Señor Sensible Visits A Star...AUDIOSTAR! I always give credit where credit is due, and the new role of Karate Kid guru Pat Morita is now a supreme audio session setter as weeks ago, he booked my long time good friend and partner
Señor Sensible himself Lito Gelano for a trip to
audiostar Val V.'s lair in Sta. Rosa. And good thing he inserted me in the line-up.
Without much ado, here is a picture worth a thousand words, as we start from the very beginning.
The all-important luncheon, hosted by Val and JAA:
Now that we've got that out of the way, we now chronicle the 'MEET', "Hola!" and another "Hola!". That handshake may have not shaken the world, but something else did, and I shall get to that later.
And of course, a pic of the now famous ANGELINA, known for her luscious lips and other things.
If you look closely on the left side of Angelina, you sort of see her lips, and below, 2 eyes and a big mouth.
And to its right, a 'woofer'- actually a subwoofer - the Rythmik.
Now that we've gotten the gears out of the way too, we get to see the personalities who reached the 'star'.
They all look 'serious'.
This is my first time for listen to Val's system with the Transfiguration Phoenix Cartridge. Pat Morita told me that this is the main course of the event as this was the latest addition aside from the 'tweaks' that Val and JAA made since my last visit.
After this afternoon's session, I pondered on Val's system as one of the most unique I have seen and heard. I don't think I have seen one such system with DIY horn speakers driven with 3 single-ended tube amps, active crossover network, numerous buffer units, DIY pre-amps, a modern turntable plus another vintage turntable, and a very controlled and treated listening room. And all of these were configured in the mind of Val and nicely executed in form with patience and pain-staking hard work. That is very clear to me. Today also marks the first time I'm hearing the Rythmik subwoofers, which were carefully set-up and calibrated by JAA. At the first sight of the Angelinas, one would think that with those humongous 15 inch woofers all over them, the last thing one would need was a subwoofer, let alone a pair. My thoughts changed after the session, as JAA explained to me that those huge woofers intrinsically have short excursions and cannot handle low bass properly. With the subs, the foundation stood its ground low bass were handled not only with authority but with room-shaking impact - that is the 'shaking' thing I referred to earlier.
I always like to write my impressions quick lest I forget. And to test the bass quality and integration we heard them in its full glory in Cantate Domino and Bob Fulton's organ record. Definitely the subs just sailed through like eating breakfast.
The most staggering presentation was the last cut of Side 1, Reunion on RR's Dafos LP. Honestly, I have never heard such a seamless rendition of it coupled with the most powerful percussion sound I have heard in a long long time. The volume was no-holds-barred, and the presence of Pat Morita just about guaranteed that. When it comes to torture tests, walang patawad si Pat.
I thought I had heard the fiercest bass whacks on some other large speakers before but this one is totally in another league and dimension. These subs gave me the notion that I ain't heard nothing yet. WOW!
Moving on to the other new toy in the house, the Transfiguration Phoenix cart. Pat had trumpeted it no end prior to my experience today, and I had never heard a Transfiguration cart in my life. Pat knows that I'm a lifelong Koetsu lover with the Koetsu blood running all over my veins, but he issued me a friendly challenge - listen and you will hear. So our ultimate test, bring out Carol Kidd and let's see if there's still a tomorrow!
The cut 'When I Dream' was played, and after that, I turned to Lito and asked him (with my own answer kept secret) - Does the voice have the patented Koetsu lushness? He answered: I think so! My thoughts? I think so too!
Pat, what are you doing? Changing my bloodline? We joked that we're going to repaint his Tranfiguration cart to look like wood since it has the lushness of the 'wood'. The thing is holding its own. I'm impressed. Well, Pat should know, he owns old old versions of the Koetsu Black and a Long Body Rosewood, one day I hope he brings them to my place for 'further testing'.
But he pointed out that his Phoenix does not only do lush vocals, they can send thunder and lightning too with incredible swiftness. This I heard as well.
In the end, I was very impressed with Val's sound for what it is and for what he has tried hard to do and achieve his goal. He talks of endless tweaks in between the years since he assembled the Angelinas by experimenting crossover points and small tweaks. That has been very fruitful, I can see. And he's definitely happy about it. The good thing is that Val KNOWS what he wants and sets out to do it. We're not talking about price here, as I heard that the speakers are not cheap by any standards, but at what his own readings and research points to, and how he sets out to construct it piece by piece, and actually achieves it to his own satisfaction. This is one system that defies pre-conceived notions, that huge bulky looking speakers cannot image in such a small room. The fact it, they do, and Lito even commented to me at one point - 'I'm hearing a center image even though I'm sitting on the left side of the couch.' That is testimony enough to me, that this system has gone beyond the expectations of its physical design, and all because 'when you wish upon a star', you dreams CAN come true. Congrats to you, Val and John. Well done and well executed.