Picture Quality Aspirations, Arcana HD Fury

Bothe ends of the Arcana HD Fury, which looks like a simple splitter in & out device with a nice fluorescent screen on which you do parameter settings to effect the picture & sound quality. The only thing I dislike about that display is that the text size use is too damn small!

I must say the promise was there when I heard my buddy told me that this little black box called Arcana HD Fury was capable of helping our Full HD projectors to cope with 4K movie source or at the very  least made them bearable. And so with such recommendation, I decided to get one. All you need is one extra HDMI cable for it to work, he said. Don't get those fancy cables, just the one that came with your Blu-ray player will be fine, he said.

I waited 2 weeks for my order to arrive my door step. Installation seems easy enough, plug the input HDMI cable from source(Oppo UDP-203), the output the HDMI cable to projector(Optoma UHD50). I ran the Arcana HD Fury in default mode, and at first play, a BD that I am very familiar with, Midway. WOW! I am impressed, the colors really "pop" out the screen with it's rich vivid tone, like I had just upgraded to a JVC projector or something! I thoroughly enjoyed Midway all over again. I was happy as a kite! 

The package that came, the Arcana HD Fury, and wallwart power supply & power cable which is optional, but I bought it for voltage combability assurance.

If these text pops out on the left bottom corner of the screen, means good, it works!

The happiness didn't last long unfortunately, the next moment I throw in a 4K disc of the same movie, and what greeted my was a red washed out screen! And so my trouble begins with the Arcana HD Fury! Another call to my buddy reveals that there compatibility issues between the Arcana HD Fury with certain brands of BD players, projectors or just HDMI cables. I must agree that it could not all Arcana's problem either, as from the very start, I felt the Optoma had rather weak connectivity to my Oppo BD player. I had tried many HDMI cables to get that connectivity to a reliable connectivity level. However even then, sometimes I still need to reset the projector or BD player or both to get them to work together.

I tried like about 5 different kinds of el cheapo or OEM bundle HDMI cables in order to try and make things work. Also tried various setting combos on the Arcana HD Fury, but none work! Certain setting you get that red washed out screen, and yellow or cyan washed out screen with other setting combos, or even pixelated black & white screen with other setting combos. There's a few parameters that one can set to try & make things work or make the picture quality better.

Regarding the setting parameters, you need to be very technically inclined to make it work! Otherwise, please just stay with default settings. 

This is what I got when it doesn't work, available not only in Red, but Cyan & Yellow as well depending on HDMI cable choice & parameter setting combo on the Arcana HD Fury! This happens when I used 4K movie source materials.

Now, when the Arcana HD Fury works, the picture quality is actually brought up a notch! This is with Full HD source material. Hacken Lee in concert!

Then one day, after more than 3 weeks working on making 4K movie files of BD work with the Arcana HD Fury, a slightly bright spark can in to my mind, to connect the Arcana between my Denon X-4400H AVR & the Optoma projector. Again lots of HDMI cable swap and parameter setting combos were made to make it work. Finally after fiddling for a week, I finally found a working combo using an old HDMI cable which was bundled with my Pioneer BDP-450 player and default settings on the Arcana.

With the 4K movie compatibility issue fixed, again I plomk in the same 4k Midway BD in to the system, and behold. There was some improvement compared to 4K movies running without the Arcana. As the beer budget Optoma doesn't throw enough light for 4K source materials, I almost always prefer to watch Full HD only BD or files. Using the Arcana in the AV system the improvements were slightly brighter picture, better contrast, and as result, make 4K source material that bit more bearable, especially in darks scenes where the Optoma projector naturally struggles the most. In dark scenes, the Optoma typically adds lots of visual noise to the 4K source material being played. The same 4K playback via the Arcana in the system gave less visual noise, making dark scenes that bit more bearable.

There was one draw back when using the Arcana in between the Denon & Optoma compared to Oppo direct to Optoma, leaving the Denon only for soundtrack duties. When used as such to make 4K source materials work, the Full HD experience suffers. When I say suffers, I mean in relation to picture quality attained as when used between Oppo & Optoma. You see, that vivid, rich popping color effect I got earlier is now being diluted. Having said that, the picture quality performance still got a small lift compared to as without Arcana in the loop.

With that, I settled down and just enjoy my movies as is. The entire Arcana HD Fury experience was NOT as positive as my buddies. I think it's because they all have JVC & Sony projectors. Me on the other hand, have 2nd rate Optoma. I read in many forums that the Arcana HD Fury doesn't work well with other 2nd rate brands such as BenQ, Epson or Vivitek either. Many feedback in those forums also commended the excellent consultative response from the Arcana people if you run in to issues as consumer. I did not contact them with my issues so I can't vouch for them. From my experience, the Arcana HD Fury is not something one buys on a whim like me. I paid steep price for it in terms of performance compromise & compatibility issues. All I am saying is do more research on the WWW before you commit to this product. I also feel that this product requires competent technical knowledge in regards to the parameter settings offered. It's not a plug & play product, and YMMV caveat certainly applies. 

I hope others will have better experience then me on this. 

All Kuzma Experience, Kuzma CAR-30L MC Cartridge

Now that my Benz Micro LP has been relocated to my Linn Sondek LP12, I have to find another cartridge to go on duty in Kuzma Stabi S12 double plater turn table. After much deliberation, I decided to try the full Monty from Kuzma by going with the CAR-30L cartridge. The Kuzma range cartridge is based on the ZYX motor assembly, but with an added machined aluminum body, bumping the cartridge weight to 17 grams. At this point, not many tone arms can hold this baby steady any more, but my 12 inch Stogi can do so.  

The Kuzma CAR-30L outputs at 0.3mv and is considered the middle child in the Kuzma cartridge range. After mounting, aligning and setting the cartridge up to a tracking force of 2.2grams. I used the built in phono stage section of my Aesthethix Janus Signature pre-amp with a setting of 56 decibels gain & 126 ohms loading. Now, I can start playing some LPs.

The Kuzma cartridge range from CAR-20 to CAR-60. Only the top 2 cartridges are marked out by their colored bodies

The Kuzma CAR-30L cartridge, seen here with the stylus protector

What the Kuzma CAR cartridge looks like without the stylus protector. With an over square aluminum body, it makes setting up and cartridge alignment work super easy

From the get go, I found this cartridge to be completely neutral in tonal balance, very similar to the ZYX cartridges in which it is based upon. However, that's where the similarity ends, because the Kuzma CAR-30L will go low in bass and with absolute dynamics to match. This is a fast transient cartridge, very much in the mold of Clearaudio sound signature, but only with bolder and bigger stage scale. Vocals have a big bone quality to them in the flesh. High frequencies are extended, but never ear jarring. Very exciting introduction in to the full Kuzma sound of course!

However over time as the cartridge settles in, I slowly found the CAR-30L lacking in tonal richness, the very kind a person gets in to all the trouble that vinyl presents for. There's no warmth in the music what so ever to speak of. I also found myself wishing for more air, more ambience in the music. I need my analog rig to have some tonal color, rose bud tint if necessary, I also need some soul in my analog rig.

Another issue I found over time was that despite it's 17 grams heft, and a 2.2 grams tracking force, the CAR-30L did not track as well as my Benz Micro LP mounted on the 9 inch  Ittok tone arm. I am starting to think if it's the cartridge it self? Arm length factor, or uni-pivot vs gimbal factor in play here? I never got a straight answer as in most things audio. This was particularly evident when playing badly warp records, which I've got a few. In most cases, the very same LP which would result in the full Kuzma rig skipping a beat, the Linn combo set up would just cruise along, musically un-feathered. With it's weight advantage, I was initially expecting the Kuzma to be the clear winner here, but it wasn't to be. Hifi paradox in all it's un-predictable glory is truly evident here. After months of wondering what happened, I never found the technical explanation to rest my case.   

I know, the choice for a suitable cartridge in any system is a daunting search, made worse by the sea of cartridges available in all forms & prices. It's been a long time since I last did any cartridge shopping. This CAR-30L has shown me about all the things that make a technical argument compelling, but the music when playback trough this cartridge, just never touch my soul, or stirred my emotions. It does so many things right when dissected, yet music as a whole, never sounded full filing in anyways. It has lead me to wonder that if I crave for more tonal color, more warmth, more humanity in vinyl playback? I can only put it to a matter of personal preference. I also know a few others who are very happy with the performance of this cartridge in their analog set up, and it was in one of those systems that I heard, made my jump in to the all Kuzma analog source idea. In my system, this was not to be unfortunately. Overall I still think the Kuzma CAR-30L offered much technical performance, and hence much value for money too, but it just didn't give me the kind of emotional attachment or engagement that I am looking for in my music. 

Just a generic picture to illustrate the Kuzma CAR-30l cartridge mounted to the Stogi S tone arm and Stabi S9 turn table

I'll leave you with a song title by the rock group, The Clash. Shall I stay of shall I go? 

TAD TSM-2201 Loudspeakers - Part I

A few years ago, when I stumbled upon the news that TAD had discontinued its one and only studio monitor model in its professional range, the TSM-2201 loudspeakers, a desire flashed through my mind – I should get myself a pair for keepsake before they couldn’t be found anymore. I wanted them as my reference for bookshelf loudspeakers, and also as an opportunity for me to listen for myself what the fuss was about on the performance differences between studio monitors for professional use vs loudspeakers for HiFi / home audio, after hearing so much discussion/debate on the matter over the years.

At a list price of RM9,900/pair, the TSM-2201 is not exactly cheap, but as an enthusiast for all things TAD, I could not pass up the chance to own a pair of its lowest-priced loudspeaker model. Seeing how TAD put out and priced its new products, I don’t think there would be any other opportunity to enter the TAD world at this price point any more.

A few days later, I carted a pair home from AV Designs, the local distributor for TAD. I realized that I had bought them sight unseen and sound unheard, such was my confidence in TAD of its prowess in technical design and manufacturing.

I had not written about them in the intervening years, so I thought to take them out during this relatively quiet period for HiFi due to MCO, and share my experience.

There are a few of visibly interesting design features incorporated into the TSM-2201. Firstly, its shape does not look like any other box loudspeakers that we are used to see. Instead of straight sides, these loudspeaker cabinets are tapered at the waist, TAD calls it Sigma Technology, undoubtedly referring to the shape of the letter Sigma in the Greek alphabet (a friend called it "Darth Vader" though😁). The unusual shape supposedly helps to improve the rigidity of the cabinet and to eliminate standing waves inside it.

The TSM-2201 is also a rare sealed box design (i.e., there is no venting hole on the box), setting itself apart from the sea of bass reflex boxes that are more common nowadays.

The 2 drivers used (a 20cm/8in woofer unit and a 2.5cm/1in metal dome tweeter unit) are not any off-the-shelf units from a mass speaker driver manufacturer but proprietary to TAD. If you look closer, you’d notice that the drivers have a couple of convex shapes built into the cones which, according to TAD, enhances sound dispersion and improves separation. Both drivers are protected from prying fingers by a wire mesh, which is non-detachable as far as I could ascertain.

The TSM-2201 is single-wired, i.e., only a pair of binding posts is provided per speaker. You can have any colour you like, as long as it is black, matt black. The finish is utilitarian but feels quite resistant to scratches and rough handling, I suppose that is what’s needed in professional equipment, as oppose to a pretty look.

Each speaker weighs 7.8kg, with a dimension of 26cm x 34.8cm x 25.3cm (WHD). They definitely feel substantial and solid in my hands. TAD quotes a frequency response range of 50Hz-40kHz (@-10dB), impedance of 4 ohm and sensitivity of 86dB/w/m. Power handling is 160w maximum, which is quite impressive for a loudspeaker of this size.

For my audition, I placed them on my 24in tall 4-pillar metal stand, each pillar was 2/3 filled with sand. After some trial and error, they got to a spot that was as close to my current speakers as was possible and slightly in front of them. I strongly suspect that they would perform best at the same spot as my main speakers, which are also a pair of TAD (the TAD-CR1), but that shall remain a feeling rather than proven fact, as I don't appreciate the hard work required to move the TAD-CR1 away to make way for its little brother.

I found that by putting 3 small blobs of blu-tack underneath the speakers to couple them to the top of the stands helped to eliminate a slight jangly-ness in the treble region,. I am not sure whether it was inherent in the speaker design or caused by my metal stand, I would have liked to play them on, say, wooden stands too, which would be less resonant (the standard stands for my TAD-CR1s are built from solid wood).

Pairing the TSM-2201 with my TAD-D600 cdp and Pass Labs amplifiers was somewhat an overkill, price matching wise. Anyhow, that was what I started with. I'll try them out with other hardware later on.

I'll write about my listening impression in my next post. For now, I'll leave you with a teaser - an iPhone SE recording of the TSM-2201 in my system playing my favourite track "Tempting Heart 心动“ from 2V1G's first CD (thumbs up for an excellent Malaysian production 👍👍👍).

TAD is carried by AV Designs in Malaysia, phone: 03-62411237. If you are interested in the TAD TSM-2201, they may still have a few pairs of NOS left.