KLAVS 2010 - Reports from attendees

As usual I took a day off to visit the KLAVS today. I always do this as I do not handle crowds well and being a working day, I have more chance to listen to the systems without interruptions on Fridays. Like last year, I propose those of us who have visited the show to share our experiences and viewpoints (remember the keyword : VIEWPOINTS, i.e. PERSONAL OPINIONS) on what are the recommended rooms/systems that are worthwhile to visit.

With so many years of KLAVS in the same hotel and so many of the exhibitors being more or less regulars now, many of them have gotten to grips with the task of getting good sound in the very constrained conditions and consequently this year, many have managed to coax rather acceptable or even good sound from their exhibits.

The system I like most.

Hands down it is Jo (Ki)'s LS3/5a system. I have heard Jo's system before, the most recent time was when he was testing a full FM amplication in his system. Eventually he bought an FM pre which he says he has been able to integrate very well into this system. I have not actually visited him after he got his FM Pre so this KLAVS was the first time I heard his 'new' FM pre in his system. One cavert is that Jo's system has strengths in areas which coincide with my own personal preference so it is not surprising for myself when after the visit is done, I find that I enjoyed Jo's system the most. His system is very transparent, with fine detailing, good soundstaging and very musical. The little LS3/5a is lacking in weight and bass 'punch' despite the AB1 subs and Jo, being the seasoned and honest down to earth audiophile, fully admits he prefers not to play loud rock type music in his system (though I have heard such music played before and it certainly does not dissapoint). Jo's system do make the visit worthwhile, he is a true LS3/5a guru.

Other systems I would recommend people to make a point to drop by to listen to.


1. The TAD system is pretty OK. They managed to get reasonable soundstaging and the overall balance was quite OK. It was the first system I listened to seriously, simply because by coincidence my friend Eugene was helping Dick Tan with running the show and when I saw him, he took me over and told me I should listen to it.


2. The Manger speakers in room 8034 was impressive. With CEC transport and Promitheus DAC and INEX amplication, the bass reproduction was especially good. Nice tight and very fast bass, very fine reproduction of the drums. Being so early, the exhibitor offered to let me choose a CD from the collection he had, though it was a rather small collection. Eric Clapton unplugged was played reasonably well though the sound couldn't really come alive. It could be the recording's limitation though.


3. The Audio Perfectionist full MacIntosh system was quite nice especially with fast loud pop music. The bass was not in the league of the Manger system but the music played was lively with nice punch.


4. The Absolute Hifi (FM based) room is a strong recommendation delivering quite good sound as would be expected from a system based on FM Acoustics amplication, Audio Note CD source and Advangarde Acoustic Uno Nano speakers (many thanks to forumer carz for pointing out my mistake). Nice imaging, quite OK bass.

These are all in Level 8.


5. A rather interesting surprise was the unexpected quite nice sounding system based on the Morduant Short speaker in, of all place, one of the Desa Home Theatre rooms. I was guilty of prejudice, not expecting DHT to be able to deliver anything near being serious in hifi since they have always been a mass-seller of AV equipments in my eyes. Even their name says 'Home Theatre'. But while not to the level of the Absolute Hifi or the Manger room, they were surprisingly able to deliver a level of sound which makes it IMHO, worthwhile to drop by to have a listen, if only to rest the feet and listen to some music, in a system without any pretentions to being 'high-end'. Reasonable soundstaging, bass, with some semblence of highs. They played 'safe' music like Tsai Chin's moonlight serenade but at least it doesn't hurt my eyes and I was able to enjoy moonlight serenade when I sat down to rest my feet. Of course I do not know how it would sound with other type of music but like I said, it has no pretentions and it is a nice place to rest the feet, without hurting the ears.


6. One of my favourite previous speakers, before I upgraded to Apogees, was my Spendor SP2/2. So I have been a fan of the BBC 'studio monitor' sound and I still like it very much. The new Spendor SP100 speakers, again in a modest non pretentious system was very nice indeed. With the full characteristic of the BBC studio monitor sonic balance but with a nice solid bass. It was good enough that Jo Ki joked with me that perhaps he should just get that speaker and do away with his LS3/5a and AB1 (he was just joking with me only )


7. The Center Circle EgglestonWorks speakers driven by Parasound amplication in Level 4 was a worthwhile visit IMHO. It was one system with quite reasonable highs, most system being lacking in this aspect due to bad room acoustics.


8. The BAT system (with Epos speakers) in Level 7 had the best (and largest) soundstage of all the systems in the show. It was of a very high standard, with good focus and presence (given the constraints of the room and power supply). The amps are not cheap as my friend KM pointed out to me (they were having 'warehouse clearance' and yet the monoblocs still costs over RM60k). The Epos speaker was quite good value for money though, around RM16k, not cheap but for the level of sound from the system, can be considered good value for money (for someone who can afford to fork out that amount of money in the first place). However, I am not sure how much the BAT amps had a hand in the sound, i.e. how the Epos would sound with lesser amps.


9. I would recommend everyone to also drop by Boardroom 1 in Level 4. It is actually the very last room right at the corner of the staircase for the exit from the show. Our H4S' very own HTKAKI is exhibiting his SVS speakers + subs there. Unfortunately it was due to lack of experience (it was Max's first show) that he chose BR-1. As they put it, the room is really 'BOARD'-room as the walls are all made out of wooden boards ! Consequently, even with two SVS subs working full blast, Max was still struggling to get decent bass from his system. Still, I would recommend everyone to make an effort to drop by. The problem with being the last room is that often we tend to overstay in the show and we would rush through the last few exhibits so being in the last room is not really a good move. But as noted, it is Max's first time and he is already sure which room he definitely WON'T choose for next year.


To finish off my 'report', I will just mention the system which I (personally) am most dissapointed at. At the risk of offending the fans of the equipment or shop, I have to say that it is the CMY Clearaudio system/room. I have to put a disclaimer that I have a number of friends who plays Clearaudio turntables so it is probably unfair of me to have such an expectation, but the level of sound from the Clearaudio system really doesn't do any justice at all to the Clearaudio Master Reference turntable. It is pleasant and OK sounding but it is just that I know for a fact that the turntable is capable of so much better sound. Robert Suchy, the owner's son was there (I have met him before) so I would expect better. It could be the room and power supply constraints or a host of other limitations they are forced to work with. But then again, Jo Ki was able to squeeze so much from his much more modest system (compared to what he gets at home). So in comparison the Clearaudio system was greatly under-delivering. I guess CMY needs more time to learn how to get the best from the turntables.

So this is what I experience today. Again, I have to highlight that these are all my PERSONAL OPINION. So go enjoy the show YOUR way and if you feel inclined to do so, do write a report of your own to share as well.

thanks for the report especially for hifi members that could not make it there, like me of course .
and for sure i'm waiting for others report and if possible with some photo to share. (they allow us to take photo there?)
and again thanks mr.wong.

now cmy is the dealer for clearaudio? zz

Thanks for WongKN, Nice Report.

What is evident to me is sound from VALVE amplification is the one that have instant appeal and broad smiles with many listeners.
Clearaudio?, glittering steel and acrylic implimentation at its best! Top that with blue LED's lighting through the acrylic. (should I fix a couple of color LED's below my Rega platter?...cool!)
Biggest TT display ever in all the years of KLAV. Amazing!
I think I liked the Nagra system very much.

Thanks for the detailed report, WongKN.

From my observation of this year show, it is delighted and interesting to see more Network Media Players or Digital Stream Players or Music Servers such as Linn, PS Audio, Bladelius, etc., just to name a few,are playing part of the show.

Cheers

nagra got my attention too, so does the german physiks (if you're looking for STAGE instead of soundstage). the s'porean exhibitor put it in very simple terms...

1) passion 1st, money 2nd
2) the right recording for the right system (notice the list of song selections on the wall? album-track number-duration)

sorry guys but a lot of the rest like to put RM50/cd recordings on RM50K systems. I walked in and walked out in 2minutes... no 2nd chances from me since it feels like they can't be bothered to present their system with the best suitable recordings.

bryanz keeping asking me the same question... why not just put a RM200 cd on a RM10K system? wouldn't it sound better? how to sell if people keep picking out the flaws? the glare? the harshness? the compressed transients?

i still see a lot of exhibitors let a complete cd run through... thats a no no for me....

does anyone have a cd that has all tracks sounding equally good? a complete cd without flaws? anyone? which cd? i'm curious...

anyway, kudos to those who have put in sweat and blood into finding the best recording for demo... you know who you are, we know who you are... suddenly jumping out of your sleep 4am in the morning just to find that best suitable recording. i paid rm10 and time for this kinda passion!

drife here... signing out

Ah, yes numerous music and movie servers, lots of media players. I really wonder how they plan to address the copyright issue. I never ask because I thought that just as a casual visitor, it would be rude of me to ask such a sensitive question esp when they are trying to promote to other visitors. There are also multiroom system, wireless system, etc.

There is also one vendor who sells a unit that will 'up-sample' the CD rate, much like how they are up-sampling standard DVD (480p) to HD (720p) or full HD (1080p). Actually, some of the better implementations of video upsampling are quite nice and from what I heard (forgot which room has this unit), the CD upsampling result is quite good as well.

From chatting with those exhibitors I know well, one of the biggest complaint with the venue which they still can't really resolve is the quality of the power supply. Many of them are forced to power the whole system off 1 single 13amp wall socket. The hotel is already probably not designed for handling heavy loads off all wall sockets at once, what some of the systems in this show. So one needs to be aware and make accomodation for this when listening or watching an exhibit (my personal opinion). Almost all the serious exhibitors have some sort of power conditioner, including Pure-Power. But from personal experience in my own house, this is still not as good as a proper & good power from the mains board itself.

Come on guys, do spend some time to write up your own reports. Remember, everyone has their own personal preferences and taste and all likes and dislikes are personal and valid. I mean if everyone shares the same taste and preference as me for e.g., then we won't have an AV show at all since only 1 amp, 1 speaker and 1 turntable manufacturer will get all the business and even all other manufacturers including CD manufacturers will 'chap-lap' already !!

Just a note : I have took photos of all the systems I talked about in my 'report'. Friday is such a relaxed day I am able to snap those photos without anyone blocking the view all of the time. I have editted and added those photos in my 'report'.

so guys, tmrw is the last day and i'm sure a lot of you would be nego-ing the final price on systems.

not trying to be a jacka$$ but here's my 2 cents, actually for everyone's protection since i think all of this should be a FAIR game.

before deciding to put down a deposit on any system:

1) request exhibitor (and all of his/her salespersons in the room) to put down ALL remote controls on the table. no one should be holding a remote control in their hand.

2) manually (use hand) to control volume or change tracks.

3) audition one last time. if you like it, good!

4) here's the fun part. request exhibitor to show all back connections. eg... which wire to where, which interconnect to where...

5) and also, request exhibitor to unveil, open those cloth coverings on desk, tables, boxes, cabinets.... throughout the whole room.

6) just wanna make sure those Low Frequencies are actually produced by the sub... did i just say sub? or subs?

guys, especially in those dark rooms... keep your eyes open and try to touch or stand close to "what apear to be idling cabinets/boxes".

happy smart shopping. cash is king. money talks, bullsh!t walks.

drife............... sigining out .

personally, i was impressed with the nagra with verity n moon with german physiks systems.
agreed with wongkn on the BAT system. BAT mono blocks r to die for. check out the 6c33 military russian power tubes with 3 devil horns.

here r some pics that i've taken.
BAT with epos

German Physiks

Moon with German Physiks

Just left the show. Spent about 4 1/2 hrs there.

I like the ls3/5a room. Learnt something new & perhaps I can try later. The Verity Audio speakers driven by Nagra tube mono blocks are also very nice. The Epos room driven by BAT was pretty good too.

Hopefully I can upload someics tomorrow.

Regards,
Joe Ling

Also saw DCS stuff but didn't have chance to listen. I'm intrigued.

Aiya!! i miss the nagra room.

The systems i like are:
1. ls3/5a room. very balance sound, good soundstaging and shall i say correct music timbre. Bass not that deep but is taut and enough for type of musics played. very comfortable to ear and the musics played are nice. I stay the longest in this room. planning to buy a pair of these speakers to try out but unfortunately the subs are no more available in market.

2. whole tad system

3. bat with epos

4. wilson audio sasha with dcs, ar preamp and golmund monoblock.

i am a die hard unison research fan and quite surprise to see the unison research pre and power amp in the show. unfortunately the setup and environment is suboptimal + they have chosen wrong musics to play so the sound does not please me well.

How about Soundtech from sg petani, Kedah?

Some pics :


On the plane 7am


At the entrance


Cute Ipodable mini from Yamaha

As mentioned, I like this demo :

The Jo Ki method

Power Humpty


Guts...

Joeling, yes you are right, they don't make the AB1s anymore. They still make the LS3/5a though, if I remember correctly Woo Kee Hong carries it. Price listed was RM13k !!!

Actually I believe Jo Ki's praise for the Spendor SP100 was genuine. Of course I don't think he will ever replace his LS3/5a lar. He is a certified LS3/5a fanatic.

So IMO, you can always consider the Spendors as alternative. Available choices for BBC monitor standard sound but with much stronger and solid low-end are the SP2/3, SP1/2 and SP100. The price of the SP2/3 is about the same as the WKH LS3/5a if I remember correctly. I have heard the earlier version SP2/2 driven by a pair of Mark Levinson No. 26/23 pre-power and I can say it does the MLs justice so the SP2/3 should be a very capable speaker. However, the SP2/2 I heard had its internal wiring changed to vandenhul SCS-12s.

Another alternative is Harbeth and Tropical was in the show as well. Very unfortunately, maybe the source or amps or the CD itself, somehow is not compatible with my ears. Physically. (Too complicated to explain, just that my ears cannot listen to the system physically.) My loss I think.

i'm making a wild guess here. no, not your loss, not your ears, not the amp/source/equipment... the bottleneck's the "real source" recording/cd.

ron92 fuel on a ferrari or ron100 jap fuel in something lesser than a ferrari? which one has more wow factor? that's my point.

ever wondered why the occasional visit to an old friend with a marantz pm25 driving little old wharfs bring smiles?

and automatically the BIG question follows..."hey bro, long time no see... eh.. nice leh... what cd is that ah?" heheheheheheheh

do we still believe that a rm20K system would make a rm50 cd sound good?

Here's a quick recap from me:

Best sound (price no object):
- All TAD system - Huge soundstage, most "live" sounding. My vote for best sound of show.
- Wilson Audio Sasha, AR pre, Goldmund power, DCS source system - A bit bright, but plenty detailed and transparent and managed to fill a large room with good sound, unlike the CMY system next door
- Marten Design, Vitus system
- All Naim system
- YG Acoustics Carmel system
- Verity Audio, Nagra system
- Avantgarde, FM Acoustics system
- Mordaunt Short Performance 6LE (Desa Home Theatre) system

Best sound (value for money):
- Harbeth C7, Quad system - Although sound lacking some openness and soundstage width, it was very natural with good truth of timbre

Most disappointing sound (should have been better for the price):
- CMY large room (Proac Carbon 8 ) system
- Revel Salon, Mark Levinson system - Mostly because they were playing AV rather than music, and come to think of it, wasn't doing that great a job with AV either
- Chario Serendipity system
- German Physics system
- McIntosh system
- Egglestonworks sytem
- ATC, Ayre system

Best AV system (price no object):
- AV Design (JVC, PMC) system - Fantastic picture and sound
quality

Best AV system (value for money):
- Vivitek projector system - Great picture quality for an entry level HD projector

Excellent Recaps and photos by Wong, Joeling (both very nice photos) and hifikrazy as guides to those visiting today. Was there yesterday rather early than planned but stayed on about 4nhalf hours .

Jo Ki's set up is excellent, almost full house at most times, apart from the choice of excellent (or real world) rig, for those into maximizing the equipment capabilities with room treatments and tweaks.

My favourite room is the Manger Room... mainly because of san treatments of the room and equipment (apart from the usual (or unusual) cabling choice and power conditioning) but the sound is 'real world' stuff, my chosen path for music enjoyment (I'm in general 'a plug n play' + minimal tweaks' category) . I mentioned unusual because the 'speaker cables' comprised of about 5m of optic cables with the last meter run of the usual speaker cable. Good to note that the DAC used from Promitheus Audio fed from an old CEC TX02 transport (I may be wrong with the model). And had to mention about the INEX Pre-Power combo which drive the whole rig.And the top it of is of course the Manger tweeters ... Had to check this thing out. I spent the most time in the room enjoying the music... effortless sound YC Chan the host is generous and patient to explain (to someone duhh like me) the beauty and intricacies of the manger speakers .. Hats off to you mate

Of another interest was a tech talk on 'Acoustic System Resonators' at the CMY Room (check out the mouth watering Clearaudio TTs when you enter the room !!!). Standing room when I was there and on my part, honestly can't figure out the improvement, mainly because I was standing and the next door exhibit was really loud and boomy...

Hifikrazy correctly highlighted some of the 'highlites and lowlites' of the show.. I was actually looking forward to hear the ATC40 or/and the Egglestone (the lower models ones) but came out unimpressed, have to drop by the showrooms later. BTW, apart from the many bargains, of note (for me) Tong Lee is selling off Senheissers and other earcans at good discounts, worth checking out..

Hope you enjoy your visit today.

I couldn't attend this year, as I was just recovering from a flu, doc advised to stay away from crowded places. Sunday, working, so no go.

However, I spent the weekend in possession of an Audi A6 2T review unit. Never had so much fun and pleasure for a long while. Made me forget all about hifi ...

Pardon my ignorance.
Seems like Joki's room received a lot of praise. Is this room for ls3/5a appreciation?
Or is there any product promotion?

cmboy wrote:What is evident to me is sound from VALVE amplification is the one that have instant appeal and broad smiles with many listeners.
Clearaudio?, glittering steel and acrylic implimentation at its best! Top that with blue LED's lighting through the acrylic. (should I fix a couple of color LED's below my Rega platter?...cool!)
Biggest TT display ever in all the years of KLAV. Amazing!
I think I liked the Nagra system very much.

Yes, valve and turntable aplenty.
Sunset for SACD?

Was there on Friday afternoon.
Nagra+Verity Audio demo room is my favourite eventhough the system can't play loud/dynamic music due to the 50watts vacuum mono tube amps.

Most dissapointing system was the FM Acoustic+Avantgarde setup. Anti-climax after all the hypes..

The Verity Amadis is very efficient at 93 db; should pleases from rock fans.
The class A Nagra VPA is fairy dynamic too.
Check up the Ngara factory tour here.
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/roadtournagra/1.html

ecoli123 wrote:
Yes, valve and turntable aplenty.
Sunset for SACD?

Yup, and with Clearaudio making a firm stamp in this land, SACD's are drifiting off even further south.
I've never really thought SACD will takeover and I'm convinced now.

yla wrote:Was there on Friday afternoon.
Nagra+Verity Audio demo room is my favourite eventhough the system can't play loud/dynamic music due to the 50watts vacuum mono tube amps.

Most dissapointing system was the FM Acoustic+Avantgarde setup. Anti-climax after all the hypes..

Actually true also. While the system was quite good to my ears, it did not wow me as it should for the price.

zeebee wrote:I was actually looking forward to hear the ATC40 or/and the Egglestone (the lower models ones) but came out unimpressed, have to drop by the showrooms later.

Ya, the ATC has been on my shortlist for speaker upgrade especially now that Hiway Laser is offering 30% (an additional 10%) of discount but I might have to write them off now. I found the midrange very "shouty" and part of the frequency range (the high bass) missing. They were playing the last track on the Manger CD and a lot of the bass notes were somehow missing until the heaviest bass notes came on... strange.

The other speaker on my shortlist that got struck off were the Spendor A6 as they produced a very ordinary sound. Deep bass was lacking and there was really no other part of the frequency range that was impressive. Again, good deal currently at RM9975 but I couldn't hear what the hype was with their win of the 2009 WhatHiFi awards.

yla wrote:Was there on Friday afternoon.
...
Most dissapointing system was the FM Acoustic+Avantgarde setup. Anti-climax after all the hypes..

I was there early Saturday, was with another fellow forumer here, involuntarily also walked out just after a few minutes, the Avantgardes were too brash/shouty to my liking. And the host, was not even bothered to say anything or even care to fake a smile when we were in the room

hifikrazy, I suppose you shouldn't strike off your choice of speakers based on your experience here. To be fair perhaps the goodies were not fully run in and/or the room size and surrounds not up to speed etc There are a lot of variables that are beyond the exhibitors control and conditions less than ideal. IMHO, Jo Ki's rig/room has had very good results as the amount of treatment and tweaks are quite considerable even with a real world hifi we all aspire to. Hope everyone manage to trim their wallet to a manageable size and shape during the show.

Cheers,

zb

by applying simple logic, though i was not keen to have visited the show, i reckon jo's setup should be sounding most listenable/musical and probably the best therein!!!

think about it, what is the difference between any of the setups and jo's??? you will just realise the simple logic which can never be simpler: he is showcasing his own beloved setup!!! jo has invested his tender loving care accumulated over the last decade and locked in some fortune eh!!!

believe me, no good component is readily good sounding thus much bigger challenges for setups of any shop has to face, i reckon



well done jo as many of us have been expecting

Say, i'm wondering if Jo Ki is a forum member here. Anybody know?

Anyway, I walked into Jo's room for a double take and saw this cool looking dude with white locks (not unlike Zues of Titan fame) and Zues, I mean Jo with deeply engaged in conversation with another demi-god from the USA. I don't know who but a white guy from MIT. I overheard Jo saying, "wow! this is blowin my mind, MIT is here and listening to my setup"!

Anyway, enough with the god stuff, I listened the longest to Jo's setup and it was easily the most listenable setup in the whole venue. The fine details floated beyond the constraints of the walls and seemed to defy space. I can't describe these things too well but it's the sound I want for my own living room. I noticed he setup his Rogers with zero toe in. Could this account for the huge soundstage? I also noticed his cool and very minimalistic CD player from 47 Labs. Just googled it and sigh, outa my league.

Mark Levinson? Yeah, finally got to hear the No.512 and they were not playing home theater this time. The No.512, is amazing and very very familiar sounding. Too bad the rest of the system was not too well setup. Speakers to blame maybe? Again, No.512 is outa my league.

Audiomatic made an impression. Eugene's CD and LP playback sounded first class with LP quite a distance ahead of his CD. Looked like a VPI turntable he was using. A VPI Classic perhaps?

The rest? Well, how bad can it be for 100 Grand and beyond? My short reply, is badly setup, still bad! The Wilsons were thrashy and crashy and even with the DCS Puccini, far too metallic sounding!

The rest simply did not make much of an impression because I could get that kind of sound for a tenth of the money.

The crowd wasn't too huge this year compared to previous years. There were some excellent stand-out systems, some good systems, a lot of mediocre ones and some bad ones. As usual everyone's expectations are not similar as one man's trash is another man's treasure. Inevitably a system that sounded good to a person may not sound good to another and many other factors will come into play as well which include room setup, placement and music used etc. Nonetheless I will list out my thoughts based on my personal preference.

I will only mention the good and outstanding systems and not the poor ones out of courtesy, and due to the fact that others will have different opinions.

The two "high-end" systems that sounded spectacular to me are located on the 4th floor. They are the full TAD system and the EgglestonWorks Andra III system which are listed above by WongKN. Although the TAD speakers are only bookshelves, they cost a whopping RM148k, and the price of each component ie. monoblocks, preamp and CD player costs USD20k+ each. The Andra III speakers are very balanced and coherent, just nice music filling the entire room. However, the room has a lot of absorption on all sides of the walls. In an untreated room I reckon the high-frequencies may be an issue.

Now, Jo-Ki's room certainly deserves praise as seen here. That room has always been crowded with a lot of people and most stayed there the longest. If most people thought the LS3/5a's sounded excellent in the show, wait till you hear the speakers in Jo-Ki's own room. I was told that the performance of the diminutive Rogers LS3/5a's in the show is no where near the sound quality of speakers in Jo's dedicated room. And yes bimmerman, the suave looking man in shoulder-length hair certainly has personality. :-)

The Manger speakers were also impressive especially in the bass department. They play dynamically and the bass lines are taut, deep, punchy and have good definition. At RM28k they are pretty good value. There are some other speakers which I thought sounded boomy with poor bass definition and I felt the fault lies in the speakers more than the room itself, but I will not mention them here.

I also particularly like the Spendor SP1/2R2 speakers as I thought they sounded very natural and sweet. But at RM17.5k the equivalent SHL5s are a better alternative IMO. The Spendor SP series sounded very similar to the Harbeths for certain. I don't know why but once one gets used to the natural sound of the Spendor and Harbeth, some other speakers may sound unnatural and coloured. Again a personal opinion.

All the others -- Dynaudios, German Physiks, Avantgarde, Verity Audio sounded good in their own ways. Nothing good or bad to say about them. There may be others I have missed and they didn't sound particularly outstanding compared to the rest I've mentioned here.

Some speakers are more suited to rock and dynamic music, some excel solely in vocals and small ensemble music, some in mellow stuff while some do all genres reasonably well. At the end of the day the choice of music the speakers are able to play will be a factor as well.

On the HT front, it is nice to see LED TVs and 3-D TVs reaching our shores here. The experience of watching 3-D movies in special glasses is indeed thrilling. I have never seen anything like it before, and it is wonderful that technology has come to a stage whereby images on a flat screen have an illusion of space. Prices of these 3-D TVs are not known yet and will be released around November. I believe 3-D TVs will remain in the niche market for the time being when they are launched as prices of LCD, plasmas(and LEDs) remain competitive.

Movies on the big-screen with 1080p projectors on the 4th floor look impressive. I noticed a ViVitek 1080p model projector sold by Hi-way laser costs only RM4800 if I"m not mistaken bundled with free blu-ray player. Not too sure if the picture quality is too far off from the higher-models in the RM18k price range though.

A special mention is on the prices of audiophile CDs on the 4th floor. I am not too familiar with the prices but one of my friends who is a regular visitor to the Hong Kong hifi show mentions that the prices of CDs sold here are too costly compared to the HK market.

TAD, Mangre, EPOS, Dynaudio, that german thingy, chario (sama tinggi dgn saya). all are out of my league, but still can remember the sound. Those 3d TV and dont forget those 3d monitor for PC. CMY room packed with people try to look at the bargain. SVS i think produced a good bass, according to maxx it is nothing compare with his showroom. my 1 cent . i wonder " ada orang nak beli ke barang ni" when i look at pass lab monoblock which cost RM99k per pair and the KEF reference speaker.

hakim, the room is pain to work with. Not a single brick for the walls. Only thin hollow boards. All of my customers who have been to my showroom were quick to ask me what went wrong.

Even the entry level PC12-NSD sounds better than the setup in our KLIAV room. WongKN also did ask me about it. To get the immense bass and feel, I have to say that one have to go the adjacent male toilet to get that. The energy was being accumulated there. Probably due to the solid foundation there.

But all is not lost, the Flagship AV room at level 8 with the Mark Levinson / Revel system is using a SVS PB13-Ultra.

If you have the time, please drop by our showroon in Seremban

This year I like Morduant Short + synthesis . Harbeth + quad system. Because I am vocal kaki. They make normal Cd become musical.

Saw you yesterday at around 1pm at Level 8. I bet you could not remember me. I was with SVS President, Mr Ron walking out of the Revel room when I bumped into you.

htkaki wrote:Saw you yesterday at around 1pm at Level 8. I bet you could not remember me. I was with SVS President, Mr Ron walking out of the Revel room when I bumped into you.

Of course I still remember you.

Jo Ki is probably not a forum member here. Just to feel u guys in on some history.

Jo Ki, Joseph Loh(Audiofile reviewer), Mark Baharom and uncle vic were the founding members of the internet hifi club, the KLANS mailing list, some 12 years ago. Where Joseph loh and myself remain the moderators of the Klans group. It's the gathering of like minded audiophiles for many years till some of the Klans members who later, to form other forums, mailing lists, blogs......such as the ls malaysian chapter, 2 ht forums, diy forums and the current few popular blogs u guys being reading lah.

This is the 4th year I attended the show. For me indeed this is the best so far. Not such a big crowd.

I went on both days Sat and Sun. I spent the whole day there on Sat and on Sunday just 1 hour to get a last minute purchase.

I agree on what most people say here. TAD set up was lively. But to me AV Design (Bryston) is worth mentioning as well. On the AV side, nothing much exciting as the display (3D, FullHD etc) is something that we can also get if go into SenHeng or SenQ.

I spent about 2 hours in Jaben. First timer there but I think they did well. Tried a few headphones and end up purchasing the Alessandro-Grado headphones plus a Govibe PPK mini headphone amp. Special thanks to Yuheng for being patience attending to my queries.

For CMY, their main hall display of LP players was not to my liking as well. However, I purchase a lot cabling upgrade from Steve Chuah of CMY OU. Best upgrade. I chnaged my speaker cables, interconnects to QED. Also upgraded my HDMI to VDH flat.

I am also very happy that after 2 years of missing in action, LTB came back and showcased Musical Fidelity products. The M3 and M6 set up were superb. I ended up coming back on Sunday and pruchased MF X-ray V3 and MF X-Can V3. Was contemplating whether to get the X-Ray or M3. Both sounded good but I didnt like the slot in concept on M3. Also the black finishing makes it look old.
Thanks to Shahmir and Tony.

The Linn set up was nother one worth mentioning.

I do have a few questions though:

1. Did each exhibitor had to pay for their rooms where they exhibited their items? Just wondering what kind of money they are paying as some of them, I dont know why they even bother doing that. For example the APacer HD movie player. A whole room just to display 2 small models of the player. Does not make sense if they had to pay thounsands of RM to do that when their units are only sold at RM399.

2. No offense, but why most of the display/exhibitor use Chinese music/CD for demo? Is there any particular technology being used in producing the CDs for Chinese artists?

Was there on Sat, spent most of the time walking, literally walking because with that kind of money, most of the systems are good but few are impressive. The UR + Focus Audio system and the all Mcintosh gears are very impressive but the prices of any component are all beyond reach for most of us. The Manger speaker is surpricingly good, the Dyaudio / JR / Matronome by CMY is excellent but also pricey. IMHO, the biggest dispointment is the Avantgarde / FM Acoustic set-up. Anyway my main focus was the demo by Frank Tchang for the room tuning resonator / diffusor / sugar cube. Very powerful fine tuning indeed, and it all go to show that your are hearing more of the ROOM acoustic and less of the gear if there is poor treament.

More pics :


Sonus Faber on static display


ATC driven Ayre


Harbeth driven by Quad. The boss man does not like my music selection


YG acoustics ?


German Physiks ?


Theta Amplification with Opera ?




Nagra + Verity = bliss


75 big ones & a pair can be yours.


Verity Audio


Big Epos...


...driven by BAT




Object of my lust but under performed at the show


turntable lust !

Joeling, very nice pictures. A bit out of topic, may I know the model and make of the camera that is used to take the pictures? Is it an SLR or P&S? I have a Nikon Coolpix L11 and the pictures taken under dim and low light conditions often turn out to be blurry and poor. The camera is just crap.

Is your camera a Panasonic Lumix LX3?

WongKN wrote:

To finish off my 'report', I will just mention the system which I (personally) am most dissapointed at. At the risk of offending the fans of the equipment or shop, I have to say that it is the CMY Clearaudio system/room. I have to put a disclaimer that I have a number of friends who plays Clearaudio turntables so it is probably unfair of me to have such an expectation, but the level of sound from the Clearaudio system really doesn't do any justice at all to the Clearaudio Master Reference turntable. It is pleasant and OK sounding but it is just that I know for a fact that the turntable is capable of so much better sound. Robert Suchy, the owner's son was there (I have met him before) so I would expect better. It could be the room and power supply constraints or a host of other limitations they are forced to work with. But then again, Jo Ki was able to squeeze so much from his much more modest system (compared to what he gets at home). So in comparison the Clearaudio system was greatly under-delivering. I guess CMY needs more time to learn how to get the best from the turntables.

Mr. Robert Suchy was helping us to fine tune the Clearaudio Master Reference late evening on Thursday(22/07/2010), after that he recommended we play the Clearaudio "Break-In Test Record" for over night before we play the musical LP. So anyone who visited our room before 4:00p.m. on Friday(23/07/2010) was actually listening to CD. The turntable was spinning but the stylus was repeating itself at the ENDLess Track of the Clearaudio "Break-In Test Record".

I'm using a 500D (budget DSLR from Canon) with a big mother of a flash 580EX or something. IMHO, in these low light conditions, a good flash is mandatory for decent results. That's where a compact falls short.

ryder wrote:Joeling, very nice pictures. A bit out of topic, may I know the model and make of the camera that is used to take the pictures? Is it an SLR or P&S? I have a Nikon Coolpix L11 and the pictures taken under dim and low light conditions often turn out to be blurry and poor. The camera is just crap.

Is your camera a Panasonic Lumix LX3?

Regards,
Joe Ling

elhefe wrote:

2. No offense, but why most of the display/exhibitor use Chinese music/CD for demo? Is there any particular technology being used in producing the CDs for Chinese artists?

i love Faye Wong but i feel you man. i kena the high volume Faye Wong/Wilson Audio combo and that was mind blowing.. wow... more like 10000watts of spotlights shining into my face

during that few seconds before i walked out of the room i was thinking:

1) they couldn't keep up with orders for the wilsons. so they put in faye wong to shout at visitors coz there was no more stock left? OR

2) people can't afford Wilsons anyway. any school boy recording will do lah.

3) the exhibitors think that they spent rm1k on that faye wong cd, so it should be 1st pressing and would easily sound better than sheffield labs

4) they're karaoke fans and would like to reposition Wilsons as K speakers?

5) they're Faye Wong die hard fans and no matter what they would also want to audition Mr. Mark Levinson's personal system with a Faye Wong cd.

6) shouting, screeching, metallic is the new school for audiophiles?

7) could they be Faye Wong's family members?

yeahsky2006 wrote:
Mr. Robert Suchy was helping us to fine tune the Clearaudio Master Reference late evening on Thursday(22/07/2010), after that he recommended we play the Clearaudio "Break-In Test Record" for over night before we play the musical LP. So anyone who visited our room before 4:00p.m. on Friday(23/07/2010) was actually listening to CD. The turntable was spinning but the stylus was repeating itself at the ENDLess Track of the Clearaudio "Break-In Test Record".

Hi,

Thank you very much for your explanation. I hope I didn't cause you any problems with my frank opinions. They are after all my personal opnions only.

Actually I visited your Clearaudio room several times, all the time the LP was playing (I am very sure). Anyway, as would be confirmed by your goodself, since the first time I visited your room, it was after already after 4pm. I stayed at the show, until almost 6:30pm after which I went off for my class in Jalan Imbi nearby. At one of the time I was there, Robert was chatting with several Clearaudio owners, a few of them I knew personally actually and a few of them Master Reference owners. Actually Robert Suchy is a nice chap and I still remember the amusing discussion we had about record cleaning when I met him several years ago. He has a rather unusual theory on record cleaning. He recommends us to clean each record at least six times and he also mentioned he uses pure alcohol. To be honest, none of us - my friends and I - were willing to experiment with using pure alcohol on our precious LPs as my friends especially, tend to have hard to get promos and test pressings. However many of us did try out the 'clean each LP 6 times' recommendation. It works on some LPs, obviously the dirtier ones.

The last time I was at the Clearaudio room, Robert took out one of his own (Clearaudio) LPs and selected a track to play so I was very sure I heard the system with the Master Reference playing.

Once again, I hope I did not cause any ill-feelings with my frank opinions.