By Richard H. Mak
Born out of Audio Note UK as the Audio Note Kit company, ANKIT is a separate entity operating out of Canada by company director Brian Smith. The circuits employed in the designs are different than Audio Note UK. ANKIT employ some of the highest quality parts you can find in the industry such as Mundorf Silver Gold and Oil Capacitors, or ANKIT’s proprietary Quad C-Core output transformers designed and manufactured in Canada. The show’s system consist of an all new ANKIT L5 Phono preamp featuring 6922 and 12AX7 tubes (US$ 3,500), a L5 Mentor Pre Amp (US$ 5,250), a L5 DAC5.1 with C-Core Signature Transformer (US$ 5,500) and a pair of L5EL34-Level 3 Monoblock amplifiers with 40 watts per channel output (US$ 3,500).
The speakers are a pair of Mundorf 30 Year anniversary MA30 Kit speakers at (CAD$ 4300/pr). The MA30 is a two way sealed box design with the Mundorf AMT19CM1.1C Air Motion Transformer Tweeter (AMT), and the Accuton C158-8-085 6.25″ Ceramic driver. Details of the speaker can be found here. Though they occupied a small foot print, they produced a fast, detailed and clean sound which will make you believe you’re listening to a small floorstander. The sound is typical of ceramic drivers, fast, tight, detailed and with short decays.
1877 Phono’s Zavfino turntable was debuted at the show last year, and is returning this year with the same table. At CAD$ 3,200, it comes with a thick gun metal platter, a separate speed controlled motor and a tonearm which allows for VTA and Azimuth adjustment. Quite a lovely table for those who want to get into the hobby.
It’s said that sometimes more is less. And conversely there are times when less is more than enough. Just right. In fact and in practice…Perfect. A beautiful setup and the turntable is a worthy centerpiece.
As you say, a lovely table.
Thank you.
SS