My Audio JourneyWhere do I begin? Not sounding like Frank Sinatra, I thought a bit about how I was going to tell the story of my audio journey after Hon. Jack suggested that we do chronicle our journey. Shall I start when I first bought my two channell set-up back in 1988 or when I got hooked on car audio and started learning about audio jargon like imaging, sound staging blah blah blah back in 2000?
I have always loved music. I've always told people I meet from time to time that I'd probably die without music. To me "Music is the language of the world". I have also always dreamed of having a nice system to listen to my music collection.
I started collecting CDs back in 1988 when I bought my first stereo system (An Onkyo amp, Onkyo CD player, a Marantz dual Tape deck and yes a sansui equalizer with the controls in a "v" formation.
My speakers were JBLLX22's). I remember the first CD I bought was Lee Ritenour's "Rit" album. I have collected as much as 600CDs since that fateful day, and have copied a lot more from friends. I kept that system working for 15 years until I stored it to concentrate on car audio.
The Onkyo Receiver Amp, sansui equalizer and Tono Violin pre-ampMy first foray into rather serious home audio with the Consonance MB100 (on loan from Hansen), my old stereo, the Tono Violin, a Toshiba DVD Player (24bit/192KHz) used as a CD player and etc.A few car audio buffs met one day me included for a couple of drinks at Pier One at the Fort. That signalled the formation of the kotseaudioclub as a breakaway group of the kotse.com site. That was sometime in the year 2000 if I am not mistaken. A few years of non-stop upgrades in search of audio nirvana in an undoubtedly difficult space full of unwanted vibrations I gave up.
I gave up car audio after I met Hansen (hyperion) and got the chance to listen to his home audio. I remember listening to Spyro Gyra's "Morning Dance" and I thought it was a different arrangement because I was hearing a lot of things in the background that you would not hear in an ordinary system. Like Cold Turkey, I decided to switch to home audio. I told myself that this was what I was looking for anyway. I sold at least about close to 20 items from my car audio equipment collection (Im still keeping an old school alpine 7949 headunit and prcessor though
) and started auditioning for a home audio system. Hansen was kind enough to lend me his Consonance M100 and master Rene was also kind enough to let me audition a few amps like the ST70 and Cary Audio SLA70. The Tono preamp was hot at that time so I had the chance to own one in this journey of mine.
But still I could not forget the kind of music that was produced by that Conrad Johnson amp Hansen had. It was a Premier 11 I was told and it would cost me an arm and a leg!
So I settled for an CJ MV50 amp and later on got my hands on a CJ PV10BL pre-amp via e-bay.
I was happy! Yes I was happy listening to my CDs! I gave me extreme pleasure listening to them in a different light, much more when I got a Consonance Reference 2.2 CDP.
But then, I kept wondering why WS was crazy about vinyl.
Since the barkada had a few hundred LPs lying around I volunteered to be the caretaker. I bought a Technics SLD20, travelling from QC to Cavite to get it. What made me happy about the whole things was that finally I was able to listen to some of the music me and my barkada used to listen to from way back (which was difficult to find on CD). Artists like Michael Urbaniak, Michael Peddiccin, Ernie Watts, Patrice Rushen, Miquel Brown, Mike Francis, Tears For Fears, and so many more, took me down memory lane. The barkada started hanging out at home and we all took that trip down memory lane together. It was nice to know that every happy, sad, funny and stupid thing we did back then had music as its background. The parties we crashed at the Corinthian Clubhouse, Where Else (we called it Saan Pa!
), and many more places I can't recall.
The Technics SLD20 I got from "wiretrain", may libre pang extra cart! I've so much fun collecting vinyl. I've met many people along the way, all very accomodating and all very friendly. Who says its a dog eats dog world out there? with so many nice people around, that is absolutely not true!
My journey hasn't been long, surely not as long as the veterans of WS, but it will continue, to where it takes me I don't know. I look forward to the day when I could buy a Michell Orbe just like what Doc Lito has
or an Origin Live Silver tonearm on my Goldring GR1.2. Ain't that something?
My journey continues, see you along the way
This is my system right now. I'll tell you the story about the Unity Audio Signature 1 floorstanders when I have time to write again.
The Unity Audio Signature 1Sometime last year a Unity Audio Signature 1 floorstanders came up for sale. I had the Dali Suite 2.8 already and I was happy with it. It was a very lively speaker with very good highs extension and an equally good low end extension. I wasn't really looking for a replacement but I got curious with the Unity Audio after my Google search yielded a brochure for this early 90s speaker. It was using the world's first balanced Class A crossover that is linear in phase in both the positive and negative direction. With this crossover, a multi driver loudspeaker is for the first time capable of reproducing the inner detail of the finest ribbon and electrostatic loudspeakers while maintaining the dynamic characteristics of a moving coil loudspeaker. Weighing 58 pounds with 10" cast frame woofers, 7" midrange and silk-dome tweeters with an efficiency of 90db, I thought that it was solidly built. It would not have been called a Signature series if it wasn't good. So off I went to the seller bringing with me my whole set-up to audition. (I wish the seller had lent me the speakers
) First thing I noticed after hooking it up was the highs extension or decay, it was very good. The midrange was lush and the low end was tight (not very, but just enough). A short negotiation ensued and I was off loading my system and the speakers, happy with my catch.
I marveled at the speakers and its build quality, while pleasurably listening to it for the next few days. One morning I noticed that there was white powdery stuff around the mid bass, and it was falling off the floor.
Notice the white stuff around the speakersI opened it up and this was what I found!
Magnesium rust on the both the left and right speakers. That thing smelled like vinegar!I immediately removed all the speakers to check the extent of the rust. Lo and behold, all the drivers were attacked!
Mojo Jhelo to the Rescue!
I had the drivers repaired and they came back almost like new, sounding better than ever. However, I felt that I wasn't enjoying what the speakers could give out so I started finding out how I could buy new drivers. By the power of google I was able to locate a guy in Singapore who was selling the 7" Vifa P17WJ. I was also able to locate a guy in Manchester who was more than happy to sell the 10" SEAS P25REX drivers,which he said was a non-moving item. I won the Morel MDT30S on e-bay (the original was a Morel MDT30), the difference being the one I won was the shielded version. It took a few months before I got all three pairs of drivers to Manila. I waited for all three to arrived before I installed them so that they would break in all at the same time.
The original Morel MDT30 silk dome tweetersThe 10" SEAS P25REX down-firing woofersThe right speaker at attention! after the installation I'm happy I came across these babies. Despite the troubles I had to go through I still feel rewarded that I have found speakers that sounds like a hundred thousand bucks!
Conrad Johnson MV60Finally its here! I love the sound! Nice tight low end and very good highs extension and decay. This replaces the MV-50 amp which has given me so much satisfaction over the last year or so.
My New Audio RackMy new audio rack just to tidy up my set-up.
My heartfelt thanks to highlander for helping me get it done. The rack is made of solid wood from Baguio. It is a very heavy rack and 4 people will have a hard time carrying it. All the shelves are solid wood 2.5 inches thick and the posts are 2.5 square inches.
My current set-up:
a. Conrad Johnson MV60 amp (Tungsol Reissue EL34B, Tungsol Reissue 12AX7)
b. Conrad Johnson PV12 pre-amp (Mullard 12AU7, Mundorf Silver/Gold, interior and underside damped with Dynamat, upgraded power cables with hubble plugs)
c. Consonance Reference 2.2 CDP (Sovtek 6h30Pi, Mundorf Silver/Gold, interior, underside and CD tray damped with Dynamat)
d. VPI HW19MKIII with Rega RB700 and Denon DL103R GBM cart
e. Goldring GR1.2 TT on sandbox, Clear Audio Counterweight upgrade, Goldring 1042 Cart
f. Cambridge Azur 640P Phonostage Tweaked with blackgate. rubycon and panasonic caps and LM4562 opamps (see details here
http://www.wiredstate.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=19390&p=300988&hilit=cambridge+audio+640P#p300988)
g. Denon AU300LC Step-up transformer
h. Unity Audio Signature 1
http://www.cerioustechnologies.com/Unity/Brochures.html i. Paul Speltz anticables (speaker wires and ICs)
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue18/anticables.htmj. Siltech power cables
k. Bada LB3300 Line Conditioner
l. Quad 24P Phono Pre-amplifier
Some picturesMy Set-up as it stands today September 2009Thanks for reading!