Tis02,

I know for sure my P3 Silver amp sitting on the Sistrum stand by Star Sound will sound better than most AN amps costing 4x more $$$ that sit on nothing. For some reason there is a belief that plunking down AN gear on a TV stand will do.

Spend $450.00 on a Sisrum SP-101 and set it on the FLOOR and get ready to enjoy your AN system like never before.

AN Sogon/Kondo KSL-LP cable is not the best wire for a system like yours. Crystal Cable Ultra/JPS Aluminata will destroy the Sogon/Ksl-LP wire.

glory April 02, 2009 11:30

I have just updated the pictures. The M2 has been replaced with a new M5-Sig. Fortunately, the kits still fit the TV cabinet or its top ;-)

Astrostar59, I am very happy wit my "new used" M5-Sig. Let me say a couple of words about it. I bought a used M5 in the UK and then I have discussed with AN-UK what a reasonable upgrade of that unit is. The PSU was exchanged to the newest one (so the 70% is totally new). The second upgrade was to the Signature level. As to PQ there is a large gap between the standard M5 and M6. The M5-Sig is a smack between M5 and M6 - Peter's original words :-).
Hence, this used unit is more or less a new one, the new version with two different line stage tubes - 5687 & ECC82 (so I could use my favorite Telefunken ECC802S) and copper/silver wound output Tx.

I use Telefunken everywhere in my setup where possible. I prefer colder sound especially at rock. I would describe the current sound as “not warm” (I don’t know where the border between warm and cold is) and very detailed. With Telefunken the sound gets an extra power and dynamics.

I can understand people that do not like the very detailed sound of the 300B. It took a lot of time to get the "sound of my taste". That was a "hard work" but very exciting (sometimes, I was depressed). During this phase of trying various tubes I got many different sounds. I have heard extreme details (pretty annoying) while the sound was not neutral enough. So I know how aggressive the music can be with not well matched set of tubes. There were still some instruments in the foreground (alternating guitar/piano/voice) and some in background (mostly percussions and cymbals, sometimes bass).

But the final result is absolutely amazing. I love the clear, wide and dynamic sound I currently do have (I haven’t heard such kind of reproducing bass, drums and percussions ever before – pretty close to live performance). All instruments are very natural and “juicy”.
I enjoy listening to my old hard rock CD's finally (I like when hard rock sounds a bit aggressive). I haven't found any CD so far that sounds bad (including bad recordings)!
I cannot find any actual weakness at the moment.

But…
I am playing with the idea of upgrading the output Tx in the Conquests to double C-core ones...
I do not want to change the character of the sound - I don't want to throw away all the hours already invested. But I feel it still can go better (especially at very complex tracks) with even more clearness and even more controlled bass.
I think the only possible way to do an upgrade without changing the entire character of sound is upgrading Conquest to Conquest-Silver or Silver-Signature (or just replacing the output Tx??). Eventually, a CDT2 -> CDT3 upgrade comes into consideration as well...

Can anybody share his own experience with such an upgrade?

What is the subject matter of the Conquest to Conquest-Silver upgrade – is it only a new output transformer or anything else too?
How the sound character is affected/enhanced by the Silver to Silver-Signature upgrade?

Thanks in advance

PS: I was told that exchanging speakers to the AN-E is a significant upgrade - but not yet, maybe later.

tis02 March 30, 2009 17:57

Hi Ugo,

I was very happy with my M2 - after several months of tube rolling I found the best tube set: Brimar 6X5GTY, Telefunken ECL82 and CBS 5962 (1957). The only problem was heavy metal (I listen to all kind of music, mostly jazz, acoustic guitar and hard rock).

Finally I bought a used M5 and let it upgraded to M5-Sig and the PSU to the newest one.

You are right, the M2 sounds totally different comparing with my new M5-Sig. I replaced immediately all standard tubes with the best ones (I read a lot beforehand, the tube rolling issue within the M3-M5 seemed to be pretty easy, without any doubt - all guys wrote the same). But I was not fully satisfied with the sound.
It took a lot of time to find the best tube combination. The tubes that worked so fine with the M2 preamp did not work with the M5-Sig at all.

I replaced the Siemens E88CC with a Telefunken in my DAC4.1x and the Philips rectifier to the Brimar 6X5GTY (my favourite rectifier for AN, better than Cryo-RCA). In addition, I had to replace the 6SN7 tube in Conquests. Finally, with the Sylvania 6SN7W black base chrome top the work was done! A huge improvement compared to the M2. The highs and midds are at least as good as with my old M2 but the bass, top end and dynamics are much better! The best sound I've ever heard from an audio equipment.
But I had to change the whole "tube setup". The former M2 setup did not work with the M5-Sig any more.
Now I am exceptionally satisfied and finally enjoy the music.

Tibor

PS: sorry for the extremely long delay

tis02 February 26, 2009 00:07

Hi
I am running an M3 factory 2006, with Bendix tubes in, superb sound. It got a lot more bass slam and depth from the normal tubes. I have a CD1, DAC 1.1, and a pair of conquest with TJ Solid mesh tubes and sylvania 1957 6SN7WGTAs.
Rest in the amps are philips. Tube in the DAC is a Mullard cryo.

Speakers I use are Zingali overture 2s 2006, and a REL sub, which integrates real nice.

On your system, and M3 would compliment the Conquest really well, a big step up. I would go for new M3 rather than second hand M5/6. The current M3 is amazing build and parts quality, and the higher models a lot more money for smaller jumps in quality. Let me know how it goes.
[email protected]

astrostar59 January 11, 2009 00:16

Hello,

Nice system.
Before buying a new preamp, test it at home with your own equipment. M2 and M3 have very different sounding and depending of what you like, it can be an improvment or not.

A meishu silver signature is also a possibility.

Enjoy

Ugo

ougo March 01, 2008 10:51

I have all AN system with all silver cables. I dare you to buy one Gabriel Gold Revelation interconnect and run it with your silver wire and see what happens.That's all you need is one

Used price $500.00.

glory January 21, 2008 13:14