Hifi, what kind of genre are you.

A great hifi, must come with great music, if not there wont be a purpose of the hifi, I cannot categorize myself as a serious listener, because of my habit of listening to all sorts of kinds of genre
Serious listeners are, turn off lights while listening, listen to certain kind of tracks or songs to pint point problems and performance of a system. And keep listening to the same old track till they can sing the songs backwards


Unfortunately i can sometimes listen seriously but never for long hours, i used to be a serious listener, but i got tired along the way. I got lost and tired. So i turn myself into a listener but must have the basics of great reproduction. The system must reproduce the sound which it was intended to by the musician and the recording engineer. As i had stop serious hifi for a while i went for some live performance, whether classical or live band, jazz music, club music, my friend, David told me, what hifi.... this is hifi and it is live playing right infront of you. It was a pub with a live band, IT struck my mind, well hmmm, what he say is true, Live music is live, no one talks about staging how far the singer from you, where is drum the guitar, Heck the music just came from the front and it had no such thing as a stage.

Some of the CD that i have at the moment

That kept me thinking. Sometime during my hifi journey, i had the chance to be introduced into Naim, i have never understood why naim is a kind of system that not everyone can and know how to and will appretiate a Naim system, I was amaze how naim can reproduce live band, which was what it was meant best to do, if you want to listen to chai ching on a naim, is like chai ching is having a bad day trying so sing to you,

In a live performance, bass usually overwhelms the highs. That why the drum keep thumping on your heart and trying to dislodge it from you. But thats live music.

At my mids of studies, i had some 3 months break, i took a job in KLCC selling retail items,
I was exposed to KLCC famous philharmonic ochestra the MPO, thats the very first time i had myself another live performance. I kept going for performances, like it or not, i had the chance to sit on the golden sit a long time ago, thanks to mr lai,KH with his subject classical or literature appretiation class, they had a nice big tour to MPO and there was when i had the first exposure.

David Foster, nice live performance, from the DVD, but this is pop and bass.

David Foster is really famous, he composes a lot of songs which are used in movies here and there, also for plenty of very famous singers like Celine Dion.Great album to buy, because if you like pop and live music this is the one, plus it comes pack with a DVD

Dave Brubeck, Quartet

This is Dave Brubeck, a different kind of Jazz music, its mainly music, no singing, But the beat makes you hand move while listening, very enjoyable music, some think this kind of music is very messy, Jazz is very different kind of music, Track 3 is the famous one. Ok for someone who loves jazz and likes some beat. Also suitable for night listening as well.

Manger sampler CD and Sister Drum He Xiun Tian

This 2 cds, are bass testing CD's. The manger cd has more test track, as it is a sampler CD, pricey at about RM70 now, i cant remember how much i paid, but it was not cheap also. The track has classical, jazz, vocal, bass, and more bass, try from track 11 onwards if you dont like classical, but make sure you fasten you seatbelt first before listening.
He Xiun tian is more like a monk and praying music. Some say they attract spirit if you listen to it too often. "O mi to fo.... " anyways its a great cd to test, Track 2 track 7 and last track are my favourite. the bass just keep coming, beware of track 2 and 7 as they are really bassy, wife annoyance factor, which is your wife will kill you... if you listen to those track.... "very noisy ah darling"

Mom and wife favourite CD, Chai Ching and Teresa Teng

These 2 cd's will come to the rescue if wife or mom starts scolding you. This are night listening and pint point error correction Cd's uncles loves them very much so as auntie. Because the Cd are in mandrin and plus its their taste. Uncles buy 100k system to play these 2 cd's. Just to bring Chai Ching and Teresa Teng back to life. Really, 100k system can bring Teresa Teng standing right in front of you.

Zee Avi, Local but like international

Zee Avi is kind of different, I dont really know them, but listening to her album, they are very modern, got good stuff in them and they make their own music. I dont really listen to artist who sings other people or dead people songs, unless they are dam good, but for Zee Avi i respect their status here, and i go all out to buy the ori cd, yes we hifi kaki loves ori cd, they are different.
No pirate here, all ori, plus supporting Zee Avi i hope she and her gang make more music even fancier than me and fav song Kantoi. hahahaha, i just love it, you should listen to her Kantoi song.

Zuccero, with Pavaroti inside this ablum, grand ma playing drum?

This is one album, which i dont know how it got here, probably my dad got it at a great price, I had pop in this cd curiously wondering what is it all about, in my younger serios listening years, i aviod such music. Becasue it is rock, i had the mentality that hifi not suitable for rock, because very noisy, that was the time my knowledge that was so shallow, that i m so glad im free from it now. So stupid of me to think of like that, if so today i will be under the tempurung deep down no rope can save me, thank goodness i got tired of listening too seriously and ventured into a different direction..

So what im now, im like NEO, free, i can fly,,, haha, no lah, im not that great yet, i only know what and how, but not know why...
i still cannot place great position of speakers. But at least i know what is good sound, and what i want.

So what i want.

I want idealy an all in one system, best of the best, great dynamics, superb vocal, speed and transient, hard to find but they are in the upper level expensive stuff.

But i have found one that i like, JPW mini monitor, so thats what i will stick to for the moment,

happy listening

My very first Hifi Audio

Room Setup
Im glad to announce that i have officially own a hifi set, i have been looking for many months and years on a suitable setup for my room. I have one downstairs but thats for watching movies.
But this room set is different, place in my master room," current plan" so that me and my wife can spend time togather in the same room. Hifi is a kind of hobby that sometimes causes the hubby and the wife to be separated for about 7 to 6 hours when the enthusiast puts his or her ears into work. "listening to hifi," but i told my wife that i will put the setup into the master room first so that she also can be with me when i listen to music as well.

So What did i buy and why did i buy it?
I was visiting harry yesterday, like any other day, and he was installing a projector and we chit chat, spoke to some Campbell hifi kaki uncle. And then came, Mr Foo and his friend Syed. Syed was looking for something, So Mr Foo told Harry to put up the Polk audio 10b. So i told Syed very keng, bass kau kau, and you will love it.
We hooked it up and listen to some songs. I was at Harry's office desk surfing internet, not really bothered about the polk audio. Then Mr Foo asked a question, if i had visited Kl Audio Doctor Blogspot.
I said, yes, why not. So he proudly show me which was his setup, and it was Kajang Foo setup. A Ho's LS3/5A kaki. wow, what a small world. We chatted and he exchanged some info, Had a lot of chit chat. and most of all after listening to the Polk audio he ask to turn on the JPW mini monitor.

My CD player, Sony CD77ES

I was still not paying much attention about the Mini Monitor until Mr Foo, tap at my hand, eh, listen to this. So i stop and listened and when the music played, I was like Wow, Speechless, nothing that i wanted to comment, as i had nothing to comment, I was speechless..

It played so well, the bass was like i have never listen, the speed, and the vocal was like all in one package. Best of all, it was only using some cheap speaker cables, plus a simple Sansui Au 317 amp. Old amp, and Cd player was a So so Sony CD77 ES. The one i wanted to buy from Harry a long time ago, because of the 5 cd;s it can take, For my setup downstairs.

Sansui AU317

We crank the amp out loud till 12 o clock and the speaker went on, no signs of breaking down. Harry was worried it may blow the JPW mini monitor, but Mr Foo was saying, he was not worried about the speaker. Because he knew how much the speaker can handle, only thing can the amp handle the speaker. The amp will blow first before the speaker.
I was busy choosing my CD;s to test and listen to it, and i my mind was how does it sound like in this CD, this song , this track. I was Excited.

This was what i was looking for. MR Foo said, this speaker worth to buy and keep. Yes in fact it is. Because Mr Foo and his gang owns the same speaker.
So Said and Mr Foo listen and after that they went of.

JPW my Favourite MINI monitor

After they left, i told Harry's worker to pack the speaker, the amp and the cd player up, im taking it. So harry was not really surprise, but was smiling at me and told said to me, you have eventualy found what you want, I'm a fussy person, i like listening to music, plus i have many criteria in a setup if it were to pass my gold standards. I dont have space, to speakers too big are not suitable for me. Plus i fell in love with Pink Triangle Ventrical, but it needed a lot of juice to push to make it shine.
JPW Mini Monitor was different, you have some juice, it will shine, good enough. Most amazingly i get the tramendous bass response that i have never some across in so far of my hif journey.


JPW mini monitor

I had made the right choice, i hope so far, and i was ennjoying the bass, treble, and vocal of the system. Fate or whatever you call it, " law of attraction"
I had Mr foo came into the shop, hooked the speaker up, not for me intentionally but im the owner now of this great small speaker.

Thank you MR Kajang Foo, visit www.klaudiodoctor.blogspot.com for more info




I cannot understand how a small speaker like this can produce sound like this, so i will have to venture into understanding why a speaker can be design in such a way to reproduce such sound that can make a person so crazy




I cannot believe it, the speaker just move, plus my amp is just a sansui amp, no big deal amp, plus a vintage one, also not a 100 watter, how come this speaker so dam keng?

I m just blowing myself away,

me and my Dad setup

Well, i have last promised about writing about my home HIFi setup in my Home place. So here it is for me to share with you what i m enjoying when i go back home.

This is my old home setup

I went through a lot in my home setup, we started with sound stage pre and power amps bought from Tong Lee many years ago. Since then there many improvements done on the system and tonnes of money spent on improving sound so that the satisfaction is guarantee. Lately in 2009 we purchase or my dad purchased, "with my help" a set of Audio Research LS7 line stage preamp and D200 mosfet power amp. Speakers and cables were from the previous setup. We have a Wire World Orbit 5 speaker cable and a Audio Quest CV4. For interconnects are Tranparent audio Wave 100, and Wireworld Polaris 5. These were the previous upgrade to improve my old slow Sound stage power amp with only 12 watt output, We had the preamp tuned up with solent Caps by tong lee, and a improves Philips 6922 tubes.
Jamo Speakers

We were running Kef Cresta 1 and upgraded to Kef Coda 70, which is in Kl with me, and mean while purchased a Jamo Concert V along the way, The Jamo was a great buy, Due to the lack of power, we never really enjoyed the capabilities of this speaker. But today, we are really showing the colours of this wonderful pair of Jamo V. Back view of how we connect the speakers

Jamo is well known for its beat, It comes with 3 drivers, 1 tweeter, 1 mids and 1 woofer firing at the back, it has a bass reflex port in the front, Rated power at 110W this speaker really sings when you push it with a very good, amp.Bass is some how sometimes depeding on the music, Overwhelming, some dont like, i personally feel hmm, cannot say, i love its beat but some bass are kind of annoying. Depending on the track,..but i have some sponge to sumbat the bass reflex port if the music is too much bass,
Thats how i tune it down, the other way, i did was to delay the bass using my audio quest CV4 cable.
More front view

Talking about music reproduction. Since the day of the ARC, the Jamo performed in a way that when you listen to any music it just sound so nice. From the bassy Chai Ching, to classical Music full symphony or Just simple plain Violin and Piano combination, it just sound so real and so lively. When the violin pulls a note, you can feel the different tone from hard to soft. Its with feeling.. Piano on the other hand performes in a way i have never enjoyed before. Its very musical. I just love how the tweeter handles the high frequencies with no problems. In my setup, you expect transient, speed and great dynamics in live music. Performance come to live. I lack live recording cd, thats probably what i need to get more in next future cd buying in KL av fest.
At the moment my test discs has always been Manger test CD, Fourplay, Kitaro, DEli Rum, Sister drums 2,Andrea Bocelli, Ein StraussFest, Cincinati Pops, Chai Ching, Timber TIS, And plenty more to mention. Cd collection just dont run out. I also tests Roy Orbinson, and retro music like Led Zepplin, Zucherro. Cant remember all of them.

My room isnt a great room to listen, not square but kind of rectangle. Bass is mainly an issue in my room but i had learn some tips and tricks around to help it, so now im in a mission to improve it even better. Back part, connection of Wire world Orbit 5 and Audio Quest CV4

Partly most of my music i listened to are mainly everything under the roof. What ever i can get i pop into it. i believe in neutrality of a system, I dont limit myself to only one kind of genre.
I listen pop, rock, classical , vocal , beat drums. anything, just to listen how it performs.
more pictures on my ARC


Back part of the old connections.
I dont have good power conditioning, so i will op to improve that as well, now im just using a smple PK voltage regulator, but since then i had tonnes of power cord improved the system. From MIT to DIY power cords,

New setup placement,
When i showed my setup pictures to plenty of HiFI Gurus, they tell me my old setup is floating, by just looking at the pictures.
The preamp and power amp is just a little too high. so the sound is floating. hmm, after listening it is kind of true, the vocals are sometime not focus. Floating it seems. So i was advised to place the power amp and preamp at a lower level which you can see the new setup.
After placing the amps lower, the CD player i put a weight on top of it, Sound is more solid, vocals dont move so much anymore. 3d Imaging is very much more placed with different distance.

As i was test Ikhark Perlman, I think it spell it wrongly, anyway, the new place ment has change a little compare to the previous setup, same dynamics and transient, because the there is no change to equipment, but better staging and better vocal focus.
Next tuning is to get some granite for the base of the speaker, see if the bass tightens up.
Well, thats how it looks like, but of course, every persons setup, like KL audio doctors one, has a REL stratus handling the bass. thats very very different. Mine is from the speakers, but i think im missing something compare to his setup. His is awsome. Mine is not bad either, Of course there is no competition, but which you prefer and how KL audio doctors setup sounds like. We all tune to what our liking and how can our system performs as its best on the music that we listen to. My dad always tell me, what is there to improve, i feel this setup is so nice already, anyway whats the fun if we are all stuck with what we have and not improving it. Maybe next time we can have more things to share.