Show Reports

At Capital Audiofest 2025, Audio Note UK showed an enjoyable demo system that they designated a level “4/5” setup that consisted of some contemporary gear with some vintage-style approaches. (Other versions of those stylistic offerings, such as field coil technology and SET tube types like 300Bs, were also seen, heard, and noted in some of my other show reports.)

With the possible exception of one other room, this Audio Note demo space represented the only system in which all — or practically all — the major components were from a single maker. There’s a certain synergy that type of all-in approach can bring, and I experienced it here in Room 301.

This room featured the British maker’s latest top-of-the-line turntable, the TT-Three Reference ($63,000), which is a step above their TT-Three model. Like the TT-Three table, the Reference model has three high-torque motors, and an outboard power supply — or rather, I should say power supplies, plural — in a separate chassis. According to Audio Note’s Adrian Ford-Crush, the Reference table also differs in that its motors have even higher torque, in addition to each of its three motors having its own dedicated power supply. (The power supply chassis at the show had its top cover removed to allow a peek inside.)

The TT-Three table sports a lightweight clear Lexan platter and a single belt for its low-mass/high-torque operation in a suspended design that uses springs for isolation. The three-motor design is also said to increase rotational stability.

Analog purists will also appreciate this table’s all-analog computerized speed control system. The sine waves remain in the analog domain throughout. The TT-Three Reference does require a special tonearm, though — the Audio Note AN-1S, which retails for “just under $17K,” Ford-Crush said.

The demo system’s Audio Note Meishu Konzertmeister 300B integrated amp contains an MM phono preamp, but since the TT-Three Reference table was using an Audio Note IO I MC cartridge ($5,500), an Audio Note AN-S8 step-up transformer (SUT) was used to preamplify that MC cart’s signal. Ford-Crush also mentioned that a new field coil cartridge is in the works, and it’s expected to come out sometime next year.

The demo system also showed off the company’s new speakers, the Audio Note AN-E / Ltd Signature field coil speakers with external crossovers. Even the system itself was connected with Audio Note UK speaker cables and interconnects — making it essentially a fairly complete company-inclusive package!

Run by Ford-Crush, Room 301 also presented many musical delights on vinyl. When I dropped in, “Distant Planets” (LP1, Side A, Track 1), a mellow electro track from Pablo Bolivar and Nacho Sanchez’s 2023 2LP set on Seven Villas, Distances, was playing. This limited-edition release (said to be capped at 300 copies!) has been in rotation at some other shows, including T.H.E. Show in Costa Mesa, California, just a few months back in June 2025. Other tracks on Distances have deeper, dubbier styles with some nifty bass extension (as much as vinyl allows).

I also requested a couple of cuts from a cool 1999 2LP compilation on BGP, a UK label — Super Breaks, which is subtitled Essential Funk, Soul and Jazz Samples and Break Beats. I have another release or two from the same BGP series from around the same time, so I figured this one would be a good listen — and the Audio Note system proved that to be correct. Right from the opening downbeat and persistently punchy percussion, “Blind Alley,” by The Emotions (LP1 Side 1, Track 6), brought live energy into the room, with crisp transient attacks on the horn sections as well. The singing sisters’ pure, harmonized vocals sounded smooth and sweet against a strutting R&B funk groove, courtesy of Stax engineering.

Part 6 is coming soon!

If you want to check out Ken Micallef’s “Turntables of Capital Audiofest” video, go here.