That Vintage Feel part 4: The Music Must Go On

Listening to a piece of hifi equipments inserted in a hifi system, is mostly about evaluation of sound reproduction, yes no? What then of listening to just music irrespective of whether one is listening in a car, in the office or at home? Many would call it 'just listen to the music' or 'just enjoy the music', never mind the hardware. So most of the time I would over the time I know Koo. Until much more recently, it's listening to the music mostly and some friendly chit chat thereafter the music sessions. Of course we do enjoy the music listening sessions as much as the chatting over a hot cup of tea or coffee. A brief account of the listening sessions will more or less make up for the remaining writing of this diary entry of visiting Koo's music room. Why didn't I call it 'hifi cave' (?) because to Koo and his regular visitors it's always about music. With the exception of those first and perhaps second time visitors who came in from the 'hifi jungle' out there to see and explore and to make comparative inferences, and only to find out that they may have forgotten about the music and the enjoyment of music!!!! Over the years, I have listened to a GRP's big band swing CD, from the time of the open baffles thru the single drivers to the now vintage pair of Isophon bookshelf speakers. It's only now that the enjoyment of listening to this cd that I felt myself immersed in the music much more than I first listen to it many many years ago! The changes in the setup has brought out more of the music enjoyments. One other CD that I particularly like is Nina Simone's "Forbidden fruit", and I especially like the track 'Golden earrings'! I wouldn't go thru the listening sessions without a listen to this track! I was introduced by Koo to Aretha Franklin's Gospel singing when I was mesmerised by the shouting and singing style from the recordings of her 'Amazing Grace' 2cd album. I certainly could sit thru & listen to the whole works if not for the limited time spend each time in front of Koo's music machine! So I have got to get this album to listen at my own time. This album portrays her gospel singing and much of the church venue ambience was captured pretty well on this album as it's a live recording. She would sing right to the top of her voice and shouting most of the way yet holding up well with the background singing, hand clappings and people murmuring and at times shouting phrases after phrases with praises for God. On the lighter side I have listen to Judy Collins, Neil Diamond, Neil Young and even the more sombre Leonard Cohen. I especially enjoyed listening to the Weavers and Harry Belafonte live at the Carnegie Hall. Even with rarity such as the Clancy Brothers, and the much popular Peter, Paul and Mary. If this aren't enough, Koo would even finished off the listening proper with some classical music from Reiner, Heifetz, Anne Sophie Mutter - Karajan and even more recently from works conducted by Ernest Ansermet. And occasionally Koo would obliged with my request of tracks from Bread, Eagles and even Jennifer Wearne! And much to my surprise recently he even entertain my request to replay track 6 from the "Dream of the Opera" which I perceived as quite listenable with good control of the bass contents though I felt not the best I have heard and I have heard even worst! I still felt he has done well with the setup though not really an expensive system. Isn't the meaning of expensive rather ambiguous to different people?

That Vintage Feel part 3: The Music Presentation

That's The Blogmaster at the emperor's throne..................

In part3 which is an extension of the earlier 2 parts article of the same topic, I will like to touch on the type of music that the owner like to listen to and what he may replay for his visitors to listen. Even at the time of writing of this part3 article, Koo has already decided on not keeping the QUAD 306, he has always surprised me with his choices of equipments. So I could only guess that he is working on some changes to his setup. Could he be getting an amplifier more powerful than the already very listenable QUAD 306? That I have to wait to see. So at the moment I get to listen to the diyed 0.75w darling amplifier a few more times before I decided to write this part3 article. What I listened now of the 0.75w darling amplifier is one of more tweaks being done to it in the last few months. If that is not enough there were more tweaks to the non oversampling dac, since it's undergoing listening tests I'm can only say the detail/nature of the tweaks is along the signal path. What I perceived is a change, depends who is listening so it may or may not be that person's idea of an improvement. Firstly I noticed the highs(I hear more of it) have improved over the period, this was also being reported by other visitors who came several times over that same period. And I perceived the bass presentation is more controlled,whereas others who listen often may only want to consider this insignificant and that only more bass weight as a significant improvement. So different listeners may give credits quite differently! Here I gave him points just for better bass control, not alot of bass sound, just enough to get by. How do I know this? I heard the replay of track 6 of the Dream of the Opera CD, as I said not a lot of heart thumping bass, nothing that shake the chair I sat on, nothing to move my stomach fat around the middle, just bass sound that I'm comfortable with.But hey, that's my poison I guess! Other tracks I heard replayed include the last track of the Manger Demonstration Disc, again just about enough to get by, nothing in the room vibrated in unison with the drums and bass sound. Perhaps it's not anybody's idea of bass sound, but I would give him some marks for trying at it rather than just talk to some 'armchair critics' at some forums and can't do any 'transfer of technology' to improve the sound of his setup even after much discussions! Do I have to repeat that the vocals come around very nicely, if not lustfully with female vocals and with enough details on the male vocals? Now, now don't get me wrong that is superlative, there are many other setups with even more mesmerising vocals than this setup, but I'm just looking at the price point of a few thousand ringgit to get me glued to the chair long enough to be 'seduced' by the sound and not want to get up and go! At least not yet after a mere hour of listening in front of the setup! Another thing I like about the setup is how the hue of the afternoon sun bath the room with that yellowish tint we know so well! A lovely feeling of sort. What a wonderful listening experience I thought with a wash of beautiful colour mix of yellow to orange hue to feast the eye too! Yes the room was not to be darken for those afternoon listening sessions. It's always being enjoyable listening sessions whenever I listen, whether in the daylight hours or at night.

My Room Acoustics Part 2

Some background reading..............if you like............. http://medicine.jrank.org/pages/777/Hearing-Auditory-performance.html Three Acoustical Issues that Room Correction Can’t Correct http://www.hifizine.com/2010/09/the-three-acoustical-issues-a-room-correction-product-can%E2%80%99t-actually-correct/ In a nutshell............ Issue number 1: place a subwoofer at the corners of the room. To reduce the problem of speaker boundary interference response(SBIR for short). /I choose to have 1 subwoofer each in the front section of the room, 1 on the left corner and 1 more on the right corner. /That's will be 2 subwoofers specifically used to for this purpose and not doing the main task of reproducing enough bass contents to add to the sound of the main speakers. This helps explain 1 of several reasons for the introduction of additional subwoofers for the sole purpose of reproducing bass contents to emerge with those of produce by the main speakers, ie. integrate the bass contents. A total of 7 subwoofers are in placed at the time of writing. Issue number 2: reduce/control of early sound reflections from the many surfaces of the room relative to those direct sound from the speakers. /Work out a suitable combination of direct and reflected sound for that particular small room with acoustic treatments. The level of reflections can only be controlled through appropriate use of absorption or diffusion or by selecting speakers. /I choose the use of the ceiling treatments for a small room and at the 1st reflection point from the position of the speakers. And the choice of speakers happens to be very unorthodox. Issue number 3: rt60 cannot apply in a small listening room. The decay time of the room can only be brought to the level needed for high quality sound reproduction through appropriate decorative choices, furnishings and the use of acoustic treatment.............. /A simple hand clap will tell! Reduce the long reverberation time to bring up the sound quality, by reducing any overlapping of sound to perceive much readily the time gaps between individual sounds if any.

Audio Terrorists of Blogs

There are audiophiles and there are audiophiles of many kinds. One of the modern day of internet, found only in the audio circles are the 'audio terrorists'!!! The kind that is utterly unhappy about what is written except maybe the sort of writings that he/she tended to write or want to be able to endorse, to be allowable to the audio public for reading. The vigilante who goes around reading the various blogs to check out and weed out those he/she deemed who do not conform to their way of thinking and verbal expression. 1st these audio terrorists will when first appearing at a blog will at the very start, antagonize the writer/ blog owner while at the same time wish to get information useful to himself only. That's the sign number 1. Whether this being a personal attack on the writer is yet another issue, someone the writer knows and that they have never agree on many issues. A audio terrorist who is vindictive and has a long memory of past unpleasant events. A person who is badly hurt perhaps and can't let bygones be bygones. On the other hand if it's not a personal attack but one out of habitual/obsessive impulses, then I recalled psychiatrist called a manifestation of a troubled childhood, one of a failed sex life or an inability of a shared married life. 2nd, sign number 2, they usually are not able to relate themselves to the topic writer, being unable to communicate their intent(s) and purpose, they tended to show some sort of aggression in their line of questionings and think that anyone they encounter on the 'net owes them a favor/an answer/an explanation/a greeting. Never thought that they have to be nice to others to be able to receive the same treatments. 3rd the audio terrorist take it upon themselves to be the vigilante to 'clean up' the seemingly mess he thinks has being around long enough. Anyone else who gets in their way will also be brutally 'mulled' down. It will be always their world with the exclusion of all others they don't like. Sort of the pond is not big enough for all fishes! If these sort of repeated attacks keep appearing on blogs, and seeming from the same persons, then it only go to show there is harboring of deep hatreds and if built up over a period will tended to hurt the audio terrorist psychologically more than the readers of the blog who would usually enjoy a good fight if there is one, if not amusing and entertaining at times. At the most readers & writers alike will just disregard and ignore the comments of the audio terrorist, with absolutely no feeling whatsoever. Here is another disadvantage, a non benefit faced by the audio terrorist is that, even if he/she stops momentarily or absent from the blog for even a short while, and if another different audio terrorist comes into the scene and does almost similar misdeed or mischief, readers of the blog would just simply 'lump up' all the uncalled for events and placed it into the 1st terrorist 'account'..... ...and anymore audio terrorist attacks forthcoming too get dedited into that account. So the 1st terrorist will be 'surfing around' the internet with a couple of knives on his back without him even knowing about it. And if he really does appear again, some readers will just give him a piece of their mind out of disgust. So it does not pay to be a 'audio terrorist'! Do consider how much psychological damages the audio terrorist would have sustained over the period he/she terrorizes the blog! The rest of the readers, writers and blog owners included just sit back and enjoy the fiasco, especially when blog master do not intend on strict censorship.

That Vintage Feel part 2: The Complete Metamorphosis

In the previous article I mentioned the changes that have taken over the years on this particular setup. The changes have being very gradual and spaced out over a couple of years. It is during this time that the listening and at the same time the enjoying of the music, has brought about many critical listening on the part of the owner and many of his visitors who have given valuable feedback and suggested likely directions that could be taken. The sound has taken a change from that of lack of bass contents to finally today a setup that has enough bass to give a very enjoyable musical presentation. It takes someone brave enough to try unchartered territories, such as attempt to work with a subwoofer. The integration of which many would probably know it isn't easy, and takes time and effort to work out a workable solution, perhaps even a workable compromise to provide a presentation the owner could enjoy most of his collection of music software. And it was also during this time, that the owner tried variously different equipment isolation devices such as the Qi cones, marble and granite slabs. Besides this there is the issue of speaker placements, which I personally witness has taken many different positions and the tirelessly tried and tested placements of late being one of the best for that room. Not forgetting that the sitting position has to couple with the speaker placements, make for a long process over the years. With this done, next came the room acoustics, and how much to do and how much of it to be left alone. It's not surprised I find bricks, wood, additional carpets over carpet floor, and more recently diyed helmholtz resonators. And check on the room acoustics with test tone cd when tuning those resonators. And finally, I find a setup I could sit down to listen for hours. And some of the time, I get to know some of the owner's other hifi buddies and friends. Least to say the tea session that always follow after the listening has always being interesting. I thank Koo for the permission to write this 2 parts article and him being a gracious host all these many years.

That Vintage Feel

We audiophiles like to listen to the music of our choice most of the time(some music lovers said more like the sound of audiophiles' choice and forgotten about the music!). How true could this be, depends if we are already practicing it without knowing it! So whenever I want a different diet of music I will make a choice as to where I will go listen for the evening if not I will remain at home and listen to my kind of music presentations the way I have chosen to live with, that is listen in my own 'hifi cave'! So on 1 particular day, I choose to visit my good friend and hifi buddy I met on the 'net at the Star Forum a long time ago. The drive was an easy one, as he lives in the next neighbourhood of Cheras, just a short drive from Setapak, in Kuala Lumpur where we stay. When I first met him, he was into open baffle with Isophon single drivers and he has always sign off his chat in the forum as 'crossoverless', as the setup he had then hasn't any crossover circuitry at all! Then much later he moved into horn loaded fostrex speakers with external tweeters and still running with the 0.75w darling amplifier. Then he began signing off the chat sessions as 'crossoverleast'! I always thought it to be amusing way of slowly getting people to get used to his changes in his setup. Just about less than 2 years ago, he made a dramatic change when he bought a 50 years old vintage Isophon speakers and shortly after being influenced by me with the use of subwoofers(I'm using multiple subwoofers), he bought a subwoofer to integrate with the pair of vintage speakers. Till date the integration of the main speakers and the 8" Audiopro 175w subwoofer has being a great success! And of late I was to be in for more changes and surprises!!! He bought a QUAD 306 solid state amplifier which he and his friends thought it'a one of those amplifiers that sounded with much less solid state sounding characteristics. There were more surprises as soon as the integration of the subwoofer and main speakers was completed. I heard it several more times to know for sure it is!!! Though I was (still is) of the opinion that it's different kind of bass sound from that of a 10" subwoofer or a 12" subwoofer, different roll off point I reckoned and different drivers with their own inherent sizes driver sound with different behaviour and characteristic sound! Now his friends called him "crossallover"!!!!! Then there he was test listening various different CDP used as transports into his diyed non oversampling DAC, that has gone thru several changes (of metamorphosis) including the use of different valve tubes and changes of premium parts and the addition of a buffer stage. There was this Pioneer dvd 310, the much rave about in the 'net, the Marantz 63(his resident CDT) and the vintage Philips CD 160 with the time tested CDM pro 2 mechanism. One thing I noticed haven't being changed, moved or displaced or replaced is a 'ferrite clock' design which I especially designed and made for his setup, it's a device for power conditioning making use of the electronic clock timing mechanism, to remove part of those uneasy to the ears type of electrical harmonics in the main power supply, if anyone wants something better than what I have mentioned, he has better get one of those megabuck power conditioners. All in all, he has a not so expensive costing setup to suit his musical tastes and preferences which at the same time it's a system that many of his friends would like to come by for a listen, eventhough it may not be a setup they may want to have or live with in your own home!!! Again it comes down to personal preferences.I would agree with many of his friends that the system sounds musical(again it's so subjective that much arguments can go a long way) and enjoyable. So those looking for lots of bass to shake everything else in the room will probably want to come listen only once. However, those who are looking for 'lusty vocals' will come again and again!!!! Those who like to listen to soundstage will also come again and again!!! And those who are diehard hi end brand seekers will probably not even give a second thought about asking for a listen. We know what we are in for whenever we decide to go for a listen at some friends' place don't we?! We always do!

New Logo

It been a year and it is time for me to update this blog with a new logo.
It means listen with your ear, close your eyes and other senses.
Hope you like it.

KLau