KLIAV Show 2009 Reports

Forumers who have visited the KLAV Show and are interested to share your experiences, opinions, etc, are welcomed to post in this thread. The reason for the 'SPOILER ALERT' is so that those who must have total suspense even for visiting a hi-fi show, will know not to read this thread until after their visit the show.

I spent over half a day at the show today. However, most of the time was spent hunting for LPs and Blu-Rays. Nevertheless I made it a point to drop by every room. There are some interesting stuffs in this year's show and I for one feels it is worth spending the entrance fee just to sample the variety of systems available. Due to my time spent shopping for music, I didn't have much time listening and basically just walked into every room for a quick look and listen to the system and if I don't feel listening longer, just walk out again.

Nevertheless, I did spent a little bit of time in the Norman Audio room (7040 in Level 7) as they are regualrs in this forum. They have the Krell S300i integrated on display, together with a rather interesting AC power conditiioner that also functions a bit like a UPS. Music source was a laptop (with uncompressed digital music) and a DAC. Worth visiting. Next door in the HiWay Laser room, they had the Krell Evolutions playing, courtesy of Norman Audio.

Unfortunately I am not terribly good with names so I can't remember the exactly name of my friend's shop but he has a Mark Levinson system (CD player, pre-amp and 432 power-amp) driving the KEF Reference speakers. My friend Japson has been playing hi-fi for many years and so he was able to get quite a decent sound from the set-up. They are in level-4 and worth visiting.

The Ongaku room was very very nice. Ongaku is a very famous brand for those of us who have been playing hifi for many years. Actually they have an even higher end version known as the Gaku-on. But the amp playing was the Ongaku.

The Perfect HiFi room showed the latest baby Wilsons and as usual is worth visiting. They also have a massive speaker which stands at ceiling height but unfortunately it wasn't playing when I visited the room.

Lots of bargains, esp hifi accessories. A word of warning. There are a number of distributors displaying in Level-4, selling music and many of them don't accept credit card so if you are a music lover, make sure you bring plenty of money.

Hopefully others who have spent more time listening to the systems instead of shopping for music can give a better review than me.

For so many rooms that I have visited, the most beautiful sound (easy listening) is the Harbeth room with Quad systems. Very impressive sound from these set of equipments & speaker. Other rooms systems looks sophisticated, expensive but they do not produced the sound of harbeth...... . Not to say others are not good, they are very good as powerful output as for AV rather than Sound Quality. It's just my opinion.

Marten speakers is the type of speakers that catches my eyes. They are beautiful speakers maker. Too bad, I did not spent much time in their room.

BrAvO wrote:For so many rooms that I have visited, the most beautiful sound (easy listening) is the Harbeth room with Quad systems. Very impressive sound from these set of equipments & speaker. Other rooms systems looks sophisticated, expensive but they do not produced the sound of harbeth...... . Not to say others are not good, they are very good as powerful output as for AV rather than Sound Quality. It's just my opinion.

Marten speakers is the type of speakers that catches my eyes. They are beautiful speakers maker. Too bad, I did not spent much time in their room.

Marten speakers are very expensive. Heard they used pure diamond for the tweeters.

I am totally in love with the McIntosh set up though I know the price is well beyond my reach.

I listened to the demo performed by Norman Audio using its PC and digital uncompressed PCM media (AIFF) on Ayre QB-9 DAC with Krell S-300i integrated amp to Avalon floorstanding speakers. Pretty impressive with demo, like TS stated, it's worth audition, please pay them a visit at Level 7 if you drop by.

The other place that i visited was TAD/Pioneer room at Level 4, there was a demo session with TAD reference one with Ayre components. Worth visiting.

I didn't spend too long in this year KLIAV show, just hopping to some of my favourite and regular rooms, i.e. Hi-Way laser (ATC, Ayre, Krell), Audio Perfectionist (McIntosh), Swedish Statement (Marten, Bladelius), Tropical Audio (Harbeth), Perfect HiFi (Sonus Faber, Watt, dCS Scarlatti), A&L Audio (Dali, PS audio).

Not much surprise on audio CD sections (or perhaps i have most of them ) compared to last year.

Overall, this year KLIAV show is quite impressive and interesting, lots of local audiophiles and foreign audiophiles attending this event especially during this sluggish economy situation (hope it will be over very soon). Kudos to the event organiser !

I wasn't impressed at all with the Swedish Statement performance this year. Way below expectation and many other megabuck systems by other vendors steam rolled it off. Not their day I guess.

I went on Friday. Visited the the show twice on the same day. In my opinion, the McIntosh room has the best sound followed by the room playing German Physics speakers and moon electronic gears (sorry, can't remember the name and floor). These are followed by the big boys on level 4 (bigger room, better sound treatment and more tuning). I was really impressed by the Mcintosh'es ...... they managed to produce such great sound withe such precise control in a smallish room ..... must have spent helluva time trying to work against the room!!

All in all, this year's show is ok lar .... great for eye opener but bad for bargain hunters trying to pick up bargain stuff coz the stuff are not that cheaper than normal retail (minus one or two participant, that is)

HI All sifu,can i know that,do there has any Dynaudio speaker display on this show??? TQ

Yes, visit CMY's rooms at Level 7.

BrAvO wrote:For so many rooms that I have visited, the most beautiful sound (easy listening) is the Harbeth room with Quad systems. Very impressive sound from these set of equipments & speaker. Other rooms systems looks sophisticated, expensive but they do not produced the sound of harbeth...... . Not to say others are not good, they are very good as powerful output as for AV rather than Sound Quality. It's just my opinion.

Marten speakers is the type of speakers that catches my eyes. They are beautiful speakers maker. Too bad, I did not spent much time in their room.

'bing bang boom, tak tong chiang', most showroom play this kind of percussion music, the reason Harbeth room sound good bcos they demo only vocal music with minimum bass, all those show room demo their big speaker with all the bass music in such a small room, what u expect...

I went to Perfect Hifi room and and saw their Acapella Tower speaker with all the tube amp, my slaver drop, but at that time, the room filled with the 'bing bang boom' with the Wilson Audio, i walk in and out number of time hoping they demo the Acapella set, at last they did, but also 'bing bang boom' kind of music, with these high end tube gear and horn speaker, I really hope they can demo some sweet vocal music..

Like the TAD and Ongaku room, at least these room play some good vocal music.

Kind agree with your viewpoint, Hifikaki, i do enjoy vocal, warm music rather than fast, too dynamic kind of music. However, music taste are varies and subjective, probably most of their customers like fast, dynamic setup rather warm and musical type. IMO

Anyone know what model Onix speakers(bookshelf) that were used with the RM18000 CDP and RM16000 Integrated amp? I think it was the room on level 8 somewhere on the right side as you come out the elevators. It was next door to the room demo-ing the karaoke box thingy. They were playing a solo violin track and it was stunning. The exhibitor was probably C&O Audiophile Enterprise if I'm not mistaken.


When I went into the Harbeth room, they were showing off the super HL5 playing some songs with significant bass on it; the tiny room spoilt the music. Very boomy. Pity. I've heard the first gen HL5 and it was really really nice.

Usher, YG and Wilson Audio speakers were very nice too. But I loved the Onix the most. Anyone have any idea what speakers those are?

Some of the exhibitors are moving towards PC-HiFi connection like Rave and Norman Audio.

So many brands on show:
McIntosh, Krell, The Gryphon, Wilson Benesch, YG Acoustics, Kondo, Meridien, Acapella, dCS, Wilson Audio, Reimyo, Jeff Rowland Design Group, Audio Note, Bryston, VTL

This year's show is more towards HiFi and not Home Theater systems.

auronthas wrote:Kind agree with your viewpoint, Hifikaki, i do enjoy vocal, warm music rather than fast, too dynamic kind of music. However, music taste are varies and subjective, probably most of their customers like fast, dynamic setup rather warm and musical type. IMO

Hi auronthas, I agree that some prefer more dynamic type of music, my point is that they should know the room limitation, playing these type of music loud in a small room, the result will definately not so good lah...

And when u see those nice tube amp, sure would expect them show some good vocal magic

i only disappointed with pioneer so called 20k speaker system setup at lower level G, that one sucks, probably the presenter sucks, so the whole presentation sucks, but at least the girls are pretty nice looking,

also not for getting the reference 1 TAD , that one i wonder why they dont demo high speed music, was the speaker not design for that, i think TAD need to improve a lot into Demo presentation, it was so lame and not exciting, at all !! please do something

hi everybody..hopefully this year avshow will benefits to all hifi and av kaki's...ive been there for 3 days and help my friend at JAS AUDIO showroom level 8...to whom visit the showroom,im the malay guy with the BOTAK!! head..tq very much for the support..

Im very disappointed with most of the cd seller coz all the top audiophile cd selling at hi price..some mark up the price gila gila..for instant im buying this ingram washington and take dake at Rm60 per piece(local seller not from ebay or amazon) but during the show most of the seller sell at RM80..most of the cheap cd is from their box inside the store,thats only open during the show maybe..

The good news..now im waiting my new HT system AUDICA CX series 1 with 10 inch subwoofer bought from E AUDIO (level 8..the sound very good for me and reasonable price too..only thing must wait another 1 more week to arive at my place..heehehe

thanks for AUDIOMATIC (level 7) that brings the FURUTECH accessories..bought some fuse and iec for my self and friends too..

I thought Furutech authorised dealer in Malaysia is AV CONNECTION

Spend almost 6 hours there on friday.
Sony erricson, the onix bookshelf you mention shld be onix music 1 if not mistaken, it use both vifa tweeter and woofer. I myself feel that the High frequency not suit me ..i prefer a smoother 1.

For speaker i like the German Physiks, it play drum so real and its vocal also smooth... i'm wondering how it will sound when match with tube amp...

hifikaki,
i'm slightly more lucky than you as i manage to hear for several seconds of Acapella Tower before they shift to wilson audio.....


If say comfortable sound then Audionote show room is one of it....

JAS audio's show room also worth a listen (undoubtly i like tube sound..)

went for 2 days (friday and saturday) it was a great experience to hear from various of systems set up.
met fizi and eddie at JAS AUDIO and got myself a YAQIN 6J1 tube buffer! many thanks to fizi and eddie, it was nice seeing you guys there...and later on that same evening i bought Cyrus CD8x from UNICORN ELECTRONICS and of course some audiophile cds too...

shaiful wrote:met fizi and eddie at JAS AUDIO and got myself a YAQIN 6J1 tube buffer! many thanks to fizi and eddie, it was nice seeing you guys there...and later on that same evening i bought Cyrus CD8x from UNICORN ELECTRONICS and of course some audiophile cds too...

So sorry...it was fizi and edwin and not eddie..

I was surprising HDMI can using wireless,get alot of great experience from there.......

davidywchong wrote:I was surprising HDMI can using wireless,get alot of great experience from there.......

Philips had developed wireless HDMI some years back.

i jst started play home theater last year, may be i still new and dont know more new tech. =) need to learn from all sifu here.....

Guys,

Managed to be in a bit early on Saturday and manage to have a couple of one-to-one listening in these rooms/system which IMHO are excellent/memorable to share:

1. Onix room: managed to listen to a couple of tracks from Tracy Chapman, now thats what's called palpable and presence;

2. The German Physiks and system.. Wow, as mentioned by sswong, excellent dynamics and control. Drooollll....

3. The Macintosh room: while the entire system faultless unfortunately when I was there they're demonstrating another 'drum demo song'. IMHO we should wean ourselves from this type of 'music', I mean the system deserves better

4. And in the Dali room: managed to listen to a familiar jazz tune.. presence and truly cool and sassy sound. Again... drool.. especially when you look at the price tag..

Not to forget Sam Chan (Tropical Audio) and Edwin and Agnes Tan (RAVE Systems) whom for the many years been sharing their love of their trade and sharing them with the customers..

And a note to the girl selling some FURUTECH products (along the corridor, not in the Audiomatic room), pls call me, lost your number !!! Just kidding...

Cheers,

z

I managed to hop in almost all the audio rooms but spent only about 1-2 minutes and some I just walked away. Most of them played ching, ching, bong, bong track...not impressed at all. I must say that Tropical audio setup did catch my attention of its musicality presentation.

Glad that A&L is the VTL dealer in Malaysia, hence I know where to head to for replacement tubes in future.



ZeeBee, the girl took my number too

wanted to know what is the CD title that C&O Audiophile (Onix room) playing. Piano with female vocal.

C&O Audiophile from Ipoh, if got chance drop by there i ask for u. mines Onix HDMI cable get from there too...hahaa....

I was quite blown away by the German Physic/Sim Audio demo, and as for the all-McIntosh system, while it was sublime, I heard the same in the Music By Design showroom earlier in the week and it sounded more impressive there, for some odd reason!

I also stepped into the Quad/Harbeth room for a second, because they sounded great last year but this time, I think they were playing the wrong music, so not so mind-boggling. The Gryphon/Wilson system got off on the wrong foot, I'm told, but when I went in, the Torus sub was magnificent in a small room.

What I found heartening, though, was that the sub-RM10k Epos/Creek system sounded more than the sum of its parts! Proof that you can set up a very decent system at the price.

bassraptor wrote:I was quite blown away by the German Physic/Sim Audio demo, and as for the all-McIntosh system, while it was sublime, I heard the same in the Music By Design showroom earlier in the week and it sounded more impressive there, for some odd reason!

I also stepped into the Quad/Harbeth room for a second, because they sounded great last year but this time, I think they were playing the wrong music, so not so mind-boggling. The Gryphon/Wilson system got off on the wrong foot, I'm told, but when I went in, the Torus sub was magnificent in a small room.

What I found heartening, though, was that the sub-RM10k Epos/Creek system sounded more than the sum of its parts! Proof that you can set up a very decent system at the price.

Epos, creek system was too crowded at that time, so I skipped that. I guess I just got lucky in Quad/Harbeth room as the moment I stepped in the Jazz infused version on "walking on the moon" originally by the Police was on demo....What can I say

My opinion in the demo room..i dont really know how to value it because some of the expensive set up also dont really got a WOW!! factor for me..maybe because the music they play not suit me..

p/s--if we walk in with the eye close and dont know the brand name,,dont be suprise k..maybe we will choose the RM10k set up is the WOOWWWW!!! factor...

visited the show on saturday. not very familiar though with most of the music on display in most room so my comment may be wrong

Best sound:
1. simaudio moon cd player & amp + german physic speakers. cost: ?over rm400k whole system
2. whole mcintosh system
3. ongaku system: sound awesome for vocal. the exhibitor really know the strength of their system.

Best value for money:
1. quad/harbeth combo
2. creek/epos. surprising decent bass from such a small standmount. warmish sound but good musicality from the sub 10k system

The Onix system and Audiospace/bowman system also sound decent for the price

I am always intereted in horn speakers but unfortunately dont have the chance to listen to the acapella horn speakers on display. the passlab/dcs/wilson audio in the same room is a huge let down but it can be due to poor room condition and noisy environment.

just my 2 cents

hopefully there will be a better show next year with more high end brand on display (where are the ayre kxr/mx, avantgrade, mbl this year?)

I think from this show, it is now clearly obvious that set-up skills can sometimes be more critical than the equipment themselves. The ideal/perfect situation is the best equipment with the best set-up skills. But often, a passionate dealer with less than top-end equipment can outdeliver another who sells the best equipment but is just out for a quick buck only.

Lamkochai,
The Ayre C-5xe/KX-R/MX-R combo was deployed in the TAD room on Level 4, driving the TAD Reference One speakers.

Cheers,

Lamkochai wrote:visited the show on saturday. not very familiar though with most of the music on display in most room so my comment may be wrong

Best sound:
1. simaudio moon cd player & amp + german physic speakers. cost: ?over rm400k whole system
2. whole mcintosh system
3. ongaku system: sound awesome for vocal. the exhibitor really know the strength of their system.

Best value for money:
1. quad/harbeth combo
2. creek/epos. surprising decent bass from such a small standmount. warmish sound but good musicality from the sub 10k system

The Onix system and Audiospace/bowman system also sound decent for the price

I am always intereted in horn speakers but unfortunately dont have the chance to listen to the acapella horn speakers on display. the passlab/dcs/wilson audio in the same room is a huge let down but it can be due to poor room condition and noisy environment.

just my 2 cents

hopefully there will be a better show next year with more high end brand on display (where are the ayre kxr/mx, avantgrade, mbl this year?)

I very much agree with you on the best value system. Surprising though that Martens speakers didn't make it to your 'best sound' system.

I did not see all exhibitors doing room acoustics treatment.
This, I suspect, had contributed to some systems sounding not at their best in the rooms.

There are systems which I feel certainly too much for the room size too.
It is like putting a mature dolphin in a 10 sq ft size aquarium.

Anyway, this show is a preview to the new models that the exhibitors are bringing in.
Best is still to pay a visit to their showrooms.

The Macintosh speakers cost RM160K, the sound is good but seems like dont match with the price. The vocal not lively and a bit harsh, may be i was sitting too close to it.

I was there when they are playing "Chai Ching" Chinese CD. It is quite difficult to "Let" her sing lively, emotionly, full with feelings and even make you recall your "old days" unless you have a proper set up. I listened to ARC Classic 60 driving HL5 and i got the above characters but not in AV show, unfortunely.

Anyone managed to take any pictures at the Show? You can post them here!

Overall - commendable but no suprises. As with every year, I expected to see good CD variety on sale but there was very little to appreciate. I also agree that the CDs are very pricey considering the fact that this is a special event. Cheers!

Usually the norm is to make money (when and where) at special events...they have to pay high rental at these events...right? Thus, I was told by an insider....

[quote][/quI very much agree with you on the best value system. Surprising though
that Martens speakers didn't make it to your 'best sound' systemote]

hi tycham
i am more of a 'tube' guy who like warm and relax sound. martens speakers set up is not my taste. same applied to dynaaudio/jeff rowland and most system in CMY room. whilst they are dynamic and detail, they sound too harsh and analytical and can cause fatigue with long hour listening.

to norman audio
thank you for the reminder. i think i miss your roomlah. will look hard for your room next time. the ayre/avalon/mit cables match up are really impressive in last year exhibition.

I cant understand exhibitors who play these weird percussion based native american wailing infused with indian (not red but the original one) instruments added with a tinge of classical chinese type music on their equipment. I am sure that there are some ppl out there who enjoy such music but FFS, play proper music la.

If the system only shines on those kind of music, then its really not worth the money IMHO.

Hahahaha... some of the songs really not our cup of tea but they are merely trying to do a show of their systems.

No worries, bro...
If you are not satisfied with the kind of music that they demo-ed at the show, you can always drop by at their showrooms with your own CDs or LPs to test the systems again.
Or you can also ask them to play different kind of music.
This will ensure that you can get the system that you like and feel worthy.

Cheers..

My ear best showroom...Jas audio (ORSA speaker),BOWMAN speaker with audiospace amp,Onix set up and Usher set up..

No comment to system above RM50k...i dont know what is so speacial to it

IMO, it's not easy task to setup audio equipment inclusive of room acoustic treatment within very short period and some of the rooms are too small for big floor standing speakers, that's why the sound you hear may not reflect the actual performance of the audio system. It's best to hear from their showroom with proper setup and music you are familiar with.

It takes a skilled hifi tuner months to get a typical room to 'sound' its best. Actually, it may sound wiered but my friends and I believes that listening rooms also 'run in' as well (just like equipments !! ). Almost all of my friends have build/extended their listening room so the opnion is from actual experience. Plus the power supply from a hotel room does not seem to be very high qualtiy (probably with lots of noise and maybe voltage too might be low) and that affects the sound of the system as well. Somehow, the best of systems in the typical hotel room tends to boom, have vague focus or overlarge images, often with hard midrange or harsh highs, and lack of details/resolution. Given that, the Onyx, Ongaku and some of the other systems did sound very good, given the limitations the exhibitor had to work with.

A system made up of good components, when properly matched, and properly set-up can bring you to heaven with its sound. I have been lucky enough to get acquainted with some hifi owners, people with amps like Krell MRA or speakers like Infiniti IRS Beta and those type of systems truly taught me what the term 'reference' really mean.

I have helped my friend in hi-fi shows before, many years ago and I do know that the general objective have to be to bring in the crowds and to impress visitors. The idea is to get them to stay and then we can properly explain the system/components/ideas to them. Once we can see someone who is really an enthusiast (vs the casual visitor) or who is very interested/eager, often we entertain requests to play other types of music.

In the early years, we did go the idealist route and played varied type of music, choosing the material based on quality of music, rather than 'audiophile' quality. And we found that people did not rate our system very highly and many rather spend time elsewhere. When we started to play the 'bing-bang-boom' variety of 'music', many will stay. So unfortunately, it's the first impression that is often what counts. Unfortunately, every hifi show has its fair share of 'seen-kah-lans' (know it alls) who will come in and make loud comments how the system sounds, and these are the kind who often have wooden ears and no taste in music. Sadly, when there is someone making these kind of comments loudlly, it influences others to walk away as well. For e.g. 1 year I found a gem of an LP (a promo copy of Andrew Loyd Webber's Phantom Of The Opera play soundtrack). My friend put it onto the turntable and unfortunately being an old LP, there were some pops and cracks and immediately two guys sitting in front shouted 'Aiya, see why I say analog/turntable can never beat CDs ?'. We immediately took out the LP and put in a bing-bang-boom. That quickly shut him up.

So, while we ourselves rather play 'real music', its the bing-bang-boom that brings in the crowd and as exhibiting in a hi-fi show is for P.R., to let more people know the shop and the components being exhibited, sadly we too went the bing-bang-boom way. In one particular year, we actually went into a 'bass war' because the organiser mixed hifi and A/V and the A/V guy opposite our room was playing Jurassic Park and Avalanche repeatedly and with the subwoofer turn up to maximum volume (we were actually impressed the subwoofer didn't sieze due to being over-worked, eventhough it was clipping). As we had a pair of Apogee Arrays that year, we decided to 'show' everyone what -REAL- bass really meant (a dose of Telarc Carmina Burana, 1812, Pictures at an Exhibition, then some nice disco music won over the day easily).

Enjoy reading your posts, WongKN, thanks for sharing your experience

Wong, you nailed it!