Audio Note UK: We Are The Music Makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams.
Florida International Audio Expo 2024 Show Report By Steven R. Rochlin

  Yes, the very famous words by none other than the original Willy Wonka, a movie-famous chocolatier who single-handedly saved a society. Mr. Wonka was quite the eccentric inventor, a man who demanded only the very best... including using a waterfall to mix and churn his chocolate. What does any of this have to do with Audio Note UK?

Many within the industry have known Peter Qvortrup for decades; he is without a doubt a sensational showman. Peter is also the man who decades ago placed ads within print magazines with so many tweak / custom parts and bits that the text was nearly unreadable! Hand-wound silver transformers, Black Gate capacitors, non-magnetic Tantalum silver resistors, etc. The list read like Parts Porn for us solder-jockeys back in the day. It's like you'd call to buy an Oto SE and wind up buying an Audio Note Ongaku. How does something like that happen?

Well, let me tell you.

First, for those of us who've invested the time to visit Peter in the UK, his LP collection is beyond mind-boggling. His extensive stash, extremely extensive I might add, of NOS vacuum tubes made me feel like that guy who throws millions of Pounds Sterling on a bed and then gleefully like a child lays and squirms on it all like one just won the Lotto. Uncontrollable giddiness and laughter are optional.

I've been there.

I've seen it with my own eyes.

It truly is the only way to, you know, be sure it's all real and not just fables and whispers, like a fairy tale of your wildest dreams. For Peter Q is indeed a dream-maker, and like Willy Wonka, a dreamer of dreams.

Stereo Sound System @ FIAE 2024:
Jinro Shochu Power Amplifier   $38,000
M6 Phono Pre Amplifier   $25,000
TT-Three Turntable & PSU 3   $16,500
IO 1 Moving Coil Cartridge   $5,028
AN-S8 Step Up Transformer & Pallas   $16,000
CDT Four CD Transport   $21,100
DAC 4.1x/II Balanced   $20,740
AN E / SPx Ltd Field Coil Speakers   $65,000
AN SPx Bi-wire Speaker Cable   $11,826

With my hand towards God, anyone who has heard a full-on Audio Note UK system comes away smiling. Forget the specs, forget the engineering, and even forget whatever pre-existing preferences you may have. Audio Note UK gear plays music. Glorious music. Magical music. Fully admit I've been down that road, and know where it leads. Years of joy, basking in all the glory that is the essence and soul of music itself. 

Am not sure, exactly, what mystical part or bit or circuit design brings humanity into music, yet without a doubt, Peter Qvortrup has not only discovered it, he re-invented it to the benefit of music lovers worldwide. Frankly, I did not invest too much time listening to their system here at the Florida International Audio Expo 2024, as Peter, my Muse / wife Heather, and I were discussing rare recordings, live performances recorded ~100(!) years ago via wooden needle directly onto the disc (the wood needle has to be changed after each recording). Call it direct-to-disc before there was such a thing.

Ok, I did hear that 'recording', and it sounded sensational. There's some type of, said again, magic, which is the essence of music.

Frankly, Audio Note UK high-performance audio equipment may make you rethink your entire stereo system strategy in some respects. Don't believe me, then ask the famous remastering engineer Steve Hoffman via Facebook on his discussion forum online. If you can't visit a show or AN UK dealer, perhaps find a way to beg, borrow, or loan a piece of their gear and hear it for yourself. That is my best suggestion.

Listen... and enjoy the music!

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