hi-fi avenue

USB and FireWire sonically equal

2012-02-04T19:27:00.000+08:00

Weiss DAC 202 with Firewire port selected.

Daniel Weiss, the owner and designer of the renowned Weiss DACs, is now of the opinion that FireWire and USB ports are "equivalent in terms of potential audio quality".

I had e-mailed several questions to Daniel after I found out that his much sought-after and high-end DAC 202 will now offer a USB port. Weiss had championed the usage of FireWire for his DACs from the very beginning and it came as a surprise that he has finally accepted USB as being sonically equal to the FireWire.

Oyaide Neo FireWire cable that is bundled with the Weiss DAC.

The ubiquitous USB port.

I asked him that after championing FireWire for so long, was it because of market forces that he decided to offer a USB port.

His reply was: "Yes, because people are asking for it."

I then asked him if USB technology had improved so much that he now felt comfortable offering the USB port. His reply was: "Async USB (which we use) is fine."

My next question was whether he felt the FireWire connection is still superior to USB 2. He replied: "I would call them equivalent in terms of potential audio quality."

Daniel said the extra cost of the async 24/192 USB port is around 1,100 Swiss francs and the new DAC called the Weiss DAC 202U is available now.

King of FireWire now offers USB

2012-02-02T10:52:00.001+08:00

Surprise, surprise. Weiss, which has championed the usage of FireWire for its DACs for as long as any audiophile can remember, is now offering a USB option for its popular and excellent DAC 202.

To be called DAC 202U, the DAC is essentially the same as the 202 except for the async USB input - which has become more popular than the FireWire - that accepts up to 24/192.

It appears as if Weiss has given in to market demand as all laptops these days - Windows or Mac-based - have USB ports and I am not sure if any Windows-based laptops still offer FireWire connections. The newer laptops also offer USB 3 connections.

And in the Apple range, the MacBook Pro, iMac, MacMini and Mac Pro (meant as a server) have FireWire ports but the company seems to be more keen on its Thunderbolt port.

Information on the Weiss DAC202U is scant and I only managed to find out that the USB will be asynchronous, uses the XMOS chip and supports up to 24/192 on OS X without additional software. As for Windows users, they have to install Thesycon drivers (which are also used by Ayre).

The USB option for the Weiss DAC 202 was announced during the recent CES in Las Vegas but there is no news on when it will start shipping out or the extra cost of the USB port.

Belting out good sound

2012-02-01T01:54:00.001+08:00

Late last year, Malaysian turntable tweaker Michael Lim telephoned me and asked whether I wanted to try out his Rega turntable belt. I quickly said yes and he turned up in my house with a small plastic bag containing his belt.

I have been using Rega's white belt for a while and have been very satisfied with the results.

Michael Lim's belt, which is sourced from Italy, is made of silicon and is reddish in colour.

Rega's white belt and Michael Lim's red belt.

I quickly slipped his belt onto the motor and plastic sub-platter (I'm still using the original Rega sub-platter) and played an audiophile pressing of Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms.

Immediately I noted that the music sounded laidback and relaxed and the images were pushed backwards.

It crossed my mind that I had never heard Dire Straits sounding that way before.

I removed the red belt and slipped on Rega's white belt. Immediately I noted that the music sounded dynamic and punchy - the way I am used to hearing Dire Straits' songs - and the images were moved forward.

I was quite mystified as to how a simple belt could affect sound quality and after much thinking, I came to the conclusion that it had to be linked to the torque of the motor.

Again, I used the red belt and noted that it took about two and a half revolutions before the platter spun at a steady speed. With Rega's white belt, it took only one and a half revolutions.

Thus the white belt, which felt stickier, had more grip on the motor and sub-platter and delivered enough drive to make the platter spin at the right speed faster and ensured speed stability.

The red belt, however, was not as sticky and had less grip and could not provide sufficient drive.

In the end, it boils down to what kind of presentation you prefer - the relaxed, laidback way or the dynamic and punchy way.

Tune in to Aune

2012-01-28T19:19:00.001+08:00

Looks like there will be more media players in the market this year. The Chinese-made Aune S1 digital music player is now in town.

The 32-bit player can be used as a DAC or a digital transport or a headphone amp.

It runs on Linux and comes with the AKM 4390 DAC chip. The Aune supports APE, FLAC, TTA, WAV, MP3 and CUE formats.

It has an attractive aluminium casing with an external power supply.

Inputs include e-SATA, USB 2.0, SD card and ethernet.

The price? Around RM1,800. For more info, contact Vince at 012-3321812.

Wyred for good sound

2012-01-21T01:01:00.002+08:00

From the outset, I must say that the latest 24/192 capable async USB DACs sound very good. And the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 is among the best of this new generation of DACs.

They are both affordable and good and the W4S DAC-2 has been said to be able to match the performance of the previous- generation's top-end DACs.

The W4S DAC-2 comes with a digital volume control that operates in the 32-bit domain and a discrete output stage. Thus it can be connected directly to a power amp and it was in this configuration that I compared it with the resident Benchmark DAC1 Pre.

The W4S DAC-2 is asynchronous, but the technology is its own and it uses the ESS Sabre 9018 DAC chip which can process data up to 32-bit 200kHz. The eight-channel Sabre 9018 chip is used in quad-differential mode to achieve excellent Signal to Noise ratio and output drive capability.

Compared with the Benchmark, the W4S DAC-2 is mellower, richer and fuller. The Benchmark sounds very detailed, a bit lean and clinical with lots of slam while the W4S sounds not as rich and full as the Ayre QB-9 (see http://hi-fi-avenue.blogspot.com/2011/06/go-for-ayre-y-sound.html) but has more bass slam than the Ayre and just a shade less than the Benchmark. In terms of detail, the W4S is just as detailed as the Benchmark, but is less edgy. However, the W4S conjures more depth than the Benchmark. - the soundstage is definitely deeper. In a way, the W4S has the best attributes of the Benchmark and the Ayre - at an affordable price (around RM6,500 rrp).

It has more inputs and features than the Ayre - which has only a USB input - but lacks the headphone jacks and 'analogue in' of the Benchmark DAC1 Pre.

Another advantage that the W4S DAC-2 has is that it has upgradeable digital, output and USB boards. Given the speed at which DAC technology is evolving, future-proofing is quite welcome.

Operating the W4S DAC-2 takes some getting used to. There are three buttons on the front facade - 'power' and 'up' and 'down' - and to enter the Set-up Menu, you have to press all three buttons simultaneously. It took me a while to get it right and reminded me of a Motorola handphone that I had some years ago - if I recall correctly, I had to press two buttons simultaneously to unlock the keypad.

The Set-up Menu has a wide range of functions such as adjusting IIR Bandwidth (I set it to '60kHz') and Roll-off Slope (I set it to 'fast'). These two settings are important as I felt they affected treble extension and transparency.

Through the Set-up Menu, the volume of the various inputs can be set to fixed or variable. 'Fixed' is when you use a preamp and 'variable' is when you connect the DAC-2 directly to the power amp.

I found the volume control a bit confusing as there was no sound till the level was around 20-23. In the Set-up Menu, you can set the minimum and maximum volume level in steps from 0-70. Essentially what happens is that when you set the minimum to, say, 20, it just means that the first 20 steps are skipped when you use the volume control. The maximum can be reduced if there is the danger of overdriving an amp.

Press the three buttons at the same time to enter the Set-up Menu.

Press the 'power' button on and you will enter the selection mode. With the 'cursor' on the top row, pressing the 'up' and 'down' buttons will change the input selection. Press the 'power' button again and the 'cursor' moves to the bottom row and pressing the 'up' and 'down' buttons will change the volume.

The rear panel is crowded as the W4S DAC-2 has lots of inputs - HT Bypass inputs (selectable via DC trigger), two coax, two Toslink, one AES/EBU, one USB and one balanced I2S input via non-standard HDMI. The last input is interesting as it is wired the same way as the the PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport and matching DAC. In fact, the PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport is the only component that can be used with the W4S DAC-2 via HDMI currently. Wyred 4 Sound has just launched its media server which has various outputs including a HDMI. The link between the two companies is that the folks behind W4S used to contractually make PS Audio components.

The rear panel is a bit crowded.

Before you can stream music files to the W4S DAC-2, you need to download the proprietary driver either from the W4S website or the CD-R that came with the unit. The driver is compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7 and Mac OS 10.4-10.6 in both 32-bit and 64-bit formats.

In my system comprising an old Toshiba laptop with Windows 7 64-bit running J River V16, I had to set output to 'WASAPI - event style' before the songs could be played.

But once the songs started playing, I was in no hurry to click 'stop' - the music sounded really good. Now I am waiting with bated breath for the W4S music server.

For more information, contact Vince at 012-3321812.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all Chinese audiophiles.

MIT cable loom: From the outside in

2012-01-17T15:05:00.000+08:00

When I was at Tong Lee in Plaza Low Yat, Kuala Lumpur, I managed to obtain various MIT cables and a power distributor for an experiment in setting up an MIT cable loom.

The results were quite interesting as just by plugging all the power cords to the MIT Z Strip, I could already hear the benefits of the MIT sonic signature.

So instead of changing interconnects and speaker cables, using just one MIT power distributor would be enough to improve the sound. It is a case of upgrading the sound system from the outside in.

With the MIT Z Strip in the power supply chain, the immediate effect will be an improvement in the bass and you will be able to follow the bass better, especially the bass guitar which will be heard as a separate entity instead of being fused with the bass drum. The sound will also be cleaner and more detailed.

Plugging a Shotgun Z Trap to the power cord connected to the power amp makes things smoother and removes some sharpness and hardness in the treble.

After that, using the Shotgun MA interconnects and the Shotgun MA biwire speaker cables will result in incremental steps to sonic bliss.

Strangely, if I use the interconnects and speaker cables without the Z Strip power distributor in the sound system, the improvements are more pronounced.

Since the Shotgun Z Trap is a unique universal IEC in and IEC out design, I tried plugging it to a normal power distributor so that every component connected to it would benefit from its power supply cleaning capability. It worked - the sound improved somewhat. But the Z Strip was in another class and outperformed the Z Trap/normal distributor combination.

MIT Shotgun Z Trap.

The MIT Z Strip. The orange sockets are for digital components.

The sound system - with the complete MIT cable loom - performed at a much higher level, but it's a question of whether the MIT sonic signature is what you desire.

The best way to describe the MIT sonic signature would be greater wide-band clarity from the bottom octaves to the highest notes, a more detailed presentation of the music, more stable but etched out imaging, greater transparency and a deeper soundstage. Compared with some other branded cables, the images rendered by MIT cables are somewhat leaner and more etched-out with more defined edges. For want of a better word, the MIT cable loom sounds 'audiophile'.

MIT's power products use parallel filters to filter out mains noise so that dynamics are not restricted. The Shotgun Z Trap uses the American company's parallel filter technology with three 'Filterpoles' while the Z Strip has multiple parallel tuned filters operating over a wide frequency range. The Z Strip will not limit current although there is a 10-Amp fuse.

Of interest is that the MIT Z Strip is one of the few power distributors that has Power Factor correction to reduce transmission losses and improve voltage regulation. It also features surge and spike protection.

It has six hospital-grade US outlets and two digital isolated outlets for the CD/DVD player and DAC.

MIT's interconnects and speaker cables are based on what the company calls 'poles of articulation'. The theory is that one wire can function well only for a limited range of frequencies or what MIT calls 'a single pole of articulation'. Thus the wires are tuned to function in as many 'poles of articulation' as possible, which explains why there are boxes connected to MIT cables.

Indeed, some curious folks have prised open the boxes to find capacitors and inductors inside them.

The MIT Shotgun MA biwire speaker cable. Note the network box.

These 'pigtails' are to connect the network box to the speaker.

The MIT Shotgun MA interconnect.

MIT's impedance matching system is featured in the Shotgun interconnects.

The Shotgun MA interconnects have 22 poles of articulation plus selectable impedance matching networks - technology filtered down from the ultra-expensive Oracle Series. You can select Low, Mid or High input on the selector switch which will make the sound either too bright, too bassy or just right.

The Shotgun MA biwire speaker cables have 32 poles of articulation and use other technologies like the CVT Coupler which is supposed to reduce signal reflections.

The cable loom that I set up costs about RM20,000 which is about the price of a very good DAC or turntable. So it's a question of what your needs are. In a very high-end and expensive sound system, an MIT cable loom may just be the thing to take its performance to a higher level.

Mini Maggies sound like maxi system

2012-01-12T01:52:00.000+08:00

A Maggie computer speaker system? Well, the Mini Maggie System functions both as computer speakers and as hi-fi speakers for a small room.

Two small panels and a larger woofer panel make up the Mini Maggie system which essentially is a 3.7 in miniature.

According to the Maggie website, it is the world's first full-range dipole speaker system that will sit on (and under) your desk.

"The Mini Maggie is essentially a miniaturized version of the 3.7 midrange and tweeter. The Maggie Woofer (DWM) is a small section out of the 20.1 bass driver that sits under your desk in the foot well. Together, it is very much like a 3.7 - up close and personal.

"The Mini Maggie System was originally designed to be a miniature 3.7 on your desk. But, we were pleasantly surprised how well it works in a small room (especially when used with two Maggie Woofers)," the website states.

Manager Ong Liang Heng seems very pleased with
the Mini Maggie System. The small panel on top
of the floorstander (right) is the satellite Maggie
speaker while the bass panel is on the floor to Ong's right.

The satellite Maggie speaker.

The rear of the dipole speaker.

Look closely and you will see the midrange and
tweeter panels of the Mini Maggie.

At Absolute AV Gallery in Amcorp Mall, a Mini Maggie System is on demo and manager Ong Liang Heng said it should cost below RM6,000.

I spent some time listening to it before we adjourned for a cup of tea.

The three-way true ribbon planar-magnetic speaker system sounded surprisingly good in the showroom though the lowest bass octave was not that apparent, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. It is rated to go down to 40Hz and the treble soars to 40kHz.

The sound is very transparent - like all Maggies - and detailed with images that sort of hover in mid-air.

I feel it would be wasted if used as a computer speaker system - it certainly is suitable for a small room. A second system for the bedroom perhaps? Or a main system for a small condo?

Revival of Acoustique Systems

2012-01-07T14:48:00.001+08:00

While things involving hi-fi had been evolving around his outlet in Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya, for quite a while, C.N. Lim of Acoustisque Systems had been left out in the cold.

Not any more - his 'revival' began when he was appointed the master dealer of Rythmik sub-woofers for Klang Valley late last year.

Rythmik sub-woofers are available at Acoustique systems.

The Rythmik range had been brought in by Maxx Audio Visual in Seremban and the owner Max Loh roped in Lim to expand his dealership.

Next to knock on Lim's door was Monitor Audio. The popular British speakers are now on demo at Acoustique Systems.

C.N. Lim is now the Klang Valley dealer for Monitor Audio speakers.

Lim was also appointed a dealer for Audiolab products and this popular brand has also been attracting many audiophiles to his outlet.

Recently, Lim became the dealer for DH Labs Silver Sonic cables. Previously, DH Labs cables were sold in The Hi-Fi Shop in 1Utama shopping mall and eversince it closed in late 2010, many Malaysian audiophiles were asking where they could buy the affordable and good DH Labs cables.

DH Labs interconnects, HDMI and co-ax cables on sale at Acoustique Systems.

Power cords from DH Labs with Sine plugs.

Now Lim's outlet is very jampacked as there are lots of boxes of Monitor Audio speakers, Audiolab CD players, Rythmik sub-woofers and DH Labs cables.

LG launches world's biggest OLED TV

2012-01-04T17:37:00.003+08:00

LG seems to be the new leader in the TV industry.

If you thought the new-gen 3D TV technology which does away with powered glasses is the final product, you are wrong. LG has upped the ante by coming out with the world's largest Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) TV which offers a refresh rate that is 1,000 times faster than its rivals.

OLED screens are already used by some smartphones, but it will be the first time that it has been expanded to a 55-inch screen. Not only that, but the LG OLED TV is only 4mm thick and weighs only 7.5kg.

LG claims that “OLED TV generates the most natural colours of any TV set at a much lower price point than could have been achieved using the standard manufacturing process”.

Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company told The Daily Telegraph that “OLED is clearly the future of home TV entertainment and LG is very focused on making this exciting technology as easy as possible for consumers to embrace.”

LG's set offers four color technology - red, green, blue, and white - instead of the standard three color RGB used in other manufacturers' OLED. LG has added white pixels to OLED panels to create a brighter image. The company says four colors allow for "more accurate color depiction."

LG describes the new set as having "infinite" contrast ratios, and said its manufacturing techniques now allow for less expensive large-screen sets than previously, www.sci-tech-today.com reported.

LG will launch the 55-inch OLED TV at the CES in Las Vegas soon, and it should be on sale by the end of this year.

ATC launches CD player/preamp

2012-01-03T14:30:00.001+08:00

Will CDs and CD players become extinct? Just when the CD market is collapsing, Linn has stopped making CD players, and audiophiles are emotionally discussing the possibility of major labels ending the release of CDs by December 2012, another company has launched a CD player.

Just a few months ago, turntable specialist Pro-Ject entered the CD market with the release of two CD players (See http://www.hi-fi-avenue.blogspot.com/2011/12/impressive-pro-ject.html). Now, British speaker specialist ATC has just launched its CDA2 CD player-cum-preamp.

ATC CDA2 CD player/preamp

This news is so fresh that a shipment of 10 ATC CDA2 is still on its way to its Singapore distributor. It should be priced at around RM8,000 - RM9,000.

Strangely, you will not find any mention of the CD player/preamp in the ATC website, but if you google ATC CDA2 you will find quite a few hits.

It uses a Wolfson DAC which can handle up to 24/192 music files. The CDA2 can be used with your turntable since it has two line level RCA inputs. It can also be used as an external DAC as it has four digital inputs (two coaxial, two Optical).

It is also quite versatile as you can plug your Ipod/MP3 Player to it via a 3.5mm jack input. It also features XLR (true balanced) and RCA outputs, and a high quality headphone jack.

The pre-amp is based on the CA2 pre-amplifier.

I found these details in a British website:

Features

● Hand built in the UK
● Low noise discrete design Integrated CD/Preamplifier
● Precision Analogue Volume Control
● 2 x RCA Coax 75 Ohm SPDIF Inputs
● 2 x Toslink Optical SPDIF Inputs
● 2 x Line level RCA Phono Inputs
● 1 x Line level 3.5mm Jack Input
● True balanced (XLR) and line level RCA Phono Outputs
● Headphone Output
● 6 year warranty (excluding transport)

Specifications

PREAMPLIFIER

Frequency response (-3dB) : < 2 Hz – > 280 kHz
Distortion : 0.001% (-100 dB)
Input sensitivity : 640mV for 2V out
Input impedance : 13k 8 Ohms
S+N/N Ratio : <110dB

CD PLAYER

Frequency response (-3dB) : 20Hz – 20kHz
Distortion : 0.002% (-94dB)
Dimensions (HxWxD) : 90x445x330mm
Weight : 7kg / 15.4lbs

CDs are 'alive and spinning'

2011-12-31T16:42:00.000+08:00

The Pro-Ject CD Box SE and the Orb Jade 2 DAC matched very well.

If the hi-fi pundits are right, by this time next year there will be no more CDs released by some major labels.

There was much buzz in hi-fi forums about the impending demise of CDs after reports started surfacing in the United States about major labels giving up on releasing CDs by the end of 2012.

I have often been asked by worried friends about the future of CD and whether the CD player would still be around.

My answer has always been: "The CD will still be around because there are millions of them all over the world and the CD player will still be made because millions of people will still want to play their millions of CDs."

But one has to be careful about buying second-hand and older CD players because their transports are no longer made and spare parts may be difficult to find even from Internet suppliers.

Most of the high-end brands will keep stocks of the transports they use which should be able to satisfy demand for another seven to 10 years.

Philips has stopped making transports except for the Pro 2 transport which is usually found in top-loading high-end CD players or transports. It is expected that Philips will continue production of the Pro 2 transport for only a few more years.

When Philips closed its CD transport-making department, the engineers left and formed their own company called Stream Unlimited based in Austria and their transports are used in Wadia, Ayon, Pro-Ject and other CD players. If your CD player uses a Stream Unlimited transport, you can rest assured that spare parts will be available for a long, long time.

For the past month, I have been playing nothing but CDs and have enjoyed many hours of sonic pleasure.

This bliss came about by the superb pairing of a Pro-Ject CD Box SE CD player (which uses a Stream Unlimited transport) and the Orb Jade 2 DAC.

Together they created some of the most 'undigital' sounding music I have ever heard for quite a long time. The Orb is in the same sonic category as the Ayre and the Rega DACs - rich, smooth and on the warm-side of neutral.

While browsing around Victoria Music in Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya, I chanced upon CD box sets marketed by a company called Rhino. These are no-frills sets in cardboard boxes and sleeves. Each box set has five CDs pressed in Europe and is priced at RM55.90 - thus each CD costs only RM11.18. (Later, I spotted them at Rock Corner in The Curve priced at RM55.90 for one box set and RM100 for two.)

Some of the CDs that I bought before Xmas.

I bought six box sets - John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Waits, Carly Simon and Emmylou Harris.

Meanwhile, my wife had loudly hinted that she somehow loves songs by Adele and Michael Buble. And so I bought 21 by Adele and a new Buble release as her Christmas present.

And that was how I ended up having 32 new CDs to play this month on a review system that sounded fabulously 'undigital' and enjoyable.

Well, other audiophiles may worry about the end of CDs, but in one corner of SS4, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, CDs were 'alive and spinning' and will be so till the end of 2012 and beyond.

Happy New Year to all audiophiles out there...

Samsung takes over Sony's stake in LCD venture

2011-12-26T23:30:00.000+08:00

I just read this story in www.bbc.co.uk and I suppose the takeover is not that surprising given that Sony has not been performing that well while Samsung has been growing by leaps and bounds even during the global financial crisis that began in 2008.

Samsung Electronics has agreed to buy out Sony's entire stake in their liquid crystal display (LCD) joint venture.

The Korean electronics maker said it will pay Sony 1.08tn won ($939m; £600m) in cash for its stake.

The move comes as Sony has been restructuring its TV business, which has been making a loss for the past seven years.

Samsung, meanwhile, has gone on to become the world's largest maker of TVs and flat screen panels.

"Under the agreement, Samsung will acquire all of Sony's shares of S-LCD Corporation, the two companies' LCD panel manufacturing joint venture, making S-LCD a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung," Samsung Electronics said in a statement.

The joint venture between two companies was established in 2004, when a boom in the global economy saw a surge in demand for consumer electronics.

However, things have take a dramatic turn in the last three years.

Triggered by the financial crisis in 2008, the subsequent global economic uncertainty has resulted in a slowdown in consumer demand.

At the same time, falling prices of LCD panels and flat screens have also hurt profit margins.

"In order to respond to such challenging conditions and to strengthen their respective market competitiveness, the two companies have agreed to shift to a new LCD panel business alliance," Samsung said.

Sony will continue to get LCD panels from Samsung based on prevailing market prices, without having to operate a manufacturing facility.

For its part, Samsung said the full ownership of the venture will give it "heightened flexibility, speed and efficiency in both panel production and business operations".

Analysts said the deal was the right move, especially for Sony.

"In terms of direction it is positive," said Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities in Tokyo.

"But if they are making a loss on the sale, one could ask why they didn't make this decision sooner."

Rega launches new Apollo CD player

2011-12-22T17:07:00.000+08:00

Rega has launched a range of products even as the year ends. Other than the Rega RP6 turntable (see http://www.hi-fi-avenue.blogspot.com/2011/12/rega-releases-rp6-turntable.html), Rega has also released a new version of its popular Apollo CD player.

Called the Apollo-R, it uses the new Wolfson WM8742 DAC and is housed in a shoe-box case that reminds me of the Cyrus products.

From the Rega website:

Design technology

The Apollo-R is the result of many years of innovation, advanced software development and elegant engineering solutions researched by our highly skilled team of engineers and designers. It took the completion of two of our multi award winning products, the flagship Isis CD player and the Rega DAC to pave the way for a unique product we feel encapsulates everything the new Apollo-R should be.

Design history
The original Apollo CD player was launched in 2005. It was a huge success selling approaching 20,000 units worldwide. The Apollo was a unique player featuring Rega’s own software and control system ensuring no other manufacturers player could sound the same. This key element is carried forward and improved into Apollo-R.

Analogue & digital outputs
Development of the analogue, digital and control domains ensured direct improvements of both analogue and digital outputs making the Apollo-R a perfect partner for the Rega Brio-R amplifier and an ideal ‘CD format’ front-end for the Rega DAC. The Apollo-R internal circuitry has also been improved by tightening the PCB layout.

Compact case design
Apollo-R is a top loading design housed in a custom compact aluminium case matching the Rega DAC and Brio-R amplifier. The Apollo-R is available in both black or satin silver finish.

Dedicated CD mini system remote control
A new dedicated CD remote handset is supplied as standard which also has the advantage of Rega amplifier functionality .

Digital to analogue conversion
The DAC and the output amplifier of the Apollo-R have been enhanced using the Wolfson WM8742 digital to analogue converter, the same integrated circuit found in the Rega DAC.

Power supplies
The ‘digital’ power supplies feeding the CD processor, optical block, laser diode amplifier and slicer have been enhanced. This is achieved by using the same high performance low noise power supplies found in the same location within the Isis CD player. This vastly improves the playability, error correction and the ‘inner core’ processing of the digital CD ‘spinner’ part of the Apollo-R.

Output amplifier
The discrete output amplifier has been tweaked to reduce the overall THD from typically 0.005% to 0.0025%, whilst at the same time improving the overall sound quality of the output amplifier.

User interface
We have improved the user interface control by using a dedicated display microprocessor, which eases the workload on the main control processors giving an improvement in the control code stability, usability and improved speed of initialisation of the disc being played which now matches that of the Isis CD player.

XTZ has the X factor

2011-12-21T00:20:00.003+08:00

A new brand of hi-fi components has entered the Malaysian market. It is from Sweden and has been around for only a few years.

Yet in those few years, it has made a huge impact among consumers and the hi-fi Press in Europe.

The brand I am talking about is XTZ and you can hear the system at Living Audio on the first floor of Endah Parade in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur. Living Audio is one of the new additions - along with The Audio Store (see previous post) - to the hi-fi scene in Malaysia and it opened last month.

On demo is a system comprising the XTZ CD100 CD player (RM3,000 rrp), the A100 integrated amp (RM5,000) and a pair of XTZ 99.36 floorstanders with ribbon tweeters (RM7,200).

The XTZ system on demo at Living Audio.

The XTZ CD100 CD player.

The XTZ A100 integrated amp offers Class A and Class AB modes.

The XTZ 99.36 floorstanders.

The ribbon tweeter offers a detailed and smooth sound.

Ean Soong Chee Wah, who owns Living
Audio, was previously with Audiomatic.

You can tune the speaker by plugging
the jumpers (the black objects above the
speaker terminals) into different jacks.

Owner of Living Audio Ean Soong Chee Wah said the integrated amp can be switched between Class A (50 watts) and Class AB (180 watts) modes on the fly.

The interesting feature of the speakers is not the ribbon tweeter, but the fact that its crossover can be tuned to suit your listening room's acoustics.

By plugging jumpers into different jacks, the treble and bass can be boosted or reduced by a few decibels.

I spent a short time listening to the XTZ system and concluded that the sound quality was quite remarkable for the relatively low cost of the components.

Ean Soong, who was with Audiomatic previously, said he will be bringing in the top speaker model, the Divine 100.49, which is something that Malaysian audiophiles should watch out for given the rave reviews it has garnered.

* Ean Soong can be contacted at 019-5710383.

The Audio Store opens

2011-12-18T02:11:00.001+08:00

The entrance of The Audio Store. Note the huge Sound Lab speakers.

The latest hi-fi store in town officially opened yesterday.

Tucked in one corner of Petaling Jaya, a few doors from the PKR headquarters in Merchant Square, is The Audio Store owned by old-timers Antiq Low and T.C. Aw.

T.C. Aw posing next to a pair of Wilson Audio WAMM speakers.

Though it is situated far away from the hi-fi hotspots of Amcorp Mall and Jaya One, audiophiles will surely make their way to Jalan Tropicana Selatan 1 simply because of the brands that it distributes.

The list of brands reads like a who's who of high-end hi-fi - Air Tight, Kuzma, NBS, Sutherland, SRA, Walker Audio, Aesthetix, Keith Monks, Michael Green Audio, Sound Lab and YG Acoustics.

Once you step into the showroom, you will not miss the huge Sound Lab speakers placed against the wall to your right. That's only the beginning.

The Audio Store has two demo rooms. The first has a system comprising a NuForce CD player, Aesthetix Calypso line stage, Aesthetix Atlas power amp and YG Acoustics Carmel speakers. The analogue source comprises the Kuzma Stabi Reference turntable with four-point tonearm and Airtight PC3 cartridge and Sutherland phono preamp.

The demo system in the front listening room.

Kuzma Stabi Reference turntable with
four-point tonearm and Airtight PC3 cartridge

The battery pack of the Sutherland phono preamp.

The second demo room has the higher-end system comprising YG Acoustics Anat III speakers, Kuzma Stabi XL4 turntable, Airline tonearm and Airtight PC-1 Supreme cartridge. The other components are all from Aesthetix and include the Callisto Mk II preamp, Atlas monoblock power amps, Romulus CD player and Phono 10 Mk II. All the cables are from NBS.

The higher-end demo system.

Kuzma Stabi XL4 turntable, Airline tonearm
and Airtight PC-1 supreme cartridge.

An audiophile having a closer look at the
YG Acoustics Anat III speakers.

Vinyl addicts may want to take note that one of the best turntables in the world, the Walker Proscenium Black Diamond III, will be available at The Audio Store soon. Like I said earlier, audiophiles will surely make their way to Merchant Square not to hear ceramahs by PKR politicians, but to listen to some of the finest hi-fi components in the market.

Zu and Kudos speakers

2011-12-16T00:55:00.000+08:00

Zu Audio Omen Def.

Zu Audio Omen Essence.

Zu Audio Soul Superfly.

Speakers from two companies that are relatively unknown in Malaysia are now on demo at Asia Sound, Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya.

From the United States are Zu Audio speakers which are high-efficiency (in the region of 98dB) designs which are just right for the low-powered Single-Ended Triode fans.

Zu Audio speakers use proprietary paper-coned full-range speaker units complemented with tweeters.

Asia Sound has brought in the Zu Audio Omen Essence (RM25,000 rrp), Omen Def (RM16,200), Omen (RM7,850) and Soul Superfly (RM15,700).

The Zu Audio-modified Denon 103 MC cartridge is also available at RM2,300.

From England is a range of speakers from Kudos.

Asia Sound brought in the Cardea C20 (RM18,500), the Cardea C2 (RM11,000), the bookshelf Cardea C1 (RM8,800) and the mini floorstanders X2 (RM6,500).

Kudos Cardea C20 (right pair) and Cardea C2 speakers.

Kudos X2 mini floorstanders.

Kudos Cardea C1 bookshelf speakers.

If the Cardea C20 and the C2 remind you of Neat speakers, it's simply because the designer - Derek Gilligan - was previously working for Neat. Not only that, Kudos was at one time owned by Neat Acoustics before it went independent helmed by Derek.

Rega launches the RP6 turntable

2011-12-14T16:13:00.001+08:00

The Rega RP6 turntable. Note the fly-wheel glass platter.

Rega has just launched the RP6 turntable which replaces the P5.

The interesting feature of the RP6 is that it still uses a glass platter, but it has another piece with a larger inner hole stuck to it, effectively adding mass to the circumference of the platter for the fly-wheel effect which results in better speed stability.

It uses a metal sub-platter, the RB303 tonearm and the new double-brace technology.

Asia Sound, the Malaysian distributor of Rega products, has already ordered several units.

From the Rega website:

The RP6 has been designed and engineered to achieve outstanding performance way beyond the expectations of a product at this price point. Excellent build quality, reliability and ease of use combine to make a product which, if used correctly, will offer you a lifetime of musical enjoyment. Omitting unnecessary gimmicks allows us to concentrate the manufacturing costs on the high quality parts necessary to reproduce music accurately.

The RP6 is fitted with a hand assembled RB303 tonearm, precision main bearing and a low vibration low noise 24v motor assembly which is individually hand tuned to its circuit to further reduce vibration. The minimalist design of the Rega RP6 and the use of extremely high quality components ensure that your turntable should last for many years.

RB303 Tonearm

Designed using the latest 3D CAD technology the new RB303 is the culmination of more than 30 years of tonearm design experience. Due to advances in technology we have been able to fine tune the iconic RB300 tonearm design.

Featuring a brand new tube which has increased rigidity to the bearing housing, arm carrier and headshell coupled with intelligent redistribution of mass, ensure this arm will exhibit fewer points of possible resonance. Extreme stability with almost friction free movement from the high precision bearing assemblies guarantee to gather more information from your vinyl than ever before.

TTPSU power supply

The compact TT-PSU uses a high stability crystal locked low distortion sine wave generator. This, along with an efficient drive amplifier fed from a stabilised DC power supply, generates a 24V AC balanced signal of less than 0.05% distortion, which is completely un-affected by any changes in the mains/line voltage and conditions. This then drives the improved Rega anti-vibration circuit built into the RP6 motor PCB.

Platter adaptor

The aluminium top hub adaptor is manufactured to the highest tolerance and uses a six point mounting system to ensure the platter and vinyl is presented as flat as possible to the stylus.

New DB Technology (Double BraceTechnology)

“Mass absorbs energy - lost energy equals lost music”! Rega has pioneered the use of lightweight rigid plinths. Clever use of lightweight particulate core with a highly rigid phenolic resin skin became the foundations of the high level of performance achieved by the now iconic Planar turntable range.

The latest generation of Rega turntables takes this design philosophy to the next level. A super lightweight plinth combined with a phenolic resin double brace mounted specifically where the increased rigidity is required (between the tonearm mounting and the main hub bearing) forms a structurally sound “stressed beam” assembly.

This rigid plinth design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonances which will add unnatural distortions to the music. Equally, heavier mass can transfer more unwanted energy such as motor or bearing noise directly into the rotating record.

The use of braces instead of the complete skin allows double thickness phenolic resin in these key areas while providing further weight reduction to the plinth which directly addresses the issue of mass absorption and unwanted energy transmission.

16mm Glass flywheel platter

The RP6 features an innovative two piece platter design constructed from float glass. Manufactured using a complex and labour intensive invisible UV curing bond technique the secondary ring platter is permanently bonded to the underside of the main platter. The extra ring adds mass to the outer circumference which increase the natural flywheel effect of the platter improving speed stability, accuracy and consistency.

The plinth comes in various colours.

24V Low noise motor

The motor is a high specification, 24V twin phase synchronous unit which has the anti vibration circuit hand tuned to each motor and is controlled by Rega's unique and innovative TTPSU power supply. The motor drives the CNC machined pulley and sub platter/hub-bearing assembly via the belt drive.

Coloured turntable mats

It is possible to customise the look of your Rega turntable using a variety of new coloured mats.

'Big and bold' Kimber Kable loom

2011-12-13T12:49:00.004+08:00

The thick Kimber 12TC speaker cables deserve all the praise.

It is not without justification that the Kimber 12TC speaker cable has been highly praised and has picked up so many awards.

Once I pressed play on the CD player after adding the Kimber 12TC to the sonic equation, I realised that it was a winner.

The sound was big and bold, rich and on the warm side of neutral, smooth and soothing. Images were stable and dense without being too etched-out. Bass was full and deep, the mid-range was natural sounding without excessive sibilance and the highs were quite extended.

As I said earlier, its reputation as a high-quality speaker cable is justified.

The 12TC is a very thick cable with numerous strands of solid core wires of varying gauges woven together in a braid. The aggregate wire size is two 8 AWG conductors and the new Teflon dielectric in white and transparent gives the cable a very striking look.

I had with me three Kimber products from Hi-Way Laser in SS2, Petaling Jaya. They were the 12TC, Silver Streak interconnects and PK14 power cord.

Of the three, the one that had the most impact on the sound quality was the Kimber 12TC speaker cables which were used to link the Bryston 4B SST to the ATC SCM40 floorstanders.

Plugging in the others simply improved the sound quality by incremental steps with the PK14 power cord being the least impactful.

The Silver Streak uses silver and copper conductors woven into a tri-braid. The signal wire is made of the same hyper-pure, VariStrand silver found in the KCAG while the ground comprises hyper-pure VariStrand copper. High quality WBT RCA plugs are included.
The Silver Streak displays the 'family' sound of Kimber - big and bold, smooth and rich.

Kimber Silver Streak interconnects.

Compared with other (more expensive) interconnects it was not as detailed or transparent or holographic, but at its price point it is a commendable performer.

As for the PK14 power cord, I found out that it was not suitable for power amps - I noticed that dynamics were restricted when I used it to power the Bryston.

There were no issues when I used the PK14 to power the Melos SHA-1 headphone amp/preamp, the Roksan Caspian CD player or even the Benchmark DAC1 Pre.

Along the way, I bought a used Kimber PK10 and quickly compared it with its thinner and cheaper sibling.

Kimber PK14 power cord.

Immediately I could hear that the PK10 was superior - it did not restrict dynamics when used with the power amp; the bass became stronger when powering the power amp or preamp; and the depth of the soundstage improved when powering the preamp.

My advice is this - if you can afford it, buy the PK10 for all your components. Its tonal balance is neutral, the bass is powerful and the soundstage improves.

Combining the Kimber PK10 power cord with the Kimber 12TC speaker cables in your system will surely change the sound quality for the better.

Edifier buys Stax

2011-12-12T16:54:00.001+08:00

Edifier, a Chinese company more well known for making computer speakers, has bought over Japanese electrostatic headphone manufacturer Stax.

In an announcement in its website, which surprised many in the hi-fi industry, Edifier's Board of Directors met on Dec 7 and approved a decision to buy a 100% stake in Stax Ltd for 120 million yen (9.7693 million yuan).

Stax was founded in 1938 by Naotake Hayashi and it became famed for its condenser microphones and electrostatic headphones. Malaysians had the chance to test the Stax headphones when Jaben set up shop in Subang Jaya, Selangor, a couple of years ago.

Win a pair of Marten Django speakers

2011-12-09T19:34:00.001+08:00

Marten's Django speakers which will be launched next year.

Marten from Sweden is offering audiophiles all over the world the chance to win a pair of Marten Django speakers, its latest design which will be officially launched during CES 2012.

The online contest is held in conjunction with the launch of the speakers.

In an e-mail to me, Lars Olofsson of Marten said: "Marten is just about to present the latest model Django. To promote this we decided to have a competition where one can win a pair worth 10,000 euros including delivery anywhere in the world.

"The Django is a new sensational three-way, full-range loudspeaker. Made with supreme craftsmanship, it has been designed with the same filter technology as the other exclusive Marten models Coltrane 2 and Coltrane Momento."

The winner of the speakers will be selected by a lucky draw. Twenty runners-up will get one of Marten's favourite CDs. The competition closes on January 31, 2012.

All you have to do is surf to http://www.martencompetition.com/index.php, answer the questions, fill in your name, address and e-mail and click "Join Competition".

An impressive Pro-Ject

2011-12-07T20:44:00.001+08:00

I did not plan to review the Pro-Ject CD Box SE so soon after getting it from Tong Lee at Low Yat Plaza, but this little gizmo impressed me so much that I just have to tell you the good news sooner rather than later.

And, of course, Christmas is round the corner and hopefully Santa will be kind enough to slip one into my home since I did not misbehave at all this year.

Just when there are reports that some record companies will stop releasing CDs by the end of next year and with CD sales plummeting to new lows, Pro-Ject - the turntable specialist - has decided to market a CD player. Two, in fact. The Pro-Ject CD Box and the CD Box SE. The former is slightly bigger than a CD Walkman and has only analogue outputs while the latter also offers a digital coax out so that it can be used as a transport.

Good things sometimes come in small packages like the Pro-Ject CD player.

You need to push the CD into the slot gently.

The high-contrast dot-matrix display can be dimmed.

I was more interested in the CD Box SE as it can be used as a transport and - on top of that - the transport is made by StreamUnlimited, the company set up by ex-Philips engineers in 2005 which also makes transports for high-end marques like Wadia and Ayon.

From the outset, I have to state that at RM2,799 (rrp) the CD Box SE is worth every sen. Even when used as a CD player, it can take on players costing twice its price.

When used as a transport, it shows its true colours - vivid and brilliant. It really shines as a transport and anyone out there looking for a good CD transport must try the Pro-Ject CD Box SE.

Since it is a new product and since StreamUnlimited is a small specialised company making CD transports and servo boards and other digital streaming components, there will be a steady and reliable stream of spare parts for a very long time. There's no need to worry about obsolescence.

The CD Box SE is a small component measuring 206 x 72 x 194 mm and weighs 2.67kg. It comes with an external power supply which is a simple wall wart.

It is a slot-loading design and those who have car CD players will have no issues using it.
A cute little remote control offers basic commands and frankly that's all you need.

The cute little remote control offers basic commands.

The DAC is a 24Bit/192kHz Burr Brown PCM 1796 with 8x oversampling while the servo board is the 'Blue Tiger' from StreamUnlimited. The player can read CD, CD-R, CD-RW and Hybrid-SACD.

Since Pro-Ject is a turntable specialist and its designers know all about the detrimental effects of vibration, much effort has been taken to isolate the transport. There are four feet on the casing - three rubber studs and a hard plastic foot which is supposed to drain the vibrations away from the transport.

I found that the performance can be improved with footers. Using soft earthquake pads resulted in a 'fat' bass and I had good results with felt footers.

The CD Box SE was plugged into my current system comprising an Orb Jade 2 DAC (being reviewed), resident Benchmark DAC1 Pre (used as DAC), Acoustic Zen Silver Photon coax cable, Alphacore Micropurl Silver interconnects, Melos SHA-1 headphone amp/preamp, Kimber Silver Streak interconnects, Bryston 4B SST power amp, Kimber 12TC speaker cables and ATC SCM40 floorstanders. Power cords were a Siltech SPX20 Classic Anniversary for the DAC, a DIY cord for the power amp and a Kimber PK10 for the Melos. All of them were plugged into an MIT Z Strip power distributor.

As I said earlier, the CD Box SE sounds quite good as a CD player and the words "musical" and "analogue" kept popping up in my mind. The sound was smooth, detailed, transparent and punchy with great depth.

I found the CD Box SE to really shine in the reproduction of depth - since it is the festive season I played Christmas songs sung by choirs and the rendition of the size and scale of the rows of boys was amazing - especially when I used the Orb DAC.

The Pro-Ject CD Box SE sounded so good when used as a transport that I spent much time plugging it to either the Orb or the Benchmark. With both DACs, the depth of the soundstage was cavernous and only the sonic signatures of the DACs altered the sound.

It has been said that good things come in small packages - the Pro-Ject CD Box SE is a fine example of that.

Ivor: 'Digital can potentially be better than analogue'

2011-12-06T14:20:00.001+08:00

Digital music can potentially be better than analogue, said Ivor Tiefunbrun, founder of Linn and designer of the legendary Linn Sondek LP12 turntable.

Ivor, who was in Kuala Lumpur yesterday and today to meet Linn fans, seems to be just as passionate promoting digital music these days as he was promoting analogue music (using his LP12 of course) some 40 years ago.

Ivor Tiefenbrun, founder of Linn.

At Perfect Hi-Fi's showroom in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, Ivor demonstrated the quality of hi-res 24-bit music files using a Linn Klimax DS and a Linn Klimax stereo system controlled by an iPad.

Using short clips of MP3 and 24-bit hi-res files of the same song, he demonstrated how to "follow the music" as a way to determine the quality of a sound system.

"If you can follow the music more easily, then it is a better system and the sound is closer to real life. With MP3 files, it can be difficult to follow the music while with 24-bit files, it is easier because the music sounds better and closer to real life," he said.

At Linn, the designers realised how even minute amounts of jitter can affect the quality of digital music and worked towards removing jitter from the equation as much as possible.

The Linn DS has no moving parts, uses proprietary circuitry and has an extremely low noise floor.

"In your view, how does the Linn DS compare with your Linn LP12?" I asked.

The Linn DS has the potential to sound better than the turntable, but it depends on the performance and how well the recording was made with the right microphones and techniques. There are some great performances which are available only on analogue, he said.

Ivor Tiefenbrun and Andy Tan of Perfect Hi-Fi.

Prior to the demo, Ivor was getting really philosophical about life, evolution, rhythm, music, language and turntables, and he was trying to tie all these topics up in one great theory of everything.

He said that in Canadian shale, a fossil of a worm with vertebrae was found. The worm had no eyes, no mouth, no ears; thus it could not see, taste or hear. So what was the sense it possessed? Pressure. It could feel vibrations and rhythms.

The worm evolved into higher life forms and eventually Man was 'born' out of the worm with vertebrae. That's why rhythm is in our DNA, he said.

"Music is the song of our species," he said. Before a child is born, the foetus hears the heart beat of his mother. That's why rhythm is so vital in singing and language and in the reproduction of music.

Ivor also seemed positive about the paradigm shift affecting the entire world in the way that the Internet is causing society to become more and more wired and connected.

"We are in a mega trend that is resulting in us becoming more connected," he said. And the Linn DS system is part of that paradigm shift in that you can wire all the rooms in your house with the Linn DS system and they will all play the same music in a synchronised manner ("It took us seven years to get that right.") and the Linn DS system can be connected to the Internet to stream music from online sources.

Later, during a Chinese dinner in the Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur, Ivor talked about his relationship with Ariston and rubbished Internet reports that his Linn LP12 was a copy of the Ariston RD11.

"I designed the Ariston RD11 using the patented single-point bearing that my father invented," he said.

He added that the Ariston RD11 was not much different from the early Linn Sondek LP12 turntables.

Ivor elaborated on the legal suits between Hamish Robertson, who had set up Ariston, and Linn over the patent of the single-point bearing with the courts eventually ruling in Linn's favour.

He chose the name "Linn" which is a Scottish word for the pool below a waterfall while "Sondek" was a shortened "Sound Deck".

He also talked about the relationship between Linn and Naim and how he first met the late Julian Vereker who founded Naim Audio.

Ivor autographing a Linn Sondek LP12.

After all the reminiscing, I had to ask him this question: "The Linn LP12 is an old design that has been improved over the years. Will there come a time when you cannot improve it anymore?"

"Not in the forseeable future," he said.

There's still a lot of information in the grooves of records that the stylus still cannot retrieve.

"Now we are getting maybe 20 per cent of the information in the grooves," he said.

Perfect Hi-Fi in Amcorp Mall

2011-12-03T00:22:00.001+08:00

There I was on the escalator going up from the ground floor of Amcorp Mall when suddenly I spotted a new hi-fi showroom right next to Asia Sound yesterday.

The glass door was locked and I peeped in and spotted some Linn and KEF speakers.

Then I spotted someone walking out of a room and he saw me and opened the door.
I walked in and saw Nordost cables and a Linn DS system.

These brands are distributed by Perfect Hi-Fi and I thought the man was a dealer. So I asked him if he sourced his stuff from Perfect Hi-Fi.

"This is Perfect Hi-Fi. It's their newest branch," he said.

"Oh? When did this showroom open?" I asked.

"Today," he said. It was so new that the signboard was not even put up yet.

After that I introduced myself as a hi-fi blogger and he introduced himself as Jepson Teoh, the store manager. We started chatting about the financial health of Perfect Hi-Fi and that business must be booming.

The outlet also has an AV demo room featuring a Pioneer AV system with Sonus Faber speakers. Later Pass Labs amps will be used in the AV system.

Jepson Teoh can be contacted at 012-3930263.

New den for vinyl addicts

2011-12-02T01:02:00.001+08:00

CMY has opened a showroom just for vinyl addicts.

Looks like Amcorp Mall's position as the centre of vinyl has been taken over by CMY Audio & Visual.

The new den for vinyl addicts is in Sungei Wang Plaza, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

On the first floor, CMY (which still has a showroom on the Lower Ground floor) has taken two lots (F014 and F015) which are dedicated to turntables and LPs.

According to the boss John Yew, there are already 3,000 records there.

A vinyl lover looking for something to add to his collection of LPs.

You can spend hours browsing through all the LPs.

The audiophile pressings are displayed on the wall.

Chinese albums are available too.

There is a section for classical music.

"Another 5,000 LPs are in the store room and will be placed on display at the new showroom in the next couple of days. Next week, another shipment of 1,000 records will arrive," he said.

There are used and new LPs in the showroom and the new ones are mostly audiophile 180gm and 200gm pressings.

Music genres include jazz, pop, rock and classical. There are also some Chinese albums.

Used albums are priced from RM49 to RM99 each while the audiophile pressings cost from RM98 to RM180 each. There are also some box sets priced at about RM700.

On demo at the new showroom, which opened in mid-October, are stereo systems based on Clearaudio turntables.

The star system comprises the Clearaudio Master Reference turntable, T3 tonearm and Da Vinci V2 MC cartridge, Clearaudio Reference phono preamp, Jeff Rowland Corus pre, Jeff Rowland 312 power amp and Dynaudio Sapphire speakers. Shunyata cables are used throughout this system.

The main demo system.

The Clearaudio Master Reference turntable with
T3 tonearm and Da Vinci V2 cartridge.

The other turntable-based system comprises the Clearaudio Champion, Clearaudio Balanced Phono preamp, Naim pre and power amps and the Naim Ovator 400 speakers.

CMY's new showroom also has an AV room featuring a 2.35 screen, projector with anamorphic lens and a Dynaudio/Primare AV system.

Vinyl addicts who live in Petaling Jaya need not feel left out because the CMY showroom in Damansara Utama still has some 2,000 LPs in stock.

Rega RP3 turntable on demo

2011-11-24T21:06:00.001+08:00

The first shipment of Rega RP3 turntables has reached Malaysia.

The much-anticipated Rega RP3, which was supposed to have been officially launched in Malaysia during the recent KL International AV Show, is now on demo at Asia Sound in Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya. It is retailing at RM2,500.

If you are on the lookout for a turntable that is slightly above entry-level, head for Asia Sound immediately.