Absolute Sound opens in Plaza Damas

AIMING FOR THE AUDIO TRUTH


Words & photos By B. KAULSAY


Violinist Grace Tan takes on a Meridian system... guess who won?

Providence… ever so sometimes, on that rare occasion, the Gods gang up and shower you with something wonderful. Just weeks ago I contacted (long-serving Absolute Sound man) Rock Lim for something. "Not now, not now, shop in a mess," he bellowed, "but make sure you come for the grand opening." I said "yes, Rock, I'll be there," secretly wondering if I would.

Then, Bassraptor calls, asking if I can cover the event. The Gods (and Bassraptor) sealed the deal!

And so, the afternoon of last Saturday found me joining the group of hi-fi enthusiasts and diehards in search of the audio truth. Did we find it there? Read on…

Absolute Sounds has four branches in Singapore, and one else here in Kuala Lumpur. This Plaza Damas branch is a tie-in with Meridian Audio UK. And on the occasion of the grand opening, Benjamin Chia, head honcho of Absolute Sound Singapore, decided to bring in the Meridian DSP 8000 and the DSP 7200 (their first exposure to any Asian destination, by the way), along with Martin McCue, Meridian's international sales manager direct from Cambridgeshire.


Meridian's Martin McCue expounds on the absolute audio truth.

McCue told us a little about these flagship (and flagship runner-up) speakers in between snippets of music that he played via a controller in his hand. Using this, he could bring up any piece of music he so chose, as well as switch between the two main pairs of systems playing in the showroom, in seconds using Meridian's own Sooloos system).

Both models have been around for a bit, but these are the special editions, with improved electronics, improved drivers (beryllium tweeters) and locking rings in the cabinetry for added mechanical integrity, all resulting in far greater headroom and transparency. All good stuff. Meridian's philosophy when designing? Simplicity itself.

"We reference every component, every item, every finished product against real music," McCue said. Seems honest enough to me. Oh, and for existing Meridian DSP user, they are retro-upgradable! All past DSP 8000 and DSP 7200 speakers can be upgraded to current specs.

On display along with the DSP speakers was the Meridian Reference 818 preamp, fed digital bits and files off of the aforementioned Sooloos system. Connections were all Cat 5 and other computer cables, not your usual wires. This because DSP stands for Digital Signal processing (want more info? Here you go, and everything is digital as it goes into the amps within each speaker. And to send digital signal all you need is CAT 5 cable (supplied with your purchase of speakers).

McCue played a few pieces of music that sounded extremely natural and relaxed. He then invited Grace Tan, a very talented local violinist, to play a few pieces of music with background music provided for by the smaller DSP7200. I must say this was a very ballsy move by the organisers, as it could have gone so horribly wrong. A violin, or a piano, would have been my last choice of live instruments to compare with a hi-fi system… so incredibly hard to get right. Yet in my books, the system did just fine. The third piece of music, Jobim's Girl from Ipanema, was so right, Tan's live violin playing blending in with everything else. The interplay between the live violin and recorded piano, recorded percussion and castanets was spot on. Shut your eyes and you could have been hard pressed to tell which was recorded and which was live. Well played, lads, well played indeed.


Yes, we know, we posted Ms Tan's photo already... No complaints, we assume?

Moving away from the two main speaker systems, on display was also the Meridian Home Theatre system. A short demo revealed some of the cleanest sounds I have personally heard in a home theatre system. Mind you, home theatre is not my personal cup of tea, as I'm still firmly in the old-school stereo systems for my stereo ears. Thus, I will not be a reliable witness to the greatness of what was on offer, but it certainly did sound pleasant.

Another two products on display for computer-based music (actually all the systems were about computer-based music, as that is what the Sooloos system is) that intrigued me were a USB-to-SPDIF converter plus DAC called the Meridian Explorer (RM999) and the Meridian Prime (S$2,200, RM5,000+), which is a very robust DAC/headphone amp. A quick listen to both necessitated a quick recovery of eyeballs that jumped out of sockets and were rolling around the floor somewhere.

The Explorer, particularly, gives you seamless hook-up with Macs, and upsamples to 24-bit/192kHz. No external power source required, just your Mac and USB connection. As my own USB-to-SPDIF device can't be used due to Mac OS Mavericks issues, I will be back to audition this product with a view to purchase… it is really that good on first listen. So clean, so clear, transparent as air on a clear winters morning, no hint of "digital" anywhere.

Audio truth? Yes. And then some. Make an appointment with them, Absolute Sound (603-62113961) is located at L1-2, Ground Floor, Block L, Plaza Damas, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1, Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur. Opening hours are 11am-7pm (Mon-Sat,closed on Sundays/public holidays).

Below: Some of the Meridian gear on display and demo