KLAV is like a hajj to the local audiophiles, an event the local audiophiles come checking out what's new and exciting coming to Malaysian soil. The event took place at Sunway Putra Hotel instead of the usual JW Marriot Hotel due to renovation in progress. Unfamiliar room, unfamiliar acoustics. I like the venue for two reasons, one, cheaper food and secondly, easy exiting the city. Alternatively, I could take the LRT.
Ticket price remained unchanged, at a nominal charge of RM10.60 in return for a RM5.00 petrol voucher and a commemorative CD. It equals to free entrance. All the exhibition rooms were fully taken up, missing this year show is Tropical Audio. Hosting the big rooms on 9th floor, all had been taken up by the usual big boys, leaving the rest of the smaller rooms on 12th floor. Just one entire floor, 40 rooms, not required to take the staircase down. Hate the staircase, we could exit the show via the elevator. What more, the hotel was going all out to please the show goers by serving free water and chicken pops at the walkway. Not bad, eh?
Nope, I will not do the run down of KLAV 2017, it is well covered by some good men. From my observations, some dealers were going extra miles to put up a good show while other just displaying their merchandises. Not forgetting the show girls, eye-catching in a male-dominated show. Sex always works, who's complaining?
Voices is deep-rooted in most audiophiles, after all, we started from voices at some points. That goes without saying voices always occupy a special place in audiophile's heart. A good voice reproduction requires a fuller midrange, a tad slower, a dose of mong cha-cha (misty) to infuse the emotional connection. Tubes, of course, for to die for 2nd harmonics. When you moving up the ladder of high fidelity, you become greedy, you begin to demand more. Looking beyond tonality, you want a bigger soundstage, presence, wide bandwidth, dynamics and bass. These sonic attributes cost money, you are at the road junction to move up or remains status quo. Ability to play loud and maintain composure is in another league, that's the big boys' territory. We are talking about over two million Ringgit set up, the least. That's a lot of zeros. A decent size room of 18 feet width, 26 feet length and 11 feet height is a pre-requisite. Good that you have that kind of money to spend. Lower income group wouldn't understand the rich's spending because they have not possessed that level of wealth before, so don't always look at things from your narrow perspectives. They don't even look at pre-owned stuff. The mid-end is almost dead, only high-end audio is moving. We must congratulate them instead.
If you are into audio long enough, you will know the real test of a system is going loud. It is a system scanning where no weaknesses can hide, your system will be stripped naked. To attain composure, drive, rhythm, resolution and room filling, your amp-speaker relationship must be synergized to sing. Secondly, the room influence will come in when you over-excite the room and confront a mess of sounds. You ought to feel the sensation of in-room acoustic energies moving freely, the anchored images, the cultured tingling sustains and more. In short, you need to do a lot of rights to get there. No more about the system but the musical experience.
We see all walks of audiophiles in the show, and we could almost identify the people. While we can't stop people from bitching, spewing harsh comments on the exhibitor's Facebook is totally a disgraceful act, not a civilized man's right frame of mind would do. You're way out of line! What are you trying to prove? Better than everybody? Or a grouchy man who wants attention?
Voices is deep-rooted in most audiophiles, after all, we started from voices at some points. That goes without saying voices always occupy a special place in audiophile's heart. A good voice reproduction requires a fuller midrange, a tad slower, a dose of mong cha-cha (misty) to infuse the emotional connection. Tubes, of course, for to die for 2nd harmonics. When you moving up the ladder of high fidelity, you become greedy, you begin to demand more. Looking beyond tonality, you want a bigger soundstage, presence, wide bandwidth, dynamics and bass. These sonic attributes cost money, you are at the road junction to move up or remains status quo. Ability to play loud and maintain composure is in another league, that's the big boys' territory. We are talking about over two million Ringgit set up, the least. That's a lot of zeros. A decent size room of 18 feet width, 26 feet length and 11 feet height is a pre-requisite. Good that you have that kind of money to spend. Lower income group wouldn't understand the rich's spending because they have not possessed that level of wealth before, so don't always look at things from your narrow perspectives. They don't even look at pre-owned stuff. The mid-end is almost dead, only high-end audio is moving. We must congratulate them instead.
If you are into audio long enough, you will know the real test of a system is going loud. It is a system scanning where no weaknesses can hide, your system will be stripped naked. To attain composure, drive, rhythm, resolution and room filling, your amp-speaker relationship must be synergized to sing. Secondly, the room influence will come in when you over-excite the room and confront a mess of sounds. You ought to feel the sensation of in-room acoustic energies moving freely, the anchored images, the cultured tingling sustains and more. In short, you need to do a lot of rights to get there. No more about the system but the musical experience.
We see all walks of audiophiles in the show, and we could almost identify the people. While we can't stop people from bitching, spewing harsh comments on the exhibitor's Facebook is totally a disgraceful act, not a civilized man's right frame of mind would do. You're way out of line! What are you trying to prove? Better than everybody? Or a grouchy man who wants attention?
You don't expect all systems to please you. Please understand it is not your show. The exhibitors have every right to play and tune their systems to their liking for the public. Save your opinions in your private group chat. Your act hints your audio supremacy, I think the exhibitors can accommodate that by asking the organizer to allocate you a room next year to show off what you have. Get to be judged in the court of public opinion. One, satisfy your ego and next, come out from the dark, no point self-boasting in the dark. Since the organizer is celebrating silver jubilee next year, they would like the idea. You will become famous, probably recruit some followings and start your fan club.
Personally, I am looking for a system that makes music, with minimum congestion and room influences. I do guard my mouth. Come on the third day of the show next time, the sounds will be at their best.
