Still come in here, audio bastard? Where is your dignity? Where is your bloated ego? Go fly kite! Above was an episode that someone lashed out malicious attacks on me. Being meek is not being weak. I can't see no reason to put up with this, an eye for an eye.
Let's get back to our usual agenda, shall we? Just when I was feeling a little "demoralized" with Chengal, I knew I am missing something. In the midst of cluelessness, uncle Y text me to offer guidance. Uncle Y is one of the nicest men in the local audio community, a humble, soft spoken person. He reckoned that I did not use Chengal in a way that was supposed to be and offered to give some pointers. I chanced upon an excuse to visit him. The banker too, was eager to tag along with me to probably learn a thing or two, more so, an insight to real high end audio. It was also nice to see uncle T there that evening too, whom has just returned back to audio. He too was armed with a poisonous tweak, and we are the lab rat running into it....
Apart from pre and dac, uncle Y's audio rigs remained the same the last time I visit. He loves to tweak and seldom resorts to changing gear unless something really extraordinary come along. Talk about attention to details, he prepared my usual listening materials! His seating distance was spot on, I tried listening with one foot forward, half a foot forward and his normal seating spot. The sound was well balanced. A common mistake people made is they apply near unilateral triangle for big multiple drivers floorstanding speaker system, highs, mids and lows did not sync. Uncle Y's system is 2 + 2, the skills to integrate the subs is essential to make the speaker system work. This is no easy feat, requiring patience to sync phase and timing to achieve oneness. 
This is an "eye dotting" ritual for the banker. Exposure is essential to shape one's audio route, a check and balance measure. I first offered the banker the sweet spot. Within seconds into the familiar music, I heard sighs of admiration from the banker albeit at very low volume. "That's how the big boys play! Time and fossil fuel is not wasted after all. The banker has hopped in Hogwarts Audio Express and needless to say, he was totally blown away, a fact that you can tell from the expression of his face. Love to play poker game with him one day, he has his cards written on his face. On Maastricht Salon Orkest Serenata by Andre Rieu, our birds appeared to be a little grainy, a little vicious, a lot less airiness, the birds fly to great height...and especially on the violin reverberance, the bow brushing the metal strings, as if the violin is breathing. It is a very life like experience like you were right where the event takes place. There and then, I knew that a little tenacity and 10kg weight loss (imaging) to my system is most desirable. Maestro Andre reveled in his play, so palpable. Oh! The scent of the rosin... how sweet sounding. Who needs 30kHz, 40kHz or 50kHz engineering excellency?
On Chai Qin's smash hit "Lover's tears", we cranked the volume to 3th row from 5th row of the stage, the vocal was refined, smooth and jitter free. The images was rock steady, with a mouth of 50 cents coin imaging. Uncle Y played us "Don't cry for me, Argentina", this has got to be the best I have ever heard. "Grand Canyon" presented a wide and deep stage, we could almost touch it. Uncle Y's formidable front end consists of a CD Pro2 based transport, dCS debussy and an atomic clock combo, and with some help from Nordost Quantum. The front end is as best as you can get for a red book play back, no hard and cold digitis is traceable.
Me feeling the goosebumps that night, not any better than the banker. Felt like being run down by a car (staging). Uncle Y's system has got more body, more effortless, more finesse and better integrated than before. Bursting details is always attention grabbing, they scream in your face. Uncle Y made his details sounded implicit on first account, the more I listen, I don't find myself missing anything. The details on the silver disc is all there, perhaps a little more immediacy.... Uncle Y knew what is lacking, he pulled a rabbit out of his hat - a sticker and stick on the CD, remedied that shortcoming. This time around, I felt like being crushed by a truck. This story comes later pending for permission. Resolution and musicality go hand in hand. The micro details retrieval is world class. I suspect Chengal effect and two Power Bank also help to contribute. And third Power Bank is coming. I knew what evil is Power Bank. "Everybody says one (Power Bank) is enough, but they will order a second unit, a third......" uncle Y says. Uncle Y is meticulous in CD playback, demagnetising CD is part of his Standard Of Play, high quality playback every time, guaranteed. So, it is hard to tell exactly which constitutes what. Trust me, his speakers do not sound like that in nature.
This is not a review on uncle Y system but I couldn't stop praising uncle Y attitude for "going extra miles". FYI, Uncle G and uncle Y are the unsung hero in pioneering Chengal as tone wood that many doubt it. All I can say is talk is cheap, never try never know. There are people in Hong Kong too messing around with Chengal. A carpenter whom toys around with tone wood opined that Chengal has a very close tone to Ebony albeit different properties. So, it seems that what I read is correct, do not over isolate your rigs. The sound gets dry, hard, cold, thin and uninvolving. The first truth that hits me hard is E&T rack (right pix). The assembled rack is lightweight, far from drop dead rigidity and solid. Resting my rigs on the rack, the sound just opened up. KF has had the same share of experience.
"Nothing substitutes good engineering" makes a lot of sense. Likewise, "Nothing substitutes good logic." If you can't accept the logic, drop it. Go live your life happier.
Let me lay down the truth, all active equipment vibrate upon powered up. Can you eliminate energy? No, reduction is possible. Why? Go ask Einstein. You can not kill energy!
To apply Chengal as resonance control, the first principal is you got to rest Chengal on the floor indirectly. No floor, less magic as I was advised. Second principal, oberve the wood grain, rest the equipment on horizontal wood fibre grain. Third principal, big plank for heavy equipment, small plank for lighter equipment. Fourthly, avoid rubber footer on Chengal.
An audio veteran once asked me, if I conduct audio post mortem before embarking the upgrade path? Yes and no. There are certain things in audio that you do not realise inadequacy until you have heard other systems. Tenacity is what I would like to strengthen in my system.
There is no hard and fast rule on Chengal on audio application. If you do not have an ear for it, ignore this. If you are lazy, walk away. If you complain about the aesthetic, forget about it. For me, this is jolly good fun. I do not aim to be a giant killer, but a baby giant killer. Ha ha!
And so, Chengal plank should be used with care. I had experimented Chengal on pre, dac and power amp. Due to power amp footers, I rested power amp heat sink on Chengal plank. The weight distribution was uneven, the carpeted floor amplifies the problem. The sound suck. No go, thus, I ruled out Chengal application on power amp or Power Bank in my case. I could still apply Chengal on pre and dac, plus a little improvisation. My findings concur with uncle Y that positioning Chengal in horizontal wood grain sounds much much better than vertical wood grain, sounded, quicker, snappier and without too mushy. I also find Chenggal works on rack. The key issue is how to capitalise the Chengal resonance. There you go, a window of opportunity is opened. On CD player or transport, I have my reservations because the resonance on CD player or transport is among the worst, horizontal resonance at spinning mechanism and vertical resonance at the toroidal transformer, these called for different resonance control. I like the idea that CD player is dead levelled at all angles to ensure the signal pick up is constant and optimum. How to deal with the resonance, I like ball bearing isolation cone.
Trying out things take time, I shall come back with more detailed stories ........
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