Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the history of ANK Audio kits?

ANK Audio Kits is the leading supplier of high end audio kits for the world wide market. With over 2500 kits sold since 2004 the company has built up a large user base of enthusiasts and audiophiles. Born out of Audio Note UK as the ‘Audio Note Kit’ business it started out with the famous Single Ended Kit1 300b amplifier and the DAC 1.1. Working with Audio Note engineering over the last decade an entire range of products were developed, tweaked and enhanced to incredible levels based on the Audio Note design philosophy.

Today ANK Audio Kits is continuing it’s DIY philosophy working with excellent parts suppliers like Hifi Collective. The kits have matured tremendously over the years and nothing but top of the line parts and components are included. Audio Note parts are used in the a majority of the high end line along with Takman, V-CAP, ELMA, Rubycon, KHOZMO and others. The products are divided up into 5 levels. Our higher Level 4 & 5 products are available as factory assembled or DIY whilst our Levels 1, 2 & 3 are strictly available as kits.

Q: What is the story on ANK Finished Products?

AANK Audio Kits is true to it’s DIY roots, but over the last 5 years we have been getting increasing requests for built units of the highest calibre. Finished products currently comprise 25% of our business and this aspect has benefited the DIY models as we voice / bench test completed units and continuely enhance the designs.

We are able to offer this custom services to clients buying our higher Level 4 and Level 5 products. It is an opportunity to own an exquisite piece of art you will not want to put the cover on. Our finished products are burnt in and tested with on/off cycles before shipping. All our products are expertly packed in double boxes, come with instructions and are fully guaranteed by us.

We offer the build service for the US market . Please enquire for ASIA or EURO professional builds.

Q: How do I order my kit?

To buy your kit, select your upgrade options (some products have no options), and then click the ADD TO SHOPPING CART button, then the CHECKOUT button. You will then be taken to our one page checkout where you will be asked to Register with us or Checkout as Guest.

Registering is recommended as it allow us to ship to your address and record your name and email details with that order. It also allows you to view your order on the website under your account tab, and print out a PDF invoice. The shipping costs to your location will now be listed in your order total.

Now click SUBMIT MY ORDER, and your credit card will be processed. It can take about 20 seconds to complete this window. Then you will see a new window detailing your order as processed and paid.

Q: Do I need technical knowledge to assemble my kit?

The assembly of our kits is very straight forward. Our kits are one of the neatest and most organized audiophile kits available today and contain the case and all parts to produce a working top quality audio component. Our manuals clearly set out each part assembly in a very easy to follow and clear way with detailed text and accurate diagrams. It really is join the dots.

All you need is some solder and a soldering iron, and you are good to go. It can be useful to have access to a volt meter as well. Most of our kits can be assembled in 10 hours, though we recommend splitting the process up into 3 or 4 sessions. When completed you will not only have created something special, you will also understand the circuit layouts and appreciate the quality of the parts and construction of our kits!

Q: What about credit card security?

We do not see your card details, nor do we store your card details on our servers. All credit card transactions are conducted in the secure and protected environment of a bank payment gateway.

Q: When I register with your site, how is my data used?

Your data is private. We never pass your details on to third parties. We do not hold credit card information on our server. Only your email, delivery address and order details are retained to enable faster check out on future orders and will never be shared with anyone.

Q: What is the expected delivery time of my order?

We aim to deliver your order within 3 weeks from payment. Should there be an additional delay beyond this period, we will notify you by email, advising you of the expected delivery date, and offer you a full refund should this not be to your satisfaction. A few products have a more extended delivery time and these are marked on that products page in the SHOP.

Q: Is there any import tax or duty?

Some locations charge a Tax or Import Duty on arrival at customs which has to be paid when the product is delivered to your home. This is unavoidable and the amount charged may vary in your destination country.

Q: What if my kit is damaged or lost in transit?

We use major carriers such as Canada Post (for national) or TNT (for international) shipping of our kits. These companies have a superb reputation, and your kit will be insured for safe arrival and in perfect condition.

Q: I can see the kit I want to buy, but it says out of stock.

We produce a large range of kits and at certain times we run out of stock of some models. Please contact us regarding these products and we can advise on league times for the next production run.

Q: Can I return goods for a refund?

We offer a return policy if the goods are not to your satisfaction. The goods must be returned in 15 days from delivery, and in as new condition and not altered or assembled. We are sorry, we cannot refund shipping costs.

Due to the expensive cost of shipping of amplifiers and their transformers, we are not able to accept returns of 300B and EL34 products currently.

Due to the custom nature of our business and the special parts that need to be sourced as orders come in, we charge a 25% restocking charge on a kit to be returned prior to any soldering / build on the kit.

Q: Is there a warranty on your kits?

We cannot offer a product warranty as the kits are assembled by the buyer. But we do provide a 12 month warranty on parts (excluding valves).

Q: Why the name change from Audio Note Kits?

There was a recent name change from Audio Note Kits to ANK Audio Kits. Audio Note UK has also announced that they are no longer in the kit business. What is the story?

Peter Qvortrup, president of Audio Note UK and a long time supporter of the DIY industry wanted to make it clear that the kit business is not being run within Audio Note and that a separate leadership/business is running the finished product business vs the kit business. The main reason for this name change was that Audio Note UK finished products was getting inundated with enquiries about kits either at their headquarters in the UK or via their world wide dealer network (45 in total) or anytime they went to Audio shows displaying their finished product line. It was clearly time to divide the kit business & finished products into two separate companies!

In the early days of Audio Note Kits the kit business was a very small fraction of the sales that it is today. With just a Kit 1 and a DAC 1.1, the kit business was hardly noticed and flew under the radar. But after ten years of hard work ANK Audio Kits now has an extensive range of products and sold more than 2000 kits in the last decade. With all this ANK audio kits garnering a lot of attention from audiophiles and DIY’ers worldwide. So the official line now is that Audio Note UK is not in the kit business and please contact ANK Audio Kits for any enquiries into kits!

Audio Note UK has enough on their plate with a huge finished product line and dealers throughout the world that they are supplying, as well as a large DIY parts sales channel. They continue to supply their Speaker Kits, Tantalum Resistors, Tin, Copper and Silver Film Capacitors , a range of C-Core Transformers etc. to the DIY world. Meanwhile ANK Audio Kits still works with Audio Note engineering on a contract basis as we always have, and we continue to buy quantities of Audio Note parts for the kits – Tantalum Resistors, Audio Note Film Capacitors, speciality C-Core Transformers, AN shielded cable, AN Silver RCA’s, AN Speaker Posts, AN Speaker Kits etc.

Our focus will always be to deliver high quality audio kits based on the Audio Note design philosophy, working with Audio Note engineering and supplying Audio Note parts wherever possible (dependent on customer budgets).

It’s important to remember that the finished products and the kit business work under two totally different business models:

Finished products are sold through dealers at boutiques where prospective customers can demo and touch the systems in advance – the retail end of the market.
The kit business is a mail order DIY business direct from manufacturer to customer with lower markup as we don’t have the same overhead as finished products.

We will continue with the DIY business model and it will be business as usual at ANK Audio Kits! DIY is not for everyone, but for those in the know, it can offer tremendous advantages in price vs performance and customization!

 

We would like to thanks our customers over the last ten years that have helped us make ANK Audio Kits what it is today!

ANK Audio Kits