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.

A Thinking Audiophile's Tweak? Harmonix RF-900 Tunning Spike Base.

A set of 4 pcs Harmonix RF-900 Tuning Spike Base.

Any experienced audiophile worth his salt would agree that any thing you put below your hifi equipment will have an effect on it's sound, some more so then others. It's called isolation.

Harmonix offers many options for isolation tweaks, the RF-900 Tuning Spike Base is one the more economical models. It's designed to be placed under one's pair of speaker spikes. It serves dual purpose in this instance. First, it prevents your speaker spikes from ruining your beautiful floor surface, second it tweaks the sound of your system.
Nice packaging!

A set of four Harmonix RF-900 TSB as pictured above will set you back RM$800, that means you'll need to spend double that to cover a pair of speakers. The tuning spike bases are actually very well made and finished from alloy. It weighs substantially more against the regular grade of spike bases. The bottom of the TSB is lined with a layer of felt material, which allows one to easily pull or push the speakers about, if sitting on top of the Harmonix.
The RF-900 in the back ground VS Clearaudio supplied TSB.

The RF-900 in fore ground VS generic brass TSB.

I used the Harmonix RF-900 below my pair of PMC Fact 8 speakers, replacing the generic brass made ones that I bought from Am Corp Mall. For the duration of the review, my hifi system set up remained unchanged. I felt with the Harmonix spike bases brought about some subtle changes to the sound of my system.

First up, the sound of my system was already leaning towards the darker side of the tonal palette. Adding the Harmonix in to the mix made the darkness even more readily apparent. I thought the sound took on a slightly warmer tonal balance yet still maintaining it's transparency factor, which I so prize. Imaging outlines appeared softer and more organic than usual. The Harmonix did not change any other sound properties in my system.
The PMC Fact 8 speakers resting on generic TSB set.

Does the Harmonix work with other hifi equipments too? You bet! I had the Clearaudio Solution turn table with me at the time, and it had 3 spikes resting on Clearaudio provided bases. I replaced them with the Harmonix TSB and found an interesting change in sound too. The Clearaudio had highly extended and exacting high frequency characteristics, with an neutrally open, uncoloured mids. I found the Clearaudio turn table gave a richer if softer and more organic sound with the Harmonix. The whitish haze in the noise floor drop too, making an already quiet Clearaudio, dead quiet! Now, this would not be notice able without a direct A/B comparison. I played this trick on to 3 unsuspecting visitors and they all shared my findings with amazement.
The PMC Fact 8 speakers resting on Harmonix RF-900 TSB set.

Like all tweaks, there's always a win some, lose some result. I've yet to find a tweak that wins on all counts! The Harmonix RF-900 is no different. While I found my self enjoying more audiophile technical parameters in the sound performance, over time I also taught my system to start sounding a little less musical too. The result is a less emotionally engaging listening session, despite the hifi pyrotechnics. I know musicality means different things to different people, and the one inexplicable trait that bothered me may actually not be felt by others. My advise in such a case is to try it out for your self, in the context of your own system. Your mileage or experiences may vary.
Nice shoes!

I guess here's a tweak that appeals to the thinking audiophile's sonic needs. Or perhaps you're an emotional audiophile? Go ahead, try it out and see which camp you belong to!

Harmonix is sold by Nova Hifi, contact MK Lai at 019-2226129.

More Mad, Matte World! Harmonix TU-800EX LP Matte.

The neat white box packaging of the Harmonix TU-800EX, so favoured by the Japanese.

Having heard that I just got a Linn LP12 turn table recently, MK of Nova Hifi said "boy, have I got the best accessory for your LP12!", and before I knew it, here it was, spinning on my turn table for a review.

The Harmonix TU-800EX LP matte sample under review is apparently an improved version. I can't tell though, what exactly has been improved upon the earlier version. This Harmonix LP matte has been developed specifically to improve the sound of any turn table with a metal based platter, so not only the Linn LP12 applies specifically here! The Harmonix matte seems to be made of an embossed layer of black card board like material on the top surface, laminated to a layer of asbestos like material on the back.
Dual layer laminated construction. Embossed black card board like material on top surface and asbestos like material for the bottom.

With the Harmonix matte replacing my resident generic cork material matte, I had the VTA of the tone arm re-adjusted to suit the new matte which is a little thinner, to even out any effect of sonic changes due to the VTA factor. The cartridge used remain by default my resident Benz Micro Glider L2 and phono stage is my Pass Labs X-Ono. Phono stage to pre amp cabling is my usual Audioquest Colorado 72V dbs XLR inter connects.

Upon the first note hitting the groove, it was like as if I had up graded to a new higher end cartridge!, only that I didn't. I felt the subjectively soft bass of the Linn was much tightened and firmed, plus further extended lower. The mids whilst remain much the same, had a slight presence boost, as if the vocals are standing a few feet directly in front of me, in the room. I also found the vocal focus of the mouth, much improved, and one can hear in to much more mouth, lips, tongue and teeth movement! It's an organism festival for those whom are fetish about this kind of audio porn. I also heard more air and better extended highs. High hats and cymbals have a realistic shimmering quality to them.

It was when playing Sonny Rollins, Way Out West LP, for once I could truly hear in to that warm burnish tone of his saxophone, his finger work and the detailed opening and closing of the valves on the wind pipe of the instrument. All this never quite heard so easily before. I also felt the drum kit conveyed a little more energy to the sound. It's like as if Shelly Manne, the drummer just had a Sneakers bar prior to playing the tune.
Way Out West is quite probably Sonny Rollins most accessible work. Recorded in dual mono, with saxophone of the left, drum kit and double bass on the right, with nothing in the center, that result is very realistic trio Jazz performers in your hifi room. Also note that each side is recorded on one take! They don't record performances this way anymore. This recording is best heard on a well set up LP playback system!

I also thought that with the Harmonix matte, the sound stage depth and layering were more easily discerned than before. Each vocal and musical instrument had it's own place, in time and space. However, I also found a slight compression to the sound stage width, which have been reduced to only the space within the outer limits of the pair of stereo speakers, compared to a sound stage extended way beyond the room's boundaries previously.

LP's surface noise also seemed to have been reduced slightly. What the Harmonix matte does so well, is to enhance much of the lower level, finer details that doesn't quite surface as easily out of the LP's grooves. Though I did not try on other turn tables set up to get a second system's opinion, MK tells me that non of his customers had ever returned the Harmonix TU-800EX to him upon trial, despite the rather extravagant retail price of RM$1,300.00 each! That means the product so far has achieved 100% successful trial penetration rate?
The Harmonix TU-800EX sitting pretty on my Linn LP12. They are excellent partners too!

Do you have a metal based platter for your turn table? Do you value the low level, finer detail retrieval quality in your LP play back system? If your answer is yes to both questions, then I'll suggest that you head to Nova Hifi and ask for a trial. I will however, leave the subjective question of product value vs sonic rewards, to your own judgement.

Harmonix audio accessories and cables is sold by Nova Hifi, contact MK, tel: 019-2226129