will be highlighted within our walls.
Jean Marie Renaud family, sound is everything.
What is not to like about JMR, clearly walking the line between organic and detail.
Our JMR Bliss, the near baby of the line, has in and for the past 3 months through its burn in process amassed a little army of fans. Coming at you at several levels of shadings, open dynamics, transparency, timbral richness and an emotional maturity that comes shining through the music. These we say are unique sounding, and equally at home with good transistors and yes, tubes. Somewhat inexpensive in high end ways, its will be for your emotional listener, and we really think they are superlative on classical and acoustic music, of the highest order.
Their sonic signature of our Bliss as well as our Euterpe Supreme is reminiscent of our much more expensive Audio Note AN-E’s that so many love here in Ottawa.
Our Eutrepe Jubilee : As many know we burn in our models near and fully, everyone of them. Unlike the JMR Bliss, our Euterpe Supreme held their secret for nearly a full month of burning in. Once the burn in was nearly and done with, the ES provide quite the homogeneous impression as well as being quite transparent. Spatial information was there in spades we all noticed, room ambiance as well as air around clapping hands. A clear window inside the room and the performance all the while maintaining JMR’s distinctive warmth. It relays abundant texture and a wide array of what some call diverse nodal interplay, something one does not get for the less than 4 k price. Typically French performer, offering spontaneity, naturalness of delivery, and what I hear is incredible nuance within the musical message. We expect to do well with this speaker, and for good reason.
Our Cantabile Jubilee : What many Euro journalist call one of the best pound for pound speaker for the price anywhere. Spatial information and an absolute capacity to lay out everything that the music has to offer. Even if you want it or not. Incredible extension, and elegant in manner, style and precision in all matters of music. Note the word, elegant. For those that cannot afford the best, but who would want to have a hint of what other do at a much expensive level. More dynamic, than our ES, it offers plenitudes of imaging, and a word to the wise, gear begins to matter at this level.
Our Abscisse Jubilee : Touching a tad less than 5 figures, and just when you think you have tempered the JMR line in ones mind, one clearly goes into another level. Think Volent but with less attitude, a more forgiving and organic delivery as well as that pure Volent predisposition to lays pretty much everything on the line... but our AA’s does it with more softness, some would call soul. Sonics play at what would say an entirely different level, and while one listen to our AA’s, one gets the picture why our Cantabiles come in where they come in, these hint at where our AA’s play at. Another level of texture, transparency, ambience, homogeneous delivery, utter extension and a smooth, organic and full midrange without being soggy, and a full and very clean bass line. A word to the wise, only incredible gear need apply to drive these.
Should one be interested in listening to these marvels, by all means, give us a call. All of the above require an appointment with no exception.
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What else can we say, one of our pound for pound prized fighter's within our walls, sonic's are simply sublime!
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Between 3 Conquerors in our past, 2 models upper levels Conq's on display, and our own fan fabulous Audio Note Meishu, we have our Audio Note fans covered in a big way, like no where else. Check out our Audio Note show later this year... a SPI classic show that happens once a year.
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Audio Note SOGON cables
The funniest joke surrounds this very product... why Sogon...well we do warn you in advance... : say SO-GONE to your money. An extremely serious product for like minded folks.
Audio Note Meishu
Reputation or lore and near myths, a substantial one box wonder house of musicality.
Audio Note cables
Audio Note Cables, Lexus at all levels, coming soon. We carry more AN cables than anybod, period !!!
Wireworld cables
An introduction and wide array of of highly compatibly cables at all level
Jean Marie Reynaud La Folia
The one that somewhat replaced the all time classic JMR Bliss.
Audio Note OTO Signature amplifier
Speaking of one of the worlds best, one of the most beautiful sounding amplifiers. A real classic.
Trigon
NeoT Nemoi cables
Audio Note new replacements of AN-K, AN-E
JMR series of speakers
from La Folia to the Abscise
Ottawa has it's own Cobra, as Vincent Belanger noticed, it bites...
Upon our return in April, after a very hectic weekend, our Cobra will finally be playing. The dates may be willy nelly due to Covid, but Im hoping to have it playing on our 1st day back at work on our shop floor. Reviews and interest are high, and this can be confirmed by a quick Google search. There are only so many words that we can state re: this Cobra amplifier, comes a time that we have to just play the bloody thing and let the AN Cobra have a final say.
I did not have the luxury of burning it in fully at home, so it will be doing just that in April at the shop. Of course there are other toys we are concerned with, in terms of optimizing them through burn in.
Below is a link with our celebrated Vincent having fun doing this video as an ambassador for Audio Note. Share a smile, high end audio does not have to be so serious all of the time. Lets be all fuddy duddy ;-)
Promises that will need...
...to wait their introductions once again. We promised bringing in much of our AN gear back into play so many new folks can see for themselves what the hub bub is about. We decided not to proceed as long as we were closed to Covid. We did this for security reasons. As we enter the very dark period before us, I look beyond this tragedy and actually look forward to opening up again. What I miss most, and I am certain my crew, are those small informal events focused on specific lines that are telegraphed way ahead of time on this very website, and our AN has been cherished in this regards. Once we are okay to open up again, well, Kris and I will start doing our magic on our sales floor. It will be a fair bit of work bringing all our AN gear back.
Looking forward to also display Linn and Naim. We have now uploaded our Events and LOUNGE376 web key. Look for those keys in a sub menu.
So we will be keeping ourselves plenty busy and we look forward to initiating our delayed plans into reality in a few months time. Until then, stay safe.
From here to there... what are we doing with 2 different Meishu's
When we received our first AN Meishu, we were barely able to achieve 100 or so hours on it before we had to move on with other gear to burn in. Of course, we will have to get back to this burning in of our Meishu Line. No sooner than our thought process is wrapping up around its new sound signature ( some if not many folks will not bother to read the date of on line reviews, so should you have read an older review, older Meishu's do sound different than newer Meishu's ). Since the Meishu is approximately 25 years old already, there are "3" versions of it.
On display
Out of the box the Meishu Line ( Basic model ) the sonic signature sounds warm and inviting... from the get go, it lets go of the note. After the first 10 or so hours, the Meishu Line becomes highly involving with what can be better described as the space and the silence between the notes, especially the former. Its a breathy amplifier, basically music comes out gushing at you like a tidal wave, folk, Chamber, well crafted pop, symphonic, you play it, better get ready to have and hear that same music delivered to you in a natural and a very expansive real way. Where the Audio Note Meishu's come at you in the macro dynamic level, this would not be so scary, if it were not in its exemplary Micro approach to music that equals its Macro level of play. One senses become in a way, overloaded and jubilent at hearing so much. Of course one assumes you are placing a equal quality source.
Where this amplifier has a grandeur about its delivery of music, The Audio Note Meishu assails you in a bigger way with the "small stuff", its micro dynamics. It is here that upon hearing these Meishu's, any one of the newer models, one senses has a tough time at first, in trying make sense of the veritable sonic buffet that is assailing ones sense. It takes a few hours to calm down in a way after you start listening, and yes even if your used to working in the audio world all the time stuff, one understands why in quite quick fashion, why they still make this amplifier 25 or so years later. I cannot explain nor will not write about everything this does (make sure you attend our next by invite AN show), but without much thinking, one ultimately knows that the Meishu is a real special product. The Meishu is not for everyone, to be sure.
Speaking of being sure, just as some of you are blinking hard with what I just wrote, well, the Audio Note Meishu Line is the starting point in the AN Meishu series. There has never been a Meishu fronting any AN show here. Nearly happened, but not enough burning in and by our April 2019 AN show. I am quite rigid on playing only gear ( any gear ) that is fully burned in within our company walls.
So here walks in for the true prima donna it is, the top of the heap Meishu Silver Signature Phono. Quite literally, what was implied above with the basic model, well, I can assuredly attest, it will be 2 or 3 times the sonic results, with added silence, inner detail that is somewhat bewildering and a kind of scary dynamic that ressembles the Audio Note Jinro on a smaller scale. Yet we are dealing still with a "mere" 300B tube.
Some may have read on line that the OTO Signature is as good as a Meishu Line. I say, "Yeah, go ahead, think that". We all know how the OTO is great, any OTO, from basic to OTO signature. As special as the OTO is or any SORO's are, they are not... Meishus. How do we know, well we also have a basic OTO and an OTO Signature on display and equally have sold a few SORO's in our long past with AN, yeah right here in Ottawa... how do you guys like them apples. The Audio Note Meishu stands apart and actually should btw!
On display as well
Now back at our Meishu's, one or both are bound to be within our shop wall this year. They are massive big beasts, and can easily become either part of a swan song system or a retirement systems as old audiophiles make one final statement about their life long love of audio and musical paths. Actually what I just stated here is not a light statement. Being a special component in high end, is if your lucky enough, quite special. Deciding on what is really special and making this part of your life, is more than really special, its a damn fine place to be at in one's life.
The Audio Note Meishu's is really just a beyond word special product that makes one stretch in your listening chair as you prepare music, and place your hands behind your head, and think, life is good... no kind folks, I can wager you will be thinking... its beyond damn good.
PS: For those that demand better, well, we even have better Audio Note than our top of the line Meishu, and yes those that like to have everything proven, let us prove how great both our OTO's play at... maybe you people will be entitled to be the same feeling that life can be damn fine for you as will.
All present and near future planned system of the month and both spring events are suspended due to exceedingly high demands on our services. These will come back at a later date.
Details are being worked out as this is being written. We intend to be playing vinyl once again. A rather simple yet elaborate set up. Cables by Audio Note, phono stage by TRIGON. What we will be after is proving that tubes can be as dynamic as all hell, we will be providing jump factor galore. The 845 tube will be front and center, as well as The Audio Note Cd player which is the worlds best.
There may be a surprise Audio Note Meishu, a rare glimpse at quite literally the worlds best tube amplifier in the world. April is the month. Speakers are being decided upon. So this event is taking place. This is a Lounge376 level event. We suspect a March 13th or 20th date event, more details will appear soon.