I did it My Way

The fifth and sixth AGS copy, oh my God...... they are at service now. This will one of the hardest thoughts to pen. Initial listening reveals nothing really stand out but there is a nuanced quality I can't quite pin down. No change of tonal colour and yet it's how AGS copy puts the music together, an ineffable harmoniousnesses. I need to maintain a cool head what has been given rise to and not to get carried away to later regret for my words. Hard to retreat what has been said, people will remember one silly remark than your thousand sensible remarks. The right thing to do now is allow the music sing for a day or two or three, regulating a gush of blood before penning.

How I long for sound that devoid of quirkiness. I work with the room for a lesser deviation of peak and valley than to curtail the energy. My empirical evidence finds that AGS copy really smoothen out the presentation. In-room acoustics accords a calmer presentation. At their rightful spots, the walls vanished, the room element is minimized. 

I perceived a remarkable sonorousness with a gain in loudness and definition. Sound moves freely without restriction to arrive at a monasterial level tranquility. Sound cuts through the air with ease and notably a darker backdrop. The beaming effect illustrates better tweeters to lead me to believe digging deep into the recordings. Graceful details and nuances greet, less agitated sound naturally prompts me to crank the volume up. To turn up the volume and not feeling uneasy is the sign of a quiet room.

Longer sustain back-to-back with delicacy and subtlety replicates liveness. Vocal phrasing, vibrato and diaphragmic activities bring about emotions I doubt measurements can tell. The finest hour in your private room has to be most audio enthusiasts strive for a late-night listening. This is magical, shut up and listen.

In reference to Fletcher and Munson curves, given our insensitivity to low bass, at 85dB SPL listening, there is dire compensation of a +3 to +5 dB at 100Hz, +8 to +10 dB at 50Hz and a whopping +12 to +15 dB at 30Hz. Make use of your room gain, it's free. I allow my bass energy to run by its course in the name of equal loudness. To my amazement, AGS copy introduces bigger, brawnier and more ball-ish bass that sounded to me natural. A fuller bass comes with a greater soundstage, with the greater musical immersion. This is a birthright of a big system. Ok, I come clean. I have a dirty secret to tidy up the edgy bass.

To assess low bass, look no further than the pipe organ playback of Cantate Domino under Proprius label. The pipe organ witting majesty and modulations are unblemished, I worked very hard to arrive to this. AGS copy does its part too. Mezzo soprano stays free of smearing and the choir members are easily depictable at their designated row and height. Kid you not, I picturized more separated heads, palpably. Besides the resounding of the vault ceiling, this recording encapsulates a complex mix of sound in a wide bandwidth, with the exception of mid bass punch, no wonder it remains a demo track for many.

On to the Chinese favourite test track, Tsai Qin's 渡口 Du Kou. It opens with a pronounced low bass, resolute and defined. AGS copy exemplifies bass wholeness. I can't complain much but bigger systems will produce even bigger bass given their ability to move more acoustic energy.

On to On Friday Night in San Francisco featuring three great guitarists, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin and Paco DiLucia. Well ahead of me, this album was introduced to me by an Italian engineer back in the late 90s. Blame my infancy. Moving forward, the flamboyance of Flamenco guitar, the fury inter exchanges are furious and the harmony, intuitively, I let my guard down and allow the music takes its course. Wonderfully recorded, the clarity is there, the ambiance is there, the crowd is there, you couldn't ask for more. AGS copy brings the stage closer, nothing suggests over blown close miking like sound, to me, unnatural. 

I'd like to reiterate that audio is mostly about your acoustic management. Meticulosity always never goes unheard. Rather than jumping down the rabbit hole of upgrading, not only exhausting financial resources and time, but you will also come back to full circle. I had been through all that and paid my dues. I confess that AGS copy is my last piece of puzzle and I will close with Frank Sinatra's My Way. 

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll make it clear
I'll state my case, of which I am certain
I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it, I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much, much more
I did it, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
And through it all, whenever there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and stood tall
And did it, did it my way

I've loved, laughed and cried
I had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as the tears subside
I find that it's all so amusing
And to think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
No, no, not me
I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
Naught to say the things that he truly feels
And not the words of someone who kneels
That record shows I took all the blows
And did it my way.

Crossing the finishing line

I was curious about Nihon Onkyo Acoustic Groove System not many didn't talk much of. I had seen my Philippino audio enthusiasts using them years ago but they didn't arouse my interest. Just another diffuser, nothing much to shout about, I thought. I, myself am no stranger to diffusers. QRD diffusers, yuk! I chucked them away for they introduce smearing.

Not taking my foot off the gas, my room is quiet. I'm proud of it. Not dead and not too alive, just right. Room acoustics in my book, is the key to sonic utopia, the rest are the jigsaw puzzles. This is a hornet's nest in the audio community since electronics and loudspeakers are the epicentre. Make sense because this is where the big money. It's not over the top to say that I voice my system with room acoustics. Somehow, I got the itch wanted to try out the pricey AGS. Before jumping the gun, I made a prototype to test the waters. To my astonishment, the result was instantaneous and beyond anything I could imagine. Searching high and low for a carpenter to do small custom woodwork. Then, I bumped into a guy in the Facebook. After weeks of anxiety, many excuses with too many broken promises, I realized I'm a victim of a scam. It was too easy. Fund transferred, no work is done. Feeling dejected will not help, I just have to accept it and move on. A setback, nevertheless, banking on luck, I determined going another shot.

Knowing the working principal of diffuser, breaking the intermodulation, I sketched my version of AGS. Now, long story short, life is too short for boring stories. I have now got two pieces of wooden diffusers on my floor and two on the side walls. I came to these spots that yield an optimal result.

Beating the odds, these AGS copies are simply phenomenal, I scratched my head asking how on earth to this transformation. A calculated move, it was better than my prototype if you wanted to know. My bass definition ups, cleaner and with no cheesy strings attached if you know what I mean. The mud plague from the midbass, not that obvious as before but shows its presence. With AGS copies, this has been effectively dealt with. You see, the current offerings in the market attenuate the midbass for the sake of midrange clarity, leading to higher fidelity and clipped midbass. On delicate vocals, my big standmount speakers behave like a lifelike imaged monitor, not liken to those razor sharp delineated and ultra refined images of 5-incher bookshelf speakers. The latter sounds unrealistic, stretched and miniaturized.

I dare you listen to Celine Dione's The Power of Love from The Colour of My Love, this is not an audiophile album but real music. In my system, you can't miss the brawny midbass as it ought to be, that weight up the delivery. Since when pops' bass is giving its way to vocal? Only One Road, phew....! Her powerful delivery makes her an undisputed diva, relentless energy.

Second trait, the clarity across the whole band is a delight. No change in tonal colour and there's an illusion of spatiality and spaciousness. Soundstage grows in depth and width. It's big enough to transport me to a private mini concert, the artist is singing right in front just for me. Surround effect is present.

Thirdly, the sustain. Imagine the weight of Steinway grand concert piano and extended sustain. Raising hairs moment. In-between notes are separated and liberated. I must admit that 12 incher driver helps. Nothing is overly defined here which is not realistic. No over-stretched to arrive at screaming effect when driven hard, instead they maintain a relaxed demeanor.

These traits alone worth gold. I should be receiving my fifth and sixth AGS tomorrow if nothing goes wrong, it will complete my sonic puzzle sheet. I know, I fully understand the law of diminishing effect but I'm all for it. I can see myself crossing the finishing line with one foot over the line already a passion I started more than 3 decades ago. Now, I need to stress the time span is irrelevant, my first twenty years were all electronics, loudspeakers and cabling, no difference than any audio enthusiasts. Unfortunately, my approach back then leads me nowhere but continuous upgrade. The last ten years or more on acoustics really bring fruition. The depth of acoustics and the right course of direction make a real difference, I'm sure many have been in this passion longer than me. 

Lastly, it may seem that I'm all talk no substance. Actually, I'm not a noisy audio enthusiast even with my close audio circle. I share very little and I apologize that blogspot doesn't allow me to post images to substantiate my words. And I take my words seriously.