The Solid Path, SVS SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System

I remember my first HT set up in the early 90's with early Dolby surround sound, minus the sub woofer! There was no sub woofer output from the Nakamichi AV1 receiver, one of the top choice of the day. Almost 30 years later, it's quite unfathomable how one can set up an AV system without any sub woofers. And the trend today is to go for either a single 15 inch sub woofer or dual 12 inches, hence the Dolby Atmos 5.2.4 moniker that my system is specified. 

While having more sub woofers has it's advantages such as more even room loading, less hot spots, and more linear LFE response are just the few mentioned. However there are also more problems associated with multi sub configuration. Room boom is there, uneven bass response due to acoustic cancelations and more shaking & rattling of the ceiling. That last part is where I suffered until recently when the SVS SoundPath Isolation footers came along. See pictorial guide below for full story:

I got 2 sets of 4 pcs since my pair of SVS PB-2000 only required 4 feet each in a box.

 

Included in the box are the 4 isolation rubber feet, and 3 screw sets clearly marked M4, M6 & SVS screws. I used the SVS screw pack since I am using the feet set to go under my SVS PB-2000 sub woofers. Also included in the package is a feel good, quality printed instruction card. 

My SVS PB-2000 sitting very close to the floor with it's original supplied feet. The SoundPath isolation feet lifts the sub woofer by at least an inch from the ground, resulting in less surface bounce of the sub sonic kind.   

A quick comparo between the original supplied feet(bottom 2) which is small and tip toe hard rubber material only. The SoundPath isolation feet(top 2) has a metal base, connecting between the actual wooden surface and the soft, thick rubber material that interface with the floor. 

Installation of the Sound Path isolation feet is rather easy, you turn the sub woofer on it's belly, manually un-screw the original feet from each corner of the sub woofer, then re-install the isolation feet in it's original screw hole with the supplied screw set in the bag labelled as SVS. The whole affair taking no more than 10 minutes each PB-2000 sub woofer. 

Upon installation, the sub woofers are put back to where the belong and the quick sound check follows. By comparison, bass in now cleaner, more well defined and less boomy. The impact of explosion scenes is now more felt, but surprisingly my ceiling rattle has been drastically reduced. With the isolation feet installed, I felt the need to recalibrate my Denon Audyssey setting all over again. With the channel levels re-matched and  recalibration, I got a more focused and well defined dialogue, and much more effective main channels too.

Sometimes it's strange how doing improvement to the bass tend to result in better performance in other areas as well, as in a stereo system! Hard to explain but true. And these SVS SoundPath isolation feet are worth every penny of it's asking price. It's well made and bring a whole lot of overall sound improvement to my HT game! Highly recommended for any sub woofer of any brand. If you've got an SVS sub woofer, it's a totally no brainer upgrade!

The Results, My Home Theater

Continuing from my last posting about my HT room project. I have allocated a room measuring 17ft x 13ft x 11ft(W x L x H). My projection screen mounted on the 17ft wall which leaves me the 13ft total projection length. The final outcome is that 11ft projection length(measured from tip of lens) was used as projection length for the Optoma UHD 50 projector to project 120 inch screen size(measured diagionaly as in TVs)  

The 120 inch XY screen dominates the 17ft wide wall. Also noted is a pair of SVS PB-2000 sub woofers, flanked by a pair of Bose 901 MK VI series main speakers partnered with a single Bose 201 MK III as center channel.

Form the next picture below, you can see that my sofa is backed up against the back wall still measuring 17ft wide, but with space taken up entry door on the left, and equipment rack & disc library on the right. Overall, this is a SIM 4K picture quality & Dolby Atmos 5.2.4 sound specification based system. And if you look carefully, you won't see much cabling, as most are either imbedded in wall or in ceiling. All the cabling was laid when I planned my HT room project during my home renovation in 2018.

 

You can also see that the Optoma UHD 50 projector is mounted right above the sweet spot of the sofa! Flanking the projector is a pair of Bose 101 surround speakers. If you look carefully on the right, next to my equipment rack, is the Bose Acoustimas 5 passive sub woofer, which is set to high pass at 80Hz as part of the rear surround system. 

My equipment rack from top: Denon AVR X-4400 H receiver for Dolby Atmos & DTS-X processiong & powering center channel & 2 pairs Dolby Atmos ceiling speakers which are Bose Model 25, Oppo UDP-203 4K disc player with the Oppo BDP-95 Full HD player with Cinivia free. Further below is the Cambridge Audio A120 4 channel power amp, powering front main speakers & surround sound duties. Further below is the Weiduke AC 8.8 power conditioner which powers the whole stack of equipment as seen and my dual HDD toaster for my 4K movie collections. 

On the right side corner of the back wall, is a compartmentalized area, mainly for library of disc collection. I also installed a dedicated MCB box in my HT room. If the book shelves looked familiar, is because they are from Ikea!

I also did some acoustic diffuser works on the ceiling to break up sound waves, coupled to heavy drape curtains on both sides of the side wall upon the first reflection points of the Bose 901 MK VI main speakers. The ceiling acoustic diffuser also works as the mood light & 2 pairs Dolby Atmos ceiling speaker mounts, if you look carefully.  

Overall for the money I spent, at about MYR25,000 on all equipment count, I feel satisfied with the intangible return on entertainment values, especially these days of MCO where the cinemas are closed. The 120 inch screen give big picture cinema feel when just sitting about 13ft away. When viewing Full HD movies, the picture is bright, vivid tonal pallet and very punchy, if some what veering slightly bluish(like most Sony or Samsung TVs factory calibration). Upon having sifu Michael Wong(contacted via FB) coming over to help calibrate my projector, the picture quality improved in terms of field of depth layering of majestic scenes from movies. Since the Optoma UHD 50 is a SIM 4K(i.e. non native or up sampling to 4K), the picture quality in 4K post calibration took a turn for darker and being a budget projector, the blackness(or greyish black) weakness is laid bare and exposed for all to see too clearly. Movies like Batman's The Dark Night should be avoided in 4K mode, due to the projector limitations. Bottom line is if you're expecting JVC level of 4K reproduction here, you'll be sorely disappointed. However if you are like me, where my majority of movies are on Full HD, with only the occasional 4K viewing diet, then this projector will get the job done very well.

The sound is an area I am more than happy with. I run the Denon Audyssey Auto  Calibration with the supplied OEM mike and already gor very decent results. I then further fine tune the channel levels, the high pass frequencies for speaker and low pass for LFE, and timing compensation with EQ off. It was just some tuning from disc to disc over time and until a point, I never need to fine tune the Dolby Atmos settings again, until I changed something that is.

The sound is with effective in surround panning, & the Atmos ceiling speakers are especially effective when watching raining or thunderstorm or aircraft scenes, especially is movies like Top Gun & Mid Way, just to recall the 2 movies that impressed me. The dual SVS sub configuration gives thundering bass and full on explosion impacts, to the point that is room and plaster ceiling shaking! I love using Bose speakers all round for HT because they are really good value at used prices and they can really go loud without popping their drivers! They are also very warm sounding for music concerts, and especially enjoyable when playing those Vienna Philharmonic New Years Concerts! 

I have made some improvements along the way since system installation over a year ago, and I'll get to those later. What do you think? Kindly feedback on comments section with thanks if any opinion or questions............

Mid Range Excellence! Pioneer BDP-450 Blu-ray/SACD Player.

The Pioneer BDP-450 Blu-ray/SACD player.

Pioneer has built an enviable reputation with the success of it's range of Blu-ray players. I have being using the starter 3D Pioneer BDP-140 as a reference my self. While it's audio/video performance is very accomplished for the price, I've always wondered, what if I spend a little more $$$ for a step up in performance?

Along the way, came the new BDP-X50 series range of latest Pioneer Blu-ray player revamp, and the model in question here is the BDP-450, which is the middle child, sitting in between the entry level BDP-150 and the exclusive LX-55 top model. The Pioneer BDP-450 retails for RM$1,899.00/unit, so it's really a big step up from the entry level model(price wise). So if the BDP-140 or BDP-150 already offers such good performance levels(assuming the newer BDP-150 is as good, if not better performing), for a mere RM$699.00/unit, what more can the BDP-450 offer?

The Pioneer BDP-450 residing in my HT system.

First up, the Pioneer BDP-450 offers superior build quality, with it's heavier gauge steel chassis(which houses beefier power supplies), all satin black brushed aluminium face panel, chunky audiophile style feet(not the fake plastic ones for sure), and definitely smoother disc loading drawer action. At the back panel, the goodies galore continues with dual HDMI output(for those who want their video signal to flow direct to screen, by passing the surround receiver's video board) for superior picture quality, while the other HDMI output sends audio signals to the said receiver. Is there really a performance upgrade by going the twin HDMI output route? I don't know, I didn't test, but I bet someone would do. I connected the BDP-450 as I would with my resident  BDP-140 for a fair comparison, which means one HDMI cable, sending audio and video signal to my Denon receiver and the second HDMI cable from receiver to my Plasma display.

The only same old, same old part as shared with the BDP-140 and BDP-150 is the hand remote wand, which I can understand Pioneer's decision to keep it as it works pretty well actually. The whole unit looks well put together with nicely aligned panels and centered disc drawer on top of the clearly legible display, which is dim able(the entry level model does that too). Like all 2012 refreshed Blu-ray player models onwards, the BDP-450 also comes equipped with Cinavia anti piracy software pre-installed.

The back panel, 2 HDMI outputs is the main selling point here.

Now we get to the nitty gritty of the Pioneer BDP-450 in terms of video performance, which the colour and picture dynamic qualities are cut from the same fabric as the cheaper Pioneers. There seems to be finer pixels in the darker scenes leading to improved black detailing. I see smoother fast motion scenes, with richer and more saturated colours. Depth of field in panoramic land scape scenes are definitely more convincing. I watched Kingdom Of Heaven Blu-ray disc and came away suitably impressed. I think a more highly regulated power supply section of the player contributed to the performance gains. Still, I thought for so much more outlay, the picture quality improvement ratio did not seemed catch up enough.

However, it is when playing 3D Blu-ray disc that I felt all the extra outlay for the BDP-450 over the lesser models became worth while. Comparing the BDP-140 to the BDP-450 in 3D mode, made the cheaper player's 3D qualities look like card board cut outs, and on certain scenes, more like a cut & paste job! I was using the Monster Vs Aliens 3D Blu-ray animation movie for comparison. With the BDP-450, the 3D effects were smoother and more organic looking, while still maintaining the pop-up effect and excellent layers within a field of depth within the confines of my 64 inch Plasma display. The BDP-450 made watching 3D movies less fatigue and more enjoyable, due to less cross talk, and less noise within the video signal. I used to find 3D fascinating for a 25 minutes only(I start to feel giddy after that) of viewing period with the BDP-140, but I could finish the whole movie on 3D mode with the BDP-450 without much fatigue setting in. I know my kids certainly look forward to more 3D animated movies from here onwards.

It is with 3D movies like Monsters Vs Aliens that the Pioneer show it's capabilities to the fore. The disc loading drawer opens and closes with smooth action.

The Grudge is a scary Hollywood take on Japanese horror, much like The Ring, but only more effective in the script build up and make up & graphics. Sarah Michelle Gellar(Buffy The Vampire Slayer) stars.

Now we get to the audio part, which the first aspect that impressed me easily was the bass, which certainly dived deeper and rumbles more solidly. The stronger bass foundation gives the center chanel a more anchored, less floaty conversation, especially with male dialogue, which feels more manly, with a bit more of that chest. Surround panning effect is more seamless and more easily located, especially the rear surround chanels, which sometimes makes me look back over my shoulder, because I actually thought some one behind was breathing down on me, it's that real! It happened when I was watching The Grudge, an American perspective on Japanese horror, like The Ring, only scarier!

Just for kicks, I played a few music SACDs and found the sound to be highly detailed, musical, rhythmically assured, smooth, and with liquid top end. The sound staging is stretches across my living lounge with good depth. I was of course, playing music thru my Denon/Bose HT system.  The Pioneer BDP-450 would certainly make a great audiophile SACD spinner or transport, if one has a huge collection of SACD disc.

My Denon AVR-1612 AV receiver(top) and Pioneer BDP-450 Blu-ray/SACD player(bottom).

It was during this time that I have to experience Cinavia anti piracy effects on my system. After playing an offending Blu-ray disc for about 20 minutes or so, the player will mute audio output and a message would appear on screen to suggest that you're playing an illegal disc, advising you not to adjust your system set up menu. Apparently, most Hollywood movies released after March 2012 is Cinavia encoded. Otherwise, the Pioneer played each and every legitimate disc or otherwise with no problems what so ever.

Another area I liked about the BDP-450 is the quick start up feature and fast disc loading times. It took less than 20 seconds to start up each time from sleep mode, and each time a new disc is loaded, the smooth closing tray would then take no more than 45 seconds to recognise and load the top menu of the said disc. Older players can sometimes take more than 2 minutes to load a Blu-ray disc top menu upon closing of disc drawer.

I think the Pioneer BDP-450 will do well in a 3D capable HT system, where the said feature is used often enough. It's a player that truly offers a step up in terms of audio and video performance from the entry level units with higher build quality to spare. Audiophiles looking for a reliable CD/SACD transport would not be disappointed with it either. For those with budget AV systems however, the entry level BDP-150 should still offer more efficient cost to performance ratio.

Pioneer products are available at all appointed dealers nation wide.

Event Report. JVC Launches New 3D HT Projectors For 2013.

The new 2013 range of JVC 3D projectors are now on sale.

JVC launched it's new range for 2013 3D projectors, mostly(except the entry level model DLA-RS46) featuring 4k up scaling, with the use of their upgraded e-shift technology, now called e-shift2. The event was held at the excellent AV Designs showroom in Rohas Perkasa, where members of the lifestyle and AV Press showed up in full force.

The whole JVC marketing team was seen there, including Mr Steven Woo of JVC Kenwood Malaysia Sdn Bhd. & Mr Takehide Sakamoto, who is MD of of the company in Malaysia.

Mr Takehide Sakamoto, MD of JVC Kenwood Malaysia Sdn Bhd. launching the new 2013 range of projectors.

Mr Steven Woo wasted no time by briefing us the salient points that makes JVC 2013 projectors worthy of one's considerations, by presenting a long feature list and finally very attractive retail prices, by 4k projector standards that is!

We were soon ushered in to AV Designs demo room 2, where the more real world priced JVC DLA-RS48 were demo-ed in normal full HD and 4k up scaling modes, plus the immersive 3D qualities that only a big projection screen can provide. Despite being the entry level 3D 4k model, the DLA-RS48 projected rich and vivid colours, truly high resolution pictures, with good depth and dense black quality, despite offering only 50,000:1 native contrast ratio! Sometimes technical specifications can be deceiving indeed.

Mr Steven Woo presenting the technical briefing and specifications session.

All smiles for the photo session.

A closer look at the JVC DLA-RS66 projector, priced at RM$39,999.00 each.

A closer took at the accompanying 3D active glass, which is said to reduce cross talk, resulting in less flickering sensation when viewing movies, causing less fatigue in the long term.

We were than moved to the big boy AV designs demo room 1, where all the best AV gear your $$$ can buy is on demo. Here, we are treated to the state of the art JVC DLA-RS66(with 130,000:1 native contrast ratio!) projector partnered with state of the art Bryston amps and PMC speakers. Every time I come in to this room, I never wanna leave!

In true Malaysian style, the event ended with a Q&A session, followed by a healthy serving of F&B!

To see for yourself is to be impressed by the latest range of JVC 3D projectors.

Do contact James or Tony at AV Designs at 03-21712828 for enquiries or demo appointment.

Screen Saver! IsoTek EVO 3 Mini Mira.

IsoTek EVO3 Mini Mira.

IsoTek is the indisputable British power line conditioning company. My love affair with IsoTek products have been well documented in these pages. When I started getting in to AV, by setting up my latest HT system, some readers asked me to try out the IsoTek Mira, the power line conditioner for displays. There have been very positive user reports with the previous versions, and as luck would have it, the local distributor had run out out of stock, and were waiting for the latest batch of EVO 3 Mini Mira to arrive. I got my review sample sometime in December, and took me a while to get on to it, due to a steady queue of equipments(some are very special indeed) coming in for reviews.

The IsoTek Evo3 Mini Mira came in a nice looking packaging, with high quality offset printed wrap around a protective brown box. The IsoTek Evo3 Mini Mira looks well built for something that's usually hidden, with 2U metal, powder coated finished(with aluminium top half) construction. The EVO3 is a simple device to install. Just an IEC input on one end and a pair of power point output on the other end, which the review sample came with US style NEMA 5 power points(as opposed to the BS standard ones on the illustration above). I used a spare, self terminated 1.5 meter JPS Inwall power cord to connect from wall to EVO3, and the captive power cords from the Panasonic 32 inch LCD screen  and Pioneer DVD player connected at the output end.

The dynamic and punchy video quality as captured here, on Astro program.

For comparison, I watched a variety of TV(Astro) programs and DVD with and without the IsoTek EVO3 Mini Mira in the loop. I found the EVO3 offered much clearer, crispier picture quality, due to less on screen hash(or noise, but not the audible kind). It's kinda like when taking picture in low light with a digital camera equipped with poor quality CMOS sensor. It's noise reflected off the visual kind. The screen also delivered far wider contrast ratio, which points to blacker blacks and whiter whites, making for much more dynamic, punchier picture quality then without the use of the EVO3. Colours are never saturated and the more punchier quality, is never eye jarring. The picture quality still manages to maintain it's cohesive whole, naturally of course.

Due to the use of built in TV speakers, I could hardly detect any gains in audio quality. Perhaps in a more sophisticated system, sound quality may take a turn for the better? I am just as suspicious as you are. I did not use the EVO3 in my other HT rig because I was testing something else there, and didn't want to up set the test conclusions by changing too many parameters in a go. And by the way, in case you're thinking about it, don't ask me if the EVO3 Mini Mira is better than the previous version? That's a question I can't answer because I never made that comparison and have never experienced the past version either.

Note the outlet with blue dot on the left? It's for your display device, and the other is for your Blu-ray or DVD player.

Priced at RM$1,100 each, the IsoTek EVO3 Mini Mira is worth checking out, if one is serious about getting the best picture quality out of one's display device and source. That means you, the AV enthusiast will have to find out how deep your thirst is for picture quality?

IsoTek is sold by Centre Circle Audio, contact Sky Wong or Nelson at 03-77282686.

2 Is Better Than 1, Supra High Speed HDMI With Ethernet Cable.

Supra High Speed HDMI with Ethernet cables supports up 4k resolution display devices.

I managed to get the second review sample of the Supra High Speed HDMI cable, with a purpose to confirm if 2 cables(one from Blu-ray player to AV Receiver, and another from AV Receiver to display device) of the same quality, can really improve audio and visual performance?

The simple answer is YES!, using the same Tora! Tora! Tora! Blu-ray movie as reference, colour palette becomes richer, and skin tone healthier(but never too red). Most important difference is the black details and grey scale linearity improvements. Again on the dark scenes where Japanese Zero fighters were taking off from the flight deck of aircraft carriers, in the dawn of the morning, I could now see all the whole dark green plane with full details, and the wooden flight decks of the carrier. Details like wing flap positions, exhaust fumes from engine as the planes goes full throttle upon take off, is now clearly visible.  It's remarkable how much more one can see in the dark!

Another area I noticed a difference is the sound, which now gives vocals a more anchored stability, and the 5.1 chanel separation of panning surround effects that much more vivid. This adds a more immersing quality to movies. However, I do suspect the improvements in sound is more due to cable length, rather than the effect of a second cable, due to the second cable only delivers visual signal to display device, not sound. I requested a 1.5 meter length Supra High Speed HDMI cable this time as opposed to a 2 meter one earlier. In the process of connecting the cables, I had swapped the shorter cable to connect between Blu-ray player to AV Receiver and the longer one between AV Receiver to display device. Hence only the shorter cable was carrying both sound and visual signals, as opposed to the earlier longer cable used.

To re-confirm my suspicion, I did another test on my other DVD player and plasma TV rig, but only this time, with RM$25.00 generic HDMI cables of the same brand, but different lengths. I got the same result, where the shorter HDMI cable out performed the longer cable by some margin, enough to be easily notice able, even with lower resolution format and display device.

This proves that if one does not wish to spend big $$$ on HDMI cables, the best solution is to keep it as short as possible. By the way, the shorter, 1.5 meter Supra High Speed HDMI with Ethernet cable retails at RM$395.00 each. I am now Supra HDMI all way!

Supra products sold by A&L Audio Station, contact Yap(Wah Chai) at 03-79582884.

Sub Wars! SVS PC12-NSD vs SVS PB12-NSD.

SVS PC12-NSD standing tall, as tall as my Bose 301 Series II, mounted on 24 inch stands, as this picture shows.

Looking for a HT sub woofer with low end grunt, and guts to rock my gulis(marbles for our international readers) yet must not cost me an arm of a leg! Max Loh(the watch dog whisperer) of Maxx Audio put his hand up for the challenge. The confident guy somehow knew I was smitten by the SVS alpha sub PB13-Ultra when I last visited his showroom some time ago. I had a trouser flapping good time!(just to put it mildly). Max kindly suggested two models for us at Hifi-Unlimited to play with, in the form of SVS PC12-NSD(ported cylinder) and the PB12-NSD(ported box), both are the most afford able models on SVS product line up(until recently that is!). Being the sucker for something new, I opted to review the PC12-NSD, and let Odiosleuth have some fun with the other(his review of the SVS PB12-NSD sub was posted on this blog on 25th Nov 2012). It took a little while for me to write this because I was kinda busy at the time.


The 400Watt class D plate amp equipped with built in DSP.

When Max delivered the PC12-NSD to my door step, I was shocked by the size of the box, it was huge! Carrying the box from the transport in to my house was a two healthy men job. Upon un-boxing the sub, I marvelled at the build quality, which did not seem cheap at all. A knuckle rap at the sides of the cylinder showed the box to be not as dead as expected, but the whole she bang still feels solid enough for a few years of abuse. The cylinder is felt wrap at the sides and there's a raised platform to accommodate that 12 inch, down ward firing aluminium woofer cone. A single 4 inch up wards firring port is located at the top of the cylinder, covered by a removable steel mesh. The 400W rated class D plate amp with built in DSP is located at the side of the cylinder. The whole package looks intimidating indeed. I placed the SVS sub near the corner where my resident sub woofer has resided for years. All cables plugged in, Max proceeded to re-calibrate the Audessey EQ settings on my Denon AVR, ran a few test movies, and left when he was satisfied with the results. I took a further week or so to further refined the settings before I was happy enough to start doing proper evaluations.

The 12 inch woofer cone is down ward firing as shown here, the whole cylinder side wall is lined with felt material. The SVS badge also serves as a front facing indicator.

WOW! WOW! WOW! That's my first reaction once Max left me to my own devices. The sort of abyss deep, tidal wave flowing towards me kind of bass response is what I got, when it's decoded in to the 5.1 sound track of the movies. And the best movie to illustrate this point is Battleship, an alien invading earth classic story, with a bit of a naval tactic twist worked in to the plot, showing off those awesome destructive powers of those modern American navy destroyers. With lots of sea combat scenes, involving a sound track of deep bass to convey the flowing form of water in huge volumes, the SVS PC12-NSD conveys that energy flow with sheer realism, adding much excitement to the effects laden spectacular. Now, there's no need to mention about those explosion scenes involving those high powered weapons sling shot on to those American destroyers by those alien crafts, causing the whole ship to break up bow first then sinking. Also highlighting the capabilities of the SVS sub is that moment the grand ol' USS Missouri battleship opens up her main turret guns, with sheer fire power which is un-real.

The 4 inch port fires upwards, the metal mesh grille is remove able.

It took me a short while to fine tune the setting for the SVS sub woofer. Too high a level and the sub over whelms the main speakers, too high a low pass and the mid bass muddles the main and centre speakers. Then there's phase to dial in for seamless blending of the sub woofer in to the rest of the sound field, which a old adage still applies, subs must ultimately be felt more than heard, and great subs do just that when set up well. The SVS PC12-NSD has remarkable ability to fill my open family lounge space with full even depth bass that's highly believe able, from any position one is seated. Now the only area which I could mark down the PC12-NSD is bass impact, when compared to other conventional ported box designs, seemed a little lacking. There seems to be a slight softening of the projectile slam, followed by tailing low frequency echo of the tube of the USS Missouri battleship turret guns opening fire.

Battleship, one of the most anticipated action sci-fi movie this year. I have to credit Peter Berg, the Director for not making the aliens look like some sort of over sized "sotong"(squid) and have more human like features. What I didn't like was the idea that the highly advance space craft used by the aliens could only hop around in water and not glide over it more efficiently? By the way, Rihanna does O.K. too in her acting debut.



Battleship USS Missouri firing her main turret guns, it's quite remarkable that the grand ol' dame WWII veteran(and a few original crew too) could still start her engines and sail effortless with combat effectiveness intact! I know, it most probably CG working it's miracle here! 

Hang on, didn't I promised a sub war earlier on? I didn't forget of course. After Odiosleuth had his fun, the SVS PB12-NSD came to my place for a 2nd tour of duty. Max again came to set the sub up for me, and left it with me once his was satisfied with the performance. The PB12-NSD's box isn't as intimidating as the huge up right standing bass tube. It's got the same woofer cone, port design and DSP equipped plate amp. It's the same basic design building blocks with a different enclosure. The PB12-NSD is a conventional ported box design, and will have performance characteristics more in kind of a regular sub. Am I wrong to assume here?

As promised, an all out SVS sub war!

Again, the build quality is sensible for the price, rather than lavishly solid. I think the SVS subs will still give years of problem free enjoyment if cared for. The only thing I didn't quite like about the PB12-NSD is that heavy but flimsy semi circle design metal grille with four plastic stubs to grip and plug in to the sub cabinet. The weight of the metal grille eventually becomes too much for the four plastic stubs to hold on to, causing the grille off when those deep bass rumbles get too much to handle. No problems with that, A slight bending of the grille fixed the issue.

SVS PB12-NSD with grille removed.

With the same movie used as benchmark, I clearly felt the PB12-NSD didn't extend as low down as the PC12-NSD, and the bass distribution was less even across the family lounge. However, what PB12-NSD loses out, it more than claws back brownie points by being easier to integrate withe my Bose 301 Series II main speakers. Compared to the PC12-NSD, the ported box gave more lower mid bass details, like in scenes where the 50 calibre gun clocks and spits the spent casings as it fires. I guess the height of the up right standing bass tube design was blocking off, or it's felt lined body was absorbing some of the direct/reflect sounds of the Bose main speakers, where else the port box sits just below the main speakers. The PB12-NSD also has the edge when it comes to slam bang, where the same scene of the USS Missouri firing her main turret guns is concerned. I could clearly feel the impact as the projectile leaves the gun tube. With other high impact action Blu-rays disc, such as The Dark Knight(part of the Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy), the SVS PB12-NSD never failed to convey the darkness and hopelessness of life in Gotham City via the movie's sound track. The Batmobile vs armoured car chase scene has a mix of various powerful engine roar, road rumble, guns shooting and crashes all going at once, and the ported SVS box never fazed one bit. Best of all, there are still some trouser flapping experience(remnants of the PB13-Ultra) still available with the PB12-NSD, which was not so obvious with the PC12-NSD.

Note the same plate amp, same 12 inch aluminium cone driver too, but different box concept.

In a way I was kinda surprised that even though both subs performed well in most areas, there remains a priority of choice when it comes to certain sonic parameters, even for both subs that retails at RM$3,499.00/each. Does one favour deep, even spread, flowing bass performance? Or does on prefer an easier to set up sub woofer with more impact slam bang? I think that really depends a lot on system integration, matching, room acoustics, system tuning optimization and lastly one's sonic preference with practical considerations in mind.

The SVS PB12-NSD in it's current resting place. Note my old 10 inch Velodyne VX-10 sub woofer just hiding behind it. 

For me, the PC12-NSD in it's special up right standing tube design is at once it's attractiveness, and Achilles heel. In the context of my system, it couldn't sonically match the Bose 301 series II as seamlessly as the PB12-NSD. On the WAF(Wife Acceptance Factor) side of things, the PC12-NSD was just far too visible in my family lounge, because it stood just as tall as my main speakers on 24 inch stands. The PB12-NSD is in fact far more subtle in proportions(if similar in cubic box volume) and easier to blend in to the corner of my family lounge. Those were the main factors contributing to my choice to make the PB12-NSD my new sub reference for HT. I would've liked it to go just a few Hz lower, but I guess that will require the use of SVS PB12-Ultra perhaps? Max and SVS certainly doesn't think so. Max reckons the PB12 Ultra would overwhelm my main speakers, and SVS's Merlin service on their website, used to provide sub woofer matching services to one's main speaker. Merlin reckons the PB12-NSD is the perfect match for my Bose 301 series II speakers. After an extended review period spanning more than 6 weeks, I think I can agree with both Max and SVS Merlin's logic. Deal done!

SVS Sound products sold by Maxx Audio and appointed dealers nation wide, contact Max Loh at 017-6778820 for full details.

Super Supra. Supra High Speed HDMI With Ethernet Cable.

Supra High Speed HDMI With Ethernet cable.

Many folks(especially the tech brigade) are in the opinion that HDMI do not make an iota of difference when it comes to picture quality. As for sound quality, a plausible "maybe" is the usual answer. Hence when the good guys at A&L Audio Station ask me to review the latest range of Supra High Speed HDMI with Ethernet cable, I was thinking about the tough "job" ahead. I mean if I plug the cable and see/hear no difference, the cable would have to be returned, and no review will be written, i.e. time(a precious commodity now days) wasted. Thankfully, and rather unexpectedly, this is NOT the case.

The rather basic blister pack packaging, which means more value for performance.

The 2m length review sample of Supra HDMI cable came in basic blister pack and the item it self does not look very fancy either(which is good, because audiophiles have a misplaced impression that thick, heavy cables are best! Not the case with HDMI cables, because thick, heavy and stiff HDMI cables have been known to break at the termination point after some time, or worse still, rip out the HDMI jack from your display device, from repeated plug in/outs!). Hence light weight, shielded and nimble HDMI cables are best for the job of transmitting audio and visual signals. I proceeded to plug the Supra HDMI cable between my Pioneer BDP-140 Blu-ray player to my Denon AVR 1612 AV receiver.

This 1970 release is more historically accurate and balanced version of the events leading up to the attack of Pearl Harbour, which started the Pacific War. Comparing to the latest movie by Micheal Bay tittled Pearl Harbour simply, has more fictional elements in the plot, and ends with the success of 1942 Doolittle Tokyo raid, which is the start of the war tides turning towards America's favour in the Pacific Theater.

The opening scene of Tora! Tora! Tora! The re-mastering for Blu-ray release is worth another view for it's pristine restored picture quality. Colour tone is beautiful and accurate at once.

From the very first disc, the re-mastered for Blu-ray Tora! Tora! Tora! I was immediately blown away by the opening scene, as pictured above, where a boat load of Japanese Imperial Navy sailors, all parading in their white uniforms. I noticed that all their uniforms had varying shades of white(some yellowish, some grayish, some slightly bluish and some just plain whiter than others, just like in those laundry detergent advertisements!), from one sailor to another. As I had just finished the very same movie just a few hours ago with my regular reference cable, a Chord Super Shield HDMI in place. My memory of the movie is still fresh, therefore was surprised by the detail colour tone portrayal of the different levels of whiteness on the navy uniforms. Another scene from the very same movie that showcased the Supra's talents were the Zero fighters take off from aircraft carrier at dawn, en-route for the Pearl Harbour attack. Some of the early take off scenes were rather dark, and the dark coloured Zero fighters couldn't stand out from the deck of the carriers when viewing with the Chord cable. However, with the Supra HDMI, I could make out a whole lot of dark details of the Zero fighter, as it takes off from the carrier, including it's darker shadows beneath the wings, reflected from the deck.  Such is the Supra's prowess when handling dark image details.

So far, so good, I also noticed better depth portrayal in the scenes where planes are flying with the sky as it's back drop. Human flesh tone is entirely realistic, be it Negros, Caucasian or Asian types. Whilst I only used Tora! Tora! Tora! as a reference illustration, I noticed nearly the same detailed improvements on both ends of the grey scale linearity spectrum on every movie I watched. I found myself pulling out old movies after old movies, just to have a go on what was missing previously. I became an obsessive videophile, all because the Supra High Speed HDMI cable allowed me to do so easily. Again, even my family members who are not normally not too bothered about such things noticed so, that they asked me not to return the Supra cable, since it's relatively affordable, priced at RM$406.00/2M length.     

The insides of the Supra High Speed HDMI With Ethernet cable.

The Supra High Speed HDMI(ver 1.4) With Ethernet supports 3D pictures and resolutions up to 4k on specification. I am now enjoying my movie pictures more effortlessly, but what about the sound? I am happy to report that this HDMI cable likes to rock! With soundtracks that feature rock music, like those from The A-Team and Battleship, I not only enjoyed the picture, but the slamming sound quality as well. Bass seems to dive an octave deeper, and the sub-woofer seemingly working harder than usual to rumble my sofa too.  This is my new HDMI reference cable, and it's so..... good in performance yet affordable in price, that I am beginning to wonder if having the second Supra High Speed HDMI cable from the Denon AV receiver to my Samsung plasma display is gonna yield further picture quality gains? Stay tuned to find out as I request for a second sample to see if two is indeed better than one!

Supra is sold by A&L Audio Station, contact Yap(Wah Chai) at 03-79582884.

ISF Certified Calibration For Those Serious Videophiles.

For most of us when shopping for an AV display, be it Plasma, LCD, LED screens or projector system, in a typical electrical store environment, we'd instinctively go for the brightest set with highest contrast setting, due to it's razor sharp picture quality and dynamic contrast that delivers visual punch. I wish to clarify that if choosing display device in such a crude manner, we'd end up with a knock out(literally!), as the brightly contrasting screen, with razor sharp picture would prove fatiguing for longer term viewing, such as finishing a whole movie duration.

I'd highly recommend for those who owns big screens(55 inches or bigger) for AV pleasure dom to engage the services of an ISF certified technician to calibrate the display to ISF standards to achieve colour tone balance, gamma(input/output linearity), tint/hue, and grey scale contrast(from the blackest black to the whitest white) for accurate picture quality, just like audiophiles  aiming to reproduce music as accurately as possible with a flat frequency in room response measurement. Granted, some audiophiles will also argue that flat frequency response in it self is no panacea to great sound quality either. However in the context of video, that argument is dead in the water, as the calibrated results are there for all to see clearly, even to the most un-discerning folks, such as my wife and kids!

Before(top) and after(bottom) of  RGB colour tone balance calibration. Note the flat colour response output from all three colour generators, after calibration.

I recently had my Samsung PN64D700 plasma screen re-calibrated by an ISF certified technician. He brought along with him, tools of his trade, essential for getting the job right(don't let anyone tell you otherwise!). The tools include a tripod mounted photospectrometer(like the unit pictured below), linked to a laptop loaded with the necessary software(typically Calman, as pictured below in a printout of a job, NOT mine to be specific) to interpret the results of the scan. The job took more than 3 hours as the technician did the job in the following steps.

1) RGB colour axis locking, to ensure proper on screen registration between the three colour generators.
2) RGB colour tone balance, to ensure that all three colours outputs evenly across the spectrum.
3) Colour tint/hue adjustment, to ensure accurate flesh tones.
4) Grey scale contrast, to ensure the display is reproducing the blacks and whites in a step by step linearity scaling.

There are some fine tuning to further refine the setting such as setting the brightness levels of the screen back lighting to suit the room ambient light conditions.

A photospectrometer linked to a laptop loaded with a calibration software are essential kits that an ISF certified calibration technician should have to get the job done correctly.

The end result is stunning, with an even colour tone balance between RGB, I am experiencing natural and accurate colour reproduction. Flesh tones looked realistic, with faces looking neither too blue of red. Landscape scenes with lots of green is recreated with a wealth of details, never before seen or thought was there on the original Blu-ray source. Picture depth of field is reproduced with layers and layers of  details that increases the illusion of depth, even without the use of 3D(which happens to look fake and very etched). There is so much more details in dark scenes, which makes movies like Batman, The Dark Knight, that much more enlightening. Sitting thru an entire movie has never been more pleasurable. Like I said earlier, even the un-discerning noticed the improvements immediately.

A pre/post calibration report is usual supplied to prove the technical corrections done on one's display set.

I must admit to lack the technical depth to write more about the subject matter other than a short user experience, but here's a site link that will provide more details if one is interested to learn more about the technicalities of display calibration.

Go to http://www.displaycalibrationonline.com  

Special Promotion For Latest Panasonic Home Theater Projector, PT-AE8000.

• Full-HD / 3D

• 500,000:1 Contrast Ratio

• 2,400 ANSI Lumens

• Automatic lens memory selection for use with 2.35 screens

The Offer:-

Buy the AE8000 at Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of RM 14,999.

Free:-

1. 100” wide 2.35 format fixed screen from Screen Research worth RM 4,900.

2. 2 pairs 3D eyewear (TY-EW3D3MW).

3. ISF-standard video calibration using pro-grade Konica-Minolta CS200

chromameter.

4. Delivery and installation in KL/PJ.

NB:-

Offer Price do not include accessories; e.g. mounting brackets, cabling, etc.

Option to increase screen size by topping-up the price difference.

This offer valid for first 10 customers only.

Contact James, Tony of AV Designs at 03-21712828.

Power Wow Now! Supra LoRad 2.5 Power Cord.

The Supra Lorad 2.5 has a simple shielding scheme, utilising only a gold coated tin foil, wrapped around the conductor cores.

Just when you thought I had my fair share of power cord play, here's another one to consider! It's the Supra Lorad 2.5, available from A&L Audio Station as loose cuts from reel at RM$89/meter, which is very reasonably priced, considering the quality on offer. The chunky 13AWG, tin plated conductor core is shinny and rated to carry power loads of up to 16 amp, now that's more like a power cord for feeding power amps. The shielding method is rather simple, with only a gold coated tin foil wrap around the conductor cores, but if it's effective, then why not?

The Supra Lorad 2.5 power cord is directional, do take note when terminating.

I bought a meter of the Supra Lorad 2.5 home for trial(with hope that it works). Termination is much easier and faster due to it's simple internal design and layout. Like the Furutech FP-314AG power cord, I choose to use the same grades of China made generic gold plated IEC plugs on one end and the Indian made, BS standard, 13 amp fused MK Duraplug, the other end, again in the interest of keeping cost low. The termination work took less than 30 minutes. I then proceeded to plug the Supra Lorad 2.5 in between the wall socket and the Denon AVR-1612 surround receiver.

The finished cable.

From the very first movie, tittled Red Tails, the solid bass response tells me that I've found what I've been looking for. The Lucasfilm movie which script fictionalized around the all African American member squadron of Tuskegee Airman serving the USAF during the closing days of WWII, has plenty of heroic dogfights and combat tactical fighter vs bomber scenes between the USAF and Hitler's much feared Luftwaffe. The rumbling engines of the WWII bombers and fighters were weighty and there's enough low end grunt now to carry the big aircraft engine noises and loud dynamics of explosive scenes convincingly. I should mention that the CGI graphics on this movie is impressive too. I've never experienced any symptoms pointing to lack of power or the 5 x 120 watts rated Denon receiver running out of breath, at least not with the Supra Lorad 2.5 delivering the juices. All other aspects being equal, I couldn't detect other areas of performance improvements.

A comparison, Furutech FP-314AG(left) and Supra Lorad 2.5(light grey).

I do find the qualities of the Supra Lorad 2.5(when used to power AV receivers) rather complimentary to the Furutech FP-314AG(used to power front end, in my case the Pioneer BDP-140 Blu-ray player), when put together. The results of both these power cords in my AV system are highly commended for what is a small budget outlay, in the scheme of things.

Supra is sold at all A&L Audio Station outlets, contact Yap(Wah Chai) at 03-79582884.