Best Of 2012!

Odiosleuth did his countdown of the best gears of 2012 last month. Here's my belated list, due to high work load, poor health and the need to finish all the reviews before I write this. Un-like the previous years, we didn't quite get an optimum mix of equipments in all categories to list a top 3 followed by other notable mentions in each particular class, be it digital or analog source, amplifiers, or speakers. We did, however got an overload or cables to write about. You know what they say about the hifi industry, when the going gets though, sell 'em more cables!

So this year, I'd just list down 10 of my most memorable hifi experiences, followed with a few notable mentions, which though some not officially reviewed or previewed in this pages, we have strong reasons to believe that they are of notable sound quality and product of substance, worthy of your time to further investigate, should you be shopping in those categories.

Here goes, THE BEST OF 2012!

Eggleston Works Ivy Signature.

The Eggleston Works Ivy Signature speakers are now on demo in Centre Circle Audio. To me these are almost the perfect big boy speakers that can be had in an imperfect world. Beauty, brain and brawn, the Ivy Signature has it all. Bass, bass, bass, the Ivy's got plenty of it, tight, accurate, and with no overhang. The highs have the best of silk dome smooth qualities in the air too. The mid range fully fleshed out vocals, with plenty of presence and bite. It's got some of the best bang slamming dynamics in the business, yet able to handle the small things, such as truth of timbre, harmonic texture, tonal colour with aplomb. The Ivy is also one of the most transparent speakers out there today, exposing recording flaws and imperfect musical performances as they are only meant to be, yet the Ivy take no hostages, and you never have to pay the price of exposed imperfections. It just gives the whole essence of listening to music that much more value. It's a do it all speaker with potential stunning performance, but they do demand the best front end components and all else connected before it to give their all. Priced On Application only. Consider this as the preview that qualifies it being here too.

dCS Puccini CD/SACD player

The dCS Puccini charmed it's way in to our hearts and mind, not quite the way we remembered it to be. I always thought dCS had a house sound that is full of details and resolution, but can be musically underwhelming. That is until the kind folks at A&L Audio Station had us putting the Puccini thru it's paces right in the comfort of our own homes. The dCS had details in spades for sure, but within those details, also lie the musical intent and emotional content of the playback performance. One can put the "entry" level dCS with the SOTA likes of TAD-D600 or the Wadia 9 Series stack of components we rated so highly last year, in the same ring on a three corner fight, and the Puccini won't disgrace it self, even if the odds of winning are stacked against it. It kinda reminds me of the Jaguar automobile motto not too long ago, it's got Pace, Grace and Space!

Skogrand SC Air Markarian 421 cables

Another memorable product experienced recently is the Skogrand SC Air Markarian 421 cables. It's a SOTA cable that not only lives up to it's name by price, but actually matched by performance too. Some say they heard god speak to them when listening to their hifi with this cable, others that have not experienced the connection, but still nothing short of audio nirvana if such a place existed?

Can't afford the Skogrand but want a taste of today's SOTA cable performance? For a smaller outlay, one can consider the Wywires Gold range, which gives a Skogrand like musical experience, but the only difference being, the Wywires does not quite have the fully developed mid range density of the more expensive cable, all other performance parameters being near equal.

Wywires till too expensive? Fret not, the latest Taralabs range of budget cable, namely TL-2/14 speaker cable. The sound is very much in mould of Skogrand and Wywires, except that it lacks the bandwidth and transparency of the two, but not the bass slam! Highly recommended!

All the above three cables share the same sonic DNA's and in some way or another, they might as well be cousins from the same family tree just a few generations ago. The only difference is rich relative, middle class uncle, or poor cousin just starting out in life.

SVS PC12-NSD vs PB12-NSD sub woofers

When it come to low, low bass, can't go wrong with SVS Sound. Be it the trouser flapping experience of the top woof PB13-Ultra, or the entry level PB12-NSD. For the budget conscious AV enthusiast who still cares about the slamming "low down" experience, there's not much in the market that can compete with the PB12-NSD.

Aesthetix Calypso pre amp

I love tube pre amps for their beauty in tonal colour. The Aesthetix Calypso comes as fine as tube pre-amps do. They play in the same sonic levels of ARC LS-26(now 27!), yet beats the LS-26 with much more pronounced dynamic contrast and burst of musical transients. For those who love the convenience of having phono stage and pre amp all in one box, there's the Janus(twin of the Calypso) to consider. And finally, Aesthetix offers greater value for performance ratio too, brand power aside. Odiosleuth highlighted why he was impressed with the Aesthetix Atlas 200W hybrid power amp, and I share his enthusiasm, plus what a fine pre/power combo the Calypso/Atlas would make.

Rega Apollo R CD player and Brio R integrated amp

It's hard to ignore the shoe box sized Rega R series components, as musical reproduction, NOT hifi goes! They're god sent to those starting their journey on hifi, or some one coming down to earth from the orbit of upgrade stars. Also perfect as a second system that doesn't take up much space. However, it's the Rega Apollo R that deserves most of the accolades as it will not make a fool of it self, even when inserted in to a system costing many times it's own price! If you believe in the almighty, the Rega R series component's only sins are of the omission kind.

KE blade speakers

The KEF Blade is a technological tour de force show case for the company's 50th Anniversary in business. It's a speaker with designer elements and high WAF(Wife Acceptance Factor), yet sounds like an audiophile's pair of dream speakers. By today's crazy high end speaker prices, the KEF actually seems like a pretty realistic buy too. It's only weakness? Bass doesn't quite go as low, nor as hard as some American speakers.

IsoTek EVO3 Polaris PLC

I think this IsoTek EVO3 Polaris is the finest effort ever by the company, yet it's asking price is not astronomical either. It's honest to goodness British way of doing business which will endear them to the market for a long, long time to come! I am still thinking about it, now that it's gone, if that's any indicator of how good it was. Most times, you'll only miss a good thing after it's long gone.

YG Carmel speakers

The YG Carmel is perhaps the company's most captivating speaker in it's line up. I would consider it to be a serious rival to Magico's V3 speakers in every way. It's the exquisite small speaker for modern quarters(i.e. small rooms) given today's sky rocketing real estate prices, many well heeled folks have less space for hifi. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and may some day aspire to have them as my permanent daily reference too!

TAD CR-1 speakers

The TAD CR-1 is certainly one the best, if not THE BEST, small high end mini monitor ever. Need I say more? I congratulate Odiosleuth for his fine speaker choice, but now, herein lies the problem, the CR-1s are so revealing, that it's exposing all the short comings fo the poor guy's front end components, be it, even if they are already mighty good to start with. Here's to another round of up grade orbit, buddy. Ha! Ha!

OTHER NOTABLE MENTIONS:

Pioneer BDP-450 Blu-Ray player

The Pioneer BDP-450 is an excellent Blu-ray player, especially in 3D mode, no doubt about it. What surprised me however, is that it makes a mighty impressive CD/SACD transport too, accessed via it's co-axial audio output, for connection to an external DAC. It's built like a high end audiophile CD player too, with rigid all aluminium and steel casing, equipped with weighty proper metal feet, not make believe plastic feet. The transport drawer action is smooth like a high end CD player too! Sound is detailed, smooth, coherent, noise/jitter free, and most of all, musical rhythmic flow, accompanied by big-big sound stage, deep and wide.

Wilson Audio XLF speakers

No, I didn't hear Wilson Audio XLF speakers yet, there's only one pair in Malaysia now. My sources are based upon people(whose ears I trust) who have heard them in action, and they rated the mighty Wilson  as the BEST speakers they've ever heard(and these are true blood high enders who have listened to nearly all the top hifi systems in the region), period! I wish to congratulate the proud owner fo the Wilson Audio XLF, you know who you are!

New B&W 802D speakers

I was never in love with any of the previous incarnations of the B&W 800 D series speakers, despite their high tech diamond tweeter and kevlar mid bass driver calling card with 1st order x-over topology for the smoothest hand over frequency point. They were very good on the hifi performance parameter, but they always struck me as being rather business like in their musical presentation. If diamonds are a girls best friend, then some degree of musical beauty is to be expected, and in it's latest form, the B&W 802D actually delivers them in spades. Looks like they'll be around for a little while more!

ASI Super Tango speakers

These Frank Tchang designed Super Tango speakers are nothing like you've ever heard in high end dom! They will never be another pair of speakers that sound like the Super Tango. They are definitely not shy and rockers will love their explosive dynamics with gutsy and big hearted musical delivery. Viva la de France! They an enigma, if they ever was one.

Marten Design Django speakers

Marten Design Django XL is a scaled down version of the Getz, but with beefier bass, tuned for American taste. All the sonic goodies offered by the Getz are there with little down side, at only half the price! Marten Design just launched the Django L, which is a smaller brother, trickle down technology have never meant better than this!

Well folks, that's the end of our adventures in HiFi-Unlimited. Stay tune for some last words before we call it a day.

Event Report, Franck Tchang Demo At CMY Audio Visual.

Franck Tchang pitching his unique flag ship Super Tango loudspeakers to the audience.

Franck's the name, and fun's the game! That's what one can expect when attending an Acoustic System International demo, by Franck Tchang. Two week ends ago, CMY Audio & Visual hosted such an event at their Damansara Uptown showroom.

Franck was in town to promote some of his latest products, and the one and only pair of flag ship Super Tango loudspeakers on this part of the world. "I only made three pairs of these, no more! There's a pair in my home, another pair in Europe somewhere, and this pair you see here. However, the more common Tango speakers will continue to be manufactured as per order basis", he said.

The demo system system is use featured Metronome CD player, Prima Luna pre & power amps and Franck Tchang's Super Tango loudspeakers plus ASI cabling.

Some of the audience in the listening session.

Next, Franck was promoting his new product, namely an Acoustic Phase Corrector! It looked just like that block of wood used to held up his acoustic resonator cups, but Franck says the design is different as it was designed to do a different job! Franck reckons there's 3 types of phase one should take care of when setting an high end audio system, one is the electrical supply phase(to which Franck admitted being most important), two is the recording phase(such as those highly prized Decca classical recordings for example, which is why he absolutely recommends having a pre-amp with phase inverting switch) and lastly, the room phase(which is a result of speaker to room interaction, which can result in unfavourable sonic results).

With the first two phase issues tackled, the final hurdle remains, and that's where his Acoustic Phase Corrector comes in to play. As usual his demo is highly convincing as in one can really hear the difference as he plays around with his Resonator Cups and Phase Correctors, working in unison with his Sugar Cubes. All are Franck's take on non invasive method of room acoustic treatment, compared against common solutions, which can be bulky and unsightly(resulting in poor Wife Acceptance Factor!).

Franck Tchang's latest innovation, the Acoustic Phase Corrector. The front face, seen here with the blue dot points to positive phase, and if one should turn it around, will result in negative phase. Easy as that! Franck recommends the use of four Phase Corrector in a hifi room.

A short Q&A session with the audience ensured from then on and that's when Franck puts on his charm offensive! I'll leave you with some of the more memorable pictures of the session.

"What? Me crazy? Maybe just a little!"



"What do you mean you don't believe? You can't hear the difference?"

CMY Invites! Franck Tchang Returns.

Franck Tchang Returns to Malaysia, again. 

You can tell that Franck Tchang loves coming to Malaysia, his favorite audiophile market. CMY Audio & Visual invites you to share the experience of music listening with acoustic treatment, a presentation by Franck Tchang, founder of ASI and designer of the controversial acoustic resonators, amongst other audio related products.

John Yew, CMY boss, tells me that Franck has some new and interesting items on demo. Refreshments and light snacks will be served.

The presentation and demo session will be held from 3pm, Sunday, 4th November 2012, at the CMY Audio & Visual Damansara Uptown showroom, located at 32, Jalan SS21/58, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya. 

For R.S.V.P. please call Chan at 03-77272419 or 012-2873551, as seats are limited.  

Magic, O!

We gathered that our local Magico dealer, Audio Image, had delivered a few pairs of Magico Q3 and Q5 so far. We were very interested to listen to a Magico Q3 or Q5 based system, and as luck would have it, we received an invitation from a new Q5 owner, whom we shall refer to as ST, to have a listen to his system. What a pleasant surprise! It is not common that a highend audiophile opens his door to strangers like us, so we are very grateful for ST's generosity.

And so it was, a few of us descended on ST's bungalow on a Saturday afternoon. After the introduction, we were promptly led up a few flights of stairs into his listening room. ST appreciates the finer things in life, he told us that in addition to excellent sound quality, he also wanted his hifi system and his hifi room to look good, as after a long hard day, when he comes into the room to wind down and relax, he wants to enjoy not just glorious music but also beautiful sight, as such the equipment and the room deco must be pleasant too. Well, after my time in ST's listening room, I am certain he has achieved what he wanted on both counts - hifi and eye-fi.

I'll let this series of photos do the talking:

The system view.
Due to the number of equipment in the system, ST has positioned them in two layers. The front layer, which you can see in this shot, consists of the frontends and pre-amp. The second layer behind, hidden from view, consists of the monoblocks and power conditioner.
The room was designed and constructed by Centre Circle Audio. It has a nice and warm ambiance. It is acoustically treated with wood panels and Auralex's acoustic treatment material, both nicely incorporated into the design itself. In the photo above, the wood panel behind the loudspeakers with its uneven surface acts as a nice acoustic diffuser. Auralex bass traps are installed at the corners, together with Auralex sound absorbing foams at the sides of the loudspeakers (the burgundy coloured material).

A wood panel acting as diffuser is installed on the ceiling. If you look closer, you'd notice that each square in the panel has different depth, following the quadratic residue sequence approach used in many sound diffuser products.

The digital frontend is a Simaudio MOON Andromeda top loading CD player with separate power supply (not shown)

The analog frontend is a Clearaudio Innovation turntable...

...with a Clearaudio Universal tonearm and a Transfiguration Orpheus MC cartridge...
...and Simaudio MOON 310LP Phono Amp & 320S Power Supply
The pre-amp is the 2-piece Simaudio MOON 850P, the top dog in Simaudio's line-up

The monoblocks are the best that Simaudio offers - the MOON 880M, which give out 800w per channel into 8ohm, double into 4ohm.
Doing powerline conditioning and protection duty is a Shunyata Triton, seen above at the centre of the shot, flanked by the 2 monoblocks.
At the end of the chain is the majestic Magico Q5, 176kg/387lbs of aluminium chassis and more

To match his top notch equipment, ST does not skimp on cables. He uses mainly JPS Aluminata. Seen here are the Aluminata powercord, interconnect and speaker cable which go in and out of the Simaudio MOON 880M monoblock.
Other than JPS Aluminata, there are a couple of Shunyata powercords, the Python Helix and Anaconda Helix, which you can spot in the monoblock-powerline conditioner photo before (the ones with green and red plugs)
The JPS Aluminata speaker cable that goes into the Magico Q5

ST also uses hifi accessories to fine tune the sound. Here we see the Harmonix Tuning Spike Base under the Magico Q5. In fact, ST is so big with Harmonix Tuning Spike Base that he has 12 sets in his system, installed under almost every piece of his equipment

ASI's resonators are used to tweak the acoustic property of the room. This one is placed at the top corners of the room

More resonators from ASI. These are installed at the centre of the front wall

The more eagle-eyed among you would notice that ST prefers to stick to the same brands for his equipment - almost all his electronics are from Simaudio, and almost all his cables are from JPS. He told us that he preferred such an approach because he could be confident that there would be no mismatch issue with equipment coming from the same brand. I cannot fault such a philosophy, it will indeed take away much guesswork when putting together a system.

After just a short listening, I loved the tonal beauty of this system already, which I recognized as a beguiling quality common to the Magico line. I heard the same beautiful tonal colour from other Magico models, such as the V2 and V3, in the local dealer's showroom too. Just that the Magico Q5 in this system conveyed this quality more clearly and more prominently than the dealer's system. The system also sounded dynamic, fast and detailed. Both ends of the frequency spectrum were very extended. Bass featured prominently in the mix, it brought much exceitement to the listening experience though it could be just a bit overwhelming at times. The overall sound was not the thin and analytical kind, instead it had excellent body, a nice bloom and sounding simply musical. The sound was also non-fatiguing for long hours of listening.

Listening to this system is a joy. ST, thank you for your hospitality, we had a truly memorable weekend.

Wow! Wow! ASI AES/EBU XLR Digital Cable & Power Cord.

Guess how this posting's title came about? John(CMY Audio & Visual boss) was telling me if I liked the 75ohm RCA ASI digital cable(which I wrote about sometime ago), wait till I plug in the XLR version, "you'd go Wow!" he said. He continued that if I proceeded by adding ASI's power cord, that I'd go Wow! again. He further added that for one to completely benefit from ASI cables, the full cable loom is the way to go.

I brought the 110 ohm XLR digital cable and a pair of ASI power cords home to power my Bryston BDP/BDA-1 combo for this review. the ASI cables dressed in blue/black breaded sleeve are rather thin and feels some what stiff, but nevertheless, well built. I've been told not to bend them too tightly, for they might snap! The XLR digital cable are terminated with standard Neutrik male/female connectors on both ends, while the power cord is terminated with male/female Yarbo IEC sockets.

110 ohm AES/EBU XLR digital cable, in it's wooden box and certificate.

I first plug the XLR digital cable in between the Bryston BDP-1 media player and BDA-1 DAC. I recalled it had all the same qualities of co-axial version version but takes them a few notches up. I reported a very fast transient response and dynamic sounding cable, accompanied by a warm, rich and smooth top end with quiet back grounds, in my original encounter with RCA version. The XLR version of the ASI digital cable was even faster, harder and deeper in bass and dynamic penetration(does this sound a bit like porno promo here? Ha! Ha!)  The XLR version is quieter too in the musical back grounds, which allowed for easier to discern of finer details within the musical mix. I found the highs retained their warm, rich, smoothness, yet added a bit of sparkly sheen and crispness to sizzling high hats and cymbals. This cable starts and stops like a speedy Gonzales. It's exciting and "live like" as in concert energy wise. Wow! indeed.

ASI power cord, in it's box and certificate.

A few days later, I proceeded to add the pair of ASI power cords in to the mix, replacing my usual AOR Reference 003 to power my Bryston digital combo. Here, the power cords added a dimensional aspect of time and space to the equation. The ASI combo reminded me again of the JPS Aluminata digital cable, which is my reference to date. The staging and imaging factor now feels more complete and realistic with elbow room for each musician and "air" around the instrument, while maintaining the tight, exciting rhytmic flow.  One of the most highly entertaining cable combos I've tried to date. Wow! Again.

Prices for the ASI cables are as follows:

1 meter AES/EBU XLR digital cable = RM$2,350/pc.
1.8 meter power cord                        = RM$4,230/pc.

ASI is sold by CMY Audio & Viusal, contact John Yew at 03-21439206.

Best Cables 2011.

Cables remain controversial within audiophile community, because many are in the opinion that moneyed monkeys spend silly money on cables, while there are many in the high end community who are convinced that cables are just as important as any other equipment in the hifi chain.

We are pretty satisfied with the cables we had in hand, except for my search to obtain the best digital cable that I could practically afford. Hence the list below reflects my personal "best" choice rather than the ultimate.

I am a big fan only the JPS Aluminata range, this co-axial digital interconnect didn't disappoint.

JPS Aluminata Digital.

This was the first cable I tested during my search for a suitable digital cable, and has since remained my benchmark for other cables to emulate. Stunning transparency and zero noise floor results in digital music coming alive and breathing in my man cave. Every little detail and harmonic texture of each musical instrument, voice and emotional content is transferred wholesale to the next equipment in the hifi chain. Staging and imaging is life like, as if "I am breathing the same air with the musicians"(borrowed this from a good, good friend) experience! Possibly one of the best sounding digital cable money can buy today.

Wireworld Starlight Platinum is a top contender in the digital cable stakes.

Wireworld Starlight Platinum Digital.

This Wireworld equals the performance of the JPS Aluminata in so many ways, that it's hard to favour one over the other. However the Starlight Platinum out does the JPS in the bass department. I found the meatier bass quality highly enjoyable, only because it was just as articulate with a propulsive nature. It's only in the highs where the JPS sounds more open and extended, compared to the darker top end of the Starlight Platinum. It's a though choice between this two alpha cables and I know more than a few people who made this digital cable their reference, but for me it's the JPS Aluminata, if only by just a hair. It's that close a call!


Entreq Discover offers well rounded sound quality without silly prices. 


Entreq Discover Power Cord.

Entreq is a new brand represented by Swedish Statement. I had the chance to try out their Absolute Reference power cord, but ended up liking this cheaper Discover model instead. The Discover offers honest build quality for the price and more importantly, balanced, if a slightly immediate sonic character to suit a vast variety of high performance systems. It's not exactly cheap, but still offers excellent value.

VooDoo Reference Digital, my current reference.

 VooDoo Digital Reference.

VooDoo cables offers excellent price to performance ratio across the range. They may not be the best, but they certainly come very close in terms of sound quality, for a fraction of the asking prices compared to those snooty alpha cables. The VooDoo Digital Reference is lightly built, but will certainly be lasting with gentle handling. It's my starter cable while aspiring to something better in the future. 

Here are a few other cables that impressed me in 2011.

1) Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 6 Interconect
2) ASI Liveline Digital Co-axial
3) Supra DAC XLR Gold Digital
4) AOR Reference For Torus Power
5) MIT Shotgun MA Speaker Cables

Le' Super Tango, Now On Demo. Only At CMY Audio & Visual, Damansara Up Town!

The Super Tango demo system at CMY Audio & Visual Up Town.

Franck Tchang's top flight speaker design, aptly called the "Super Tango" is now on demo, only at CMY Audio & Visual, Damansara Up Town showroom. I first spotted this speaker idle at the said showroom nearly 3 month's ago, but Chan, the showroom Manager told me that it had just arrived and they needed time to break in the pair of speakers before allowing them to be demo-ed. My dear readers, demo time is now!


Frnck Tchang's Super Tango speaker design has built in resonance control cups of various precious metal hidden inside the hull shaped box, said to be heavily braced for rigidity. Only one pair of these fine speakers has been allocated for Malaysia. Priced On Application Only.



The footers, more of Franck Tchang's secret tuning to achieve good sound!

 

The rear firing bass port and speaker binding post. The funny thing is that this speaker can be positioned close to rear walls and yet does not seemed to excite room modes.



I had a listening session of the Super Tango speakers with the following components that maketh a system. Soured by a 2 piece T2i Signature Metronome Technologie CD player, pre amp by JRDG Criterion and 301 mono block power amps. Cables are mix of Shunyata, Siltech and Franck Tchang's Liveline range.

This is a very special speaker, marked by it's energetic performance, which clearly mimics the transient response and dynamics of a "live" musical performance. Surround cues and location ambiance mood are faithfully reproduced, especially with "live" recordings, sounding life like and "you are there" sensation. When well set up, this is a speaker for sound staging and imaging freaks.

The Super Tango is also as transparent and as wide band width as modern speaker designs come. The combination of highly extended high frequency and super tight, deep bass never gives a dull moment. I enjoyed my tango with this pair of speakers. One could learn a thing or two about Tango too!

Just call Chan at 012-2873551 for a demo appointment.

Listening at CMY

One purpose of my visit to CMY's showroom in 1 Utama (you can get a tour of the place here) a couple of weeks ago was to have a listen to its main system.

This system was a scaled-down version of the big system CMY demo'ed in this year's KLIAV show (see here). All the main components came from the same brands as the KLIAV system - Wadia, Jeff Rowland, Dynaudio, except that they were one model below the ones in the KLIAV system.

Doing the frontend duty was Wadia's 571 CD transport (RM 33,680) and 521 Decoding Computer (i.e., a DAC) (RM29,500). Note also the very new Shunyata Hydra Triton power line conditioner (RM20,590) on the bottom shelf.

Amplification was Jeff Rowland's Corus pre-amp (RM54,550), which has won praises from us when we had it for review here a few months ago, and Jeff Rowland's Model 312 power amp (RM68,850), which could give out 500w per channel into 8 ohms, double into 4 ohms.

The loudspeakers were the Dynaudio Confidence C4 (RM90,550), its handsome look very much a follow-on from the awesome Dynaudio Evidence Temptation used in the KLIAV show. When we entered the demo room, our gaze was immediately attracted by the slim and tall profile. Standing at 175cm (5'9"), the Confidence C4 was as tall as an adult. The elegant glossy veneer on this pair was a special finish, we were told, and came with extra cost.

The Dynaudio Confidence C4 looked majestic, my photos don't do them justice. You have to see them in person to understand the visual impact they can have on you.

Being the local distributor for Acoustic System International (ASI), CMY also used ASI's resonator products in its listening room. Here you can see ASI's tuning wood blocks (called SugarCubes) and resonator cup installed on the front wall.

The back of the system, as expected, was full of cables. There were a mixture of Siltech, Shunyata and ASI. First glance gave the impression that it was all a spaghetti soup. But if you were to look again, you'd notice that the cables were nicely dressed. They were kept away from each other, never touching; and where close proximity was unavoidable, they were separated with Shunyata Dark Field Minis. All cables were also lifted off the ground with Shunyata Dark Field cable lifters.

The performance of this system echoed the immaculate care that went into its setup. It was one of the better dealer demo's I had the good fortune to sit through. Given the more conducive listening environment compared to the KLIAV show, this system indeed sounded better, except in term of scale, the bigger system did sound even bigger.

As I am not personally familiar with every component in the system, much less the room, I'd attempt to describe the sound from the system as a whole, instead of dissecting the sound of each piece of equipment.

As expected, the sound from this big system was, well, big. The system conveyed an excellent sense of scale, with a cavernous soundstage conjured up in front of the listener, perfectly formed just behind the loudspeakers. Width, height, depth were all very good. Listening to Nils Lofgren's 'Acoustic Live' CD could get us to believe the illusion that we were sitting in front of the stage, listening to the performance together with the live audience.

This is a very transparent system. Nothing in the music escaped its analytical capability. The music threads were cleanly delineated and clearly portrayed, never blurred. The listener could choose to zoom into any part of the performance and follow it through. The good thing was that the musical details were not thrown in your face, the system never degenerated into aggression like it was force feeding you the information. I did not feel pressured or fatigued listening to it, a good sign of a system that would allow long term listening enjoyment.


To use an analogy, I'd say the system cruised along just like a big Merc, no matter what we played with it. It certainty had the poise and composure as experienced in the big sedan. Nothing could unfaze it. This system will not go 'crazy', sound frenetic or worse, falling apart with any music. If anything, I felt that just the very last ounce of emotion in the music was not fully released perhaps, as the system always maintain a grip throughout the proceedings.

A further highlight of this system was its dynamic expression, both macro and micro. It scaled the entire dynamic range with ease and without compression, even when the goings got tough. This was amply demo'ed with some Chinese orchestral music that CMY's Steve played for us. The sound appropriately 'exploded' when the big crescendos came, while at the quieter passages, the sound was kept bouncy and lively. There wasn't one dull moment.

The high-mid-low of the system was all of very high quality. Bass was punchy and well defined, the mid was rich and clear, and the high was grainless and nicely extended. They were well balanced and and well integrated together. Probably a sign of the quality of the drivers used in the Dynaudio.

This big system is an excellent example of what a modern, high end system could achieve. If you visit CMY 1 Utama, make a point to listen to it.

Contact Steve, CMY 1 Utama, 03-77266893 / 012-6535703.