How to pimp your Audio Note M2 Phono

1. Personal taste: the knobs

Usually the Audio Note M2 Phono will be delivered with golden knobs. Honestly speaking I do not really like this appearance as I prefer it more unpretentious. Most of you might not be aware about it but Audio Note also offers various DIY components, indeed control knobs, too. Consequently I ordered a set of four black knobs via Germany´s official distributor. I have chosen gloss black types (not matt black) as these perfectly match with the reflecting front. Nominal diameter of the knobs is 26 mm, furthermore you need to check the positions of the screw borings in relation to the knob markings (there are two different types available: "aligned" = boring and marking at the same position and "not aligned" = boring and marking turned 180° to each other). You even can order new components with knobs in your preferred color. Later - as in my case - the knobs can also easily be changed by means of a hex wrench as they are fixed with simple grub screws only.

My Audio Note M2 Phono, now with black knobs

Sun Audio Uchida Model SV-2A3H - Special Edition by 2A3 Maniac and Analog Tube Audio

This is the preliminary (happy) end of a very long journey. As some of you might know I am a fan of the Sun Audio Uchida 2A3 amp for more than ten years. Initially an article about this amp written by Roland Kraft and published in the German Hifi Exklusiv magazine 01/1994 awoke my interest (see that article at the end of this blog post). At that time I still was infected by the tube amp virus but the symptom "single ended triode freak" was not visible at all. Anyway, my infection got worse and worse and around 2005 I finally bought my first 2A3 amp, it was a More Fidelity Musiqa No. 3. Later on I remembered the kit of Masaho Uchida again and simply for my general interest I kept in touch with Robert Graetke of Analog Tube Audio, who assembled these kits in Germany (and still does nowadays). Fortunately he was located close to my home town and finally I visited him in spring 2010. I had the opportunity to hear his own Sun Audio 2A3 in comparison to my 2A3 amp and then my decision was crystal clear: I had to order a kit at Europe´s official distributor Acoustic Dimension (Peter de Bruyn) and let it assemble by Robert. And I did - that´s how it all began. I started sharing my thoughts and experiences and 2A3 Maniac was born.

Sun Audio Uchida Model SV-2A3H in operation

Sun Audio Uchida Model SV-2A3H - Special Edition by 2A3 Maniac and Analog Tube Audio

roehrenfieber.com: Meeting opportunity in Austria for DIY lovers from 31st Oct - 01st Nov 2020

Even in difficult times of COVID-19 there are brave hearts like Josef of roehrenfieber.com. Josef is organizing a DIY exhibition in the Landwirtschaftsschule Schlierbach (Klosterstraße 11, 4553 Schlierbach, Austria) from 31st Oct - 01st Nov 2020. The place is located approx. 100 km east of Salzburg/Austria respectively approx. 200 km west of Vienna/Austria. For further information, registration etc. please have a look to Josef´s website!

Audio Note M2 Phono and Vindicator Silver - test online on Hifistatement

As previously mentioned in my former post about the Audio Note Vindicator Silver, the test is online on hifistatement.net now. It is even a combined test together with my Audio Note M2 Phono. Unfortunately it is available in German language only, hopefully you will manage to deal with the language barrier! 

© by hifistatement.net

Sorry to say but some of you might notice that the photographer placed the 6SL7 driver tube and the 5R4GY rectifier tube in the wrong positions by changing their places... Obviously he had no problems to squeeze the tubes into the wrong sockets. What a mess!

Follow-up on broken Clearaudio Charisma V2

Thanks to my dealer PhonoPhono (Berlin) as well as to Clearaudio my brand new Charisma V2 (replacement) cartridge arrived a few days ago. Clearaudio checked my damaged pickup and explained that no repair was possible (honestly speaking that was indeed my expectation). Damn! Anyway, Clearaudio´s customers usually get a significant discount when buying a replacement cartridge and I did, too. So I am trying to forget my painful misfortune and enjoy listening music again!

Clearaudio Charisma V2 broken

Some days in my life I feel like stumbling from one misadventure to another. Just like today! Can you imagine the frustration having damaged your 1.5k Euro pickup? I´m not gonna tell you what went wrong here but draw a veil of silence over that matter. Anyway, the consequence is that something is missing here as you can (not) see...

Audio Note Vindicator Silver

A few days ago the stereo amplifier Audio Note Vindicator Silver arrived. It will replace my Sun Audio Uchida 2A3H special edition amp for a few weeks in my rack. The Vindicator will liaise with my M2 Phono via the AN-S Interconnect Pure Silver cable.

I assume it will be a perfect match but just a temporarily one as I got the Vindicator from distributor Audio Note Germany for testing purpose (thanks to Stefan Wörmer!). The test will be published most likely late summer on hifistatement.net.
  

Odeon Rigoletto 2020

As I conducted experiments almost over two decades with DIY open baffle loudspeakers, horn systems, transmission line solutions and all that stuff mostly in combination with full range drivers, time was come to search for a professional option. I always had the fun of the handicraft work in my focus and sometimes even created very interesting solutions which had its (sound) qualities in some special aspects. But I never created the Holy Grail of music reproduction which I always was hoping to get sometime...

Odeon Rigoletto 2020, veneer finish is called "Mappa"

2A3 Maniac strikes back!

Hi Folks!

Almost ten years ago I started my Blog 2A3 Maniac. After a more or less long-term absence from the scene it´s now time to strike back! Well, first of all I´d like to keep you updated regarding my former Blogs 2A3 Maniac and Für eine Handvoll Watt. The stuff I dealt with became more and more boring to myself and I got the feeling that I needed to get rid of outdated customs and practices. In the end this was the reason to leave them behind but also - for tracability reasons - to leave them online as they are. (For the period of two months or so I even set both blogs offline last summer to protect myself from many German lawyers who spammed the social media scene with written warnings. These strange freaks suspected their chance to earn money by facing web page owners with the accusation of not having characterized posts as advertisement - even if these were private on Instagram for instance... Bastards!)

Anyway, here we go again. You might have noted that I do not post any longer in my native German language. This is just to reach as many readers as possible by means of tearing down the language barrier. Even accepting errors and mistakes in my posts regarding grammar, phrases, syntax etc...

I f you can deal with that: stay tuned!
New content will follow soon.

Carsten