Some time later, another company was formed in the U.K., called Audio Note U.K. The Japanese company became known as Kondo Audio Note Japan. This Japanese company put out a line of hifi products including the Kondo Gaku-oh (note spelling -- not "Gaku-oN") tube monobloc amp, also favorably reviewed and very expensive. I could not find any Gaku-on. NEW AUDIO NOTE ONGAKU SHINGURU MONO POWER AMPLIFIERS New Audio Note UK ONGAKU Shinguru 211 Single Ended Triode mono amplifiers are effectively a SET 211 (rather than PSE) version of the GAKU-On, or in other words a mono ONGAKU with a transformer coupled fully balanced / XLR input, side mounted like the ONGAKU / GAKU-On etc. The $79,350 Audio Note ONGAKU Integrated SET amplifier Review. To help exploit the potential of the Ongaku as much as possible, 47 Laboratory’s PiTracer CD transport served in this review as the reference source in the respective company of Audio Note’s own $65k DAC5 Signature, the $34k DAC5 Special and Wadia’s $10k 27ix v3.0 Decoding Computer. GAKUON-II | AUDIO NOTE. Supreme sound quality with high output power. 'Delicate and dynamic', monaural power amplifier. A power amplifier with all the merits of our legendary ONGAKU plus high output power. Effortless driving low efficiency speakers with GAKUON II 50W class A power. Each power tube is driven by an exclusive driving tube, guarantee stable and wide soundstage. Congratulations on your purchase of the Audio Note (UK) GAKU-ON MONO power amplifiers. They are Pure Class A Parallel Singled Ended valve mono amplifiers, using a pair of the highly regarded 211 / VT4C triode valves per chassis, producing a level of performance that is radically superior to the vast majority of current designs. . To read the instructions, select the file in the list that you want to download, click on the "Download" button and you will be redirected to a page where you will need to enter the code from the image. If the answer is correct, a button for receiving the file will appear in place of the picture. If there is a "View" button in the field with the file, this means that you can view the instruction online, without having to download it to your computer. If the material is not complete in your opinion or you need additional information on this device, such as a driver, additional files, such as firmware or firmware, then you can ask the moderators and members of our community who will try to promptly respond to your question. You can also view the instructions on your Android device Site CreditsWarranty InfoAll material copyright Audio Note UK Ltd. Unless otherwise stated. Audio Note UK Ltd. reserve the right to change, modify, add to, or remove any of the content of this site at any time without prior notice. Further, images on this site may differ from current models or specifications.© 2019 by Audio Note UK Ltd. Proudly created with Audio NoteTM balanced, transformer coupled mono power amplifiers - First PrinciplesThe shortest signal path is generally the best, this is the professed aim of almost all the manufacturers of high quality amplification in the audio industry. However, when it comes to executing this ideal, most of the rest of the industry has been wilfully forgetting this truth and has become addicted to complexity and technology as marketing statements, in stark contrast to this Audio NoteTM has continued to focus on studying and refining our understanding of how to achieve the above goal in order to create products that deliver better and more realistic music, lasting value and overall quality. Unsurprisingly, the more we explore, the more it becomes obvious that simplicity – and in particular keeping passive components completely out of the signal path or at least to an absolute minimum – is desirable for better and more faithful music reproduction. Our ideas eventually led to a decision to develop a better sounding power amplifier circuit, a potential successor to the original parallel single-ended 211 based Gaku-On. In pursuit of ultimate simplicity, we decided that it would comprise just two active stages and three transformers; one on the input, one as a driver and one on the output. This topology reduces the number of passive parts in the signal path to just two resistors. Designing the circuit was relatively easy on paper. However when we came to building a prototype we discovered why such nothing like it had been implemented before, and it was more than half a decade before we could bring the new Gaku-On to fruition. Our finding was that such a simple amplification circuit demands a degree of transformer quality never seen before in professional or domestic audio. Audio NoteTM is unique in our facility to design, model, prototype and wind our own transformers in house, yet in spite of this it took even us six years to research and develop the necessary materials know how to achieve a musically transparent magnetic coupling from input to output in such a simple circuit. Each transformer has to be complimentary in every aspect of behaviour to the one next in line. It must not impose any bandwidth, phase, linearity or low level abnormalities which can be amplified by the following stage or stages. It was no small task getting to a point where each transformer was as invisible as the next, despite differences in core size, design and passing signal level. To read more about the art and science of transformer design, click here. In the event, the new Gaku-On has repaid our efforts and sets a fresh benchmark in audio amplification at the top of Audio Note TM Performance Level Five. The circuit topology cannot be bettered, simplicity cannot be taken any further than this, the valve choice, a directly heated VT25 driver with a pair of paralleled VT4-C/211 directly heated triodes as power valves, will be hard to improve on as well, so all that remains would be to develop even better components parts, materials and transformers. In order to beat this we will continue to research and develop our understanding, and until we find the necessary solutions to further improve the materials, simply put, we believe nothing will come along that beats it. Everything we learned in the process of developing the Gaku-On we have applied subsequently to a new and partnering family of balanced, transformer coupled monoblock amplifiers. The P4 Balanced, Ginrei, Baransu Balanced, Kageki Balanced and Kegon Balanced are each an expression of the simplest circuit and purest musicality that we believe can be achieved at Audio Note TM Performance Levels Three, Four and Five. ​ Please choose from the icons above to discover more... The GAKU-ON are Pure Class A Parallel Singled Ended valve mono amplifiers, using a pair of the highly regarded 211 / VT4C triode valves per chassis, producing a level of performance that is radically superior to the vast majority of current designs. The GAKU-ON represent the pinnacle of our mono amplifier range, and no expense has been spared in their design or production. The finest components are used, including a host of Black Gate capacitors, our own Audio Note UK Silver foil capacitors and Tantalum resistors, Silver wire and the finest core materials for all transformers, and Silver signal wire throughout the circuit. They have been specifically engineered for sonic performance rather than technical specification, and fulfil all Audio Note UK Level 5 criteria Pure Class A operation Zero Negative Feedback Single Ended Output Stage Valve Rectification Directly Heated Triode operation Materials and component quality FACTS INPUT IMPEDANCE 600 Ohm, XLR / Balanced Line Level MAXIMUM OUTPUT 45 watts RMS per channel into 4 or 8 Ohm loads CHANNEL BALANCE +/- VALVE COMPLEMENT LINE 2 x 5R4WGB 2 x 211/VT4C 1 x VT25 / 10Y UNIT WEIGHT SHIPPING WEIGHT ORIGINAL PACKAGING 40KG UNIT DIMENSIONS 305mm h x 305mm w x 640mm d SHIPPING DIMENSIONS ORIGINAL PACKAGING 420mm h x 420mm w x 760mm d MAINS INPUT MAINS FUSE Anti Surge AC 100-120V Anti Surge AC 220-240V 50/60 Hz MAX. POWER CONSUMPTION 200Watts The $79,350 Audio Note ONGAKU Integrated SET amplifier Review To help exploit the potential of the Ongaku as much as possible, 47 Laboratory’s PiTracer CD transport served in this review as the reference source in the respective company of Audio Note’s own $65k DAC5 Signature, the $34k DAC5 Special and Wadia’s $10k 27ix Decoding Computer. The AN DACs were rotated with the PiTracer from it’s RCA digital output via Combak Harmonix HS-102RCADG “Harmonic-Strings” RCA digital cable, while the Wadia utilized Analysis-Plus’ Silver Oval BNC digital cable via the PiTracer’s BNC output. Audio Note’s own 42-strand, pure silver litz Sogon™ interconnects provided reference interconnection. Combak Harmonix HS-101 SLC Furutech e-TP609 Furutech Power Reference III Combak Harmonix TU-66ZX Audo Note’s own bi-wired Sogon™ LX speaker cable provided reference speaker cabling, while the Combak Harmonix HS-101 SLC “Sophisticated Listener’s Choice” single-wired cable served single-wiring speakers. CDs providing some of the most revealing listening impressions were by First Impression Music and JVC’s XRCD’s. Furutech’s marvel in AC waveform preservation, the GC-303 compound-embedded e-TP609 AC Director, and two of the Power Reference III AC cables powered the respective DAC’s when either the DAC5 Signature or DAC5 Special was in use. Deployment of the Combak Harmonix tuning feet took place in the latter half of the review period, during which three of the adjustable TU-66ZX “BeauTone” tuning feet supported each AN DACs. Audiophile recordings played a pivotal role in my experience of the Ongaku. For just as it is with movies and paintings that seek to show us certain angles of reality or layers in imagery that we don’t see in normal circumstances, the Ongaku’s rendition of meticulously produced music also shows us a level of sound ingrained to instruments that we seldom get to appreciate. Only now that the live instrument along with its surrounding environment is removed from our sensors are we able to focus our waking consciousness onto a particular sensory input; and the textures and tonality of instruments from high-quality recordings as produced by the Ongaku/AN-E SEC Signature hijacked my imagination completely. Richard Nash, Audio Note’s web guru, is fond of the AN saying that goes, “one watt in one meter can kill you”. He meant to illustrate the ability of Audio Note’s systems of SET amplifiers and high efficiency speakers to play at insanely loud level with no compressions or distortions of any kind. Though an Audio Note speaker user for some time, I have never driven my 95dB, biwired AN-E SEC Silver with heavy-metal music like Peter does to the inhumanly high level during every Show. And he even drove the Ongaku as a power amplifier with the 3-chassis M10 preamp at this past Californian VTV. Peter was of the opinion that a preamplifier was nevertheless essential to supercharge even the Ongaku to reenact full dynamic envelope that is crucial to recreating a musical waveform faithfully; and his M10 became the natural candidate for its level of finesse. It was a sight and experience to behold. In my listening room, with most loudspeakers positioned no further than 11 feet away from my ears, constant sound pressure arriving at my position during normal listening would reach 88dB+, while dynamic surges might hit 95dB. For loudspeakers with 91dB+ efficiency, a 25Wpc amplifier will drive those speakers to over 95dB with ease. In the particular case of the $12k, 100dB, single-wired MaxxHorn Immersion, even though it is the only pair of speakers being placed 15 feet away, its startling efficiency probably consumed only one or two of the 25 Ongaku-watts to produce the highest dynamic peaks. Not too dissimilar was the case in which the Ongaku was driving the $19,000, 95dB/8, tri-wired Tannoy Churchill Wideband, producing strikingly dynamic, climactic symphonic passages via its 15-inch Dual-Concentric™ driver. Thus, by virtue of its shocking efficiency, the Ongaku-compelled MaxxHorn not only attained a new level of dynamic prowess never realized via any other amplification, the French PHL 1240TWX-equipped horn Texan produced the most spectacular tonal sophistication yet, and was completely transformed in the company of the AN. This time, the lone Japanese fue amidst a subtle taiko accompaniment in JVC’s Ondekoza XRCD2 in track 6, “Yuki no Ashita” was endowed with a rich texture and a surreal lightness, reinforced by traits of miniscule turbulence within the wooden flute. The large Tannoy as driven by the Ongaku, on the other hand, revealed both a newfound subtlety as accompanied by such masterly flexing of dynamic muscles that was summarily atypical of what I’ve come to rely upon as the speaker’s performance threshold. The congregating drumming efforts on the quadruplet of taiko’s in the same JVC XRCD2’s first track, “Tou-Tou” trans. The Pounding Wave emerged as the most full-bodied to date, resplendent in the spectacular clarity of contrasting pitches as dictated by the varying forces applied by players.

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