Kuala Lumpur International AV Show 2013 - Coverage, Pics & Reports

Met up with Mr Dick Tan last week for chit chat. He informed that next year KLIAV Show will be held from 5th to 7th July at the same venue.

The earlier dates is to accommodate our Muslim friends as Puasa will be few days after the said date. Hopefully with these dates, more visitors can go to the show next year.

This year it will be held from 5th to 7th July 2013 at the usual place JW MARRIOTT, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Details: http://www.3dotevents.com/

Good dates chosen prior to Ramadhan month. These old legs can cover more miles unlike last year!

Hopefully this year can see for more new product.

Gua pasti pegi bro......

Hopefully this year have more new products.

nice nice.

Worth going.  Is there a free Hifi CD for early birds?

hangleng wrote:Worth going.  Is there a free Hifi CD for early birds?

Bro, check it out the poster on top

Yeh...I am coming down from PENANG...Yes Inikalilah...

Will see you guys there!

Ahhhh a blissful Friday indeed..

http://notanotherhifiblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/kliav-show-2013-1st-day-5th-july.html

More here too from our sister site, AudioFi.net     

http://audiofi.net/2013/07/kliav-2013-a-pictorial/

Anyone here visited the AER room energizer demo? The said room energizer increased the overall loudness slightly. The effect was immediate. 

This is probably one of the rare tweaks that gives immediate results without the need to stretch ourselves to look for any difference.

Yes... The Acoustic Energiser.... It did change the sound when start using one and placed in between speakers. Then they put 2 more ... One in front of each speaker.... More depth ....

But not necessarily improve the sound but just changed the sound...

I heard the obvious difference when he used only one  AE. The room was busy so I cant judge depth or soundstage.

The most obvious difference was the perceived increase in loudness as much as 2 or 3dB which is mind boggling. That's almost twice the amplifier power needed for such increase.

Do anyone visit the room on 7th floor where the exhibitor display old speakers playing cd via old ld player and naked Audiolab integrated? The speaker placement is quite unusual. Anybody know what they are offering?

Dear 77006688, do you have pictures of the unusual placements. I did not go to the 7th floor due to tight schedule.

I do not make picture because I am not very sure what they are offering, the were 2 old guys spoke mainly Cantonese like from Hong Kong.

Hi I think I know who 7700 is referring to. There is this old gentleman, speak cantonese and english with cantonese accent.

I did have a closer look at the old speaker, it is a Acoustic Research. A lot of weird wood/panel and bottle like tweaking...

Every year, I only got to hear him talking instead of the system playing.. I never did manage to hear what is coming out from his setup.. Ya indeed, that look really like a LD Player~

Maybe that's SQV or something like that. If I am not mistaken they were on the 8th floor. A friend of mine bought the tweaks a couple of years ago. It worked in his system but when we tried it in my system but it didn't. I suppose it is system dependent.

Yes, I agreed with Adrian statement.

Every year, I only got to hear him talking instead of the system playing.. I never did manage to hear what is coming out from his setup.. Ya indeed, that look really like a LD Player~

Now, I know what they are doing already. thanks and enjoy your music.

Most of the high end demos (level 4) are playing digital sources only.  Unfortunately no turntable .  I am not sure why.

I am newbie into vinyl (but not new to hifi) and was very lucky to walk back with difficult-to-get LPs like Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat for RM400+ and The Wells for RM300+, plus others.  It's well worth it even though I did a day trip from Penang.

You are right. I only saw CMY was playing TT through their Dyna/Clearaudio/Jeff set up.

I expected all TT's at the show to be frequently playing..unfortunately didn't get to hear most of it. 
Went on Friday only..did think of going again on Sunday but didn't...money wisely spent at Amcorp mall with a good haul of desirable discs.
Perplexed by numerous popular cd albums on K2, XRCD, Hi-res remastering which reflected in very much higher prices. I didn't feel it was worth it investing in any of these. I'd rather put my money on some nice Analog Productions LP re-issues that I don't have. Of course I did buy 2 albums for a good price, lil cheaper than shipping it from USA.
The 2 albums I bought easily surpassed the fidelity and sonics of the same cd issues I have and been listening all the while. Its well worth it. I'll look into more Analog Productions LP's whenever I feel its worth owning.

There's a simple reason why records are not used much as demos - convenience. These days with music servers more readily available, I would never demo a record. The hassle of records is unbelievable compared to music servers or even CDs. And having both mediums, I am yet to  be convinced by records - but that is worth another day's worth of arguments.

Agree with all the comments about the lack of LP demos and seemingly high priced exotic CDs. However i am pleased that i bought the "Los Tabascos" CD pressed in Germany which was demoed and sold by dealer on the 7th or 8th floor. It sounds fantastic for retro music which was first made in 1959! Never knew i could enjoy hi-fi music from the year of my birth....hehe. Does any one know who's the dealer coz i see quite a vast collection of these exotic pressings and am thinking of more. Thanks!

Frankly I'm not for the dispute and arguments pertaining to why they should or not use illegal stuff or whatever for demo, convenient or not. I'm sure every visitor to the show have high anxiety and expectations to audition something new and exciting. This ain't a tour to the Paris Louve or some museum with everything static.
I guess me or anyone else would anticipate and hope the vendors in question would promote the best they can to attract and convince shoppers to buy their product if its offered for sale by way of convincing demonstration. I easily reckon a great demo can be crucial to any potential shopper's decision. Even any new car is easily offered for a test drive just about anytime and do what you want with it till satisfied. So its always good marketing sense to demo the best you can at any annual meet like this. Just plain and simple.

Can anyone list the top 5 rooms regardless of the price? Thanks

Here my top 5 rooms:

1. Bryston by AV Designs
2. Nagra
3. Dynaaudi/Jeff Rowland/ Clearaudio by CMY
4. The Horn by Swedish Statement
5. SVS by Maxx Audio

And my final take on the AV Show this year...


http://www.notanotherhifiblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/kliav-show-2013-7th-july.html

Most of the turntables are being demo'ed in levels 7 & 8. Besides Audio Image/Sound Concepts which demo'ed a DPS tt + arm and Benz Micro Ruby cartridge, I heard at least two other tt. But it is true of the 'big names' downstairs in level 4, only cmy had tt. But level 4 is also a lot of AV anyway.

My wish list for future shows.  Since we only hear demos of house brands of each participating company, we are not hearing the best of the best yet.

If we can have system integrators who can mix-and-match the best components from different companies for different budget (entry level, mid- and high-end systems in different rooms), then we will have something completely different than walking to the importers' showrooms.  An experience that visitors can only get from A/V shows...

I was there on saturday, I must admit I didnt go to all the rooms in level 7&8 and especially in level 4, but did spend some time in TAD room, sound is natural, quite good.

For level 7&8,
IMHO,

ATC room was better than last year, it was too sharp and booming last year.

As usual, it is very musical in Harbeth and Audio Note room. however, I feel the scale and impact was greater in Audio Note room.

The only room that is still fresh in my mind and I spend the longest time was BMC room, listening to vocal, drums, I was really impressed.

Thanks

boonchang wrote:Can anyone list the top 5 rooms regardless of the price? Thanks

 Hi all,

The 2013 KLAV was my first show after 'retiring' from hifi (not music) for quite a period. Been there on Sunday and the commemorative CD was still available  .

I like the LS3/5A room the most. The 'energy' of vocals and instruments are close to live music. The 'aliveliness' of the reproduced music may not be artistically beautiful like some other systems but it sure remind myself how live music sounds, at least most of it. I have a feeling the FM Acoustics amps contribute much if not all to this. 

The Harbeth Monitor 30.1 room was second in my opinion. The music just sounds right although not with the 'energy' and 'aliveliness' of the FM/LS35A room.

Beautiful music can also be heard at Musical Fidelity room with the NOS MF A1 driving some small Dynaudios. Class A amps and monitor type of speakers are good match to my taste.

The rest of the rooms that worth mentioning are of course the TAD, Bryston, and JMLab/Mcintosh rooms. Sounds like what hi-end hifi should sound. However, I miss some rooms like the Wilsons, Mark Levinson and some other I suspect.

The Meridian and Linn room were not sounding quite right. Also the Magico S1, perhaps it is due to the room acoustics and set up. But I suspect the Magico S1 could sound way better than they were, at the show.

The above are just my opinion according to my taste 

Anwar wrote:Actually there is another reason.  If turntables are used, the originals are required.  If music servers are used, they are already bundled with thousands of songs (illegally copied, including the high sampling rate version).  In Malaysia, people think they have the right to illegally copy music and movies.  Try the same in Singapore and see what will happen.  Maybe the next AV show we need to invite copyright enforcement officers to ensure only originals and licensed versions are used.

Speaking of fakes and originals, did anyone notice the room where there seemed to be a few Bower & Wilkins 800 series doppelgangers? It had some other name on them. I can't remember what it was.

Hi, anyone know when is the 2014 KLAV show?

4 to 6 July... same place..

Thanks bro!