KL AV Show 2016 sharing

I am not a journalist or reviewer, just sharing my experience visiting KL AV Show 2016 on the last day (Sunday) from 10:30am until 2:00pm. I will only highlight what impressed me or what failed to impressed me. Readers have the rights to disagree with me, perhaps should post your own version of KL AV Show impression. I do hope you enjoy reading this post.

As everyone started at the lowest level right after registration, I was so eager to experience the quarter million dollar Sony VPL-VW5000ES projector. The room was not really large and some ambient light enters even though there is curtain available. I visited this room again after visited all the floors. There are no other rooms that come close to this in terms of picture quality. Since we can’t see this projector demo outside the AV Show and not everyone can afford this (including myself), coming to the KL AV Show 2016 just to see this projector is definitely worth it. Unfortunately, a few of my friends missed this.

Not all demo of 4k projectors were using 4k source.  For example, the person at JVC room told me they ordered Samsung 4k blu ray player but did not receive it on time for the show, hence 1080p upscaled to 4k.

The affordable Grandview projector screen from Canada used in the Sony’s VPL-VW5000ES room and also at level 8 (stand-mount on A/V rack as shown in picture) was good news indeed to budget-minded videophiles.



One of the CMY rooms has an eye-catching turntable-like Kalysta Calypso CD transport. 


The real turntable by CMT was in another room – Clearaudio Innovation turntable with Dynaudio Confidence C2 speakers, Karan Acoustic phono stage, and Jeff Rowland pre-power. I am not a fan of class D amp and switching power supply – I feel the system sounded digital.


At some of the CMY rooms, the Entreq Vibb Eaters were placed on top of the speakers and some rooms using Entreq Ground Box and Cleanus. I am always skeptical with all these snake oils, especially without much credible reviews.



Note: I am believer in using good isolation transformer (preferably with dedicated AC feed) like Torus to clean the AC, have good ground within the system, and with the air gap in magnetic path storing inductive energy to handle instantaneous current. I have tried passive AC power filters from Furutech and Shunyata and they can’t beat a good isolation transformer.

It was the first time I heard the Spatial open-baffle speakers. They are not that expensive and sounded pretty different from conventional boxed speakers.


The Perfect Hi-Fi room was quite a disappointment. When I was there, the demo music was played so loud that the ceiling was vibrating so badly, adding unnecessary ‘sound’ to the music.


Being a Focal Diablo owner, I have heard Focal Sopra N2 at Adelphi Singapore showroom, but the setup of Sopra N3 here was not impressive at all. I believe it may be the Esoteric network player and integrated amp which failed to bring the best out of the speakers, or the speakers are so brand new and not yet broken in, or combination of both. I remember in previous shows how the combination of McIntosh gears with Utopia-range speakers worked so much better (they also had speakers not broken-in problem), but the Malaysia and Singapore distributors of Focal have changed recently.


AV Designs had good setups for both A/V and 2-channel. I was impressed with their 2-channel setup. It is not overly expensive but the PMC Twenty5.24 driven by Bryston electronics with Torus AVR (branded as Bryston) sounded high resolution with good imaging and pretty impressive bass, and good selection of demo music.


I have no chance to do serious listening at the big room with Kronos turntable as the sweet-spot seat was taken, so I listen while standing. I was checking what speakers they use but there is no information about the brand and model of the speakers. After listening for some time, I feel the limitations of the system are the speakers – it could have sounded better with different speakers.


Being a TW Acoustic Raven Two owner, I ensure I did not miss My HiFi Shop room. The Raven AC with Black Night 3-motor looks a lot better than 3 separate motor assemblies. Unfortunately, I don’t see TW Acoustic 10.5 tonearm but they are using Triplanar instead. Having both tonearms, TW 10.5 is better and higher resolution than Triplanar.



There are quite a number of rooms which have turntables (some of them spinning empty) but digital sources were used instead. I am not sure why. To me, it was a waste.


Pictures of other rooms I went in to snap pictures only.




Note: pictures were taken with Canon EOS 5D Mk3, 24-105 f/4L lens, and 580EX flash, then sized down to 1/64 (original 5760 x 3840 images divided by 8 horizontally and vertically) for posting here.

Great pics. Thanks for sharing Anwar.

Thanks for sharing :-)

nice report
same opinion with you.
the proac with prima luna sounds impressive and the bass is astonishing for such a small speakers

Thanks for sharing the pictures and the klav 2016 review. Good job Dr. Anwar.

Nice photos taken Anwar.

Excellent overview of the show.

The organising team did a fair job in getting the event this year to reflect the same level of the preceding year. Looking at the numerous exhibits & demo gear available for hands-on session, it was a big logistic task to say the least. The stalls selling a wide range of audiophile CDs & vinyls add spice to the occasion notwithstanding the ringgit is truly stretched at present time. All in all, a good job done. Thanks to all the participating members & supporting staffs for all the time & efforts. And your summarised coverage too.

Thank you Anwar. Great overview of the show, especially to those whom were not able to visit. It is not easy to setup a system, in such short time, to produce good sound. The room size, glass windows and power supply, to name a few, don't do justice to the setup.