Rome wasn't build in a day

It has been eight weeks no audio for me mainly due to room repair and the diffuser lead time. Thus, the hours for music went to music studying and ebaying. O man! Ebay costs me so much financial damages, I have fifteen CDs coming to me in addition to twenty that had already arrived. Yes, you've guess right, mostly violin concerto. Now, spare me from music genre debate but as you dig into audio hobby long enough, you will discover classical music as the most "native" form of sound production, the gold standard. Chicken standard, chicken sound. Somebody will bash me somewhere, somehow.

S1 EXs, in a small room, are you kidding me? Baby whales on shallow water. They are property in a big room, liability in small room. Reality hurts, always. S1 EXs did not sing all that well in my room due to room acoustics. I was screwed big time, I bet those guys can laugh out lout behind my back now. People are waiting to come in to pound on me to stem their audio superiority. Bro, I'm small foot (entry level fi) la, go pound on multi million systems la, that would better serve the purpose. I am here to share my audio stories, and value to me is still very much matters, big sound, small budget.

I was not ready give up. Mind you, S1EXs do not come by easily since they are not designed for Asian markets. Rarity could go either way : a genius or a fool, a thin hair separation. However, owning a pair makes me proud.

Cantonese centuries old wisdom says, you ain't got big head, you don't wear hat bigger than your head. Because you ain't going to see things in front of you. Different speaker requires different care to possibly sound good, all Stradivarius are not made the same, so is the speaker, so to speak. Just wear a slightly bigger hat, it is ok.

DIY acoustic panel

Boundary intensifies sound pressure. The Greek discovered the golden cuboid aka 1 : 1.6 : 2.5 golden ratio to avoid serious peaks and valleys. Given my room, my width is 2.5 feet short, my length is 5.0 feet short and it is alright that I'm 6" short, damn! Despite my less than ideal room size, crying over spilled milk is pointless. There is no golden ratio room readily available over here unless you build from ground up. This is a project I dream that will come one day.

The first encounter with S1 EXs was booming, the biggest taboo of audioing despite some bass traps. Like a living cancer, it will make its presence on to the whole sonic spectrum. I borrowed some panels, tuck in convoluted acoustic foam on them, simulating the diffuser to see the effectiveness to curb booming. As any educated fi would know, six wells diffuser nails 580 to 3000 Hz, bass is well out of the range and we shall see ......

O boy! The diffusers take their sweet time to arrive. Nobody likes to play a waiting game. Finally, the wait was over in second week of auntie Jun, wasting no time, I hurried putting the diffusers up.

Reflection point



Mapping out the critical and second reflection points via mirror reflection with the assumption sound travels in straight line, hands down, up they go.

Caution : Do not paint the diffuser. Those wooden fibers are breathing material, paint them up would inject a glossy coat on the your sound. The same advice a guru, paint your wall glossy paint, you get sparkling highs. I never try but if your system is dull, it could help, perhaps?

Laser leveling is a wonderful instrument for system calibration, if you are serious, more so with more expensive and revealing system. I lined the diffusers up as level as I possibly can. The diffusers at the side walls are the most critical, representing the first reflections. The rest addresses the ambiance, lively or dull, your pick. Hey! I have survived from the drilling exercise.

No matter how well you calibrate, make sure your settee is dead center or otherwise, ill soundstage. Most will measure speaker positioning from the walls, I find the distance the speakers to your ears is just as well critical. Primary sound matters. A tip, buy a settee with a center line makes your life easier.

Mark my word, there is no perfect chair especially with regard to the height of listening level, your guests might not have the lengthy body as yours, what more your guests listening. I can relate this to the Indian barber's plank on chair air rests. Sit tight and enjoy the hair cut.

After all the hard work putting things together, time for truth. It is a phenomenon that the sound was unbelievably balanced with the caliberation. I first played Erik Satie. Performance and recording is unrivalled acclaimed by audio critics, I can hear why. They don't call grand piano as king of musical instrument for nothing. This CD describe a transparent grand piano. I listened for harmonic, decay, piano resonance, grandeur and ambiance, my system scores a B. I got a life like piano stature in my room and good resonance.  Piano without resonance is like an electronic organ but there's still room for improvement. My piano sounded real enough, I kept drawn to the background noise behind the scene. Ambiance a little dull to my liking. No a big problem there. I'm happy nevertheless.

The real test comes playing Shlomo Mintz's Paganini, wonderfully recorded. This could be one of the better interpretation, expressive and yet romantic. I was floored by his play. Alright, alright, alright, I start hearing vinyl fans say "You got to listen to violin on vinyl, there is a sense of indescribable grace and freedom missing listening to CD". Felt intimidated, I say, keep your pop corn.

Rosin was apparent, there was warmth to the sound that suggests it was a Strad at play. Again, there are good Strads and not so good Strads, bright Strads and no so bright Strads. Listening to Shlomo Mintz's on a notebook, the strings sounded hard, coarse, cold, the crowd applaud was indistinguishable, prompts me sell the CD off. Luckily, I didn't, it is a keeper.

Through my system, I could almost see his finger movements on the neck, bowing technique and poetic phrasing. In audio term, I seek the "expensiveness", grace, the strings when virtuoso attacks the violin and the romanticism of legato. Split hair is a turn off. The fineness E string is one of the universal measure of your highs. The violin experience won my standing ovation, the drama raises hairs. I was sold. As with all things, things could be better.

I'd like to stress that vocal was never used to tune my tonal balance but the emotion connectivity. If you like soul, you got to listen to the late Ms Nina Simone. She is my "High Priestee of Soul". Simply peerless, the late Simone was in a league of her own. "Nine Simone at Carnegie Hall" is not your friends would play to showcase a system, but sit back, relax, take a sip of coffee and listen. She will mesmerise you with her smoky voice. Her voice possess a medium body, not as creamy, silky, grain-free and angel-like as Carol Kidd nor a wide vocal range, huge diaphragm (holding more air and able to draw huge power) of the late Whitney Houston. Ms Simone possess an agony soul to deliver the magic. Her delivery can sometimes be speech like, however, her hallmark : rhythmic, melodic, dark and emotive, simply awestruck. It is sad that modern artists lack individuality, everybody sings the same technique. Striking a balance of emotive and articulation on this CD is much desirable.

S1 EX trounces my F32s in all departments, yes in all departments. The late Ms Simone could confirm that with an articulation never heard in my room given its rather poor and old recording. I was less bothered by the hissing. Given their trifold MRSP of F32's, S1 EXs ought to butcher F32s but not three times the performance. BMW never priced double to speed twice as fast as a Toyota. Law of diminishing returns kick in hard.

S1 EXs give much more enthusiastic performance, subtleties and denser tonality. Otherwise, my acoustics would not be problematic in the first place. No trace of thick and muddy warmth to murmur the notes. S1 EXs have the rare ability (from the box speaker construction) to distinguish notes between notes as clean as the electrostatic or panel speakers. It is a great instrument to reveal what is on the silver disc, highlighting the flaws of my audio upstream. So much so, to squeeze S1 EX optimum performance, they make me work. S1 EXs will reward with every care taken. Rise and respond to them or walk out of here. Hero or zero, depends on your response. Audio is all about pushing the sound possibilities. My tears of joy starts flowing.

This is what the system looks like, hallelujah! Basic with minimum tuning. Listenable, until I play some real nasty music. Everything came up short. S1 EXs only had less than 100 hours of playing time in my room. The woofers take time to loosen up, the bass has that hardening trait, lack of extension. Sonic picture was less blossom, I finished off listening session (on bass heavy materials) leaving the room on a limb, that's how bad it was.

On the high register, I still have my qualms, missing the last bit of extension and restricted soundstage. I wanted my violin E string to sound hair thin. I blame the newness. My greatest hurdle, midrange smearing and booming have been mostly removed, I'm still not totally happy with the untidy bass, Rome wasn't build in a day. I am declaring long term fight against it.