H4S Hi-Fi Gallery - The Fun Corner

Here is my humble bedroom setup. Not by choice but because my one room studio lacks the necessary real estate to properly setup a listening room.



The wife says i'm not to turn the bedroom into a hifi room. Everything must be descreet. Well, at least she likes the Minima Amator.

No hifi racks allowed says the wife so everything has to be stuffed into a book case. It's not ideal and probabably detrimental to the sound, turntable especially, makes my vinyls sound thin and lacking in bass...

Right on top sits the Thorens TD-150MKII. I'm thinking I should mount 2 brackets on the back wall and suspend it there. Maybe it would bring back the groove to my vinyls?

This Cary CD300 Dual 20bit Valve CD player is truely a gem. It's the most analog sounding CD player i've ever heard.



You place a CD on the turntable as you would a vinyl record. Playing surface facing up like a vinyl record. Sound? Like a vinyl record without surface noise.



You can't see it but beneath lurks a trio of vintage NOS Telefunkens circa 1940. Well worth the asking price for these rare gems!

Power delivery is US Nema receptacles. Furutech 20 Amp power cable to the Krell KAV300i. Can't afford AC filtration at this stage so it's just a Harmonix AC Enacom standing erect with ferrite clamps in place and Wireworld Squared series power cable to the CD player. It's got power conditioning properties say the folks at Wireworld. I can hear it and it's quite true.

Kimber KCAG interconnects. Both pairs of my KCAG look different. One has a more transparent insulation and the other is white. I emailed Ray Kimber with pictures about it and he says it's normal and both sound identical according to Mr. Kimber.

I'm saving these for my Retro Sci-Fi music lounge when I move to a bigger place... These Minipods don't only look good, they're not bad sounding either. But due to their enthusiastic sounding nature, best partnered with Valve gear.



Forget that Cambridge DacMagic thingy, my Audio Alchemy DDE V3.0 DAC makes my Marantz CD-63SE sound like a million bucks!

That CD mechanism looks like a Pioneer Stable Platter that has been long discontinued. The CD player must be around 10 years old right ?

bimmerman wrote:This Cary CD300 Dual 20bit Valve CD player is truely a gem. It's the most analog sounding CD player i've ever heard.



You place a CD on the it's turntable as you would a vinyl record. Playing surface facing up like a vinyl record. Sound? Like a vinyl record without surface noise.



You can't see it but beneath lurks a trio of vintage NOS Telefunkens circa 1940. Well worth the asking price for these rare gems!

That is correct, it's based on a Pioneer Stable Platter mechanism. The Wadia 23 is also based on the same Pioneer mechanism. Pretty robust mechanism this. Never had a problem playing CD-R or scratched CDs. They don't make things like they used to.

WongKN wrote:I personally would welcome AV/HT systems as well and I would think others would too. Show us the photo of your system lar Max, with your brand new 5-ch power amp.

Car O Scope, go down to Seremban to visit you and you bring me makan-makan ? I bring my significant other half along as well OK or not ?

That's nice to hear that AV/HT is being welcomed. But, my setup is nothing to shout compares to most setups here

Here are some of the shots (pardon my poor photography skill)






SVS MTS-01 & PB13-Ultra




AS-EQ1 (Sub EQ)

Whao - is that a Tamiya 3-speed in the cabinet ? Looks like a Toyota but can't make out the model.

bimmerman wrote:Here is my humble bedroom setup. Not by choice but because my one room studio lacks the necessary real estate to properly setup a listening room.



The wife says i'm not to turn the bedroom into a hifi room. Everything must be descreet. Well, at least she likes the Minima Amator.

It is indeed very encouraging and heartenging to see that the response to this thread have picked up and a bit more forumers are now contributing. Many thanks to those who contributed. To those who have been asking for photos but haven't do so yourself (we can all see who you are in the 1st page ), its time for you to put in your part as well.

Also, after some thoughts I think we should just leave this thread as it is. It's doing great and one thing I have learned from experience is to never mess around with a good thing !

Bimmerman,

For your Thorens, some things you can also consider besides the wall bracket (which might be a bit tough to fit inside the cupboard).

1. Use a thicker base instead of the current one which is probably some soft laminated plywood. Or better use some other material, say thick glass or acrylic ?

2. Usually those cupboard supports a base-board by 4 tiny knobs pushed into flimsy holes on the side. You can consider getting some angled wall shelf brackets from Ikea or Jusco and then secure those brackets to the cupboard walls and support your base board on them instead of the tiny supports.

3. Have you tried some sort of suspension feets ? Like ceramuc cones or something. Usually in the KLAVS there's plenty of those for sale but as the 2010 KLAVS is more than half a year away, perhaps a visit to CMY, HiWay Laser, Audio Image, Tong Lee, etc might be fruitful ?

A TT is most susceptible to vibration. Tonearms, TT suspension, etc, they are all there to remove vibration because the catridge needle vibrates inside the LP groove to produce sound so any extra vibration simply messes up the sound. So the best way is first firm and solid suspension, then some sort of vibration control. The above are just random thoughts but are based on the two principles (solid suspension and vibration control) which most serious TT players will adopt. My 2 sens lar.

More :



Sorry for the cheap looking rack.

Using this for surr :




And the rear surr :

mr wong, i guess many need to 'really' get to know each other 1st then starts to share on facts & figures & photos & become homos as well

encik bimmer, shanling cd300 good aa? ever auditioned one?

Vintage stuff.

joeling wrote:Whao - is that a Tamiya 3-speed in the cabinet ? Looks like a Toyota but can't make out the model.

Joeling, you betcha that's a Tamiya 3 Speed. It's a Toyota Hilux 4X4. It has a dedicated third channel and servo to control gearshift and I've adapted it to run 4 wheel steering too. I don't get to run it much these days though.

See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWOEAUdLay8

In the background you can hear my mother nagging at me, asking me to slow down.

WongKN wrote:Bimmerman,

For your Thorens, some things you can also consider besides the wall bracket (which might be a bit tough to fit inside the cupboard).

1. Use a thicker base instead of the current one which is probably some soft laminated plywood. Or better use some other material, say thick glass or acrylic ?

2. Usually those cupboard supports a base-board by 4 tiny knobs pushed into flimsy holes on the side. You can consider getting some angled wall shelf brackets from Ikea or Jusco and then secure those brackets to the cupboard walls and support your base board on them instead of the tiny supports.

3. Have you tried some sort of suspension feets ? Like ceramuc cones or something. Usually in the KLAVS there's plenty of those for sale but as the 2010 KLAVS is more than half a year away, perhaps a visit to CMY, HiWay Laser, Audio Image, Tong Lee, etc might be fruitful ?

A TT is most susceptible to vibration. Tonearms, TT suspension, etc, they are all there to remove vibration because the catridge needle vibrates inside the LP groove to produce sound so any extra vibration simply messes up the sound. So the best way is first firm and solid suspension, then some sort of vibration control. The above are just random thoughts but are based on the two principles (solid suspension and vibration control) which most serious TT players will adopt. My 2 sens lar.

Thanks Mr. Wong, appreciate the advise which will come in very handy during the long Holiday season. Gonna look into my long abandoned TT setup.

azri wrote:encik bimmer, shanling cd300 good aa? ever auditioned one?

Encik Zree, aye, mine is Cary CD300 lah, strange you should ask me about Shanling CD300?

But you're in luck, yes i've heard the Shanling CD300... Not bad for the price, big Krell-like casing in aluminium and looks really expensive. I betcha the casing will account very much for the sound, keeping EMF/RMI inteference at bay and damping away undesired vibrations. Sound is quite transparent and soundstage is large with good imaging. Treble a tad grainy (maybe needs to run in). Midrange is ok, quite smooth but not outstanding. Bass is adequete but could be a little tighter. I'd say it's up there with RM10K range of orangputeh players.

This Shanling is a great candidate for modding too with websites dedicated towards transforming it into a true giant killer. Too bad they're mostly in chinese. And I don't read chinese.

[quote="bimmerman"]

WongKN wrote:

Thanks Mr. Wong, appreciate the advise which will come in very handy during the long Holiday season. Gonna look into my long abandoned TT setup.

__

Moogen, you can actually pivot that TP13a to get the correct VTA right? My Ortofon cartridge is quite tall so I had to pivot that TP13a to get the correct VTA for the cartridge. The arm will end up less than horizontal though. Looking forward to your post...

Best of both worlds? - AV and Hi Fi using the same main 'front speaker'. You only need 2 pairs of speaker cables - 1 for the AV amp and another to the stereo amp..



Michell Technodec/Rega RB250/ Rewired interconnect from cartridge pins to phono stage /Michell counterweight/Dynavector 10x5 cart
Promitheus TVC / Myrard power amp

Japson, how much did you pay for those racks ? I am looking for economical racks to put my AV system and I need 4 tier but not too tall lar.

BTW, thanks very much for sharing the photos.

encik bimmer, thats because when its labelled cd 300 same as shanling, i thought its one of those effort to copycat ones achievement
btw, shanling cd300 does look gorgeous & its top loading.. super!!

KNWong, here is the close up shot of the Emotiva XPA-5

azri wrote:encik bimmer, thats because when its labelled cd 300 same as shanling, i thought its one of those effort to copycat ones achievement
btw, shanling cd300 does look gorgeous & its top loading.. super!!

Same name but the similarities end right there. The Cary CD300 uses a CD tray with a turntable to spin CDs while the Shanling uses a top loading Phillips unit. The Shanling has a aluminium manual sliding cover which is gorgeously made but actually quite dissappointing to operate. The aluminium cover grinds in it's tracks when you open or close it. Maybe some kind of lubricant would help but I doubt you'll ever be able to get it to glide like a finely oiled instrument. As for valves, the Cary uses a trio of 12AU7 while the Shanling uses a pair of 6922. They both sound quite different actually.

Hi,
KN Wong's suggestion to split the thread is a good idea. I further suggest this: Split the thread - (1) Member's systems (pictures & description only) and (2) Member's systems (comments & discussions only). For (1) no discussions just systems postings so that it won't run into long pages with lots of interruptions. And (2) is for discussions referring only to postings of (1) just words no pictures to make it short and fast to load. And for replies, no need to "quote" the pictures posted. Just my 2 sens suggestion. Thanks & Best regards and Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

mestilah encik bimmer, its just a thought when i googled cd300
anyway, besides cd300, pioneer pd-s06 was also a sought after model
whatever that cary is having, theres a possibility pd-s06 was also having
like the hiend dac , tha stabble platter & off course pioneer with their legato links
anyways.. these s06 does becomes favourites for those who likes to mods

Pix of my toys..


Cable dressing. Power cable is temp loan item while CMY get mine done up. Power cable on my Primare is next when budget is available


Lovely looking Primare C30 remote purchased at extra cost next to Saturn and Apollo user manuals which are both identical cept Rega's manual editor replaced "Apollo" with "Saturn". For a cd player costing > 2 times the Apollo I believe Rega can do better!



Proac Studio 125 which I'm planning to replace with Response D18 hopefully sometime next year


The lovely Siltech ST18 IQ interconnect. Handed my previous AQ King Cobra a clean pair of heels in all frequencies making the already excellent King Cobra sound veiled in comparison. Only half the diameter of the King Cobra though. One of the most transparent interconnects I've heard to-date without spending silly money. All cables sound the same and fatter cables sound better? Pah!

Pix of my Usher SR-4 rack getting assembled. The thing's a bloody %^&E# to assemble and set-up and probably weighs as much as my wife! Oh and Usher only provide nickel plated mild steel bolts on a ~1.5K rack. Had to separately purchase stainless steel equivalents. The spike and spike boots are lovely CNC machined items though..

Part of my small CD collection a couple months back

Great stuff Andrew. How much does that Usher equipment rack cost ? Have you compared it to Finite Elemente ?

WongKN wrote:Great stuff Andrew. How much does that Usher equipment rack cost ? Have you compared it to Finite Elemente ?

Hi WongKN,

The Usher rack's bout ~1.5K. Have not compared with Finite Elemente Pagode as out of my budget. Don't really like the Spider. Naim Fraim also out of my budget I was thinking about SolidTech Radius but that was bout ~2K or so and had to be imported from S'pore. Didn't have time to bother with the hassle..

llsaw wrote:

WongKN wrote:Great stuff Andrew. How much does that Usher equipment rack cost ? Have you compared it to Finite Elemente ?

Hi WongKN,

The Usher rack's bout ~1.5K. Have not compared with Finite Elemente Pagode as out of my budget. Don't really like the Spider. Naim Fraim also out of my budget I was thinking about SolidTech Radius but that was bout ~2K or so and had to be imported from S'pore. Didn't have time to bother with the hassle..

Hi,

Can provide local distributor/dealer info for the Usher (CMY?) and have more spouse friendly designs ? Looking for good racks (as per Sifu Wong) as u can c on another tread here. Hope u can help.

Cheers,

zb

http://www.cmy.com.my

Dropped by CMY in 1U and they have a quite nice rack asking for somewhere around RM600 but no stock, have to wait till January. Drop by the 'Hi Fi Shop' in the new wing and they have some cheaper ones but doesn't look as solid as the ones from CMY (was at 1U because I needed to pick up my Samsung Blu-Ray player).

Am planning to visit Amcorp mall on Monday. I am on leave but my wife's still working so I need to 'lepak' for the day before I pick her up after work. Anyone knows what time the 'rack shops' in Amcorp mall will open ?

that ATS shop will open from around 11am onwards.

And there is the one and only rack shop. Otherwise u can also go lepak at Ikea .. who knows , might get some funky ideas there for a custom job rack !

Is that the so-called 'Middle Kingdom' shop someone was mentioning earlier here ?

No. The ATS (exclusive hi fi rack shop) is on the 1st Floor and Audio Synthesis (aka Middle Kingdom) is on the 2nd Floor, I believe. ATS opens around noon, if I am not mistaken.

Cheers!

I need a rack too as my XPA-5 is on the floor for now. Maybe will drop by Amcorp on this weekend

You will need a heavy-duty rack for that heavy poweramp.

WongKN wrote:Dropped by CMY in 1U and they have a quite nice rack asking for somewhere around RM600 but no stock, have to wait till January. Drop by the 'Hi Fi Shop' in the new wing and they have some cheaper ones but doesn't look as solid as the ones from CMY (was at 1U because I needed to pick up my Samsung Blu-Ray player).

Am planning to visit Amcorp mall on Monday. I am on leave but my wife's still working so I need to 'lepak' for the day before I pick her up after work. Anyone knows what time the 'rack shops' in Amcorp mall will open ?

Hi WongKN,

The rack you mentioned in CMY is it the clone of a Soundstyle rack in the picture below, but only 4 tiers and without the bottom spikes?


Months ago I was looking for a rack and was tempted to get this from CMY (because it looks nice assembled and on display) but managed to get the above same rack a little cheaper in Hiway Laser. However, the construction for the middle 2 shelves (the one I had was 4 tiers) is not so solid/stable (you will know it when you assemble the rack)..overall I'm not satisfy with the quality of this rack.

I'm still looking for a good quality rack with budget around RM1K - RM1.5K. Considering some wooden racks from ATS or the Atacama Equinox range (but rather expensive).. Anyone else with good racks to recommend at this price level?

Merry X'mas!

hi jteoh,
nice system u hv there. ur wife doesn't mind the speakers jutting out like that? lucky u.
o, may i know where u got the promitheus tvc?

mad.onenad,

Just go to www.promitheusaudio.com website to order

WongKN wrote:Is that the so-called 'Middle Kingdom' shop someone was mentioning earlier here ?

Talking about Middle Kingdom shop, also saw on display window, similar rack to usher shown above in the MK shop, not sure whether ori coz saw other 'cloned' products oso on display (saw cloned B&W bookshelf spkrs complete with the nautilus tweeters ).

Cheers,

zb

mkleong wrote:

WongKN wrote:Dropped by CMY in 1U and they have a quite nice rack asking for somewhere around RM600 but no stock, have to wait till January. Drop by the 'Hi Fi Shop' in the new wing and they have some cheaper ones but doesn't look as solid as the ones from CMY (was at 1U because I needed to pick up my Samsung Blu-Ray player).

Am planning to visit Amcorp mall on Monday. I am on leave but my wife's still working so I need to 'lepak' for the day before I pick her up after work. Anyone knows what time the 'rack shops' in Amcorp mall will open ?

Hi WongKN,

The rack you mentioned in CMY is it the clone of a Soundstyle rack in the picture below, but only 4 tiers and without the bottom spikes?


Months ago I was looking for a rack and was tempted to get this from CMY (because it looks nice assembled and on display) but managed to get the above same rack a little cheaper in Hiway Laser. However, the construction for the middle 2 shelves (the one I had was 4 tiers) is not so solid/stable (you will know it when you assemble the rack)..overall I'm not satisfy with the quality of this rack.

I'm still looking for a good quality rack with budget around RM1K - RM1.5K. Considering some wooden racks from ATS or the Atacama Equinox range (but rather expensive).. Anyone else with good racks to recommend at this price level?

Merry X'mas!

MKleong,

Get the Usher SR-4. Build quality is impressive and it even improves on the sound compared to when my equipment was on the floor.

What a difference a day makes!


Also got the new Cayin A55T tube amp to drive the Cremonas

SVS bookshelf speakers - SBS-01.
Nope. That's not a prototype PC subwoofer from SVS at the back though.