My thanksgiving big bird

Frequent readers know that this blog is not about state of the art audio gear. There are plenty of such reviews around if you look hard enough. I may dream one day owning them in my wildest fantasy, but, a little far-fetched for me. Slapped with high import duty, the weakening Ringgit is not helping. The cost of audioing continues to escalate. Happy for you if you one day make your buckets of gold and buy them, you will be envied by many. Anyway, this blog is about real audio for the working class. This blog is about realistic audio that most can afford. This blog is about sharing experience. This blog is about fun.

KF has been enjoying a good audio ride, decided to install the upgrade kits that he bought from GR Research some time ago. This is not an easy decision because he worries risking his good sound, that what happens when one is in a comfort zone. Wasted resources, neither go well with him too. What could possibly go wrong with the upgrade kits? Worst case scenario, revert back to the stock crossover and go on to blame me. It is only human nature.

Encores upgrade at Hifi Creations. Behind Encores is a custom project.

Alas, it is not like to perform male sterilization. I hooked him up with Victor, the speaker expert. Victor granted a me personal favour to assist. This guy is a living component bible, he knew his stuff. Quality components cost money, they will certainly brought forth changes not necessarily improvements if you mess with the value. You know, the kind that you win some here and lose some elsewhere. We shall see if the mod lives up to the expectations. Victor ran the moded Encores for 50 hours before KF picked them up and head back home. I was hijacked conveniently that afternoon to watch an episode of audio pornography. Hence, the following report is for what it is worth.

Original crossover

Upgraded crossover, drop in replacement with similar values.

The upgrade kits consist of SonicCap and Mill resistors. The crossover is simple, it explains easy current demand on the amplifier. I always like simple crossover approach. Tube or solid state, either should not have problems driving it. At this juncture, his 28" stands received new set of spikes to curb bad vibrations.

KF's audio den

A little background, KF was playing a pair of Ho's LS3/5a and Genesis sub combo and got a decent performance. Then came Encores, I enticed him to jump for them. What started as a tease, ended up with a purchase. For its asking price and satisfaction guaranteed, this is no brainer. The entire purchasing course took only two hours. Encores arrived at door step in a couple of weeks later.

Encore's bass was generous in sub 1200 cubic feet, the room helps bolster the bass loading. It makes a possible return to genuine 2 channel system from a 2.1 channel system. The cohesiveness of sound is well received and appreciated. Mind you, KF is bass nut, he will not settle with lame bass. Total cost of system is further lessened.

Pop is real music, is everyday music. They are everywhere. Media are playing them, radio stations are playing them, malls are playing them, pubs are playing them. You can't avoid them. Though, they do not received highly among audiophiles. They proved to be equally challenging to reproduce, testing your system on the ability to resolve the complexity of music and realism. Many audiophiles avoid them.

The diva from Canada

Celine Dion did a cover version of Jennifer Rush's hit, "The Power of Love". This is a big song that could possibly embarrass many systems. Ability to play loud is one thing, maintaining composure is another. It should not gets on your nerves.

Dion shines with powerful high key, her vocal dynamic is fabulous. Her ascending high notes is inviting. On this number, she starts slow, gets your adrenalin going at the chorus and intensifies at repeated chorus before a strong ending. Her voice punches through the sonic fabric with flesh and body, convincingly. Her highly recognizable high notes were both penetrative and solid. The moded Encores share the same family sound with the stock Encores. On closer listening, the tonality has been treated with a degree of refinement and civilization. The edginess has further decreased. I could hear better resolutions, cleaner, less coarseness, less congestion but at some point, however, the sound does hints some degree of restraints probably due to uncooked components. I hope for more musical ease.

At where it is now, I found no murkiness. The drum strokes accorded "The Power of Love" with a chest pounding sensation. A bass authority seldom heard from bookshelf system without subwoofer. It was a pleasant shake up. Realistic has spoken. The magnitude of drum and the dynamic of hard hitting were again evidenced. No, Encores could not reproduce the level of scale the top dogs which is largely an unfair comparo. They have the PRaT to sound involving, make your feet tap.

Drum stroke gives an insight to a system's heart beat. Softening is no good, rolled off is no good, slow and dull is no good. If there is hard hitting, let the hard hitting be heard. This system has a big heart. You cannot bend the laws of physics but you'd have taken them as floorstanding speakers if blind folded. The beaming of highs bestow the precise locality of images make following the drum stroke a breeze. Encores are very sensitive to placement and only opens the window of music at the specific tiny sweet spot.

Over to Mariah Carey, Carey could sing in 5 octave range and masters whistle register. She does more runs and riffs more than anyone I know, rendering a strong R&B influence. "Dreamlover" is the first track from "Music Box" album released in 1993. Her huge diagram enables her to dig deep and rise violently. Her ability to reach whistling is ethereally unique and out of this world. This number gets difficult when the drummer joins the jamming at the interlude.

The bass has never gotten this tight and cohesive in KF's room. I got to be honest here, the stands work wonder. So much so, the tonal weight was satisfying, KF did not miss the sub. Speaker stand is an important component that you should pay attention to it.

Moving on to audiophile recording, Joe Pass is a guitar legend. Holly molly, you can easily see his finger works as if Joe is playing his guitar with three hands. The Gypsy influence is clearly present in his play, as inspired by Django Reinhardt. The most striking virtue of the playback was physical presence. He bends, plucks and strums with terrific hand-brain coordination. Timing was impeccable, the magic.

I could again noticed less graininess at upper treble, but felt that the extension could have been more which itself already good. There is a degree of analogue-ness to the vocal. Micro dynamics could be more effortlessly, guitar could be more exciting with more subtlety and overtones. The upgrade makes Encores sound expensive. Suffice to say KF's system has no major flaws, coherent, quite neutral and realistic. They would not hinder you from a pleasant listening, that's alone is a compliment.

"Better components for better sound" has never rung more true, a lesson learned. KF is a happy man, his system outgrew his room. Unstoppable orgasm.

Conclusion

Strike while the iron is hot, Victor incited KF to custom build a MTM configured speaker with premium Scanspeak drivers and premium passive parts. Finishing at his choice, wood veneer or high gloss coating with specific speaker voicing, man, this is a sexy project. Think high quality sound, think exclusivity, think three fold the performance. Go check what drivers they employ in mass produced speaker, go check what passive components they give, all those crossover hype are purely marketing. There are thousands speakers in the market, but you will like a few of them end of the day. Take middle man and distributions away, that's your saving. In my day dream, I would give my project a cool name, Grand Emperor Concert Reference if I get tired with my resident speakers. A worthy note, speaker is your number one high fidelity gatekeeper, and is the most distorted link in a system. And they sound vastly different.

I'm now starting to envy KF. So much quality for so little money. Moded Encores are good but still a gap from what top notch speakers can deliver. Tonality, the blooming around the tone (vocals and instruments), the effortless rise from ppp to fff  and the tranquility of sound (during adagio), are the areas you can't cheat with clever tweaking. This is high end sound of higher order.

Santa had delivered KF a present early this year. And, I am coming to get my thanksgiving 9kg kampung (outdoor bred) bird, eat one at the restaurant, bring one home. Bill to KF.


Hifi Creations, Victor Pheh 0122962799