KLAVS 2010 - Reports from attendees

i totally agree that the clearaudio master reference did not reach its full potential. i had auditioned the lower end clearaudio ambience with its previous distributor andre sim before and the setup although cheaper, sounds better than in the show. the fact that you are the distributor doesnt mean that you are the expert in that particular product. it takes years of effort and trying before one can tune its system to its full potential.

some distributors need to train and educate its staff more. i went to the A&L Audio room displaying unison research s9 driving the elac speakers. As i am looking for a pair of new speakers that can suit my unison research valve amp, i asked the person in charge can the elac match with valves amp (as far as know most of elac speakers are matched with solid state amp). I also told the chap i am using unison research performance 40w amp at home. the fellow straight away said :" our unison research amp shown here is higher end model from the company. despite its 30w rating it can drive almost any speakers. the one u used at home is cheap low end model so thats y it doesnt drive your speaker well"

WTF!! my U.R Performance is a cheap low end product??? it may be an older model but price wise its more expensive than the one shown in the show. Its so embarassing the distributor doesnt know much about the product line they are selling.

I hav limited time to listen carefully but may I know what is the sound signature of elac Air motion transformer tweeters ?

was the FS247 on demo ?

This year show was a major dissapointment in term of sound quality produced in the rooms....when will they ever learn.

Take a walk into CMY room ...atrocious!!!these folk have absolutely no clue on how to set up TT.You are talking about one of the finest TT maker on the planet being badly misrepresented.CMY should have asked for Andre to help them,I am sure Andre being the gracious gentleman that he is would be more than happy to help.

[quote="Lamkochai"]i totally agree that the clearaudio master reference did not reach its full potential. i had auditioned the lower end clearaudio ambience with its previous distributor andre sim before and the setup although cheaper, sounds better than in the show. the fact that you are the distributor doesnt mean that you are the expert in that particular product. it takes years of effort and trying before one can tune its system to its full potential.

some distributors need to train and educate its staff more. i went to the A&L Audio room displaying unison research s9 driving the elac speakers. As i am looking for a pair of new speakers that can suit my unison research valve amp, i asked the person in charge can the elac match with valves amp (as far as know most of elac speakers are matched with solid state amp). I also told the chap i am using unison research performance 40w amp at home. the fellow straight away said :" our unison research amp shown here is higher end model from the company. despite its 30w rating it can drive almost any speakers. the one u used at home is cheap low end model so thats y it doesnt drive your speaker well"

WTF!! my U.R Performance is a cheap low end product??? it may be an older model but price wise its more expensive than the one shown in the show. Its so embarassing the distributor doesnt know much about the product line they are selling.[/quote

Most of the exhibitors there were more keen in selling their premium BRANDED gear rather than to exhibit sound quality... thats the ironic truth..

I asked the guy at the Nagra setup room bout what driver tubes were driving the amp cause only the pair of 845's were seen on top, he looked at me and said something 45?

Most of them were and are only interested to sell...

drife wrote:

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?

Hehehe endless possibilities.

WongKN wrote:

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.

Thank you for your valuable opinion and as a new distributor of TT, we hope we can improve ourself in the near future.

WongKN wrote:
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.

Hi Wong KN, THANK YOU for your good words and it is certainly strong enough words of encouragement! I will try to do better in future if opportunity shall come again.

I also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who given your pracious times to be in LS3/5A Club's room. I hope my efforts are enough to justify it.

Jo Ki

Here's my pick,

1. TAD Room for top notch performance
2. LS3/5A Room for excellent transparency and musicality
3. Epos room excellent performance every year
4. Wilson Audio nicely setup compared to last year
5. Harbeth Room always simple and musical
6. AV Designs audio visual galore. It is eye popping!

AvantGarde/FM Acoustic is a nice welcome with evenhanded performance from a horn based setup but I do think the room is too small for that kind of performance.

From this blog, I think CMY only took possession of the turntables a little shy of one month before the show. No way, they can get right down to the grooves of tricky LP setups. I went in with a pinch of salt and was treated with real eye candy.

http://hifi-unlimited.blogspot.com/2010/06/cmy-goes-analog-clearaudio-factory-tour.html


If not wrong, the TAD is not full TAD setup. I can see the Bryston BP26 pre and the Torus 16A. From what I know, the TAD's setup consist of a SACD/CD Player with outboard dual mono power supply, Bryston BP26 pre, TAD (300w) monoblock digital power amps connected by Wireworld into the CR1 speakers. It is all connected via its analogue outputs. I think it will become a top high end contender in the market. Also, I heard the CR1 and the rest of the TAD gear on show landed on Wednesday itself to malaysian shores.

http://hifi-unlimited.blogspot.com/2010/07/kliav-2010-my-favourites.html


Overall, I think most systems are nicely setup compared to previous years. I can see real effort being put in by most exhibitors. Most of them are quite welcoming.

The Pioneer booth girls were very elegant looking. Pioneer Malaysia, if you are reading, keep up the good work! :-)

Lamkochai wrote: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.

Dear Lam, you can always get them in used market like "hifi4sale" for obvious reason.

Music would sound 'correct' when it is correctly reproduced. I am glad we share some similar listening parameters. Thank you for droping by room 8040.

Jo Ki

Hi Jo....
Thank you very much for posting. I remember you told me you just wanted to be a lurker here, just like what I am doing at your LS3/5a forum. So I am VERY appreciative that you actually posted. A big note of appreciation from me for a job well done. IMHO, you really showed the big-boys how a proper demo should be done in a show like KLAVS. And you made the visit worthwhile (LP pickings this year is sorely lacking compared to last year so if not for that visit to your room, this year's KLAVS would've been a bore )

So all you H4S members, the question of whether Jo Ki is a reader of our forum is answered right ? I didn't want to say it because I wanted to let Jo decide if he wants to be known that he is here in our forum or not.

To Andy Fam, of CMY and Clearaudio, I salute you for taking all our negative comments in your stride and pledging to do better. As I noted at the end of my paragraph, I did say I feel you guys do need more time to get to grips with the Clearaudio TT. I wish you best of luck. Clearaudio TTs are extremely good but from experience (of my friends) I know they are NOT that easy to set up optimally. But to me, the most important thing is I respect you for acknowledging my opinions, especially since I know they can be considered unfair since those Master Reference TTs I heard are set-up by someone I feel (and quite widely acknowledged) to be one of the top turntable tuners in our country.

So thanks for accepting my opinions for what they are and I look forward to dropping by CMY in the future to hear the Clearaudio analogue systems again, surely with greatly improved sound. Now, an appeal from me, PLEASE TRY YOUR BEST BRING THE PRICES DOWN (again my personal opinions. Sorry).

jokiarch wrote:

Lamkochai wrote: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.

Dear Lam, you can always get them in used market like "hifi4sale" for obvious reason.

Music would sound 'correct' when it is correctly reproduced. I am glad we share some similar listening parameters. Thank you for droping by room 8040.

Jo Ki

BTW, no-one picked up that Rogers subwoofer that was put up for sale in our for-sale forum just last week ? It was a bargain especially if you want a subwoofer to match the LS3/5a but for obvious reasons, cannot find a pair of AB1's anymore.

joeling wrote: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

Dear Joe, I can vividly remember you because we shared the same name. please do let me know if it works after you have tried it.

Jo Ki

WongKN wrote: 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.

Having own this 60th Anniversary Edition LS3/5A, I find it hard to convince the purchase looking at the asking price! I would not recommended it. Any used pair would be more reasonable.

Yes, you are right Wong; Spendor SP1 or 100, Harbeth Monitor 30 would well be capable enough to reproduce what a set of LS3/5A+AB-1 can be. At the end of day, it is the sound that matters.

Jo Ki

Dear Joe, nice pictures! Could I have them? Jo Ki

zeebee wrote: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.

TQ very much zeebee! With the given limitations and shortcomings, if it is not maximised, LS3/5A had got nothing to offer! The room was set up for listening to the music. I hope it is doing it at best it can. Thank Q for your visit.

Jo Ki

Dear Jo Ki, I really liked your sound. Say, is that minimalist CD player for sale by any chance?

WongKN wrote:Hi Jo....
Thank you very much for posting. I remember you told me you just wanted to be a lurker here, just like what I am doing at your LS3/5a forum. So I am VERY appreciative that you actually posted. A big note of appreciation from me for a job well done. IMHO, you really showed the big-boys how a proper demo should be done in a show like KLAVS. And you made the visit worthwhile (LP pickings this year is sorely lacking compared to last year so if not for that visit to your room, this year's KLAVS would've been a bore )

So all you H4S members, the question of whether Jo Ki is a reader of our forum is answered right ? I didn't want to say it because I wanted to let Jo decide if he wants to be known that he is here in our forum or not.

.

*BLUSH* I cannot assume such high regards Wong, I know where I stand in the industry and continually learning from many of my peers! It is the friendly sharing that make this hobby so worthwhile!

Ha.. I had been a lurker for quite some times but I have not been active due to my times in managing the LS3/5A club forum as well as contributing to some other forums of similar discipline worldwide.

I decided to post because I feel COMPLELLED after reading so many favorable opinion of the show 2010. TQ all.

Jo Ki

WongKN wrote:

BTW, no-one picked up that Rogers subwoofer that was put up for sale in our for-sale forum just last week ? It was a bargain especially if you want a subwoofer to match the LS3/5a but for obvious reasons, cannot find a pair of AB1's anymore.

You can always DIY a pair of AB1 like Paul Whatton did here: http://www.ls35a.com/

WongKN wrote:
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.

Similarly the Quad amps and source used to drive the Harbeth are not quite my cup of tea although there are many happy owners using this combination. Well, they have been a perennial match to Harbeth here and I can understand the proven magical combination endorsed by many.

Sometimes I just wish the Harbeths are in the Naim room being driven by CDX2/NAC282/NAP250.2/Supercap. I envisage this to be an excellent combination although I am most certain Tropical Audio will loathe the idea.

The M30s that were recommended by Jo-Ki to sound close to the LS3/5a+AB1 sounded shut-in and lacking in air and transparency driven by the Quads, to my ears. I reckon they will sound a whole lot different driven by the Naims.

My main problems when listening to the Tropical Audio Harbeth based system was as I mentioned, physical. I have rather sensitive ears and when the music or 'sound' is too harsh or with too much distortion, I can hear 'ringing' and 'buzzing' along with the music.

E.g. when I ride the PUTRA trains for e.g. and the "ding-dong ding-dong" announcement comes over the intercom for the next station, I get this irritating ringing in my ear. This is the reason why I have never been a regular disco visitor even in my younger days. The music they play are too loud and they turn the volume up until the poor amp clips. So the whole night my ears will be buzzing and ringing.

I am a regular visitor to the MPO concerts in PTT and have listened to a few other classical orchestras before. Live music NEVER ever causes this sort of ringing to my ears. Neither do I suffer from this when I am sitting in a nice lounge or club listening to live singing or jazz, even when the saxophone is playing loud. Similarly, in a recent function I attended in Penang, as the drummer in the band was quite skilled, I sat about 10 feet away from him, behind the band, just to enjoy the sound of live drums without pollution from the PA system and the sound was clean and nice.

Unfortunately I suffered from this in both the Harbeth based and German Physics based systems. In NONE of the other systems in the KLAVS that I listened to did I suffer from the buzzing/ ringing in my ears. This is why I said the Tropical room visit was somehow not compatible with my ears physically. I know BBC monitor speakers of which the Harbeth is one, is clean and accurate sounding, again as I mentioned I owned a pair of Spendor SP2/2 before (driven by Exposure pre-power, also tried with Aragon 4004 and Audible Illusions power amp as well). So based on that, I tend NOT to blame the Harbeth. My suspicion is the source - i.e. CD used which I remember was one of those commercial pop CDs.

I am not sure what the problem was with the German Physics speakers.

Jo,
I wish i have half your knowledge and capabilities to setup such a balance system......then i will be in hifi nirvana. I spent the most time in your room on fri and sat morning. Actually it is a mistake. Should have listen to the lesser setups first before ending up in your room. By the way Jo, can you give tuition to a half baked so called AUDIOPHILER like me and a few of my fellow kakis? I never seem to get it right. Jo, it is a pleasure to finally meet u and you are a true GURU.

Hi Aaron, oh-yes, you do have more knowledge than you know. All you need to do is to have a good memory partitioning. What I mean is that whenever I am tuning my system, my conscious memory is shut-off leaving my subconscious collations do the job. In this manner, I have a wealth of unbiased codes to guide me along.

I am not a GURU, definitely not. I am just like everyone of you here trying to do better with what we have. The fact that I don't change my system that much, helps tremendously.

Thank you for visiting my room. I am in no position to "teach" anyone, because deep inside all of you, you already know what sounds right.

Jo Ki

bimmerman wrote: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.

Hi Bimmerman, yes I am a forum member but only just started posting.

MIT guy is Dennis Chern which handle internaltional sales. He will be at Tong Lee until Wednesday I was told. He still owns a pair of LS3/5A that he listen to constantly at home.

BBC speakers are best sample without toe-in. This is due to wide dispersion angle capability of its design where off-axis remain fairly even. The common issues with other modern speakers that require toe-in to image is mainly due to its narrow beaming angle spread of the tweeters, which rule out parallel firing placement position.

I have talk extensively about this in the club and also about the Nodal Point/Nodal Line of 2 sound sources reminiscent to a stereo system that, in my argument, toe-in increases the Nodal related distortions & affect tonal quality (hard) and minuscule the soundstage in all directions.

47 Lab's Flatfish is costly, but like I told everyone who raise this question during the show, I bought mine used at RM6K.

Jo Ki

ryder wrote:
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. :-).

Hi Ryder, in disguise, I really do not know who are you? But thank you for your good words. I shall be out of commission for a while before I can set up my system again in my listening room. KLIAV show gives me the opportunity to completely disband my system and correct what needs to be corrected before I set it up again, and hope it will be better every times.

In addition, TORUS AVR8A will be the first to be fully explored in my system; I was using 8A previously. The AVR8A is brand new that I traded in my 8A for a voltage regulated feature for the show. Without AB comparison, I noticed AVR8A is slightly different from 8A but both are absolutely essential for the performance of my system.

I like TAD at the show too. Granted the big room, TAD could infilterate the entire space and filled it. It has high resolution with good tonal quality and staging.

The other speakers I like is Wilson's Sasha, which took me by surprise that not only it can deliver the stature of a floor standers in impact slam, it has such high refined yet sweet resolution that is only found in a very fine bookshelf speakers; very transparent through-out too!

Jo Ki

Hi Jo, I can see you are a knowledgeable but humble man, and it is good to have individuals like you around here who are most willing to share information and knowledge with others. I don't know you too well but have close friends who have known you for years, so I pretty much know about your system at home(which was claimed to sound far superior to the one at the hifi show) and from pictures posted on the hifi blogs. It was a coincidence that I was the one who took the picture of you and a gentleman from the States on Friday afternoon in your room.

Cheers.

WongKN wrote:My main problems when listening to the Tropical Audio Harbeth based system was as I mentioned, physical. I have rather sensitive ears and when the music or 'sound' is too harsh or with too much distortion, I can hear 'ringing' and 'buzzing' along with the music.

E.g. when I ride the PUTRA trains for e.g. and the "ding-dong ding-dong" announcement comes over the intercom for the next station, I get this irritating ringing in my ear. This is the reason why I have never been a regular disco visitor even in my younger days. The music they play are too loud and they turn the volume up until the poor amp clips. So the whole night my ears will be buzzing and ringing.

I think we have uncovered the first ever hifi based medical condition. Allergy to Harbeth speakers! We need to coin a scientific term for it! WongKN, have you tried antihistamines before listening?

Ryder, you mentioned that you wish the Harbeth's can be listened with the Naims. I have tried my old P3s with Naim amplification. I did not think that they gelled well. The Naims seemed to rob it of the warmth and sweetness its known for. Very good results with Copland and Bryston amplification though...

Hi Sleme, to each his own I guess. I believe it depends on the type of music we listen to and the preference as to how our music should sound like, as always. With vocals and slow music warm and fluid sounding amps such as the Copland and Sugden will sound sweet with the Harbeth. However, for some other genres of music some may feel that life, dynamics and sparkle are robbed off the music with these amps. I guess it depends on what the listener wants. I was in contact with a Singaporean SHL5 owner who have tried many amps on the Harbeth -- Accuphase E450, Bryston B100SST, LFD Zero LEIII, Leben CS600 and finally settled on the Naim Uniti. He has found musical bliss in the Naim/Harbeth. Surprising isn't it? There are quite a few Harbeth owners who have found success in the Naim and Harbeth pairing. One in the States is using 282/250.2/Hicap(soon to be upgraded to Supercap) to drive a pair of C7ES3's. I have yet to listen to a pair driven by the higher range Naims but do find that Naim goes well with Harbeth for my choice of music.

Apart from musical preference, I also think there is a fine line balancing between warmth and sweetness with lively and dynamic. I have no doubts Harbeth sounds good with various amps, and it is a matter of which one that sounds good to the listener himself.

After listening to the Spendors driven by Sugden amps in the show, I might want to try the Sugden in near future. Vocals sound really sweet on that setup. However play something more upbeat and I wager the Sugden wouldn't be too ideal. Anyway at times I feel the Harbeths are not rocking hard enough as they should playing some rock music, but it is comprehensible since they are not rock speakers. For vocals and suitable types of music they are a gem though.

Hi All, my favourite is YG Acoustic setup. Only system there that doesnt remind me of Treble and bass... Pure musical. Jo Ki's Rogers Ls3/5a is my second favourite.

The majority of the system, eventhough may sounded good; but due to the excess in volume, It is hard to judge. It is plain harsh; to me just another clearer sounding PA system. I do understand the excitement over proving the system worth over such short period of time to impress us.

Isnt majority of the attendees are hi fi nuts that treasure the high quality of music reproduction rather than the loud disco delight? So a note to all dealers, do play it at a moderate volume. It should sound better this way.

adrian4454 wrote:Hi All, my favourite is YG Acoustic setup. Only system there that doesnt remind me of Treble and bass... Pure musical. Jo Ki's Rogers Ls3/5a is my second favourite.

The majority of the system, eventhough may sounded good; but due to the excess in volume, It is hard to judge. It is plain harsh; to me just another clearer sounding PA system. I do understand the excitement over proving the system worth over such short period of time to impress us.

Isnt majority of the attendees are hi fi nuts that treasure the high quality of music reproduction rather than the loud disco delight? So a note to all dealers, do play it at a moderate volume. It should sound better this way.

Well said. I hate it when the exhibitors play the music extremely high level. Just to prove that the set up can go loud. It should alway be played at normal listening level. If noise from people talking etc in the room, then they should put a notice up that audition is in place (some exhibitors do that I see).

The best ever...what a wonderfull sound it is !!!




Sharing is caring is all about...thank u very much Mr Jo Ki

SONY with ALIEN speaker technology... WoW

A lot of opinions here about the highlights/lowlights of the show which I closely agree with so I'm gonna hijack this thread momentarily to ask for your valued opinions to help me decide between 2 speakers:

Mordaunt Short Performance 6LE
Egglestonworks Fontaine II

The Mordaunt Short costs 6k more than the Egglestonworks.

Thanks a lot.

ryder wrote:Hi Jo, I can see you are a knowledgeable but humble man, and it is good to have individuals like you around here who are most willing to share information and knowledge with others. I don't know you too well but have close friends who have known you for years, so I pretty much know about your system at home(which was claimed to sound far superior to the one at the hifi show) and from pictures posted on the hifi blogs. It was a coincidence that I was the one who took the picture of you and a gentleman from the States on Friday afternoon in your room.

Cheers.

Hi Ryder, maintaining a humble attitude towards life allows more knowledge to be accepted. Those who think they know everything would behave like a full bottle that no water could ever be added.

In my listening room, the same system presented a more immediate nature that it has stronger alive-ness elements. This immediacy seemingly, shorten the 'Time' between recording and reproduction. There is marked more contextual information too. But in terms of staging, the hotel room is bigger and hence project a more palpable spread, which is hardly a surprise to me as Space is essential for the formation of musical sound.

Jo Ki

hifikrazy wrote:A lot of opinions here about the highlights/lowlights of the show which I closely agree with so I'm gonna hijack this thread momentarily to ask for your valued opinions to help me decide between 2 speakers:

Mordaunt Short Performance 6LE
Egglestonworks Fontaine II

The Mordaunt Short costs 6k more than the Egglestonworks.

Thanks a lot.

You need to tell us your musical preference first really. Also the important areas to you. Bass ? High frequency extension ? voice reproduction ? soundstaging ? What kind of music would you listen to ? Rock ? Pop (which era) ? Classical ? chinese songs (some are very well recorded) ?

fizi wrote:The best ever...what a wonderfull sound it is !!! Sharing is caring is all about...thank u very much Mr Jo Ki

You are most welcome. Like what I have told you, take one step at a time to built up a system of your dream. It is the journey that is most meaningful rather than getting the sound of your dream with your wallet.

It was nice meeting you.

Jo Ki

WongKN wrote:

hifikrazy wrote:A lot of opinions here about the highlights/lowlights of the show which I closely agree with so I'm gonna hijack this thread momentarily to ask for your valued opinions to help me decide between 2 speakers:

Mordaunt Short Performance 6LE
Egglestonworks Fontaine II

The Mordaunt Short costs 6k more than the Egglestonworks.

Thanks a lot.

You need to tell us your musical preference first really. Also the important areas to you. Bass ? High frequency extension ? voice reproduction ? soundstaging ? What kind of music would you listen to ? Rock ? Pop (which era) ? Classical ? chinese songs (some are very well recorded) ?

I enjoy female vocal, jazz (all types) and some rock. I like the bass to have good definition and tightness. Transparency and detail is important to me, but not digital or bright sounding. Of course voices have to be natural and instruments be truthful of timbre. I like imaging to be very tight, with reasonable soundstage depth and width.

WongKN wrote:My main problems when listening to the Tropical Audio Harbeth based system was as I mentioned, physical. I have rather sensitive ears and when the music or 'sound' is too harsh or with too much distortion, I can hear 'ringing' and 'buzzing' along with the music.

I know exactly what you mean. I get this ringing and buzzing too but only at pokey midrange bits. The Harbeths didn't do that to me that day i think because they were played at quite low volume. However, the ATC system really made my ears ring badly.

gosh...wasn't any luck on me when i visited the Ls3/5a room due to flor noise very lou...say 70% chit-cjat balance the music....ok ok
try next round but tis time was really dissapointed couldn't get in
as the room is full...how lei?

Mr. Ls3/5a i sincerely hope next year you may control the floor noise so we all can really listen lo.... TQ

I apologise GPSYMOD. Frankly, noisey show space remains one of my main concern which I have yet find a solution that could works both ways. I used to close the door but some visitors didn't quite like it.

I will definitely control in-room noise in future. In fact, I did so this year on several ocassions but gently to avoid being offensive. Some how many visitors tends to "share notes".

It is my shorcomings, I will look into it.

Jo Ki

Ji Joki,

No need to apologise.....cud understand where once a year where no better place like KLAV show for people like us to meet n greet.

I will definitely make Xtra effort next year.

TQ

hifikrazy wrote:

WongKN wrote:

hifikrazy wrote:A lot of opinions here about the highlights/lowlights of the show which I closely agree with so I'm gonna hijack this thread momentarily to ask for your valued opinions to help me decide between 2 speakers:

Mordaunt Short Performance 6LE
Egglestonworks Fontaine II

The Mordaunt Short costs 6k more than the Egglestonworks.

Thanks a lot.

You need to tell us your musical preference first really. Also the important areas to you. Bass ? High frequency extension ? voice reproduction ? soundstaging ? What kind of music would you listen to ? Rock ? Pop (which era) ? Classical ? chinese songs (some are very well recorded) ?

I enjoy female vocal, jazz (all types) and some rock. I like the bass to have good definition and tightness. Transparency and detail is important to me, but not digital or bright sounding. Of course voices have to be natural and instruments be truthful of timbre. I like imaging to be very tight, with reasonable soundstage depth and width.

For your musical preference, I recommend the Fontaine, based on another session at Centrecircle a couple months back where condition was alot 'saner'. Not saying that the MS not good (I did have a good listen alone while at the KLAV, very punchy and toe-tapping stuff, excellent bass), do consider your ancillaries too .

My 2 sens.

zb

gpsymod wrote:gosh...wasn't any luck on me when i visited the Ls3/5a room due to flor noise very lou...say 70% chit-cjat balance the music....ok ok
try next round but tis time was really dissapointed couldn't get in
as the room is full...how lei?

Mr. Ls3/5a i sincerely hope next year you may control the floor noise so we all can really listen lo.... TQ

IMHO i think the visitors to Jo's room or any other room should have the courtesy not to talk loudly while the music is being presented. The best of course not to talk during the music...but......

Mr Jo ki,

I spent a few short minutes in your room ,and could understand the buzz.

However ,I believe the treble could reach all the way up to heaven if you substitute the glass rack with Copulare racks,and adding a Tripoint Troy to your system.I also believe that adding multiple Acoustic Revive cable elevators will increase the transparance further...-

Otherwise ,The system was very well set;You show very deep understanding on resonance control and importance of isolations

Hi Jo, I forgot to ask this question when I was in your room earlier(anyway can't seem to get to you since you were always swarmed by others all the time).

May I ask what are those tiny little crystals placed on the top corners of the LS3/5a's, and what do they actually do to improve the sound? Do they improve the soundstaging and imaging? I would also be interested to know if there are any substitutes to the stuff that was placed on the top of the speaker cabinet, and whether they are equally effective on other speakers such as the Harbeth or Spendors, since both these speakers also share the same BBC heritage.

Your advice is most appreciated.

hifikrazy wrote:

WongKN wrote:My main problems when listening to the Tropical Audio Harbeth based system was as I mentioned, physical. I have rather sensitive ears and when the music or 'sound' is too harsh or with too much distortion, I can hear 'ringing' and 'buzzing' along with the music.

I know exactly what you mean. I get this ringing and buzzing too but only at pokey midrange bits. The Harbeths didn't do that to me that day i think because they were played at quite low volume. However, the ATC system really made my ears ring badly.

Actually I am little puzzled to hear about "ringing" and "buzzing" sound with the Harbeth as these traits are often associated with bright and upfront speakers with extended highs and a lot of sizzle. The Harbeths are anything but that as their high-end extension is often smooth as silk, in fact too smooth for some folks.

The ATC SCM40's driven by the Ayre have a lot of detail but lacking in bass. Not too sure if it's the track that was played or the amps.

tin wrote:Mr Jo ki,

I spent a few short minutes in your room ,and could understand the buzz.

However ,I believe the treble could reach all the way up to heaven if you substitute the glass rack with Copulare racks,and adding a Tripoint Troy to your system.I also believe that adding multiple Acoustic Revive cable elevators will increase the transparance further...-

Otherwise ,The system was very well set;You show very deep understanding on resonance control and importance of isolations

Thank you for your advice, I will keep this in mind and will look-up your recommended products. Any idea where I could find these? You said that using these products coud helps in my high frequency extension, would it also has as good mid and low so as I don't loose the tonal balance of the system? Continuity and coherency is critical which I am sure you know what I am talking about.

Are you using these products? Is it convenient to have a listen to truly understand what they can do?

TIA,
Jo Ki

ryder wrote:Hi Jo, I forgot to ask this question when I was in your room earlier(anyway can't seem to get to you since you were always swarmed by others all the time).

May I ask what are those tiny little crystals placed on the top corners of the LS3/5a's, and what do they actually do to improve the sound? Do they improve the soundstaging and imaging? I would also be interested to know if there are any substitutes to the stuff that was placed on the top of the speaker cabinet, and whether they are equally effective on other speakers such as the Harbeth or Spendors, since both these speakers also share the same BBC heritage.

Your advice is most appreciated.

Hi Ryder, the crystals placed on front corners of LS3/5A do have sonic benefits in my humble opinion however, it is only audible in a system with high enough resolution and on system with low noise floor. Please allow me to explain..

Vibrating/moving air particle excited by drivers of speakers causes airflow current. In a rectangular speaker cabinet like LS3/5A, moving air current causes edifice and disturb soundwaves propagation towards listening position. Important to note is, tear-drop speaker cabinet do not benefits fro this trick at all.

Coincidentally, the same question were popped up by last batch of the visitors on day one of the show (23rd), and I did the demo to them which substantiate my claims.

The inner crystal looking like Cleopetra needle helps in the high frequency extension and its even-ness in its reverberation before it precipitate into nothingness into the air of the listening room. The geodisic dome on outer edge helps in ensuring even spread of soundstaging which is especially important for classical, chamber and orchestra, music.

Talking is cheap. If you keep this note with you, when we next meet, please identify yourself, I will do the demo to substantiate my claims.

I know, it looks mumbo-jumbo but it really works.

Jo Ki

Hi Jo,

Thanks a lot for the explanation. It was much appreciated. There isn't any need to further demonstrate the effectiveness of the crystals in substantiating your claim. If you have perceived a difference then the difference is there, as you have further demonstrated to the group of curious folks on the first day of the show.

May I know what are these crystals, where do we buy them and how much they cost? Not too sure if my system is revealing enough for the crystals to show their effects though.

Thanks in advance.

I can vouch that the crystals do work. I tried it after Jo explained to me and never looked back. It took the edginess off the sound and gave classical music fantastic width and height with good air. It was able to help me get the out of box sound and removed room boundary.

Only problem is looking for the exact crystal shape and size. I am still looking for the Cleopatra shaped one.