Its been awhile since I visited this Malacca's hidden gem. The last visit must be about 2 years ago where the set up was in the living room and the foundation of the man cave was just about to be laid down. There were also 2 sets of speakers; the Harbeth and Audio Note. Both driven by the the pre and monoblocks by our locally bred talent, Ben.
While the Ben's power amplification and source are maintained, Faisal@CB have recently upgraded his speakers to a pair of Avantgarde Acoustic Uno Nano horn speakers. The man cave have also been completed albeit the interior is still work in progress. For this session, Faisal used Ben's passive pre amp as well together with Tricord Dino phono stage.
I spent about 3 hours listening to this newly acquired speakers. To be honest, I had a concern on this speakers will sound a bit sharp and shrill based on my previous listening experience of a similar speakers. The session started off with Eric Clapton unplugged. This first spin clearly shows the strength of this speakers which is clarity. The guitar works on this LP really shine through. There was some signs of restricted highs but we were just warming up. Bass was controlled and not overwhelming but my concern was immediately diminished. The highs although sligghtly restricted was actually sweet and luscious sounding.
Second track was one of my favourite; Fly Me To The Moon by Diana Krall frlmo her Live in Paris album. My my my....the vocal on this was so energised that it truely presented the live ambient (but without the Eiffel Tower behind it :). The piano sounded melodic and the percussion, especially the snare sounded dispersed in a good way. A good blend of bass subtlety from the tom toms and sweet highs from the ride and hihat.
So, was it just enjoyable with unplugged, strings and live music? We then put on Up and Adam by Lee Ritenour. Now, this was a different level. My excitement just elevated a notch. The level emotion intimacy on this track was very revealing. This is where I started to shake my head and stamp my feet to the beat of the drums. And when I get emotionally engaged to certain performance like this, I basically stop 'evaluating' a set up. There is no point anymore as that is the objective of listening to music; to be emotinally connected and just drown yourself in enjoyment.
There were other tracks that we played but as I mentioned, I stopped my critical listening after this track above. I was just enjoying the music and chit chat with Faisal and another friend Samad. At the end of the session however, Faisal wanted to see what Siltech speaker cable can do. So I brought my 330L Siltech Anniversary cable for him to try it out. Another joy of this hobby iswhen we get to share different accessories etc. The key to this is to put aside any prejudgement and also be open to whatever the comments that comes with it.
I would like to thank Faisal and also Samad for the session and also post session of makan2. This is a fine example of how passion towards music and patience in setting up a hifi system really bears the fruit. It was not an easy journey for Faisal with several different speakers have landed in his set up. But once you get to a certain level, the satisfaction can be clearly seen from his expression that night. He still wants to see what else can be extracted from his set up, so I would say.... carry on.
