KF, Grade A durian

Kajang is a bustling town, way too many traffic lights if you asked me. This town is known for satay, grilled marinated red meat, served in peanut sauce. I made time to pay KF a visit one evening to realize a promise I made many months ago. Me and my big mouth. KF was caught surprise. Traffic was unbelievably heavy on the highway, the congestion was without any reason. Which town in Klang Valley does not face traffic congestion? When the wheel of development comes, excites the local business dynamic, attracts people to work and stay, new buildings are up, schools are made, phone network covered, traffic build up is inevitable. On school days, parents pick up and drop their kids. Don't they send kids to school via bus anymore? Make things worse, they park their car as with their own will. They worsen the traffic congestion. Gosh, my fuel was running low, getting caught in a bad traffic with an almost empty fuel tank is not exactly a good feeling. I was in a melancholy mood.

It took me 20 minutes more than usual to reach Kajang. We had dinner and went straight to business. The above image can only serve a memory, ah...! The cheap Persian carpet bothers me upon entering to his room.  Friends know KF is very particular with things. He wants his things neat and tidy. A good barometer is to look at the man car, dust free.

Regrettably, this virtue did not reflect in his audio room. The color painted on the walls, the futuristic rack, the white single settee, the monochrome carpet, displays a modern styling and along come the cheap Persian carpet, what's a spoiler. His magic carpet inherited from his family must be responsible for his sound? Bad taste. KF looked at me helplessly and said, "... too much of  work to have the carpet changed." Bloody excuse!

 

KF's room measures roughly 12 feet by 9 feet, height is 10 feet, a typical small room in an apartment. Everybody can wish for better things but only a handful will get it. Two persons in his room is ok, three will suffocate, everybody will fight to access oxygen. Even the settee stands in the entrance way. The guest has the honors to take the sweet spot, the host sits on on the floor. More guests, the worst the sound gets. They behave like sound trap, they eat up detail.
 

Let's run a little KF's background, he grew up in Sansui era. In those days, Sansui speakers are full ranger, built like a mini refrigerator and dig low. People then like them loud! Something never change with age, he reminds me of the late Uncle Vic. He has a tendency to blast his guests out the door but only this time I take control of the remote control.

Good news first or bad news first on my previous impression?  Let's start with bad news, the recessed highs, lack of air and shut in soundstage and among others were the shortcoming. The sound was locked in between the plane of the speakers, nothing much beyond the speakers. The decoupling effect did not work at optimum level. Depth and height were restricted, make worst by the room modes, the evil of his room acoustics.

A right tone is neither overly smooth nor sand paper abrasive. Can you imagine a smooth brass? If you do, you got unfinished work there! KF's tone was overly warm, too hard, too heavy, too coarse and jarring for my taste. It renders an aged vocal. Overtones were short than normal. Nuff said, KF started bitting his lips with my remarks as if "Nobody beats you up in a long while, eh?”

OK the good news is, KF does not suffer the worst and costly nightmare that any fi would not want to confront - mismatch. O my! The control and detail squeezed by the Power Bank was nothing short of spectacular. That thing is still vivid in my head, a significant jump in audio performance.

 

 

KF spent his bonus on his second Power Bank. He was super proud and cute with the occasional  crouching image pouncing at your face effect at crescendos, courtesy of twin Power Banks. It gives your heart a workout.

KF wanted my honest opinion on twin Power Banks. I listened long and hard to key the following findings.
 

His room treatment is the major culprit. KF's really worked his room this time with the introduction of new tweaks.  Little little things add up? KF got rid of the nasty acoustic foams, I hate those acoustic foams. Aesthetically, his room now looked refreshing.

KF applied spikes resonators on the wall, rack and speaker top. There are also many cones on the floor, this place is like a living landmine. The Mosfet 150 was spiked up with huge spikes, a resemblance of the mighty Krell KSA monster amp. Since KF's Mosfet 150 runs on low bias class A, the spike elevation permits better heat dissipation. Everything lasts longer with less heat. His Mosfet 150 was previously sitting on raised a glass plate. Yekkk! The cables were all elevated from the floor, better managed now. He mixed and matched the isolation to arrive to a balanced tone, neither hard nor soft, neither hot or cold. That's what I called attention to detail. These things never escape my sight.

One thing he did not change, he is still using the generic power cord. A point he wants to prove many wrong. "Hey, look, hey, look, no need exotic power cord!" KF got a statement to make, it hits me directly.

Audio is like Maths. The number of tweaking add up to make a bigger impact. One trick pony has no place in audio. KF managed to remove the coldness and gloominess of his sound with isolation. He succeeded in getting rid the resonance that have many perceived as warmth. In doing so, edge delineation improvement is reflected. With  a combination of different hardness of isolation, tenderness and decay were restored.

Cai Qin sounded lighter and youthful than before. Her vocal received  the Telefunken euphonic, so does the rest of frequency spectrum. The tubes have their colors painted on the sound, a 3D bloom and coquettishly captivating. Vocal fans adored this exquisite evocative quality not found in Solid State electronics.  As a matter of fact, Cai Qin sings like a real diva in KF's room. Element of rushing, murmuring and grouchiness were not found.

KF explained, articulation comes with how much you control the bass and room mode, how effective you control the bass from intruding the critical midrange. The key is first sound reflection. KF uses soft board to counter this, they changed the sound reflectiveness coefficient and delay the reflective sound.  Further listening reveals the headroom is bigger than before. The ambiance fills the whole room, cinematic like, not as confused. KF nailed the last straw of soundstaging. The neat cable management also helped to promote the soundstage, less interference.

 

Now, the biggest surprise is the bass. KF's bass has that wave like rumbling quality. He uses cones to reshape the bass. Fat, tight, controlled, fast, all bass descriptions (except elimination) can be achieved via the placement of the cone. His previous bloated and undefined bass is now history. You guys might have a hard time to believe the diving bass. KF attested his bass with some ferocious drum play and jazz. The bass in his small room has definition, somewhere 75-80dB. 

Just how good is his bass, I requested him to "Pirate of the Caribbean's On Stranger Tides", he did not know what is coming.....
 

 

This is no ordinary cup cake. You need to have a system with plenty of juice to reproduce the grandeur of this soundtrack.  Nope, KF's system could not pull it off! Wishful thinking.  You ain't got what you ain't got, KF's system has very little output below 35Hz, the foundation was too weak to hold up the granduer. Even the mid bass ran out of steam.  However, to have KF's mid bass quality and quantity in his small room is respectable.
 

No wonder KF was all smile for the past weeks, you know, the kind of wicked smile that he wants to hide and thinks nobody would not have noticed. However, KF was flexing his legs, ready to boot me out from his room. The cold water on his enthusiasm is too chilly. My only contribution that day was toeing in his speakers a mere 1mm. Astonishingly, that 1mm toe in can do to the sound! The imaging got even more focus. And because of that, I returned KF a tongue out look.

KF was quick to have his trusted buddy over for a listen. His buddy was shaking his head, astonished with the pace of improvement. Two thumbs up, sent KF to the top of Broga hill. The retired chef has been visiting KF for the past 10 years and never once approve his audio. "Your system now gives me what I want." said the retired chef. KF was so touched, almost hanging out his tears out to dry.  A smile of satisfaction, a smile of arrogance, a smile of achievement, this fueled KF even more.

KF thanks me for toeing in his speakers. He is now the undisputed new king for sub 20k MYS system, and he got every reason to be cocky! Like a famous Hakka quote, his system is a guaranteed Grade A durian, a Swiss Army knife system. His system could  knife most silver discs of various music genre. Clap-clap, dollar per dollar, KF's system is tough to beat. It is almost at the peak of optimum. The law of diminishing value is lurking at his door, so help him God.