September 11, 2020

Visiting a Chameleonic System

Chameleonic :- 1. Resembling a chameleon: readily changing color or other attributes.

My friend Loo is what we audiophiles would call an 'avid system tuner'. He is someone who incessantly adjusts, tunes, and tinkers with his system, done together with on-going gear and accessory changes, in order to achieve the best sound he wants. 

Well, to use the term 'best' is not entirely correct. You see, Loo does not subscribe to the idea of a 'best' sound. To him there is no 'best', just 'better and better', i.e., continuous improvement. This ties to his non-stop effort in tuning his system and also the non-stop evolution of his system's sound we hear in every visit to his system, just like a chameleon changing its colours.  
 
The overview of Loo's system, which is set up at one end of his living room

  
There is a heavy presence of sound tuning accessories in Loo's system. The latest tuning device he added to his system are the IsoAcoustics Gaia II footers to his loudspeakers. 

I have to say that these footers' effect were easily heard, compared to his sound heard during my previous visits. With the IsoAcoustics, there was an added 'calmness' to the sound, especially in the highs. If there was any frizziness in the sound before, now it was patted down, like after one getting a good combing of one's frizzy hair. It also gave a perception of better defined edges to imaging and darker background in-between images. 

Let's take a tour of Loo's HiFi gear:
The source was digital only,  Loo swore by the top-loading Accustic Arts CD-PLAYER 1 

The amplification is the jewel-like pieces from Swiss highend, FM Acoustics. The preamp is the FM-155 pictured above

Power is delivered by the FM-108 monoblocks 

Each monoblock is placed very close to the loudspeaker, so that Loo can use very short loudspeaker cables (they are Furutech FS-a36, and only 1m long if I am not wrong)

The eagle-eyed among you might have also gleaned from these pictures the plethora of isolation footers under each piece of gear. These are consisting of Harmonix RF-900MK2, RF-909MK2, TU-666ZX and TU-666M. Note the precise positioning of these footers, which Loo derived from endless experimentation. 

The loudspeakers are the very rare Clearwave Symphonia 72R. These are mid-size floorstanders, and boy, do they use very high quality drivers or what? The drivers are RAAL ribbon tweeter paired with ceramic drivers from Accuton.   


Loo also paid special attention to his electricity supply. In addition to a dedicated mains circuit, he has these to clean up his electricity:

Frank PowerBank PB-15000Ws

Isotek Titan Evo3

A Nordost QB8 distributor with a host of QK1 AC Enhancer & QV2 AC line Harmonizer

What I don't capture in photos are the Isotek Synchro powercords and the Furutech NCF power plugs used throughout. 

That is not all, Loo also uses a number of Furutech NCF cable support to hold up his cables:
 

As I said early, the only constant in Loo's system is his endless tinkering and tuning of his system, and the ever changing and shifting of its sound. I am sure whatever sound performance I describe now will change in my next visit. However, what I can say is that there are a number of areas that Loo never loses sight of. 

Firstly, Loo goes for HiFi gear that has a substantial performance envelope and is also responsive to his tuning effort. I understand why he chose the Clearwave loudspeakers. These loudspeakers consistently give out clear, fast, and dynamic sound. At the same time they are also capable of conveying details, nuances and airiness in the music. Without fail, I hear a good deal of humanness, of warmth from these loudspeakers, despite ceramic drivers having the reputation of being analytical (undeserved, in my opinion). They can do big sound and big soundstage relative to its size - in one recent visit I commented that these loudspeakers sounded bigger and bigger from Loo's tuning effort. Loo has also been pushing the loudspeakers' dynamic envelope with obvious results in dynamic swing and attack.

Secondly, Loo always wants a mix of analytical performance (resolution, transparency, low distortion) and musicality (that the listeners enjoy the music) from his system. The balance may shift one way or the other with his different efforts, but the mix is always there.

Thirdly, Loo is not dogmatic about the road to good sound. This can be seen in the turnover of his gear over the last 1-2 years, shifting from tube to solid state, from bookshelf loudspeakers to floorstanders, from vintage to the modern.  At the end of the day, it is the sound and the music that matter to him. Loo aims for a system that can play all music genres, from simple vocals to bombastic classical pieces, from canto-pop, mandarin-pop that can be jarring on the wrong system to smooth and clean audiophile recordings. 

As if to illustrate my last point, Loo hooked up his Western Electric vintage tube monoblocks for us to compare to the FM Acoustics amplifier. The vintage amplifiers have a trace of golden hue and sweetness to the sound, but still retain a good level of transparency and details. I believe many would prefer them somewhat on intimate vocals compared to the FM Acoustics, though the solid state amps were clearly more powerful and very much in control with bigger music.  
  

Well, Loo is one who does not rest on his laurels. I am pretty sure that within the time it took me to write this article, he has moved on. 

I wait with bated breath to see what he will come up with during my next visit.

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