Which new 12ax7?Full Music,Electro Harmonix or EI

From left to right,Full music Gold pin 12ax7,Electro harmonix 5751 gold pin,Ei 12ax7

All new production 12ax7 tube.Ei had stop production and will be more difficult to get.

Full Music 12ax7.
A completely new design rather than follow the construction on famous NOS tube.Previously Full Music is more famous for the triode type of tubes like 300b and 2a3. Now this Company from Tianjin,China release a 12ax7 tube.

The first thing I notice is lower noise floor. I suspect this tube might be a good candidate for phono. I like the tonality of his tube and the imaging is good.Sound is balance. I don’t have any complain much for a new production tube.I tends to like this tube more than others in this group.Kudos to Full music.

Electro Harmonix 5751 gold pin.
This is a premium version from electro-harmonix, Russia
5751 is a close family of 12ax7 with a lower gain.
The song  presented with more “muscle” and imaging is bigger than my reference tube. High is a bit artificial.In tends to dislike this tube in my system.

Ei 12ax7
Said to have bought all the equipment and stock from telefunken.
This tube is said to follow the construction of Telefunken smooth plate.Ei tube is made in Yugoslavia
The Ei tube which I am  testing here is originally selected by Jadis for the JPS2 pre amplifier. The plate is silver colour(There is another version where the plate is black).
Music is presented with a lot of “air”I feel it is a bit over from what I used to be.Extended listening i feel it is more of some echo at the high.
No wonder in another setup where a system using Jadis JPS2 + JA500  when playing the cd "Jazz at the pawn shop"give me the best atmosphere feel.("pub feel").
On the vocal  the singer is presented much younger and the bass is not as low.



**Tube tested in my diy Marantz 7 and using telefunken smooth and rib plate as reference.I think the 5751 tube is not showing the full potential as the specification of 5751 and 12ax7 is different.My pre amp operating point is tune more favour of a 12ax7 tubes.
*Thanks  Wong Chai for the tube.

KLau

Manger铭阁喇叭Zerobox登陆大马！

假如你喜欢听MANGER这张CD，又对封面的星形单体照片感到好奇，可以告诉你，这就是本文主角(Manger)铭阁喇叭的全音域单体原貌。提起这个“星体般优雅”的单元，不得不谈谈它的背景。其实Manger是一间单元制造厂，由已故的Josef W. Manger博士发明这颗著名的MSW(Manger Sound Transducer)单元开始。他费了30多年的岁月研究“听觉和音响”方面所获得的经验而发明了BWT(Bending Wave Transducer)曲波传导器。这单元是根据人类耳朵的结构，以及神经等的生理学上要素，转换成扬声器的发音原理方面，而加以开发出来的。

其实Manger MSW全音域单元在90年代就已经被其他喇叭厂用过而闻名，比如德国的Audio Physic - Medea和瑞士的Acoustic Lab - Stella Elegans。而这里所介绍的铭阁喇叭，则是Zerobox系列的103，107及109三个款式。109是书架型，其他2款则是落地型。

这次在马来西亚的代理商Sound Precision负责人陈先生引入的铭阁(Manger)，挟着它40年的声誉，让本地音响爱好者又多一种品牌聆听心爱的曲乐。而它也在明日的KLIAV影音展览上一展身手，让参观者试听它的魅力，也可同时一窥全豹。

参展房址是吉隆坡万豪(JW Marriot)酒店8楼8034号。据陈先生表示，他将展示Manger的107落地式喇叭，配搭美国Inex Innovation前级A200和放大器Amplicable Elite。这全新的尝试届时将会让大家耳目一新。

Manger 107在8034号房展示

Zerobox旗舰103

TAD speakers launch

The soft launch was on 26th june, saturday 2pm at AV design's showroom at Rohas Perkasa Building, Jalan P Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. Those invited include their customers, hifi bloggers, some hifi sifus, the young and talented and as well as the wise & learned senior ones. I was there early, and met up with Jo Ki, the LS3/5a guru & moderator of the LS Malaysian Chapter and a friend Yee, I met about a year ago at a Yamaha Music and Audio equipments sales in PJ. As the quests kept coming in, the gathering picked up momentum, & the host suggested we start off with slight refreshments and drinks and what follow were exchange of the latest happenings and updates, as most of the guests more of less know each other or have met previously at some other hifi social events.

When the music listen proper began, James of AV design started off with a rock track, Stairway to Heaven from Led Zeppelin, and it was rock, rock and more rock music thereafter. Later James played some audiophile tracks and some of past favourites. And it was followed by more coffee and drinks, and food! It was the rock music that everyone have their eyes glued to where the setup was placed, the TAD Reference 1, the Bryston amplifications and source. Everyone's attention and interest have moved to where the speakers were, after the light refreshments. This is an event reporting not a audio review, so will leave the technical information to other hifi bloggers present at the meet to write in detail of the equipments in used.

Then there were the photographing session, besides the listening session. Most guests have a closer look of the speakers and the ancillaries used for the music demonstrations. Followed by photo sessions with guests posing beside the R1 speakers.

It was much later when most of the guest have left, the guests who were still around played some old favourites followed by some trance music with beats as fast as 133bpm!!! The speakers handled this very well, and I was still comfortable with the pace of the music!
I left the place after this, still thinking how loud & well the speakers plus the setup could replay the various types of music!

Guang Zhou Trip

I need to apologize as I have forgotten to bring  my camera during this trip but here are some of the system that I have listen.

Westlake tower 12 + boulder 500ae(pre + power) .I listen at the "new tao ge" Guang Zhou at the top floor.Using TAD speaker wire.I like this system.

B&w 805 + onix integrated amplifier + onix cd player.I listen to this setup at the cd shop at Hai Yin Complex.Every cd shop got serious setup. I like this so a bought a few cd's from this shop.Yes, i like this setup.

Ayon speaker + Kondo M77(pre) + Kondo power amp(sorry I forgot the model).This setup is at the ground floor of "Wan Shen" building.I don’t like this

Tannoy srm15(added elac super tweeter(like a mushroom), + single ended(Don’t know what power amp)amplifier+ vintage marantz 7.This setup is at the New "tao ge" building GuangZhou.The speaker is just being fire up.The sound is still changing while i'm at the place.An Elac super tweeter(look like a mushroom) is being added at the top of the Tannoy.Sound Moderate.

Tannoy Kensington +Accuphase pre and power.At the "Wan Shen"building ground floor at Shen Zhen  Sound ok

Wilson audio Maxx + Big boulder silver in colour.At the "Wan Shen" building  ShenZhen.Nice talking to fella "Old Lee"Nice guy but I don’t like the system.Just beside the Wilson maxx there is the famous B&W Nautilius but too bad it is never connected to any amplifier.Many mention that this speaker is very difficult to drive.

Westlake bbsm10vnf +Plinius (pre and power) 250watt silver colour.At the "Wan Shen" building Shen Zhen.I request for the Manger CD gtrack 15.The seller agreed there is room boom. i don’t like this.

Orgue pm610,Orgue PM610 reference, Archion 12 + melody parallel 2a3 + Jungson cd player.I like the normal PM610 rather than the reference PM610 that use solid wood cabinet.Overall,I don’t like this.

China clone proac response 2.5 + China Kt88 amplifier.I don’t like this.

During this trip, i found that everyb system either violin music or "chai chin" cds.Why?

"I don’t like" doesn’t mean the equipment is bad. Maybe at that moment my mood is not good or ....too many maybe.

KLau

DIY wire connection, diy interconnect

http://www.vandenhul.com/userfiles/docs/Audio_and_Video_Cable+Connector_Wiring_Diagrams_for_DIY_purposes.pdf


I always keep this in handy.Don't blame the cable if it is not sound good, it  might your connection technique that went wrong



KLau

Family war, JBL 4312d vs 4412a-updated

Update:Thanks Aki for the nice video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTVO4_igGwE&feature=related

Testing JBL 4312D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvAwBrYFWog

Testing 4412a.

You can see my toe. ha!

Last week was a shootout between 2 pairs of JBL. Many especially Mr.Chan from HK says  that the 4312D is the entry level before anyone decided to go for bigger JBL in the future.

When comparing with the 4412a .Both are 3 ways using 12 inch as the woofer but visually the 4312D woofer is white cone and the 4412a is black cone.There is no mid and high gain control for the 4412a.
This JBL 4312d is still new and it might not even run in.


First the JBL 4312d is being put up. The JBL 4312D had a high and mid gain control at the front panel. The owner set it at around 3(there is 1 till 10) on both high and mid. After listen for while I ask for permission to fiddle on the gain. “Please go ahead” is the answer and.i settle it 4 on the mid and 6 on the high

A Music Angel 845 is one of the amplifier that serve as the main amplifier.

Sound wise I feel the 4312d have a much better resolution on the mid and low. High I feel the woofer of the 4312d is the one that contribute much to the overall speaker sound.(Later i found out that the woofer cross very high that almost run it like a full range.) 

The 4412a is much smoother performer with extended high. This is a easy speaker for any amplifier. The presentation of the speaker seems to rounded up the many of the music.
 This 4412a seems to be using a much better tweeter.

I tends to like the JBL 4312D but the JBL 4412a seems to be the easier speaker.
The choice is yours.

KLau
*Thanks AKI from Sandakan for the above picture

Manger test disc

Sorry guys for didn’t update for such a long period of time. As expected Koo come over to visit and i have to thanks Koo for helping me to get the Mangers CD. (This happen before 2010 chinese new year)

This is a superb recording. I come to know manger through the single driver.(Last few year I am crazy about single driver and just miss out to own a manger driver)

This cd is a compilation of different genre of songs like light jazz, light pop, classicals, vocals, piano and a little bit of everything. Track 2 is good for testing imaging and my favourite is track 15 and it is good to test a system dynamic.


KLau