HiFi Cafe
Singapore HiFi Stereo Equipment discussion forum => HiFi Audio Equipment Discussion => Topic started by: jb on December 02, 2016, 08:05:04 AM
-
This week will be visiting some exciting HiFi room and system in Kuching, first to visit is Mr. Foong HiFi den, he has the original Apogee Duetta signature planar speaker in a dedicated design golden ratio Hifi room. Will be putting down my thought later...now just enjoy the view...and will be visiting a few more hifi system here..stay tune....
(http://i.imgur.com/zuG2gnZh.jpg)
-
There is another guy with a very high end setup - Joe Ling. But I believe he is in Miri.
-
Ya I meet Joe Ling in Kuching...this round only for kuching visit...may be next round to Miri... So far have visit about 7 hifi room and system here. The advantage in sarawak here is most have big landed house and able to built their dedicated golden ratio hifi room. Will pen my thought and photo on each set up later
-
Finally back in Singapore... It has been a fun week visiting all the Hifi kaki house and listen to their hifi set up and sound. They bring me around for good food and plan which hifi set up to visit... the Sarawakian hospitality at its best! Been listen to more than 16 hifi setup and surprise the tuning skill is very high, even for difficult room size, the sound is still sweet and have a very wide sound stage. Any serious hifi user should make a trip there...I have not visit the Miri set up yet will plan another trip in near future. lastly will like to sincerely thanks the organize hifi nuts from kuching for hosting me and the friendship.
-
some of the must try local kuching food!
(http://i.imgur.com/6zNfSblh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/nEYiCOGh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1YEVZbnh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/sTazbAIh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/YptYXEah.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/dF97AhQh.jpg)
-
Must write review on the food,too!
-
Must write review on the food,too!
Hahaahhhaha.....
Yeah, some review on the delicious looking food will be just as good!
-
Haha, just by looking at the food , you know is delicious, a photo speak a thousand word! Anyway , where they bring me to eat are all the most famous food store in kuching... like here the Boon tong chicken or Ketong laksa. Over in kuching is best Kolo mee store, sarawak Laksa, chicken rice, tomato sauce fried noodle or kueh tiaw. all are good ;D
-
Ok, this is a special advertisement for the Kueh Chap store. As our car run onto the road curb in front of his store and unable to move at 11:30 pm near mid-night... the shop owner son have try putting wood under the wheel to free the car, finally he drived back to his house to get the car jack and finally free the car after we work on it for almost hrs. Specially thanks to him and the kampung spirit is well alive here! So the next day, we come back for his famous Kueh Chap, well I will say three chop stick for it.
I seldom take kueh chap as i don't like the strong pork smell, but this store is good as using herbal and have non of the pork smell, I highly recommend and if you are visiting Kuching, do drop by and try his famous Kueh Chap... but be warn as the queue can be quite long during breakfast.
(http://i.imgur.com/NhJnLLb.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/tmVVZCb.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/gwBSdF4.jpg)
-
(http://i.imgur.com/5gpiHjvh.jpg)
-
The first hifi room I visited is Mr. foong house, he has the room ratio of L=24ft, w=15ft, H=7.9 ft at front and H=8.6ft at listen position. ratio is H x W X L ( 1: 1.74: 2.79). He used fiber board for ceiling front and side and various bass panel absorber. His room RT30 from 300hz to 20 Khz is within 0.3 to 0.4, from 30hz to 300hz , range from 0.5 to 0.7. This is a very well acoustic treated room, the ambient sound is just nice, not dark or over live. The waterfall or spectrogram also well behave without any resonant, only room resonant freq is at 22.15 Hz due to length of the room, but listen to music has no issue as seldom we have 20 Hz to excite the room mode.
He use AR preamp with jadis power amp to drive the Apogee signature Duetta, spk cable is Nordost valhalla and some Ordin I/C. Well, if you like Apogee sound, this is a dream hifi heaven, the Apogee spk strength is exhibit to full here! The wide sound stage and layering depth is the strength of this spk, Play some big ambient music like raining or thunder , you will be transport to nearly live! the presentation is very 3d and real...play some female vocal, the speaker can really sing as if the singer is right in front of you. For big Panel speaker, you really need the large room space for the speaker to breath... so for the rest of time, we just listen to different disc, you will never get fatigue listen to a well tune hifi system...a must visit for any user who like Apogee sound.
(http://i.imgur.com/zuG2gnZh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/LCDsEgYh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/XsnoNIlh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/KimyjQdh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ao9zvTph.jpg)
-
(http://i.imgur.com/aFMbtcgh.jpg)
I notice the Apogee is further strength using custom metal bracket to get the tight solid bass and vocal image.
jadis power amp he used
(http://i.imgur.com/1V5yXEYh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/WCxgErvh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/8NXMRMgh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/EWI6irHh.jpg)
AR power amp
(http://i.imgur.com/QCyM2hHh.jpg)
-
Next stop is Dr. Wong hifi setup, he is a DIY guru making his own full range speaker following DIYaudio Mark design. Well I will have to say he has more option to tune the sound as he designed his own preamp, power amp and DAC , so he can make changes to any capacitors, inductors or resistors or IC to tune the sound that he like. He used ethernet CAT 5e cable for all his interconnect cable or routing wire.
Well, with the full range speaker, when the music is on, the speaker disappear and a lively wide sound stage with very real 3d image emerge. His system sound will beat many hifi system costing $$$. Another great system that must visit! If I were to nitpick on the system sound, it will be may be low bass of 20Hz where the speaker small driver may not be able give a realistic scale of the music. otherwise playing Jazz, vocal and pop song, his hifi system excell
(http://i.imgur.com/EYYsKN5h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/6n2bcVSh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/o9dT32Dh.jpg)
-
His computer streaming DAC system
(http://i.imgur.com/zV473vRh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/cFzHbcuh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/RBloxTqh.jpg)
-
Next is Victor room (H=9, W=13, L=20ft) ratio (1:1.44: 2.22). It turns out he is the same guy that flight over to Singapore 20 yrs ago to buy the apogee stage from me! what a small world and great that we can make contact after so many years. He used Audio research cdp, pre and power amp to drive the Sonus Faber Elipsa red, and nordost ordin and shunyata for I/c and power cord. The Elipsa red is a beautiful speaker with very transparent sound, as any small adjustment of cdp footer the changes can be heard. Play some vocal , jazz or pop or orchestra music, the speaker is up to the task present a nice sound stage with micro details, you will not get fatigue listen to this system sound. Measuring use REW software, we did notice some mid bass standing mode from 50 to 110 Hz region that need to be absorb, as right now the room has no bass trap treatment. He is building a few more wood diffuser that will improve his system sound further and looking forward to his new improve sound.
(http://i.imgur.com/03xTD5Oh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/X2njQ2jh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/KJpcqWeh.jpg)
-
Dedicated hifi grade power supply to room
(http://i.imgur.com/C7VxtCsh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/nZaFrPah.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/MmDJqBGh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/29Pvrush.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/H077kIPh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Mf43gVeh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/uwbhNWlh.jpg)
-
Next house visit is Dr. Lau hifi den, a heart specialist in kuching. He has changed most equipment in this room , except the Apogee Duetta signature speaker! such is the magic of the apogee speaker even with new technology and better speaker. He is using BAT SET amp to drive the apogee...we were playing some orchestra music using his Linn sondek LP12 when his power trip...end up as he used the ps audio p10 to power the BAT power amp and the units draws 1300w in standy mode! so when the loud music passage comes , it cross the safety limit and the P10 shut off. But after he plug the BAT power amp supply to power conditioner, the sound stage collapse to a much narrow and high details is not there... the difference is very obvious and if anyone doubt whether power regeneration can improve hifi system sound...take a trip and have a listen here! Dr. Lau right there place order for another unit of PS audio P10.. tumb up for his system...
(http://i.imgur.com/z8iMqrUh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/t2YTRARh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/n9MiaLph.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/fAYMrr3h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/neXsUO4h.jpg)
-
His computer streaming music system
(http://i.imgur.com/qCFnnwTh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/fTcdQyEh.jpg)
-
Linn LP12 and his low frequency bass trap total 6 at back corner and centre.
(http://i.imgur.com/SLluenSh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/jRmvsveh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7pMuPy5h.jpg)
-
Next up is Mr. Chai hifi setup, he is using Magnepan 3.6 speaker driving by Marantz 9 power amp and Nagara preamp plus dcs cdp and Weiss DAC in a living room setup. Mr. Chai has very good hearing and ability to tune good hifi sound with many years of experience.
well, all I can say this is the best sounding planar speaker that i have hear so far... the sound stage, vocal image and the tight bass is how a great hifi system should sound. He play the track 5 Blue Bossa by Wang Wei, well the bass burst come out as quick burst of energy that you not heard it but feel it also! The fast transient and attack of the planar speaker is fully exhibit here...well let just say we can forget about the equipment and listen to music track after track... I will give his system 3 thumb up... and if you do visit kuching this is a hifi setup that you cannot miss....die die must listen!
Again custom metal rack is use to secure the speaker.
(http://i.imgur.com/uQfQaakh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ehkBs8Eh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/yTvb0t8h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/5tXRTBRh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/EJh0Zy6h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Orfj6bHh.jpg)
-
Marantz 7 preamp that were not use.
(http://i.imgur.com/3jhqCp8h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/3fUw8VBh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1zXIZEzh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/GasWmgVh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/sBzDfJvh.jpg)
-
Both a ps audio P10 and Torus power are used here.. I asked Mr. Chai to switch the power supply for Marantz 9 from PS audio p10 to just the conditioner, well again the sound stage collapse a lot and lost of high details and bass become less tight and cannot go low. All I can say is PS audio P10 is doing something great for the hifi setup in multi-hifi setup that I hear so far.
(http://i.imgur.com/VoMmQxjh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/SouZIu2h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ReYUMixh.jpg)
-
dedicated power supply is a must if you want to get good sound system...as if the supply is noisy then your sound system noise floor is high that the low level details cannot be heard.. a good demo cd by wang wei, listen to track 1 and 5, it will test your hifi system capability.
(http://i.imgur.com/YQiGzaqh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/0APFsYHh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/3Cg3nQJh.jpg)
-
Dear JB
Enjoy reading your fun time in kuching, the people, food, and hifi.
If you do come to Miri, please let me know. Hope to see you soon.
Pui
-
Hi Pui,
yes it has been a fun week! with the friendship and hifi! If i do drop by Miri, will definitely look for you guy. Likewise if you do drop by Singapore just give me a call, we go listen to some hifi here also.
JB
-
Hi,JB
我的系统缺㸃還很多，还需各位指点。
如果有朋友到訪古晋，歡迎大家一同交流。
Chai
-
master chai is my mentor, teach n share all his experience in getting good sound...thump up
-
No worry, we exchange ideas on hifi tuning to get good sound...hope we all learn some new thing from each other and improve our system sound better...but most importantly the friendship and the good food... ;D
-
A sidetrack from Hifi , if you are touring kuching, go visit the new brooke Gallery at Fort margherita. a short drive from kuching and read the history of sarawak...
http://www.brooketrust.org/the-brooke-gallery
(http://i.imgur.com/UIbnpXJh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/2cQjKiPh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/XRR97vzh.jpg)
In 1857, due to heavy taxation on gold mine operation, the hakka rebel and capture kuching town for a few weeks, but James brooke manage to escape and later come back with his warriors and of course the rest is history...
(http://i.imgur.com/MRDkuUOh.jpg)
-
Sarawak were rule by the Brooke for hundreds of year and is an independent country having their own currency, national anthem and stamp. until the Japense occupation that finally end it.
(http://i.imgur.com/mg0VcSSh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/dY22atdh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/B0ktOILh.jpg)
-
the brooke dynasty , a pirate sword, British sword
(http://i.imgur.com/qI4c709h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/NbtQlnvh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/jRqnz87h.jpg)
-
Japanese surrender...
(http://i.imgur.com/NBDo4xAh.jpg)
court yard inside the fort...
(http://i.imgur.com/yzvbNXJh.jpg)
Jail...
(http://i.imgur.com/Yow6pzEh.jpg)
-
over look to kuching town along the riverside....
(http://i.imgur.com/d7kNJbBh.jpg)
-
Sorry for the sidetrack, now back to Hifi :). Today we visited Mr. Chang hifi room, he likes clear, clarity double bass music. So he choosen the B&W 801 for bass woofer, but he prefers the B&W 703 mid range and high freqency, so two pairs of B&W speaker were used for his hifi setup. He use three pairs of Dussun amplifier to drive the B&W speaker, source is Marantz SA11S2. His hifi room has just recently built with a size of L=25ft, W=15 and H=9 , ratio (1:1.66:2.77), the room size is rather comfortable and he also used it for home theatre usage. He played some drum track, well the B&W 801 presentation of low bass is good, the bass drum attack and clarity is all there.
As Mr. Chang has the Mini-DSP Mic and REW software, so we do some room acoustic measurement for the room. From the measurement there is a big dip in SPL at 30 Hz, and we verify using the single sine freq sweep. the bass freq is very loud at 40 Hz , but when reached 30 Hz , very little bass is heard but move to 20Hz , bass start to appear again. This is a very strange behavior of the room that I have measured so far..as his hifi room front and back is using glass panels, we suspect the glass panel may have flex and cause the 30 Hz dip...anyway this is puzzle he has to solve later.
The room SPL :
(http://i.imgur.com/gbahJOXh.jpg)
His hifi setup:
(http://i.imgur.com/EEr0tqDh.jpg)
dussun amp:
(http://i.imgur.com/T05dvHnh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/GdBIDTZh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/cVwVXAah.jpg)
-
Cork material that he use for acoustic treatment:
(http://i.imgur.com/tOc4J0Wh.jpg)
Marantz Home theatre amp:
(http://i.imgur.com/71XwFgTh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Ipl8TLdh.jpg)
-
Hi Bong,
It was nice meeting up with you after all these years.
Glad you enjoy your recent trip to Kuching, Sarawak, especially the listening sessions and the good food.
Thank you for your feedback on our sound systems. I bet, all the guys would appreciate as much as I have.
Cheers !
Victor
-
Hi Vic,
yes, this trip is fun trip and I enjoy the listening sessions and the good food that you guy host me. Do give me a call if you guy drop by Singapore for Visit, we go try some famous bak kut teh or chicken rice here.
I hope the REW software and mic that you guy have can help tune your system acoustic better and keep improve the hifi system sound, and share your knowledge. It has been great meeting you guy and share of hifi and food.
-
The next house that I visited were quite far as is opposite the Sarawak river, it takes almost 40 minutes to reach Ah Dah hifi room. The owner is motorcycle mechanic and his hifi room is on second floor of his shop house. Well of all the house that I visited, this room has the max fun factor!
Ah Dah is using Adam speaker driving by BMC cdp and amp, the sound is slightly bright as he use super tweeter I think but still a very good hifi system sound, need to get the warm vocal tone out as that is soul of music, but this is not the main events!
His room is actually main for home theater and movie, the front row has three actual cinema chair completed with coke bottle holder. He started play some movie with Daniel Craig as James bond. The action scene is when he is top of high building and hoping to different building at 1000ft high, then some how the wall of building start collapse...when the wall fail down, well we feel the gush of wind blow from right to left, this is a system that you not only hear it loudly but feel it like 4D cinema hahaha! The SPL may be at 110 dB or more, he has three 15" passive sub woofer just beside the first right chair, avoid sitting at this chair if possible as you may not be able to take the high sound pressure level! but it is fun and I have a good laugh of it!!
Then he play some Alan Tam concert show, the Sony projector has a very clear and crispy image, indeed is a great home theater system. we quickly bye the host good nite after 15 mins of listen as the SPL level is loud... but a fun system!!!
(http://i.imgur.com/W7B8LD4h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1sV3egVh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/niwso7Ah.jpg)
-
he used those ferrite bead use in motor car to absorb the digital noise on cable.
(http://i.imgur.com/XCG3lMhh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/MkEspIYh.jpg)
-
BMC cdp and amp
(http://i.imgur.com/xCvJEukh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/X1eTqBjh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/IIgX859h.jpg)
-
Continue on my hifi journey, we are back in Kuching town and this time we visited Mr. Sim hifi room. Mr. Sim is not technically savvy so he has friend to help set up the hifi system for him, but he did know what a good sound should be and that is all needed here. He is also a very savvy business man, as he sometime bring his customer back to his house to listen hifi before talk business and often yield good results ;D . I like his character as he is generous to friends and his family and has a great family.
His Hifi room is fully cover with nice wood surface and no much acoustic treatment but casual cushion to absorb the echo. He is using Magneplanar 3.7i speaker driven by Audio research cdp, preamp and power amp. The sound is lively with nice sound stage and vocal image, this is also a well setup system that sound musical and able to listen for long duration without fatigue. He also has a set of McIntosh power amp that he intend to replace the audio research power amp later, I think with McIntosh amp , the sound will even be sweeter and will be a good match for his speaker. Looking forward to hear his new setup in the near future...
(http://i.imgur.com/Rp5FJU8h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7ihOL7rh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/E6AjDMxh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ASKcy6nh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/yZULweoh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/85chXgTh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/z8tf1Fyh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/T0WxPIbh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ksUB0DYh.jpg)
-
McIntosh power amp
(http://i.imgur.com/Bh9rj80h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/V9LOe7Rh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/VSP1IqVh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7fq9m4Bh.jpg)
-
That all for Sarawak?
-
7 more houses to go once I sort out the photo....
-
7 more houses to go once I sort out the photo....
Wow ! That is some tour. Don't keep us waiting too long :)
-
haha, will post during this weekend....
-
Side track from Hifi, went to visit Bau lake in kuching and climb some of limestone cave. The lake use to be a gold mine but as the production decrease and stop operation and later the water spring fill up and become a beautiful lake.
Story have that as the 600 hakka who mine the gold mine here, lead a rebellion by Liu shanbang against the white Rajah but later were defeat and retreat into the cave with many die in the cave and thus the name Bau town come from. Bau in Malay means " smelly" .
(http://i.imgur.com/dCUIPKgh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/IjbfvPQh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/c84jEyIh.jpg)
-
The limestone cave...
(http://i.imgur.com/BIxUxg4h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/M2QYJVbh.jpg)
-
On the way back , we pass through a small town call Siniawan which is famous for their night market seafood BBQ. If you do visit kuching, this is the place that must visit at night for dinner.
http://www.igomakan.com/2015/05/night-market-siniawan-old-town-kuching.html
(http://i.imgur.com/CAv0Tiuh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Snh2qiTh.jpg)
-
and you must try the Midin with belacan and shrimp... is nice..
http://www.hungrygowhere.my/dining-guide/best-of-malaysia/what-to-eat-in-kuching-in-24-hours-*aid-f66b3101/
(http://i.imgur.com/ZtzYIt8h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/8U35ITbh.jpg)
and if you see this in the wet market, buy it as this black rice is growth in the highland of Bario and is very fragrant! as there is no road to the highland, only way up is using helicopter.
(http://i.imgur.com/pQ0d15uh.jpg)
Some local produce...
(http://i.imgur.com/CSkStVDh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/jxMnRbHh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/DJLC3lch.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/WW9gK89h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/rrK3UJOh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/wqVcq6Hh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/sY6ki9Jh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/FjOWVVNh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/PpDIu3gh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/MoF6SUBh.jpg)
-
Back to HIFI and this round we visited Mr. Choo house at Tabuan Jaya. He is using Rogers LS3/5A monitor speaker with Roger Sub woofer, also he has a REL active sub woofer just behind the listener sofa. This is a very clever way of implement sub woofer as low bass has long wavelength and is not directional, so putting it at behind your back will give u the low bass impact as you can feel the chair vibration when the low bass come.
He is using CEC as transport to DCS DAC, and preamp and poweramp using FM acoustic, his whole hifi room is acoustic treated at front, side and ceiling. we played some orchestra music and even the small monitor speaker can reproduce big sound stage with low bass impact.
As he listen mostly to classical and big orchestra music so the acoustic implementation is fine for the genre of music he listen to... as I find for vocal music , the mid range is muffler a bit as has too much mid and high frequency absorber that does not give as much ambient for jazz type of music. May be adding some wood diffuser at front and side will make it suitable for all genre of music. Neverless this is still a very well setup system with a lot of thought going into the implementation.
(http://i.imgur.com/37H4SLph.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7YJAWkdh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/pjiFXUXh.jpg)
-
CEC transport, DCS DAC, FM acoustic pre
(http://i.imgur.com/fzpKeA3h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/6n5iqvph.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/3TZN4aAh.jpg)
-
FM acoustic mono block poweramp, power conditioner
(http://i.imgur.com/JjC8GgSh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Y9HC2Uhh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/FoALgxCh.jpg)
-
Roger LS3/5A and sub woofer. Notice the speaker cable is "airlift" by using fishing line to ceiling to prevent vibration to it.
(http://i.imgur.com/bzj1bIKh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/CkmJjBlh.jpg)
-
next up is George hifi room. He is using Marantz SA11S3 with Antique sound lab tube amp driving Audio physic speaker. The sound is very dynamic with very strong bass which is suited for rock music. Generally the system sound is not bad but need to tame the bass a bit as on some track the bass is quite overwhelming, the mid range and high freq is resonable.
(http://i.imgur.com/tsXmI2Th.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/lVSqoKCh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/eQv9XShh.jpg)
-
Audio Physic speaker and Marantz Sa11S3 and TT
(http://i.imgur.com/ls5Knn3h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/bRkykg3h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7QEu7SWh.jpg)
-
Next I visited Alvin Hifi cum movie room. He use full Naim system driving ProAc speaker and turntable is VPI. Alvin like to stream music through his sytem and he also pay a lot of attention to reduce digital noise vie fiber optic and linear power supply.
His system sound with proac speaker should tends to sound sweet as is strong character of this brand, but in his setup... the vocal mid range is not sweet sounding and seem like have more baritone voice...we try a few cd but all have similar sound characteristic.
So we decide to use REW and do a frequency sweep and look at the acoustic of the hifi room, well it turns out that his room has a lot of bass peak from 80 to 150 Hz that distorted the vocal voice, also it has a 39Hz bass peak due to length of the hifi room. As his room is treated with carpet and viscoustic wood absorber but none of them will really absorb the low bass, have advice him to look for some bass trap to put at corner at back of hifi room.
(http://i.imgur.com/woOrzdJh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/wSu2D6hh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/CTu4RHyh.jpg)
-
Vpi TT and Proac speaker... and his NAS streaming system... look at the crystal and clock he put near his equipment!
(http://i.imgur.com/P1LnyvOh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/FZGeuGfh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/jb9gcrqh.jpg)
-
Viscoustic absorber on side wall first reflection point.... and Furutech destat III that use to remove ESD from cd... and fiber optic media converter to reduce digital noise..
(http://i.imgur.com/JcN8TWBh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/NO1JqkVh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/aEgW6Dxh.jpg)
-
Alvin hifi room acoustic... notice the 80 to 150hz bass freqency response has about 15dB boost, also on the water fall diagram, it never die down even after 600ms, this need to be absorb to get the best sound from the system.
The 39hz althrough also has 20dB boost but it die down after 600ms so may not be as bad compare to 80-150 Hz range. Once this bass boost is reduce, I believe the sound will perform wonderful as it has quite a flat frequency response cover the full frequency range.
(http://i.imgur.com/PXwtMwTh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/v9QgsxDh.jpg)
-
Next is Nic house, he is a DIY guru here that repaired vintage amp and equipment. His hifi system is using vintage Luxman amp driving the Maggie 1.7 speaker.
Well the maggie 1.7 is a difficult speaker to drive, if you don't have a muscle amp to drive it, the low bass will be soft. As the luxman vintage amp luck of power/current to drive it properly, the low bass is weak, only the mid range is reasonable, high frequency also weak as typical of vintage amp.
He also have a pair of Proac 3.8 that is not used, this model is also one of my favour speaker if have proper amp to drive it will have very sweet and dynamic sound that is good for jazz, vocal and rock music.
(http://i.imgur.com/MMTnhV3h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/DRuF98Gh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/p9EFADzh.jpg)
-
Luxman amp
(http://i.imgur.com/ZeZXtkjh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1L9L6BIh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/XwTtlagh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ChPCrYkh.jpg)
-
more vintage equipment...
(http://i.imgur.com/TSS6JSzh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/8YSxfhmh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1zc7KHPh.jpg)
-
his work bench....
(http://i.imgur.com/AmdJnjGh.jpg)
-
This will be the final last three house that I visited in kuching... first is Mr. Kim hifi room...he is using Bel Canto cdp , Audio Research preamp and VTL power amplifier driving Gallo acoustics speaker. As the room length is a bit short, but lucky that woofer is firing side way that avoid a lot of bass boom issue. The speaker is pull out quite far out from front wall and so we hear more direct sound than ambient reflect sound.
The system sound has good clarity and dynamic, but as the listen position is at back wall , so we get double amplitude for the bass and can be quite loud for some music track. listen to acoustic music is quite fit for this system as you can hear the potential of the system... just that he need a longer length for the room and his system sound will improve overall one grade higher without changing any equipment.
(http://i.imgur.com/jAabhZZh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/CvguHYkh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7w2hccuh.jpg)
-
Audio research preamp, bel canto cdp and VTL power amp
(http://i.imgur.com/6myuI66h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/5eExP9ch.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/oP1fm1Zh.jpg)
-
Next up is Mr. Pung hifi room, he has the most setup total of four system but we only listen to the main hifi room setup...He is using AMR cdp, EAR preamp with viva tube power amplifier driving Sonus faber speaker. Turntable is using clearaudio. The system sound is sweet and yet with great high frequency details, good image focus and low bass can go low effortlessly, the system setup matching is good with synergy...a very well setup sound system... only issue is hifi room a bit small else this system will sound magic given the proper place for the speaker to breathe.
(http://i.imgur.com/o3YhRiqh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/WpvAek6h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/hIO83LEh.jpg)
-
Viva power amp, AMR cdp, another Leben intergrate amp that he use to drive the smaller book shelf speaker
(http://i.imgur.com/v3PO9m4h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/9PModjgh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/xS18wN8h.jpg)
-
This is another system that he just setup in living room but not complete yet so we don't have a chance to listen to it, but looking at the equipment and given the large space, I can only guess the sound will be great! he will be using Audio research preamp with Airtight power amplifier driving the vintage Tannoy horn speaker.
(http://i.imgur.com/JIepHQ6h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/RqADGpth.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Gfhket7h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/X2KeCUSh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ZZYfZSeh.jpg)
-
other room system
(http://i.imgur.com/699ocIph.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/MKJEVzdh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/KGVzStWh.jpg)
-
This will be the last house that I visited for this trip...at Camillus's house. The HiFi room has the dimension of 10ft x 10ft x 10ft is a perfect cube and is worst situation for hifi as standing wave will need to be resolved before the system will have good sound.
His hifi room is tastefully decor as bright strong color is use in the room but balance each other and give lively fresh and comfort feel to the room instead of our usual black or grey decor of most of our hifi room.
His system is using audio note cd transport with full EAR system, preamp, mono block power amp and phono amp driving the Dynaudio book shelf speaker. Dynaudio is known for big dynamic and powerful bass speaker that suit for rock music, but in this system, it is sweet sounding with large sound stage. The vocal image is place right at centre with sound stage depth with layering. Playing some vocal music and the music is sweet and musical or some guitar music again it excel with this setup.
This is not an easy task as able to tune such sweet sound from the room because of the room dimension, and every pieces of absorber is try and error by ear till the system is fully optimized. I try to take out two pieces of absorber from left speaker side wall to give more high frequency, yes the 12 to 15 Khz frequency response did go up, but the sound is no longer sweet sounding and start to sound aggressive and forward that we immediate have to revert back the absorber and enjoy the sweet music again. Consider the constraint place on the room , this is an indeed well tune and musical hifi system, a must visit system.
Lastly really appreciate the kuching Hifi nut for hosting me with good food and Hifi system, I really enjoy the many sharing and hope to do again in future and hope everyone system sound will have improve one grade better. :D
(http://i.imgur.com/7vlzXwoh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/CO805Frh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/0RlM8f0h.jpg)
-
EAR system...pre, power , phono amp
(http://i.imgur.com/doK1uIIh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/GGfDlnGh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/XBxn1HFh.jpg)
-
Turntable ...
(http://i.imgur.com/1D1V9QAh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/O3XIg79h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/9jy3LWuh.jpg)
-
Thanks for visiting us. Do come back when u are free, Kuching is just 1hr and 30 mins away...
-
Sure will come back again when I am free up.
-
Wow bravo never knew that there's so many enthusiast in Kuching.
Me, I think that Im the only audiophile in Batam. Wish that there's some
kakis here
Great report moderator
-
Thanks for the comment. Actually there are more hifi setup that I have not visited yet and hope to plan another trip in near future. I am sure you are not the only audiophile in Batam, with whatapps and facebook that make connection easier nowaday, may be you can slowly start a Hifi whatapps group in Batam, who know may be they are many more users then you think.
-
Perhaps but think its rare. Great that your doing these visits & also
being impartial & non commercial. Congrats
Well hope that someday you could drop by Batam & we can go for a nice
meal. Nothing like meeting sincere like minded people .
CheersDFRYBX
-
Ya that would be nice as I do drop by Batam sometime for shopping and short holiday. If I do visit Batam again will surely contact you and share HiFi hobby.
-
Thank you looking forward to it
Cheers
-
BTW JB
May I ask, are you in the audio trade or an enthusiast ?
Thank you
-
Audio is just a hobby for me. Not in audio trade.
-
You have my utmost respect JB.
Running this site takes alot of time.
Kudos to you. Hope that
many others would join in,
appreciate your efforts &
have fun
Cheers