Burn in Speakers

Recently, there has been lots of conflicts in Review 33 forum. In addition, many of my audiophiles friends have also added lots of intersting new toys into their collection. For me, I have been doing the opposite, i.e cutting down the number of gears.

For the past few nights, I ahve been busy trying to "ran in" and burn in my speakers as my WE 10 inch speakers and JBL Aquarius have been in deep sleep for many years. To accerlerate the process, I ahve bought a cheap mini combo transistor amplifiers with radio. Using this transistor mini combo's radio, I let the speakers play for morning till night.

After 3 complete days and nights of burning in, my WE speakers sound has started to "open up". I am now switching the burning process between the 2 set of speakers. Even though the process is very troublesome, it has helped me to improve the sound quality without having the need to change gears!

One last dance before she leaves

This evening, my second of Western Electric KS16608 have performed their final dance before departing my home to another home : (

I have always loved the sound of the WE KS16608 using 6L6 tubes. After much consideration, I have finally bought the Western Electric 124b. With the acquisition of the WE124b, the KS16608 have been left in the cold. With the departure of the WE KS16608, I am now only left with the following:

HKG : Western Electric 124b + WE 120a + WE speakers/ JBL Aquarius/RCA fullrange
SIN : Leak TL12.1 + Marantz 7 + Western Electric 755a/LS3/5a
SIN : Pye Mozart + Tannoy Cantebury

I have kept quite a nos of speakers as the different in sound is more obvious with the change in speakers. Moreover, the speakers are more or less maintainence free. Teh amplifiers, on the other hand are quite troublesome as once left idle, it will give troubles.

My wish list for 2007 is either Marantz 8b or Marantz 2 or 9???

Like what some audiophile has said: 最好的找到了就keep最好的,其它的可以放給有緣人

Tannoy Canterbury with Pye Mozart HF10

I have tried the Tannoy Cantebury with the Pye Mozart using 6L6 tubes (8 watts) instead of the the EL34 tubes (10 watts). Listening to the music is really a leisure as the relax sound are also full of detail. Listening to Ingram Washington low voice can truly test the system's base as well especially the songWhat a difference a day makes..with his strong low vocal accompanied by the drum, soft piano and the saxaphone, one can easily visualise the music area and sound stage. The part when the solo saxophne was playing was especially musical! Both the Tannoy & Pye Mozart are really amazing gears!

Western Electric KS16698 & Matantz 8b

I have bought my first set of Western Electric KS16608 as "trial" and test to see if I really like the Western Electric sound and music from the 6L6 tubes. The purchase of the WE124 was a really a mental struggle as the costs involved are huge as well the rarity making it an almost impossible task.

My second set of the KS16608 came about when I found these mint condition set sitting at a hifi second hand store by chance. The set was so beautiful and matched pair making it an offer too good to to miss.

Last week I hand carried my Leak TL12.1 as well as my Pye Mozart back from Hong Kong. The Marantz amplifier has always been a legend. The famous Marantz include the Marant 1,2,7,8b & 9. Since I have already has the Marantz 7, I have always been tempted to try the Marant 7 + 9 combo. However, I have always liked the KT66 & 6L6 tubes making me being obsessed with the KT66/6L6 amplifiers (Quad II, Pye PF91, Leak 12.1 We 124, KS 16608, Mcintosh MC240 etc). My friend KY has always recommended Marantz 9 but I ws too afraid of the high power as well as the EL34 tubes.

With the Pye Moazrt (8 watts using 6L6, 10 watts when using EL34); the Leak TL12. & WE124 & KS16608 all having 12 watts amplifiers power, perhaps I should allow myself a chance of using the EL34 tube amplifier?

With this in mind, I have set up a task to serach for the Marantz 8b. Why not the marantz 9? Its the cost issue again. I am not sure if the EL34 tubes are suitable for me so the saftest approach is to try Marantz 7 + Marantz 8 first and if I really like the sound, I will then upgrade to Marantz 7 + 9 combo.

Anyone keen to purchase a mint condition Western Electric KS16608?

Real Itchy fingers, I must say.. : )

Leak TL12.1 & Pye Mozart - Back home!

This was my 3rd set of Leak TL12.1 that I have hand carried back. These were really heavy! However, I am very glad that the Leak TL12.1 is finally back home..otherwise I might just lose them by being stupid and selling them away during the heat of the moment!

Besides the Leak TL12.1, I have also brought back the Pye Mozart HF10 (yes, the second time)to match them my Tannoy Cantebury. I was foolish during my last trip to bring back the Pye to HK and sold them. Luckily, I was able to get them back before it was sold. So after, travelling from HKG-SIN, then back from SIN-HKG, and now back from HKG -SIN, I must say that I am a real fool..ha ha ha. I have tried to search for vintage single ended aplifiers and the truth is that there are not much choices out there for vintage single ended amplifiers. If you want affordable vintage single ended amplifier, go for the Pye!

Enjoy your music! I really need to go for a serious massage after hand carrying over 40 kg of vintage gears back from HKG to Singapore!

JBL Aquarius IV S109

My friend Alan Wong has once told me that the best pair of speakers he had listened to was the 8 inch JBL LE8T fullrange speakers. I have been heavily addicted to the fullrange speakers after having acquired the Western Electric 8 inch 755a, and the WE 10 inch as well as the 6 inch RCA. The 8 inch JBL was on my serach list. I have tried bidding it from ebay but has failed to get them. The recent ebay transaction for the pair of LE8T driver was about US$660 excluding shipping.

During my business trip to Taiwan last Monday, I went back to the vintage Hifi shop after work and the shop owner has told me that he has a customer wanting to sell his JBL LE8t with original cabinet using the 8 inch LE8T drivers as well as the 2 inch LE 20 high frequencies. Without hesistation, I immediately requested to audition them. I went back the next evening to listen to it and I immediately paid for the speakers and packed them. There are not very big (relatively speaking) about the size of two golf bags.

Since I am travelling with my colleague, we have managed to check them in (even though the weigh 22kg each) . How's the sound? When comparing with the 755a, it has the advantage of having the high frequencies tweeter, it has more high plus mid. However, when come to vocal, the 755a still reigh supreme. However, at half the price of the Altec 755a, one cannot complain much! I will have to burn in the speakers further in order to have a more detail comparison.

Cheers

JBL Control 1

I have been rather quiet lately owing to the flu. I have always wanted to set up a simple AV for watching DVD.

As such, last weekend I went hunting for a pair of vintage speakers and found a pair of "vintage" 1990 JBL Control 1 spekers in very good condition. The price for these pair of speakers are quite reasonable at HK$650. The seller told me that these 90s speakers are definitley better then the recent made in China JBL series.

Since I have not bought any of the amplifiers for my AV set up, I have decided to plug in my current Hifi set up. To my horror, the sound from the speakers were so flat that my fullrange speakers sounded so much dynamic and so much nicer then these. I was so dissapointed, I must say. After which, I have just left them aside.

A few days has passed, and I remembered someone told me that any set of speakers left un-played for a while will need some serious "burn in" in order to get the sound back. As such, I have decided to plug in a Mini Co amplifiers and let the speakes "burn in" for a couple of hours.

During the evening, when I played the speakers, I must say that the sound is getting much better, with more dynamism and control! For a pair of HK$650 speakers, I must say that these are values for money speakers!

Good CD - Huang De Jiang's Contentment

This CD has a special meaning. It is from a good friend in Singapore De Jiang. De Jiang is a DJ from Mediacorp.

I remember when I first came to Hong Kong, he was bringing me around and he was here to gain inspiration for his Cds.

All the songs from the CD were written and composed by him. I was futunate to be the first few to audition them. One of my favourite was the song title: Contentment, both the Mandarin & Malay version. Yes, Malay version of the song as well.

All the lyrics were full of real emotion and are able to express our various emotions and feelings..If you happen to be at a CD shop, please keep a look out for Huang De Jiang, Kevin's CD produced by Dashing Music..

Contentment...what a strong emotional stage..

Western Electric audition

Last Saturday, Gingers and Limage came over to my place to audition my pair of WE 124 + WE120a + WE speakers.

Limage has a pair of golden ears. He was able to detect that one of my speakers was loose resulting in some light "sizzing" sound when the drivers were played loud.

Following the audition, I went down to Sam Swee Po and managed to buy a proper screw driver to tighten the screw. After the minor DIY, the "sizzing" noise dissappeared!

Ginger prefers the sound without the high frequency tweeter. For me, the high frequency help give a better bigger and soundstage.

Keeping it simple - Hifi

I was down with serious flu for the past few days which has affected my mood and my ability to be active. Luckily, there was music to accompany me during these passive period.

With the acquistion of the Western Electric 124b, I have been testing them with the Fisher 400CX, Fisher 50C and the WE 120a. The Fisher 400CX sounded very modern and "hifi". The Fisher 50c sounded more mallow and warm. The WE 120a sounded more balance.

In the end, owing to circumstances beyond my control, I am left with only the WE 120a to accompany my WE 124.

After much running in, the sound from the combination began to sound much more open. I have added a simple Isophone tweeter to give the whole soundstage more body. Pereviously my Electro Voice 35 tweeter sounded too loud thereby not being able to harmonise well with my WE speakers.

I have decided to use the We120a preampliers as it is newly assembled (using NOS stocks parts), and the background is very quiet. One of my hifi audiophiles friend who used to collect lots of vintage amplifiers and pre-amplifiers are beganiing to sell off his collection. He has commented that vintage pre-amplifier, owing to ageing, will tend to be noisy in background. As such, his personal view is to use a modern pre amplifier + vintage power amplifier in oder to bring the best of both world. As such, I have have decided to keep the WE120a for my WE124 ( I have called them the WE combo)

I have packed my Leak TL12.1 to be ready to hand carry back to Singapore to use with my Marantz 7 in Mid May 2007. The Leak TL12.1 has a strong gain. When used with the Fisher 400CX, I will have to tone down the volume to the minimum in order to listen. Othewise, the sound will be too loud. As such, the Leak TL12.1 is a perfect match for the more neutral Marantz 7 pre amplifier.

In summary, I will only have the following gears:

• HKG: WE124 + WE120a + WE/RCA full range speakers
• SIN : Pye Mozart HF 10 + Tannoy Cantebury (Living room)
• SIN : Leak TL12.1 + Marantz 7 + WE 755a (Study room)

I am currently going against the thrend in HKG as many audiophiles were busy buying and collecting. With the objective of keeping it simple, I have strived to improve on the "quality" of my gears and keeping the munber down to a manageable level, since one can pnly listen to one set of hifi at any given time.

Western Electric 10 inch speakers finally paired!

The other unit of the Western Electric 10 inch speaker has finally arrived. I was fortunate to be able to pair them up as one unit was found in Hong Kong and the other from the USA.

The 10 inch speakers have a bigger sound stage then the 8 inch 755a. For vocal music, the 8 inch 755a reign supreme while the 10 inch has a wider sound stage as well as atmosphere. However, given the limitation of the original cabinet, the bass is somewhat limited but its vocal is still quite solid though..

Over the weekend, I have managed to streamline my Western Electric 100f to an audiophiles who can make use of them more. I have decided to let go many of my items as I am finding it difficult to rotate the amplifiers owing to time constraints as a result of the need for frequent travelling.

Currently, I have three set of power amplifiers here in Hong Kong, namely the WE 124b, Leak TL12.1, as well as the Pye Mozart HF10. I intend to bring the Pye as well as the Leak TL12.1 back to Singapore and keep only the WE 124b + WE120a + WE 10 inch speakers here. One set of system will be sufficient for my use here. This will help me to clear away space needed to keep the apartment spacious.

After several days of running in, the 10 inch speakers have began to warm up!

The joy of Hifi

I guess every audiophiles will go through different stages of equipment changes in order to find the so called "ultimate" dream set. For me, the joy in travelling in these long & winding road lies in the experiences of playing with them rather then trying to posses all of them.

Throughout the two years, I ahve had the opportunities to find, owned and sold many interesting vintage hifi gears. From the listening and mixing and matching of the various gears, I have finally come very close to finding those amplifiers that I can listen and keep for life.

• Set 1: Marantz 7 + Leak TL12.1 + 755a
• Set 2: Pye Mozart HF10 + Tannoy Cantebury.
• Set 3: Western Electric 124 + WE 120a + WE 10 inch speakers

It all started with the search for powerful amplifier (such as the Mcintosh MC240) to very low power (5Watts) single ended, from LS3/5a to big tannoy Speakers and then to fullrange speakers. In the end, I like Western Electric sound basing on its natural & smooth music where you can listen to WE for hours without feeling tired. The Leak TL12.1, on the other hand, will gives one the dynamism and power with full control as well as smooth music.The Pye Mozart + Tannoy combo will give one the refined and balance strength for the highly sensitive speakers. I used to own the Fishers pre-amplifiers. However, owing to circumstances beyond my control, the seller last minute has decided not to sell me his Fisher 50c. I was dissapointed and upset initially. However, after a while, I have managed to convince myself to let it go..as what is yours will be yours!

Good CD - Priscilla Chan CD

If you intend to keep only one Prisicilla Chan CD, this will be it! The Japanese pressed edition is one of the few expensive CDs that I own. The current price is HK$1300 and it was $1800 at one time.

The singing & recording was great. Prisilla was the queen of pop in the 1990s and many of her songs became true classic!

Her singing skill will make todays "singers" a shame of their voices..But now, its about packaging & marketing..

Great CD - Faye & 審死官

These two are one of the few bast CDS from Faye Wong. In fact, many singers have tried to sing songs by Theresa Teng and sounded like Theresa. Faye is the only singer being able to have her own unique style (out of the shawdow of Theresa)

The recording of the 審死官 CD is superb in terms of its various placement!

Western Electric 10 inch speakers

I must be out of my mind in being poisoned by the Western Electric fullrange speakers. This is the Western electric 10 inch alnico fullrange speakers. I was told that the speakers were produced Jensen for Western Electric (see the red wording INSP W.E.CO). The speakers were very well built & solid and the size of the magnet is really huge!

Alnico speakers produce a sweet, warm, vintage tone. They sound best at low levels and are great for blues, jazz and mellow rock. Alnico speakers respond quickly, giving the musician a “one with the amp” feel.

Alnico speakers are made with magnets containing aluminum, nickel and cobalt. They are often featured in print as “AlNiCo”, symbolizing the three respective elements. Cobalt is difficult to procure these days .

I have tested it briefly and the speaker is fully functional. I am currently waiting for the second unit to arrive from US so that I could matched them up as a pair for stereo use, as these were made for mono use previously.

Once the speakers have arrived, I will then look for carpenter to stay a project in building a pair of cabinet for these 10 inch speakers. With the acqusition of these 10 inch speakers, I have now managed to have a 6 inch RCA fullrange, 2 pair of 8 inch 755a, one 10 inch WE and a 12 inch Tannoy Cantebury..what a world of speakers..

Please visit: http://www.jensenvintage.com/vin-home.htm

Hifi community

The Hifi community can be very complex. Even though listening to music is supposed to be a very relaxed experience, it can get very complex and even stressful at times. This is especially so since music is fill of emotions and music representation also involves complex human preference and taste.

Very often, audiophiles will have huge dispute over what they consider "good sound" and what they consider "good hifi equiptments". I used to be very active in "audiophiole home visit" to listen to their set up and system. However, recently, I have reduced such visits owing to complex human relation issues involving equipement, method of listening as well as personal pride.

For me, hifi is jut a tool to bring out the best music. My own prefernce is that it should be able to bring out the best in the most efficient manner. In addition, very often, when requested by friends, I would simply cut love the equipmets to them very easily. this has also led to some audiophiles mis-conception that I do not treasure what I find. Perhaps, I treasure friendship more then the equipments!

Fulll range speakers addict

Ever since I have started playing with 755a fullrange speakers, I have been converted to become a fullrange speakers addict.

The sound from my WE124 + We120a +755a is so real that one can easily feel the presence of the instruments in front of you.

I love full range speakers because of its coherency. As a result of this coherency, the imaging is good and accurate most of the time. The reproduction of vocal & the musical instruments are also wonderful.

Currently, I have 2 set of the 8 inch 755a namely the Western Electric 755a (now in Singapore) and the Altec 755a (HKG) and one 6 inch RCA fullrange speakers. The fullrange speaker has no crossover and the size of the cabinet will have impact on the reproduction of sound. There are some who used the "open baffle" approach to play with it while others has built all kind of cabinet to get the best out of the speakers.

In short, fullrangers are good because of their simplicity. Frequency extremes will be compromised as it's only a single driver. For this kind of speaker, normally, either you like it or hate it. The bass is a little lacking to most people. Thus, when listening to pure vocal & light instruments, the 755a full range can be considered the king of all kinds..ha ha

Mixed & Matched Hifi

I have always wanted to do some DIY with my Hifi. However, gievn the limited time at night, I ahev not been able to do any DIY at all. I have bought the TopGun integrated amplifier but I just could not find the time to "upgrade" it. Moreover, originally, I have wanted to convert my Western Electric 100f into mono bloc integrated amplifiers for use with my fullrange speakers by doing a simple "by pass" of the 5 inch Jensen speakers. However, with the "buying back" of my Pye Mozart mono bloc single ended amplifiers, it has made me change my mind on the DIY project.

Instead, I ahve been very busy "playing" with the various mixed and matched combination. Examples:

WE 124 + WE 120a + 755a;

WE 124 + Fisher 50C + 755a;

Leak TL12.1 + Fisher 50C;

Leak TL12.1 + WE 120a.

In addition, I have also been busy with my Pye Mozart + RCA fullrange & Pye Mozart + 755a; plus pye mozart using EL34 tubes versus 6L6G tubes...

The various combinations will have various effects on the music production. Which is the best? I am still trying out the various combinations! Enjoy!

RCA fullrange speakers again

I have been eyeing to buy teh new Pionneer Pure Malt VP speakers for a while. The original selling price is HK$5800. Looking at the thrend, it seems that more and more people arer selling them at the R33 second hand forum and the latest price is now $5000, meaning that the price might drop to $5000 or less in the coming months...This is the problem with buying new hifi items where prices tended to depreciates with time, while vintage items prices tend to increase owing to short supply. Examples are Leak TL12.1, Western Electric gears, etc..

I must be getting old and nostagic..Yesterday afternoon, I was going through some of the old hifi photos in my PC and I saw these pictures of the RCA 6 inch fullrange speakers which reminded me of the good times I had with them many moths ago.

Without any hesitation, I called the buyer and and tried my best to ask him to sell back the speakers to me as he has not been using them while waiting to set up his system. These set of RCA speakers with original cabinet looks like my 755a cabinet with a curve up shape. The challange right now is to try to bring out the full potential of the speakers like what I did with the 755a.

With the coming back of the single ended Pye Mozart HF 10, it will be a good opportunity to match them up before I bring back the Pye Mozart for my Tannoy cantebury in Singapore. Buying back the Pye Mozart and the RCA fullrange speakers have taught me some hard lessons. It is very easy to take things for granted and sell them quickly. Once it is gone, you will know how much you have liked them by measuring how much you have missed them.

For me,the WE 755a, Tannoy Cantebury, RCA speakers, Leak TL12.1 + Fisher 50C, WE 124 + 120a, are definitely items I intend to keep for a long time as it has taken me such a long time to serach for them, especially in such prestine conditions..

Enjoy your hifi toys!

Pye again

Previously, I have owned a pair of Pye PF91, Pye Mozart HF20 and a pair of Pye Mozart HF10.

During my last shifting of apartment,I have brought back my Pye HF10 to Singapore with my Tannoy. It fitted perfectly with my decoration as well as the furnature when used in Singapore. For some unknown reason, I have brought them back to HKG and sold it to a friend.

Following which, I have been searching for small unit of integrated amplifier to be use with my Tannoy, in the living room in Singapore. I have tried buying cheap integrated Top Gun amplifier and Pilot 500 amplifier but it just could not fit into the decoration and my cabinet. Without much choice, I have approched my friend and I was quite happy to be able to buy back and re-owned my Pye Mozart single ended amplfier.

This time, I will bring it back to Singapore and ensure it stays there for a long long time! ha ha ha!