How much of that knowledge you acquired put to use for livelihood? How much of audio knowledge you learned apply to your system? Reading audio knowledge merely for academic, don't want to look like a fool in a conversation? Building a presumption and top it up with assumptions, a fake guru in the making. I'm a steadfast proponent of practicality, a practitioner, I get my hands dirty. Thank you. 

The thing with the measurements, I don't need them. To me, measurements are a great protocol to ensure quality in the production but not anything outside of that. For one, frequency response conveys very little on tone quality and phase. Two-way speaker, three-way speaker, concentric speaker, open baffle speaker, panel speakers, even respective frequency response looks the same, they fail to convey the difference. Come on, you can do better than that. 

Playing loud unveils room acoustic shortcomings. Mayday mayday, the siren is heard, your audio in limbo. Two situations you don't want to find yourself in, either the amp is running out of juice, the noisy room or both. Upgrading to a more powerful amp is easy, swipe your credit card. Stop being naughty for a year, you just made your wife a happy woman seeing her hubby home every night. Room acoustics on the other hand is a totally different animal, you have no clue where to begin. Room acoustic solution is very much trial and error, cross your fingers hoping everything goes fine. You know what? In most cases, there'll a trade-off. If room treatment means nothing to you, try listening in an untreated room, your high-end system doesn't sound all that great for what it asked.

I dug deep in room acoustics, experimenting with things you wouldn't ever think of. I'm doing this purely for self-actualization. I care less of how gung ho your equipment some vow the gateway to high fidelity, only a well-treated room delivers pristine and clean sound, a decent system should at least realize this. A system in a living room or awkward room, I'm sorry to break this to you, the sound is not good enough regardless of the equipment. Yes, I'm critical. I've now gotten to a stage where my room noise still at bay cranking the volume, tempting me to step on it, to go louder. No, I don't have a single piece of absorptive panel in my room but technically, time delay. Absorption is toxic, they impede the life of music like you never know, acoustically death. If the room adds a tad of liveliness, I embrace it. Trying to eliminate room induced airiness is a puerile task, raising more questions about when to stop.

The latest affirmations of my work on a system come from not one, not two but four fellow audiophiles. The new resolution, they showed me a hole on their face. How could the little unassuming objects improve sound so dramatically? Make no sense I know, the truth is in the listening. If you choose to believe in measurements and reject hearing, you've no business in audio. Rarely I tune other's system unless close friend. At almost zero cost, I used whatever I can lay my hand on. To be honest, there's more to be done but I just stopped there. Speaker positioning alone, many don't get passed speaker positioning. While many endorse the rule of the third or the fifth, I don't. What's this? An engineering or rational generalization? Applicable to all speakers? Think before you answer. It's like a 10%, 15% or 20% cable allotment rationale. The ultimate speaker placement depends on how much you leverage on room gain, we listen to direct and reflected sound for goodness sake. Don't rationalize sound.

Every room poses different room modes requiring different tuning approaches. Listening is the first line of tuning. If you can't detect the subtle changes in sound, your sonic road ends here. Pack up and go. Now you see, the showroom decorated room has no sonic merit particularly those pre-decorated rooms,  they were pre-tuned, look good and presumed to sound good. I'm not going to lie, even my room isn't 100% after rigorously tuned. 

Why do we always see audio discussions ended up with long faces, I blame the exposure. The big boys will tell you have not even played enough with high-end stuff to know what you really talking about while the lower fi boys say you don't spend insane money to attain the sound. Both parties standby their argument, unfortunately, there's no middle ground. 

I don't deny the goodness of technology. Technology is what keep audio going on. Is technology matters? Of course, it matters. The improved parts have largely accounted for the improvement in sound. Everything is down to implementation and execution. To be on top of the game, in my opinion, one requires the mind of an artisan because equipment voicing is very subjective. Anything and everything that has got to with human is subjective, isn't it right? By repetition, you accumulate experience even though electrical and electronic is not your speciality, you want to grasp as much knowledge as you can. I never say audio a cheap adventure as with any other passions. Passion is the single element that drives us to achieve a greater thing and therefore passion gets us going, we're driven to learning. 

Conclusively, the sound is a personal preference but then again we all know how realistic sound is like. I wouldn't want an imaginative sound that unreal. Hence, I want my system to take all genre of music until my system runs out of juice, my system limitation. That's ok. The middle of the road sound. Not hard to come across a system skewed towards one extreme and fare poorly on the other music genre, a picky system is not what I have in mind since I listen to many music genres.

An early Christmas

For decades, audiophiles still talking about equipment? Aren't you getting a little tired by now? I'm. The day of new gear is behind me now. I'm delving into cables some downplay cable significance. Just another conductor. No, it is not. Probably, you haven't play around with cables enough to comprehend the magic of cables. A definite detriment if you're not careful with them. Any cable manufacturer claims that its cables are straight wire, listen with a pinch of salt. You make your call, the financial risk is on you. 

What's your cable order of importance, interconnect, speaker cable and power cable I once asked. A poll of polarized answers, not something unexpected. On closer examination, some cables couldn't impose their "signature", it's your unrevealing equipment at fault, most of the time. Not my kind of equipment, I want a revealing system that I could cook my desired sound at my will. Crafting the desired sound is the essence of this passion, let's not disregard individualism, it's a big deal. If you think fancy equipment and voila, they get you audio nirvana. Particularly the coolest piece of equipment, isn't it like the emperor's new cloth? Wishful thinking. Look, everybody has his brand of sound like it or not, I can live with the differences but with all due respect, on the conditions that the sound must be realistic and not far deviating from the reality, that's the bottom line. The worst-case scenario is a delusional sound created from one's mind. Think the syrupy sound of a tube-based system. Let face it, audio is very much perceptional, audiophiles care very much how their peers think of their sound. 

Given my system, power cable ranks the most influential cable follows by interconnect and speaker cable. I need to stress again, the caveat is my system. Your mileage may vary. Oh, there are some think cable is nonessential. I don't know what to say. The reason being the influence collected at the upstream will then passes down to the following equipment, the leveraging effect. Fact number two is you couldn't recover the signal loss at the upstream no matter what correction you make thereafter. What's lost is forever lost. So, place the most revealing cable at the upstream and the most powerful cable at the amplification, you wouldn't be very wrong. All in all, I don't think the cable is the last straw that breaks the camel's back but suffices to say, it makes a system exceptional from the mediocre lot. Intuitively, you know it.

Some cables are a seasoning to the sound. Some audiophiles undermine the cable effects. A high priced system that hooked up with cheapo cables, what say you? A race car on RON95, you will not get very much performance from your car. In my limited knowledge, there are only a handful of cable companies that measure their cables, the majority suggests you take a listen. This is a multimillion-dollar industry that didn't produce measurements, some cables can cost up to insane USD20-30k. You could get a car with that amount of money. True colours unveiled only upon a cable comparison, tone-deaf need not apply here for anything goes for them. You can test your combative audiophiles out to see if their words commensurate with their listening ability. Do it quietly, please. You don't want to lose a friendship. 

Sound isn't about fancy equipment, neither a tastefully decorated room nor exquisite lighting, these are the icing on the cake. The sound becomes the centre stage once you hit the play button. The real deal is the individual that making the right choice of equipment and voicing the system as in a total package. Save the propaganda, the scientific talk and the rhetoric, your sound tells more.  

Describe good sound if I may ask, I'll have a good chance of knowing where you come from. When talking about good sound, how can you not think about fuller midrange? How can you not think about tell adequate midbass and how can you not think about tell lifelikeness? I wouldn't be surprised some brilliant minded audiophiles present their sound in measurement. 

Whatever the system, get the midrange right, a fuller midrange is traded for transparency is absolute nonsense. This is a typical comment the guy doesn't know what he's saying, he must have picked it up from a review. Transparency is about implementation, quality parts, grounding, power and cabling to get to a state of see-through. Fuller midrange and transparency can coexist. If your brand of transparency is lean sound, you're dead wrong. Take for an example of the vulnerable LS35a, the new ones offer unprecedented transparency, despite limited bandwidth. It's still very much a enjoy listening through a pair of LS35a. On LS35a alone, it's only doing well on specific music genres. Poor fella can only move that much air. 

Our greed wants our sound has more highs and lows. I  don't know about you, a big majority of "audiophile" speakers, now I'm blaming the speakers not producing enough midbass to rock'n'roll. They sounded too polite, I can't vouch if this is audiophile brand of sound. They're overly poised for my taste. Hence, a system that can rock and exhibit finesse at the same time is hard to come by. By the way, Goldmund Prologos and full FM Acoustic system are exceptional in this regard I must say. We must ask why is our system picky about playing materials? 

This led me to think that the voicing of the speaker and the box construction. I'm sold on the aluminium box for the cleanliness of sound and minimum energy storage. The bass is so powerful. I can't say anything about speaker box made of natural slate like the offering from Fischer and Fischer or OMA. I think they equally exceptional as well. Midbass is where most audiophile speakers come short. Flat frequency response has been the creed, I don't mind a bump at the lower treble and midbass to add excitements to listening pleasure. A smooth transition across the frequency spectrum is the key. 

Last but not least, lifelikeness is the tallest order of sound and the feathery lightness of tones are to be had. Close your eyes, prepare yourself for a wonderful ride of sound. Power, rawness, the brash, the swing, these elements define liveliness. True music has the power and the jump factor to excite, it moves emotions. The opposing lethargic sound, I can't put my finger on it, I can't stand the drag, I can't stand the wait, just like a musician playing catch up to his fellow's beat. 

Dubious? I have been invited to system tuning in many places. System tuning is a skill that people don't get paid for. Anyway, this will be a different Christmas, a Covid plagued Christmas. For now, I'm celebrating my early Christmas. This Christmas 2020 is special mainly my system is at its fullest strength with the best configuration, tranquillized acoustics and the synergized cabling. For the first time, I feel that the next improvement will be so difficult. I've fought a good acoustic war as far as I concern should I die tomorrow, no regret. Now, will you excuse me, I want to enjoy the amazing vocal harmonization of Boyz II Men.   

Exciting times

It has been a quite while, more two months since my last posting, I know. Needed a break to free my mind and perhaps to figure out how to step up my game. Time for reflection. Time to look into what has been done, to try things out differently and to reaffirm the effectiveness. I walked away with something at the end of it. You know what they say about complacency breeds mediocrity, it's so true. Complacency and ignorance is a thin line that separates the two, the saddest thing is you're missing something you don't know missing. The in-depth exploration of sound goes beyond equipment, cables and power but room acoustics, resonance management and RFI control. Room acoustics, in particular, is the silent kingmaker. 

Listening is an acquired skill. We distinguish good and bad sound from listening. Technical prowess and accuracy is only a mind game. Do you absorb what has been given to you by the manufacturers? On what ground the manufacturers make their claims, nobody knows misleading marketing claims. It may not be exactly what you think, just a matter of perspective. Whatmore a single piece of equipment by itself cannot make sound, it requires other associated equipment to produce sound, the finale, this adds complexity to the matter, the root of the blaming game. Furthermore, a plinth or isolation feet could alter the sound at a whim. So, real-world results speak volumes, hands down. Prove your worth, let nobody pushes you around. 

If you needed to buy only one watch, watch connoisseurs would tell get a Rolex Submariner. Prestigious, iconic, retent value well. Everyone loves Submariner but no one dives with one? What does this say? You go figure. Things aren't always form follows function. Anyway, RMCO has returned, thanks to our ignorance and self-interest. How vulnerable we have become in the face of this deadly virus. We pride ourselves landing on Mars but yet to have no answer to this virus? Everyone stands equal in front of the deadly virus, the rich, the poor, the young and the old. Coronavirus changes our lifestyle for good, embrace the new norm.

The lookdown offers us time to relook into our passion, again. The audio industry enjoyed a sale surge in the last lockdown, many have returned to audio in the light of stay home. Anyway, I never claimed single-driver speakers are the best transducer, it's really not. They run short of volume to fill a big room. 18 months, yes, you heard me. It takes that long to fully break-in my Belles. To my delight, the lower treble peakiness gives single driver speakers a bad name and turns people off has miraculously gone, zapped, AWOL. I can imagine many give up on them prior due.

There's no perfect system regardless how much you spend, you damn well know that. With more money, you only inching closer but still a far cry from perfection. Does it occur to you that the first-line of fidelity is the recording? Moreso with vinyl playback. A vinyl based system live or die on the recording quality, the recording quality variance is outrageously bewildering. Make bloody sense to invest in good recordings because it's so much easier and cheaper to get the highest fidelity through this route. In time, they will appreciate in value if they're out of print. Nope, I'm not talking about audiophile recordings but well-recorded common music. Norah Jones, Sarah McLaughlin, James Taylor, Nil Lofgren, Joni Mitchell, jazz, classical music in general and the like. So much more music. This brings to how much our system relies on audiophile recordings to shine? Digital recordings on the other have been rather consistent in this regard. 

For our listening pleasure, we must assemble a system that serves most of our music staples well, not building a stone-cold, super clean, uninvolving hi-fi-ish sound that lives on only audiophile recordings. That's my view. Music in real life is never like that. Never bother about the most accurate playback, it's only a castle in the air. A realistic sound is more within the reach. 

I come prepared going into RMCO (Recovery Movement Control Order) with an audio buffer, a pair of interconnects and a reintroduction of a subwoofer. A lot going on, huh? Especially on female voices, Eve Cassidy came that close rupturing my ears, I need to volume down. No jokes. Man, I want to listen for another 10 years. Thank God, this is history now. Given the subdued peakiness, I'm now more than ready to introduce super revealing interconnects at my source to the buffer with one primary objective in mind, to open the sonic floodgate. I risked a slap on my face mentioning this DIY interconnects rival the performance of high-end offering, says a ballpark RM20k. Open, direct, transparent, fast and almost none in euphonic, maybe a little lightweight. Gone are a pleasant colouration, warmth and muted treble, perfect for my system there and then.

My old buffer, a sorry-looking schoolboy project housed in a flimsy metal box is an eyesore, it resonates like crazy despite my efforts to curb resonance. Ending the resonance at the root is the right thing to do. Besides a more sturdy box, an improved circuit motivates me. Before long, I start ordering parts. 

What does the buffer brings? To put it plain and simple, literally zero listening interest without the buffer. Does it sound so familiar with our new toys? Me, no execption. The openness throws a wider and deeper soundstage, the system disappears leaving the air and nuances to make up the ambience and the spatiality. Think along the lines of Harry Belafonte return to the Carnegie Hall, an all time great recording with the sound expands beyond both speakers flanks. This is similar to live music experience, free roaming sound. Except that live music produces much more ambience. My buffer digs deep into the recordings to produce the feathery nuances, super lower in noise floor and remarkably open. I want my playback to emulate live experience. And so, my system may not be totally honest with studio recordings due to the added ambience. Who doesn't enjoy good imaging? My image projection is vivid with adequate blooming, I could almost reach out to touch. A friend was waxing lyrical echoing "You got to listen to this (with the same buffer as mine)!" He said his vinyl playback with the aided buffer kicks serious ass. I never listened to his system so I take his words the benefit of the doubt. But sorry guys, only three were made. Few will know.  

Listening to multi-driver speakers in one fine afternoon makes me realize my bass deficiency, the revelation prompted me to do something about it. My bass is fast but lightweight. Then, I took a long stare at my REL Storm that has been collecting dust I couldn't remember since when. Probably 8 years? I worry about the subwoofer integration. Don't believe what you think, just listen to it. I carried my Storm into my room, hooked up and powered up. Not taking thing easy, I looked up the setup manual. The integration was far easier than I thought it would be. Organic is the word. After four placements, Storm settled at one corner behind my listening chair. I'm good to go.

Well well well, I have now elevated my fullrange speaker to Full Range assisted Subwoofer Technology (FAST). The added bass heft makes the sound fuller, pop-rock is now packeged with some substance. Those who played around with subwoofer can't explain the freed top-end, the growing soundstage. The truth is in the listening. The sound is laid on solid bedrock. My 60-watt solid-state amp paid a handsome dividend many were sworn by fullrange speaker tube amp configuration. I raved the solid-state-ness bass grip even though 60 watter isn't really a powerhouse but more than enough for 95dB speaker requirement. Say no to lethargic sound. 

You see, audioing is an embarkment of personal sound exploration, no exploration is the same under a set of conditions. So take my words a pinch of salt. The results may vary under your conditions. I optimised room gain to the benefits of my sound and having a whole lot of fun working with my sound.

A bliss

Where is this audio passion taking me? As far as I can tell, the road ahead is very unlikely predestined. Going with the flow, I never find myself on the driver seat. The external influences largely dictate my undertakings. A flaw my CD playback, a perceived dynamic compression, the slightest inarticulation could spur a dire correction or an idea that lightens my bulb that maybe I could further improve my room acoustics, we all inspired by things around us, don't we? I hate these happen on a weekend or public holidays. Material, material, material, I need material for experimentation. I'm not the most patient person. I'm a go-getter, I hate waiting, I like to get things done and move forward. My sonic bar has risen considerably for every quarter though this may sound like blowing my own trumpet.

Anyway, nothing standstill, one thing leads to another, you know the story goes. 

In my opinion, all hardware except few are well designed, some are better designed and executed than the others, some strike better synergy with some. When a concern audiophile mix-matched his system, he should get the blame. Match it right, he gets the credit even if it's a one-track wonder. As diverse as our taste are, we somehow reach a unanimous consensus on sound. That's why judgement on tonal quality makes perfect sense, not tonal colour. Come on, the man likes a specific colour of sound, why not? You got to allow individual's tonal colour preference because he lives with his system, either pastel watercolour or thick oil paint, soft or bold line edge delineation, you get what I mean. In short, your preference has little weight, you are invited to listen but he's living with the system, that's all. End of the day, what have you taken out (knowledge) walking out from the room? Or you still entangled in tonal colour issue? Drop it. 

Audio hypotheses, there are plenty on the net I don't usually bother about them. In my view, the field result is all that matters, I'm not taking the easiest way out. As much as I can, I refused to soak in common beliefs but rely on my listening impression. If the sound isn't moving my emotion, that's too bad.

For many of us who don't have a shoebox room or even symmetrical walls to start with, you got to find ways to make the sound good. There are many audiophiles think that equipment alone can weather the storm, they're so wrong and some even naive, they get a funny idea that high-end equipment can reign over bad acoustics. How on earth they undermine the influence of room acoustics?

Six walls introduce so much problem. It's in your room that you place your system, not the measurement from an anechoic chamber that make-belief good sound. To be precise, it's how you deal with the reflected sound to get the most out of your system, the rest is secondary. Perhaps the below image can offer food for thought. 

Predict what will happen to the direct and reflected sound if you move the speakers around. See the changes of the spot the reflected sound bounces off the wall. If that isn't enough, move the seating toward or further away from the system. This image worths a million dollar if you could make use of it. And certainly, audiophiles who place the speakers where they fit visually, hmmm..., you know they are many of them, don't bother to ask me how's the sound. You know that they've compromised the sound quality.

 

I don't imagine things. Every tweak I do complies with the laws of physics, my result is very much predictable and repeatable. In the engineering term, predictable and repeatable are two elements of formidable consequences, some principles are at work, not snake oil. These tweaks are rigorously tested. You see, none of my tweaks stamps audiophile approved and commercially available. Some even bizarre, I don't quite grasp the working principle. But it works admirably. 

Even though Belles are single driver speaker, bass is never her strength. This applies unanimously to all single driver speakers. I'm proud of my bass quality especially the spreading and layering. Now, there's a thing, I've adapted to the perfect coherency of single driver speakers, any 3-way multiple driver speakers sound incoherence to me. I didn't get there by chance. The last piece of the puzzle is upgrading to a new carpet from a cheap Ikea's, not over the top to say it's a shift in paradigm. I've risen my sonic bar year to date, to be continued...

The ease of listening

The ease of listening is important but doesn't get much talk among the audiophiles. This is an overlooking factor nevertheless if not the most important factor. We tell rightness from the sound. I can assure you it's an acceptance barometer. You feel uneasy with the sound, your body shows it. Not before long, "You can have my listening seat, I insist." See, your firewall is up.

Sight as it always has been; deceiving. A high-end system in a well-decorated room grabs eyeballs and approvals, isn't that so? You know how terribly wrong you could get judging a book by its cover, the smell the brand fetishism is in the air.

In case you're struggling to listen to a system, you try as you could, you try to correct yourself, unfortunately, nothing ever good comes. That first impression will cast to the stone, you couldn't quite shake it off. I like to read about technology and the manufacturer's approach to sound to understand the mind of the designer. But, the written content on the webpage is mostly marketing hype. The use of exotic materials, the revolutionary approach, reading these materials, the measurements, these feel-good sentiment works our mind unknowingly before listening. Even the pronunciation of the brand matters. Cap Orang Kampung or Cap Orang Kaya doesn't really rock. Hold on, it isn't what you think, what leads you to believe, how much you wanted to believe, the truth is in the listening. I've made this costly mistake before and believe me, don't repeat my stupid mistake. Maintain a sceptical mindset to avoid financial loss, you might not be lucky every time. 

You see, I tuned a pair of Bluetooth speakers yesterday the other day, my friends discerned the difference but how much the improvement matters to him? Very little, he's not an audiophile. To him, it's just sound, he's more concern with his plants. How much the sound quality matters to you determines how far you go in audio. On the other hand, do we expect flawless sound when we go listening to others' system? Certainly not. There's a "compensation" in electrical terminology, so does in a listening event. You factor in the room, the furniture and fittings in the room, the incoming voltage and what not to make a sound evaluation.

Human voice, no doubts, is the acid test of all home speakers. Getting the sound of the instrument right is not an issue with most speakers but few can do human voice right. BBC speakers are exceptional in this regard I must say. So, why is it so difficult? Well, do you believe a flat frequency response can reproduce human voice emotionally, then we aren't on the same page. At the most, the human voice is articulate and clear, but there's more to the human voice, the soul or the magic some may call. The BBC engineers know it, their secret is thin wall boxes, the unmistakable warmth that inevitably makes others sound clinical. Never mind about metal, composite, slate, marble and et cetera to make the box inert. Thin-wall box isn't without weaknesses, the bass, predominantly vague. So, I'd like to fall in between them, the cabling can add back some of the lost magic. In my book, the cable is a tone control if you know what I'm saying.  

If this doesn't convince you, open up the lid of high-end audio and look for yourself the parts and component grades. We know how our thoughts/reviews can sometimes trick us into believing things that aren't what's in a reality. That's how I ended up with two big boxes of cabling, partly due to the user comments and mostly due to changing equipment, I'm afraid. Incompatible cabling if you could discern it, I can't bring myself to a reconciliation. The right cabling is not necessary the most expensive ones go a long distance.  

So you can see my frustration when I listened to a system that didn't deliver the goods. Talk a little less, work a little more on the system if he's not poster then what is he? 

The whole idea about music reproduction is not a blind honesty to the source that you have no way of knowing. The best you can arrive at is a sound that make-believe and with a little personal preference. Does it come to you that the music reproduction isn't remotely close to the real thing in the first place, we are listening to the sound from the mixing engineer's perspective and how he mixes the pieces? See the mixing console with the knobs and sliders to add loudness, reverbs, ambience, highlight, fading and whole lots of things. They can do wonder with modern recording technology. In reality, the rumbling drum will always be dominating and often smearing, not mentioning the missing nuances in our recorded media. 

Why do many audiophiles complain about the lacking of musicality in high-end speakers? They score in every department and measurement. I believe that high-end speakers are accurately reproducing the music signal. Why there's no magic? Why do you struggle to get into listening moods? Because we prefer to listen to a kind of sound. Called it comfort sound if I may derive the noun from comfort food. Your comfort food isn't my comfort food though the food fills our stomach. Durian, the king of fruit, is loved by Asians, smell rotten to the Westerners. Don't be quick to retaliate, I can understand the audiophile sourness, I can understand their bigotry, more than money. It's an outright insult to one's intelligence. 

A great system is how best it serves the music, not the measurements. The truth is we're bombarded with enormous information that influences us in a way never before we could imagine. Some come directly at you, some from the sideway. I was asked to resurrect a system from the cold that idled for one year. My first impression was not good, all the equipment and cables were not broken in. And some audiophiles think break in is a fallacy, they came up with supporting evidence too. I have to say I lift my hat to their ignorance. Sad uh? The difference is day and night, they just don't know when to quit. 

A tired bird landed on a branch

Looking back the years, I've been writing for more than 10 years despite my grammatical errors and jittery delivery, English is not my mother language, I make no apologies for that. Anyway, I didn't want to start out a stereotype audio review but a personal audio journal to document the rises and blunders of my audio undertaking. It's without any doubt very opinionated, Some advice boleh pakai (applicable), some tak boleh pakai (not inapplicable). As of today, I'm not surprised to find more "the player" styles of posting.

The online review is outright boring, I'm going to hide my feeling about that. What interests me is the manufacturer's philosophy, his approach to the sound and getting down to the review conclusion. If the product is of my interest, I'd read the whole review. As you might already know, mainstream audio is predictable, you know what's coming. Expect extraordinarily transparency, detailed, ultra bandwidth and super-low noise floor, new revelations that unprecedented, I mum on their musicality.

Contrary to many, linearity never exists in reality. Stop rationalizing sound in their head, allow your heart to feel the music. By the way, how could linearity be possible with room gain? Think for a second, in your living environment with furniture and fixtures and all that? Music is a form of art, our system is a man-made and how will we make it work in a not so perfect world? I don't expect the readers here to be on the same page with me. Let's examine the two-channel system, you have got right and left channel that produces sound. Both soundwaves meet at a dead centre spot we perceive the best balance of sound. Thus, leaving us weaker sound at far left and far right, does the room gain compensate the weaker sound? I have no answer on this one. 

I do know there's a difference listening to live and through the stereo. Apart from effortless-ness, the live sound has the unspoken liberty of ease that a stereo couldn't possibly have, how the way sound is projected. To say the least, a listening room is still the best ever solution for music appreciation. The live performance gives you the best experience.

As I continued to work on my room acoustics by changing up my room treatment configuration, this exercise unfolds the ripple-like nuances, the amplitude of sound waves that had me stunned. I listened to Norah Jones's fantastic Comes Away With Me repeated for hours. This recording amazes me how consistent each track recording is made, the other being Joni Mitchell's albums with stunning details. Absolutely unpretentious, direct and with zing, plenty of it. I grasped the nuances gently fading into the darkness, the residual acoustics energies, the darkness breaths and soon everything dies. The same experience I get a virtuoso who finishes his/her repertoire, freezes in motion to allow a moment of silence before the applause pour in. 

Working hard to get the balance of sound, it's so easy to get the sound skewed that gives a bad name to sound tuning. Everyone is having his brand of sound, so it seems. Some risen the highs intensity while others beefing the lows volume, enough to produce a unique sound. Thus, everything and anything in a room alters the sound, this should be met no objections. Likewise, I found my articulation restricted to only highs, mids and upper bass. Across the board articulation is hard to attain but is not impossible to attain. A work pretty much ongoing. It's the question of bass articulation versus bass volume, and the bass rendition of American and European speakers, you know, one big bass woofer versus many smaller bass woofers. 

My average listening volume is around 75-80dB, I could do so because highs-mids-lows are present. The caveat is my system is a little bass shy. Many speakers require ear-deafening volume boost to lash out the entire frequency vigour which is not a good thing in my opinion. This will inflict hearing loss in the long run. Evidently, some are not bothered by the highs while some are suffering listening fatigue. Somehow, loudness and timbre purity are not the best of friends.

The radiofrequency influences on the sound are largely overlooked, they have a far-reaching influence on the sound, more than you know. I thought the radiofrequency is mainly high-frequency noise. Boy! I was wrong. Its effect on the lows is discernible especially on the cello and the double bass. The woody resonances are subdued. Violin, for instance, we wanted to hear the woodiness that is a part of the sonic character. Ironically, the scientists to date failed to replicate the resin Antonio Stradivari coated on the violin body that gives a Stradivarius violin its tones. We want our system to at least distinguishes a Stradivarius tone from other makes, that's what a high fidelity system is about. That's why audiophiles pay top money for a high-end system. That's what separates a high-end system from a low-end system. 

One distinctive trait of a high-end system is the super-low noise floor. By it, the details emerge from the backdrop rather profoundly. If you manage to achieve a super-low noise floor, you have already one foot in high performing sound reproduction. High-end always mean high priced, I've coined high performing on purpose to highlight the difference, high performing is about technique.

These days I find myself listening to music conversations and timing. A score is about musical conversations between band or orchestra sections and how music is layered up, that's where arrangement comes in to give colours and styles. Rock'n rolls and disco have its era. Classical and Romantic has its era. 

I'm getting a little tired, finding myself landed on a branch preferring an intimate musical experience than a superficial loudness sensation. Then again, I realized I've said too much. Let me end with your mileage may vary. What's important is self reconciliation, may you find your peace amidst a troubling world. 

  

         

Thanksgiving

The entire MCO is dreamlike, no work stress except income stress, my work on my system never stops. Acute audio neurosis seeing a minor tuning in three days (on the average), a major retuning in one week or two. What can I do to get sound better? I always ask. When there's a will, there's always a way. I'm delighted to have made remarkable progress in MCO+CMCO period than in six months time.

Belles, as with all single driver speakers have glaring limitations, namely restricted bandwidth, none of the pristine highs from the reputable companies, hot upper mids and premature bass rolled off. This is what you should know before jumping right in the realm of single driver speakers, within its useable frequencies they shine on simpler music at a reasonable loudness. Speakers to party, you got better options. On the flip side, transparency, articulation, phase coherency, soundstage and undoctored sound, for what they offer, they are hard to beat.  

My decision for single driver speakers is well thought out, a natural progression for the quest of natural instrument fidelity. Took a couple of months to get the grasp the demeanour of Belles as with any other speakers. Once broken in, I knew what I'm supposed to do, to nurse hot upper mids and beefing up the upper bass, adding warmth without a subwoofer. Due to the high sensitivity of single driver speakers, mating a subwoofer to single driver speakers is close to impossible. Less is more here, I ditched the super tweeters as well. To tube amplification or not to tube amplification challenges one's wisdom, tube amplification adds the dire warmth to mend single driver speakers lacks tone body and to tame the hot upper mids. Alnico magnet is thoroughly considered the lifesaver. One stone two birds but offer no help on bass control. Nay, not following the herds I'm going with a conservative power rated class AB solid-state amp. I want to squeeze as much bass from my Belles. I'm not going to lie that an articulate and transparent budget amp is difficult to find. Moreover, I want a passive pre to safeguard sonic purity, not an active pre. The more gain stage the more doctored the sound, this is no rocket science. Luck in on my side, I found that one little amp. 

As you can see, I'm a purist, I live with the inherited limitations. Next, taking no prisoners the back and forth requalification of cables and speaker positioning. We are spoilt for cable choice and cabling is an integral of a system. It's no surprise one incompatible cable ruins the final sound. This cable qualification is done concurrently with speaker positioning. So, cabling is a tone colour device, hands down. Cables are meant to be heard. They highlight and downplay some sonic attributes as all speaker designs are flawed, some are worse than the others. Neutrality in audio is only make-believe. 

My system set up picked up pace after the cables were sorted out, each and every single one of them was repeatedly verified of its place in my system. I don't believe in cable loom sale pitch for the fact that the sound coming out from each component is somewhat altered, what's the benefit of using the same interconnect make? Cable loom will only promote the cable characteristics. Resonance feet and other accessories are next. I skip the boring arduous tweaking but to say the least, the entire process took 15 gruelling months, this time, it was accomplished much sooner than my preceding speakers. 

Fast forward, the earthy tone, checked, the hot upper mids, checked, the soundstage, checked, the bass authority, checked, the standing waves, checked. Anchor up, let's my system begins the musical voyage. 

Honestly, I don't think I'll ever want to disturb my system equilibrium again. This system stays as it is until my passion dies. You know what I walked away with something from this system set up? A musical system. I believe many will find the exquisite highs of exotic tweeters found wanting, to me it's a small price to pay for overall coherency. Organic presentation is the gold standard adhering to Fletcher-Munson Curve. So, I urge you guys to explore musicality and enjoy music at a higher degree of appreciation.

A race to good sound

I regret that I've many times rerouted my audio path. Sigh! It was never a straight path from A to B but a branchy decision tree. The branches grow with audio activities. Rarely, an equipment upgrade doesn't involve a change in a system setup like speaker replacement or cable swapping. A perfect drop-in replacement is almost impossible I'm afraid. For you've disturbed the system equilibrium, it's hard to turn back or admit a wrong upgrade. The temptation of better sound is irresistible.

I'm shy to announce the number of years in this passion because the number couldn't reflect one's calibre. Instead, I ask what have I learned and done in those years? Knowledge is power, it empowers one to identify the cause of a problem, you get results faster paying less, that's rings my bell.

Listening to other systems and the popping of new ideas are the main course of my pivots. Inevitably, these exposures smashed my past audio ideology. No sonic revelations didn't involve spending, this's a part of the game. In this regard, smart learning is learning what others do best. For instance, you go find out why a system sounded incredibly well in a certain respect. What will I arrive if I do this, do that, how about this, how about that? These questions always bug me in my head. Money buys better equipment, no doubts about it. When money isn't enough, one can resort to other audio elements to up his game. The thing is this, I could discern the sonic difference tweakings bring about. Regardless of how unscientific it is, the phenomenon is solid evidence.

In the course of respective growing audio years, we quietly seed our audio values that shape our habitual sonic approach. Likewise, their in-depth knowledge in certain audio respect earns them a specialist nickname, they are nonetheless, a good guru to learn from.

With so much time to spare under the movement control order, I felt compelled to try different speaker positioning. When speaker positioning is concerned, firstly, positioning, secondly isolation feet and lastly soundstage presentation. A cold chill goes down to my spine just thinking about it.

Moving heavy objects gives me cold sweat, my back screamed even before I begin my work even though my speakers are not that heavy. Constantly bending forward can cause backache, backache is not something I can endure. The truth is I had made many placements since my speakers landed in my mancave. Even though it's an arduous task, you never subcontracting the task to others, you don't want to miss a learning opportunity.

Three positionings in three days, 8 hours per day with each positioning going back and forth. No joke. I confessed that my earlier speaker positionings carry an implicit objective to sweep the sonic problems under the carpet Amplifying the strengths and hiding the weaknesses, don't we always do?

Room is a sound barrier that isolates the external sound and facilitates room loading, it's an integral of the sound. The sonic presentation has a lot to do with the reflected sound. Soundstage could arrive at rectangular, triangular, V shape or U shape, mine is a crossover of a rectangular and a shallow V.  My soundstage depth isn't a problem, width is. I like to change up my arc shape soundstage.

Time to get my hands dirty. I ended up with slightly more than 68 inches speaker apart, slightly less than 15 inches to the sidewall, 26 inches to the front wall and 100 inches from the speaker plane. A negligible toe out. Off-axis listening produces a smoother sound, less beaming. The sonic density reaches the peak when the ear height levelled with the driver. For multiple driver speakers, your ear height could either be below the tweeter or in between the tweeter and mid/bass driver. The lower the ear height to the floor will get you to perceive more bass and thus changes the tonal balance. I need two or three days for reaffirmation going through before settling in the final positioning. We need a cool head and a good sleep definitely helps.

Listening to a concerto in this new configuration resembles a miniaturized real-life rectangular soundstage without sacrificing tonal density, very satisfying. A symphony is a perfect choice to test soundstage. The key is to space the first and second reflections for at least 4 milliseconds. My sound expands well beyond the outside of my speakers. Tonality before soundstaging. I didn't want a razor-sharp imaging but a slight knock off will yield a more organic presentation.

As with everything and anything, you weigh the pros and cons. Down to what you want and your willingness to trade, my bass volume has decreased. This is the beginning of my quest to boost my bass not through placement. Adios.
 

Ray Of Sunshine

Time stands still. They told us to stay home until 14th Apr or locked behind bars. I'm socially responsible, doing my part of social distancing. Another two weeks to go and hopefully, it will not be further extended. I started to miss Klang Bak Kut Teh. Yes, it has got to be the authentic Klang Bak Kut Teh, not anywhere else. They just don't taste right, isn't sound share the similarity? With so much to spare, I'm bored to hell. From daybreak, I watch the time goes by. Lunch follows and a lazy afternoon nap, dinner, music time and hitting the sack, day in day out. Naturally, my mind can't turn away from "What can I do to make my sound better?". Good sound is my core value. Coronavirus and audio virus makes double jeopardy, I need masks and audio ideas.

My wife works from home since the order, she turns the house into a war zone. Busy phone calls and paper rush, I think twice before I turn up the volume of my system. Stress arises when you don't get what you wanted to do. To confront head-on, it's down to things going whose way, one party will have to give in. Men always give in, don't they? That's why liquor and friends are men's best friend, two glasses down the throat and with companies, tension gone just like that. How I wish life back to normal.

So, I learned that some have got good results on shielding fabric. I responded, why not since it's not expensive. Order placed a few days into the "Stay at Home" order, even by air freight, the shipping time took two week time. Though it was a long wait, I'm not a patient man. Anyhow, I'm glad to receive my parcel given a difficult time like this, these courier guys risk their health doing their job. Salute.

My shielding fabric is feathery light in the form of thin lamination of nickel and copper on PET sheet. PET is the kind of plastic making 1.5-litre soda drink bottles. Technically speaking, it's a piece of engineering plastic sheet. It was developed for military use to fend off high-frequency interferences. Long before that, I knew the benefits of shielding. I have had wrapped copper foil on the power cord IEC male and female connector plugs, it provides a slightly quiet background. Nothing really to shout about. Anyway, most power cords are shielded. On certain occasions, braided interconnect without shielding, for example, noise self-cancelling without shielding sounds more open. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

To test what shielding fabric claims, I made calls to my handphone wrapped with shielding fabric, no call picked up, it worked. To hit the nail on its head, I had my eye on Power Bank, two units in my listening room. Judging by its weight, close to 40kg apiece, my educated guess is a 2kVA transformer inside. No rocket science, big transformers generate an enormous amount of radiofrequency, along with external telecommunication radio frequency, high-speed internet network, lightings and electronic devices, these are harmful to sound. The highspeed 5G network will be even severe, the radiowaves are even more rampant.

Now, taking the measurements and scissor works. Correct me if I'm wrong, radiofrequency radiates in all directions. No concrete walls can hold them back but distance and shielding. Covering all sides is ideal, I could manage only 5 sides. One thing is clear, radiofrequency doesn't discriminate. Precut the fabric to Frank Power Bank, no ventilation holes are closed, overheating is absolutely not what I have in mind.

Everything was nice and easy when no timeline, I've had a productive afternoon. A few hours system warm-up, anticipation builds up for the eventual evening to see if my efforts go to waste. Not one layer of shielding but two, I've had the respective power bank covered and subsequently the other power supply, I take no chances. One after one, CD player, buffer and lastly amplifier in a sequence is treated with shielding.

Listened to the same CD left in the tray yesterday, at the same volume, all variables were the same except the shielding. New against fresh yesterday impression, Wow! Wow! Wow! I was dumbfounded, my mind was blank. Thoughtless.

Slide the curtain and allow the morning sun to burst through the window, you see boundless dust particles in abundance doing the sundance. Get an air purifier, breathe in better air, you feel good. Similarly, the shielding fabric accords peaceful sound, free of electrical buzzes. An eerie moment that had me stunned. Words are inadequate, I have to say it takes a personal experience to apprehend. Flashed back to my friend's first-ever philharmonic attendance, he stole the line that evening with "The sound is free of electrical-ness". I wish to tell him I have got a similar state of serenity amidst the bustling city.

Now in the interest of many, what does free of electrical buzzes brings to the table? Lower noise floor, giving a boost in transparency department. The images all leapt forward. The sound has got less fuzzy. The clean top end nursed the woolliness, the edginess, nervousness, dry, brittle and fray that often occur towards the end of the note. I'm not sure if analogue-ness can be applied here, but one thing for sure, it has gotten less digital. No more frizzy hairs. So, guys who stay near to high tension cables will expose themselves to higher rate radiofrequency, your health and sound are under threat.

Snare drums, hit hat, sax and any other instruments with ascending frequency overtones predominantly, satisfying. Well extended. You know what, we're dealing with high-frequency noise, a form of harmonic distortions. The false bloom is one of the byproducts of high-frequency noise that has misled us as warmth. With high-frequency noise out of the way, the note is compact and densified that ushers articulate. It's not lean.

Ground box, ground cable and the shielding fabric, they contribute from their own perspectives, I couldn't have without them. I'm a ray of sunshine. The shielding fabric is the least expensive of the three is worth trying. Heartily recommended.

Ground box

Ground boxes are not made the same, full stop. You can imagine these guys' tireless trial and error to get the product right. The quantity, the composition, the size and type of minerals, precisely, these are the formula. Many argue its effectiveness, may your argument stays in your head, everything will be answered if you just try one in your system. Listening is believing. Let the sound convince you. And I'm not going to lie that ground box is essential, for me of course, especially if you can't afford power conditioners.

We expect a cleaner background with ground boxes, busting electrical buzzing. Naturally, improved articulation is at sight. I never expect it as a tone control. Oh! Before I forgot, always buy the biggest ground box, the cost is well justified. This conclusion is drawn after repetitive with and without the ground box. I like what it does to the sound. Until I came across a guy in a forum, his scrupulous works on his ground box caught me attention. Well, what's the heck! I thought I give it a try since it's not expensive. There I was, I didn't wait long to have my hand on it. 4 days later the ground box is at my door, the Chinese efficiency by any standard is admirable. The world has every reason to worry about China's productivity, at the height of capitalism. Efficient use of resources.

A new ground box in hand, without any delay, I replaced the old ground box right at the same spot for a direct comparison. Holy Mackerel! I can't believe what I've heard. So good that my impetuousness urged me to get another one, quick-quick! Even at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in China, the city was in lockdown, people weren't allowed to work, the supply chain was broken, in spite all the hurdles, he shipped his last unit out to me. Let no one escape, I got ground boxes to serve each of them. Perfect.

If you're still reading up to now, you will know that I like my new ground box by a wide margin. Warmth, I didn't see it coming. Where the hell it comes from? Entreq explains that our grounding couldn't get rid of home appliances' high-frequency noise and stay voltages. Our grounding is overloaded or not constructed to handle these millivolt currents of very high frequencies effectively. Instead, they flow around in our system. These stay voltages often generate very large magnetic fields that pollute the sound.

Even at the distribution box, the best result comes from the front end. I arrived at an optimal result with a respective new ground box at cd player and buffer, the old one to the amp. Believe me, I've tried them at all different places. Pinch me if I feel pain, I'm not in a delusion. The first impression of intuition never goes wrong. The mids sounded so good. Voices have a human quality, emotive, reaching deeper into the heart. While I don't deny that it's a colouration, the voices have that a little more "tangibility", more presence. For all you know, I have no penchant for hi-fi-ish sound, cold, super-extended and rather emotionless, I want a world-class mid. The old ground box never gives me that kind of intimacy but accentuates the highs and extension.

To begin with, my mids isn't solid-state papery lean. I got small tubes in the audio chain. Tubes are a lovely colouration as opposed to stone-cold solid-state, hands down. Three ground boxes, they got my background darker. But the diminishing return is nonetheless evidenced with the following addition, I'm afraid.

Why new ground box is superior? It must be the single run cable for grounding, minimum connectors. It's my belief that the more connectors along in the chain, the greater sonic degradation regardless of the quality of connectors. Connectors are bad but we can not do without them. The signal passes through from the connectors to the solder that holds the cable, to the solder and of course, the connector again at the other end. Signal contaminations. That's why I prefer not to have my amp modified to IEC socket to allows third party power cord. In addition, my speakers are highly efficient. My primary concern is to preserve signal integrity. As you can see, my belief goes against the mainstream, the latter triumphs in terms of power and scale for their moderate speaker efficiency, their systems benefit from power. Given many stages of amplification, it works for them. Many have reported silver grounding cables better either copper or silver coated cables, I couldn't confirm this. Sorry.

Ground box is a low cost and high impact solution, heartily recommended. Doing away electrical buzz is a big deal, you will love it.

Cable talk

Cables are the missing link! No cables no sound, it doesn't get any simpler than that. How much to spend on cables you're often asked? Do you see the problem with this question? To relate sound to money, a typical MBA (Master in Business Administration) mould of thought, they are barking up the wrong tree, absolutely.

They try to rationalise amp to speaker budget ratio. For all you know, some speakers are cheap to own but need a heck of an amp to drive. Big amp means big money. What say you? Whereas with cables, their sonic diversity is even more manifold, it's hard to concur the cable budget ratio thing. This is the problem, some don't listen, they just rationalise...... all day long.

I know some skimp on cables, a big allocation of budget to the equipment. Not any different than high-end turntable on a budget cartridge because the equipment is the main feature. They do more posting than listening, sad to say. What about cable management? Go figure.

Free time

Effective 18th March, "Movement Restriction Order" comes full enforced. We are asked to stay home and not to social. We are allowed to leave the house for only essential goods and services. This order is to cripple the spread and not to stress the medical resources at a given time. I look at it as a price to avoid Corona virus, it's a cheap price to pay. But some have other thoughts. The liability is his or her alone, I'm fine with that. Spreading the virus, that's utterly irresponsible. It might lead to fatality and the loss of the loved ones. This is ignorance.

Nothing is worse than psychological impacts during this difficult time, the feeling of our freedom is taken away despite no shortage of food, entertainment and sleep. The halted business activities have nevertheless caused a strain on the breadwinners. Young stubborn adults have little to worry about, they wanted to go down the streets. Perhaps, you don't get to meet friends, go to your favourite restaurants and live a normal life is depressing. This is a time for reflection, a time for family bonding, a time to be with yourself for a good cause.

I turned my freed time to writing because it makes me thinking. To think about where I can go with my audio. Free time is the mother of all problems, transforming a thought to action. Great ideas come from this way. Now, I've received a new inspiration, I never run out of funny ideas. Placed my order and expect it to arrive within a week. You know what they say, no pain, no gain. We shall see.

Of listening intelligence, Kees Bakels conducts Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra 2005 recording reveals to me that MPO's string section is pale comparably to top orchestras. I don't hear the silkiness and those of others. But MPO has much improved from 2005, 15 years later. I admired Kees Bakels's masterful conducting, his imposing an iron grip on the orchestra. None of the loose and hollow organization I get from younger conductors, the eventful flow and concise content spells the calibre of the conductor's. I learn new things with each listening.

I must confess my guilt of misjudging old recordings. I thought they're undetailed. But it turns out it's my past incapable of producing more detail than desired. A good system can churn out a vast quantity of details out from old recordings. I like AAD and ADD recording format for the analogue-ness, the continuity of sound even in digital format. Detail is not everything. 

Many audiophiles love female voices, I found comfort in James Taylor, Don Williams, Elton John, Simon Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and the likes. Their voices packed with emotions, it's their voices we listen, not songs. not sure if you agreed with me on this. Artists like Sting and Rod Stewart have a very recognizable voice, their die-hard fans follow them where ever they go. Very little surprises with their works, I mean their songs are rather similar in delivery. Expect no surprises.

    

A breath of fresh air

Lao Tzu says logic has its place in human affairs but it isn't everything There's a limit to what we can understand through rationality and reasoning. To transcend that limit, we need to engage our intuition fully. I believe there are many challenges ahead of time that science as of today couldn't answer. Science rationalizes everything while empirical studies based on perception, both meeting at the middle road? Not a chance.

Our aural system captures the sound in the form of energy. These steady stream of vibes or pulses have no meaning by themselves until they are given meaning by our brain. Our memory accumulates knowledge, senses, events and feelings since born. A steady stream of fresh knowledge constantly depositing into our memory, this process accomplishes in lightspeed. It's a lifelong process, the older one accumulated a bigger wealth of memory to help to facilitate better decision making. Older is wiser isn't entirely true. Active learning accelerates our knowledge bank growth. So, if one listens to an instrument unheard of, there isn't anything for him to fall upon to make a comparison. This fresh knowledge will be stored in our knowledge bank.

Soundwave is in the form of energy, lesser resistance promotes greater propagation. This is no rocket science. Too many objects in a room create poor aerodynamics, hence, the congestion. What some might not experience, for real, the details are buried in the course of acoustic chaos sees the finer harmonics walk pass your door. This is my real story. I kid you not, you got to try to experience it. It's a simple principle not easy to execute. Now, by raising the speakers, even the speaker stands from the ground by at least two inches, come experience the liberty of sound.

I didn't stop there, I went further to raise every object in my room up. Tight corners make this exercise difficult, I can tell you that. A backbreaking exercise nevertheless. Nothing is floored. I recollect my findings the event raising my power supplies from the floor probably a year ago. The sound opened up considerably. Not that my speakers were sitting on the floor, they were on lower spikes. Somehow that experience didn't hammer the idea through our head. If only I took a step further there and then, I'd have arrived at a breath of fresh air earlier.

Wow! Careful I must not allow my honeymoon phase runs over me. No sir. Well, let's me self-indulge a bit long while before I fall back on earth. For God sake, you don't strike gold every day. I very well knew that I have arrived at a higher plateau (of sound) and looking at a second peak. Last and not least, the challenges will always around, it's how we respond to them. Your choice.

The tortoise and the hare

You've completed your system building, you have got sound coming out from your system. Congratulations. You're on cloud nine, sure you do. Excitements run through your head. After some visiting around when the dust settles, you will begin nick picked. "My system isn't that hot after all, there's still room for improvement. What do you do then?

Most audiophiles especially the wannabe believe in spending big to resolve problems. To some extent, it works. Unheard of sonic attributes, the highs that touch the sky, bass that meets Neptune, spooky transparency, racing dynamic and so on are on the want list. These grab attention, nothing wrong. Give me an impeccable midrange, I'm happy. Against all odds, my goal is to attain good sound on a low budget, mellifluous and real. It's an uphill task I know.

Knowing what to listen goes a long way, makes you a better audiophile. For that reason, I hearken to the timbre, harmonics and nuances of natural musical instrument, discarding EQ element of the electrical musical instruments. One less variable, one step closer to the truth. At length, a Taylor or Martin or Gibson, you may have your liking, it's fruitless to talk about tonal colour liking. Come on, he likes what he likes regardless what, can we agree on this? Audiophiles get to choose what to assemble their system. Tone density, tone contrast, detail, soundstage, transparency, scale, imaging, liveliness, noise floor to a certain extent, we can discuss objectively. The unquantifiable subjects are the root problem of discussion, it opens to debate and interpretation.

The day my music interest dies, that's the day I'll quit listening. In the end, applied science and listening impression never have anything in common. Linearity sounds rightful in every right, Fletcher-Munson research shows that our listening is not linear, our perceived loudness changes at a different frequency have denied linearity entirely. Going against the principle, how one promotes science in listening? Can you see where this's going? A dead end. Oh maybe perhaps the mastering engineers have added the F-M elements into the recording and we don't need another round of F-M?

Next, everything man-made is a compromise, audio is included. Starting from your first piece of equipment, the sound gradually skews its sound with the following equipment. It reflects how he understands sound, his interpretation of sound. Perfection never exists. Castles in the sky, this is strictly for the dreamer. All of us set a budget for audio, we demand an optimal performance within the given budget. By all means, leveraging on the cornerstone equipment will pay a handsome dividend, normally the amp. True to the source, wooo... sounds divine. Question, anyone knows the truth in the recording? You, he, them, who? When even the recording companies or the artists or the producers wanted to sound in a certain way in the mix, hence, unless you're one of them, no one will know what's really on it. So, the whole thing about neutrality is fanciful and unrealistic. At most, we can say it's perceived to be more uncoloured than the others. But in many cases, a good listener can tell if it's good sound by how little wrong the sound is. A violin sounds like one, a piano sounds like one, so on and so forth, that's good enough. I do know some systems could not produce snare drums convincingly. We are all familiar with how these instruments sound, aren't we? Indeed, the sound is deemed right if it falls within the tolerance of our sonic memory, more or less. "You know only crap if you listened to crap." For someone who has not listened to an instrument, it's impossible for him to wrong the sound for he didn't have any basis to. Likewise, audiophiles who are underexposed, no audiophiles will take them seriously. I can't help stressing that listening is an experience, never a classroom study, words are inadequate to describe sound. Who is who's saying what to whom. A neutral view is hard to come by. Given that the designers voiced their products through their perspectives. If that still doesn't convince you, we galvanise different listening perceptions from the very same music. How many of you buy equipment or cables based on the glowing review and found it isn't what you think it is?

I can't help a big expectation from big theories, wise talks, I expect nothing less than his system to sound good. A letdown when the perceived tone quality falls short. Not a great feeling. I learn from people who are brighter or achieved higher than me, never the other way around. Who has a higher perspective? A small system that does many things right or a big system that commits elementary mistakes. The tale of a tortoise and the hare, it's about who gets to the finishing line.

Facebook users hail to the SOTA system unreservedly, concurring the electronics or sound? I stick to my guns, never to like Facebook's system postings not unless I have listened to them. I should have known that the fact Facebook rewards the poster's likes accordingly, so-called digital marketing. Pictures or even Youtube clips don't tell the sound. As with raving reviews, your words against mine. Have you wondered why on earth no negative reviews? Someone bound to suffer losses nobody gains, that's why. Reviews these days have become an advertisement in disguise. I remember the days when I'm more influenced by the visiting strangers at the store, all ears than the dealer, they have nothing to gain.

Criticism is never pleasant, it's absolutely necessary. All praises raise doubts, audiophiles are difficult to please. Quick to be defensive. Who wants to burse bubbles? We are equally guilty of good conduct. White lies still lie. We have mastered the politicians' skills in avoiding an answer or not a direct answer. You feel fishy? Humbly, I could pick up the slightest clue from an utterance or the tone of utterance provided that I know where he comes from. In any situation, we must first ready to admit defeats to move on to a greater thing, otherwise, going nowhere. A patient will not take his medicines if he thinks he's healthy.

It seems I'm forever work in progress? Can you believe this guy? Look, the combo of cables, resonance and tweaking is infinite, have you tried enough to claim the best for you? I don't change equipment nor cables once settled for the sake of upgrading, what I'm doing now is reconfiguring, reconfiguring and reconfiguring. I keep finding the best combo of things in my system. Reconfiguring keeps opening a window of new possibilities, new ideas and new approaches to the sound.

I have got a really good run of results recently by reconfiguring the system. Beyond my wildest dream, I'm pleasantly surprised by the opening of the sonic floodgate, the renewed enthusiasm, greater liberty, reduced resistance and the resolving power that was unprecedented. I played the difficult Nenad Vasilic's Bassroom album, track no 6, Burning, what was that sound? I have no clues what so ever until I watched the video. Guess the sound, I usually can tell what's the playing instrument. This? I can't. My system honestly couldn't resolve these crazy harmonics and nuances, not until now. Pinch me! Yes, I feel the pain. I'm not fantasizing. Holy Mackerel! The energies of the double bass in the form of the tickling vibes are felt through my seat, I never experienced my room is being pressurized to this level. The double bass jumped out of my speakers! All courtesy from my work to the improved airflow dynamism.

Without further ado, I gave my system a run through my music to see that my mind isn't playing tricks on me. As I had mentioned before, I pay attention to music, not sound effects. My music test at large is basically non-audiophile CDs, a few pieces of classical, jazz and vocals. What I wanted to know is does my configuration produces more presence, less ambiguity. If the violin playback produces more insights into the play, the longer decays of the distinctive piano notes and last but not least the unmasked voices. Closer to music but nothing to suggest spectacular. A simple goal, not a chance an easy task. A trouble-free pilgrimage, I have had my share of black swans.

Making mistakes is part and parcel of learning. Mistakes tell us what not to commit again. I'm no saint, I make mistakes. It happened in the past and it will repeat in the future. Never rush, get enough rest, fresh ears are essential to bouncing back from where I fall. Press on....

What follows now is reaffirmation. To reaffirm what's real. Now, will you excuse me?

It'll get ugly before it gets pretty

Speaker placement, speaker placement, all hail speaker placement, speaker placements make all the difference! It'll get ugly before it gets pretty. Your system isn't capable of what it could have been if speaker placement not done right. When speaker placement is a concern, the rule of thirds, the rule of fifths the rule of Ns, they remain theoretical until you get the hang of speaker placement. Theoretical assumptions stay as assumptions. Sad but true, a majority of the systems out there didn't get enough of speaker placement experimenting to allow their system to shine. Want sound quality a notch higher without spending a dime, dig into speaker placement. It's a long and lonely process.

Taking speaker placement lightly ranked number one fault in compromised sound quality, nevertheless. A sin of omission. Mass adds insult to injury. With 100kg speaker apiece, can you blame them? Endurance is tested, serious muscles are required. Well, what needs to be done be done if your will is strong. The reward is there for the one that slugs it out. Talk in this instance becomes so shallow when even the fundamental is undone.

In the course of speaker placement, your listening skill will be sharpened. The question remains if you have dialled in the focus as with a DSLR manual focus. A sharp focus point gets fat-free sound, a sound that's pure and concise. Even with a warmish sound, you'll not be missing highs. In recognition of genuine accuracy, what happened in the recording session is unverifiable, now, we don't want to run wild with our sonic perspectives to the extent it isn't what it is.

In the wake of speaker placement, the little Jordan JX92 full-range speakers, 4 feet to the ear, huge toe-in in headphone listening mode, throw a huge soundstage that remarkably beguiling. Holographic with the enthralling floating images, absolutely, my beloved Belles proved no match in this regard. That was the best disappearing act I had experienced alongside the original Audio Physic Steps since I can't remember how long ago. I can't stress speaker is a compromise, a stereo system is a compromise. Much to the disgust of audio snobs, the humble Jordan JX92s weren't good enough for them, let alone listening to them. Obviously, their egoistic got the better of them. Audio has become more than sound, it has become a status symbol. Is high-end audio pricing itself into extinction? In a niche market with a small pool of consumers? Let's not deny that only a handful of companies will do well in high-end audio, they can only sell limited units. Pardon me, I couldn't get passed the psychological warfare in my head accepting equipment that cost equivalently, a house. Sorry for my idiosyncratic, high-end prices are unjustifiable.

In all likelihood, there'll be more than one speaker placement. Eventually, your preferred presentation dictates the placement. In the case of without a dedicated sound room where a system serving as family entertainment aka wide sweet spot, no best seat to fight over with the family members, you're most likely to end up with a bokeh background. Premier seats in a concert hall cost higher for a reason, definitely. If I ever go to a concert, it's either a good seat or no go.

The common practice of taking the front and sidewall measurements and locating the placement is fundamentally a flaw given two underlying caveats; asymmetrical walls and uneven flooring. You assume they're alright. Parallel walls and even flooring are left wanting.

Slanted walls, the asymmetrical tile pieces leading to the cove joint is clearly telling. Brick walls are common in Europe and Asia, 5mm variance is, unfortunately, the case. Unlike drywall in the States, homes building is supply and install, you can expect even walls.

Thus, taking front wall and side walls measurement will arrive at two dissimilar tweeter-ear distances. One channel of your speaker will sound louder. Besides, the unequal tweeter heights will be another trouble citing off-vertical axis response. Being ignorant of these bad boys, or you'll find the focal of the imaging is found wanting. The effective solution, take the bull by the horns, measure the tweeter to ear distance to attain equal length and use a laser guide for levelling, instead.

With all those measures taken, you're still not out of the woods. The common practice is the factory produced speaker driver units are not matched, unless the exotic ones. I know Accuton matches its driver units. Snell Acoustics went the distance using compensation crossover networks resolve this issue. It will come down to listening to final adjust the placement. Once you got passed these bumps back to back, the rewards in-waiting is an eerie window of musical insights, with visuals in the back of your head. It's all worth the efforts. So, never, never be a smart alec moving other's speakers for you never know how much effort the host has taken to arrive at where he is. If you really wanted to help, tape the floor before doing so. Or otherwise, you will never get back where it was.

Super tweeter, love it or hate it. For months I tried to blend the super tweeters to the mains. This lesson proved to be valuable. Never mind the different acoustic energy dispersions, what matter is what you can hear. Regardless of the frequency cutoff points, 15kHz is still clearly discernible given that some suggest we could barely discern them after 50. A mere 1mm will impose an impact on the focal point. You can tell I spent quite some time finding the right spot to blend the super tweeter in with the mains with variables like the gain, frequency cutoff points and time-alignment through an empirical process.

Your work cut out by the speaker designers for the integration of active built-in subs speakers via a crossover implementation. Sit back and enjoy. Third-party sub integration isn't easy. Though I have thought about adding a sub into my system rendering a meatier lower end, I killed the idea. Unless with the use steep slope electronic crossover, most subs utilize low pass filter to pass signals at a frequency lower than the cutoff frequency couldn't do the trick. In due course, you can smell the troubles with the mains and the subs playing the same frequency bandwidth concurrently. A tough act to pull through. My last short stint ended after discerning phase distortions, particularly on cello. Frequency cut-off, gain and again the placement will influence the sound.

And lastly, your hearing. Hearing imbalance or hearing impairment, that's just too bad. I know of no manufacturers who don't conduct listening tests before rolling out their products no matter how perfect the measurements might suggest. If you only know how the designers tweak their products to sound to their liking, they have their own cookbooks. What's on paper stays on the paper, the real test lies in the listening regardless of any product nor system. I certainly don't buy the idea that expensive systems equate good sound, that only wishful thinking.

Low hanging fruit

New is not better than old, rings your bell? They don't make stuff as good as before? Let's get down to the fact, with cost inflated, they don't make stuff as cheap anymore. Will the market be able to accept the unfriendly price remained to be seen. Blame it on the discontinued parts, banned substances, environmental compliance, rising labour costs, the economy of scale and inflation, up is the only way prices go. Vintage stuff, in particular, if any in good condition will drive the prices nut.

With an enormous amount of research and development in digital and speaker technology for the last decade sees the remarkable improvements. Amplification, for goodness sake, is nearly 70 years old of maturity. "The transistor was invented in 1947 and announced in 1948 by Bell Laboratory engineers John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. Bell associate William Shockley invented the junction transistor a few months later, and all three jointly shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 for inventing the transistor" in reference to https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/upgrade-repair-pc,3000-2.html. Except for Class D amplification, this new technology is slowly gathering momentum in spite of lukewarm acceptance. In the back of audiophiles' head, the stereotype mindset has been Class A is better than Class AB, Class AB is better than Class D. I do find Class A sounds slow, the heat is never a welcoming element in a tropic climate. I for one, wouldn't like to listen to music in a sauna. Now, Class D offers unprecedented cheap power, will it spur the speaker designers a free hand to low impedance and power-hungry speakers? We shall see.

With hindsight, I'm an advocate of high efficiency and friendly impedance speakers and what not to like? An easier route to get sound, that of course if you could live with their shortcomings. Every speaker works around the compromises, the good ones don't commit the sin of commission. I champion minimalist system for the purity of sound, detail and transparency. That way, the signal travels less, less signal meddling (by the equipment), on top of that, a saving on one interconnects, power cord, one plinth, one set resonance footers. In short, fewer variables in a system. The real benefit is no crazy power is required. All these freed up precious space, gives music the needed breathing space that promotes greater music expression.

Without a doubt, audioing is personal fulfilment. Audiophiles want to improve their system, they save up to build a bespoke system. Not a generic system, no glamour and glory. They skimp on car maintenance, family vacations, expensive dining and any other spendings. True audiophiles are willing to pay for sound improvement while hesitant on non-audio spendings. The sense of achievement is immeasurable, people do crazy things to boot.

Be it high-end or mid-level, I lookout for a proprietary property or character in a system. Audiophiles who craft their sound weigh a lot, you know when you hear one, trust me. A system with lots of love and cares, the sound speaks louder. While some excel on voices, some on soundstage, some on tones, some in dynamics and though not comprehensive in performance, they earn my respect for trying something than making silly comments.

A well written white paper can only be meaningful if it truly brings improvements. Absorbing technical hoo-ha and allows it to runs over your head prejudices your judgement. The court of public opinion is also equally misleading given different systems and experiences. We should never be wowed by technology superiority that preconditions our mind, the truth lies in the listening. Most importantly, don't be deceived by marketing hype if any.

Implementation is king in electrical and electronics. All parts work within tolerance, this goes without saying different sound with different batches of the component of the same make. Ironically, non-engineering background audiophiles try to pick up from everywhere, they never get the whole picture. Half-truth story. Those with engineering background audiophiles are neither any good especially audio isn't their line of work. Theories can be different from practical. Any electrical student will need to submit his amp project for graduation, good sound is still a far distance. Some audiophiles subscribe to "You're what you eat", totally sold on exotic components. No, it isn't entirely true, the circuit is the mother of all sound. Knowing what goes inside the hood doesn't make one a better audiophile, does it? The point is, do what audiophiles do best, listening. Big mistake to presume things they don't fully understand, a half-cooked knowledge. Topology is the job of an engineer, let the engineers put their skills to the best they could. Everything comes down to the sonic merit.

Good sound or not, audiophiles generally have a good consensus, in most cases. Then again, I don't agree speaker making is art. In my definition, art is a masterpiece, cannot be replicated or produced in quantity. Without prejudice, Klipsch folded horn amazes me for how the technologies go in the speaker. It's the work of a genius, well ahead of its time, so is Quad ESL57. A Chinese proverb says white cat matters not as long as it can catch mice, makes perfect sense in a system building. These speaker technologies inspired me. I'm more of a sound guy than an audiophile. Upgrade is a low hanging fruit, tweaking, on the other hand, will precipitate if you don't know what you're doing. Empirical studies on sound couldn't be very far from right. Like everything in life, nothing comes free, I pay for my lesson with time, efforts and money. Probably you have already noticed that I don't share much of my tweakings/Intelligent Properties in the public.

Audiophiles listen to take a sneak peep into the host's sonic ideas. This is what makes audio interesting. It's a learning opportunity not to be missed, we learn from each other how one arrives at what. Go have fun.