Then you should 'loan' Chord Rumor as well seriously. Can compar with QED.
But you sure they willing to loan hi end interconnect & speakers + amp together??
I dunno this is Malsysia culture, i tot culture here is 'goods sold are not returnable' (maybe u are their regular customer).

Soundstage on its own is perfectly quiet , but hums when used with a SS as power amp, but just a bit.

My antique pre amp hums more with SS amp. That is I buy a Soundstage as standalone from AV show , it is very quiet.

What is the diff between Soundstage SE and my is just the Soundstage ?

The Boss just pushing me the SE version, offers me to upgrade to SE at extra money.

I heard your Soundstage at Smarthouse before, and very impressed with it, value for money.

---

Added on July 27, 2008, 4:57 pm

Mostly I buy CDs from them to qualify as regular customer.

They push me to buy amp at RM 7k, but I ended up buying Soundstage.

sky 1809,
i called tong lee and the lady boss told me that the SE comes with different internal parts i.e. capacitor.

---

Added on July 27, 2008, 5:17 pmhi all,
can i use soundstage amp as pre amp should i want to pair them with solid state power amp?
this av show really poisonous........time to get new gears and let go old ones.

I went to the AV show on Friday morning trying hard to locate Tong Lee show room.

By the time I reached there, the boss told me he just sold off 5 sets of 1.5 Soundstage ( must be Mr. Chua's kaki ).

I am forced to choose bt soundstage one or the SE version.

The boss is kind enough to let me to go back to upgrade to1.5 ( within a year ) if I took soundstage one.

He wrote that down on my bill. He is more humble than sales people around.

---

Added on July 27, 2008, 5:33 pm

My Antique pre amp paired well with SS NAD power amp to drive bigger or power hungry speakers.

Not too sure about Soundstage , but it does come with 2 pre out functions.

You can try out at Smarthouse.

Very good marketing strategy indeed, he get to sell u a SS1 for sure by giving user a chance to do future upgrade. If want upgrade, also u must find him
BTW, is tht with condition? becoz i suppose the SS1 must be in mint condition when you send it back. (might hard to nego price also, when upgrade to SS 1.5).

samething happened to me when i went to marriot.
i told the boss i got soundstage 1.5 already then he asked me to get cec cd player.
well, tomorrow will visit mr lim place at amcorp mall(accoustic solution)
and try to pair soundstage with some of used power amp available there.

Wellcome to Soundstage 1.5 club. I think ur soundstage 1 does not have remote ? Ask tong lee to give that remote, very good remote.

So sky1809, have u got the ZERO DAC ? (I cant quite recall who, sorry for the poison. )

why u getting the antique sound lab?

I tried the soundstage (with the Mullard tube ) on Harbeth LS 3/5a 11 ohm. I quite like the sound, I really feel missing the 3/5a sound. I will not miss the chance to get the legend.

I have tried the soundstage 1.5 as pre out. The gear I tried include Krell KST 100 power amp, driving a difficuly ribbon speaker, vocal sound terrific because that Krell is Class A amp (plus the Mullard lol). but stay away from Rock, mullard just cant pump out the current.

Hi Gatevalve,

I still owe u one session of AAD S-1 if u still keen. I think sometimes those CD u thot very bright now play on warm and laid speaker it sound great.

I hope for all those who visit the AV show can share what is your treasure ? I only part RM 75 for some CD. I hope to get some speaker Spike. Uncle Joeph Ki said if u cant seem to get the vocal during the rise, dont blame on amp and cdp, may be the speaker stand and spike. So many speaker spike is being used, amazing. The vibration was so great that during the dynamic parts of audition, Joseph's KEF LS 3/5a right speaker spike falls off... really FALL off, almost spoil the KEF speaker. can imagine the micro vibration happening. That vibration travel down to stand and back to speaker, causing so much vibration. He also put 2 crystal weight on top of speaker (due to the light weight of speaker).

I bought Antique used pre amp because I want to warm my existing power amp. It works but I do not like the hum noise from the speakers. Antique Sound Lab stopped to produce cheap budget pre tube amp, and their budget pre amp were built with good quality, produced components on their own.

But the present new Antique pre amps Year 2004 version costs ( RM 1800 or more ) much more than Soundstage because they are more popular in the West .

Soundstage one was sold for RM 899 in Year 2001, now also at higher price.

Hard to find any reviews of Soundstage except from Mr. Chua.

While on the topic of preamps. I has awesome overengineered buffered preamps at home, planning to sell them all off when i come back late November.

Trying to get rid of them, 12 different amps for one idiot is bad enough. Available in choice of buffered and non buffered, unity gain or gain added, BJT or MOSFET output (ooohhh Low Noise Toshibas and ONsemis) with SILMIC and Blackgates all around, even the cheapest caps are Nichicon KZs, German Wimas for film. Comes with STEPS PSU for extra or TEPS regulators, if you're nuts and have the moolah, i can build Jung Super Regulators.

Hurr must advertise before i return.

Who knows. You could become the next Bill Gates ( specialising in HIFI ) .

Tonnes of money to be made.

OT. I am dreaming of a software that could give me the exact vocal I want to listen without paying for the interconnects and wires, power cords and so on.

haha. i wish lol, i wish. For now i just wanna finish my degree, top up with a masters and cari kerja.

Plus i can't code to save my life

But i do have a ton of great preamps and buffers sitting at home and a few boxes full of audio electronics, and enough opamps to sink a boat. Might hold a gathering to let people test. The older head phone based audiophiles used to visit my place every 6 months for our audiophile meet. We even had a DAC1 from Mofonyx the last time and tons of portable gear.

It would be a waste if you were to work for people.

In life, if HIFI or electronics is your passion, becomes your own boss. Create something out of field your specialised, and with passion.

You would lose all your passions in HIFI , if you start to work for people, and when you do not get appreciated for what you are doing.


Sorry to poison you.

Haha, if you want shit awesome at this hobby, you should have been here when thedoctor was still posting, he even rubbed shoulders with the likes of PPL and AMB. Now he was good.

Lol buka kedai with Ijan, Littleghost with thedoctor as Director

Do you know Bill Gates spent about US $ 50,000 to buy the first DOS Operating System to market it.

He did not create it, but certainly he knows what the market wants.

Work your dream, instead of making the dreams of others come true.

Most people are making other people's dreams come true.

Wishing you all the best.

U need a great marketing director, and a fool like IBM to manufacturer the product, while the DSP algorithm is in it.

Your DSP algo is probably the distortion generator that can switch between class A, B, AB, T, tube, SET, NOS, OS, US, and most of all, it understand the owner's mood.

Oh ya, forgot to update with 3rd bulk buyer, the stock is already lying at port klang! Now waiting for uncle kastam besok habis minum kopi then faster clear it

Oh my. It feels like time to pk.

so are the Team ZERO going to meet. let's suggest where to meet and who will bring what.

I will come with Volex power cord lol.

ok chua, how about this sunday...my house or mr khwang's place.

i really impressed with harbeth and pmc set up.......need to save some more money.....i will eat instant noodle only for next 3 months.
tomorrow i will go to desa lowyat to audit marantz cd 6002, nad 542, and cambridge audio azur 640v2.will pair them with my zerodac and soundstage 1.5.got quite good offer from them.

then drop by at tong lee.......want to know about internal mod on amp.

lets ask yulong and iBraso gang out to pk

for zero dac owner tt i guess chua can bring his aad speaker.
i can bring my cd player,sounstage amp, interconnect and speaker cable.
then the rest of the owner can bring their own dac owr amp.
we need to get one good location......

bro, wht time you drop by at Desa? i tumpang listen la can?

Maybe not this time, we are sharing idea to improve on it than PKing, last time 1st bulk gathering just few ppl we took more than 4 hours to dismiss, imagine this time estimate over 10 ppl including those seasoned ZERO user Those seasoned ZERO owner will gotta brag how their own "OPAMPed" ZERO sound great! It should takes some time for them to fin speech like VVIP

I'll bring along, LT1364, LT1469, OPA2134 and OPA2107, then Chua should bring along the DY2000 and maybe try to borrow Abel's opamp colllection LOL. We could only test it with headphone, I can bring along my cheapo Philips SHP895

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Added on July 27, 2008, 9:56 pm







Wow guys, as usuall we are gathering at KL sentral's starbucks cafe, easily accessible yet in quite fair distance for everyone. I guess we cant play along with speaker

Yeah lah. PKing the opamp and small upgrade that we have done. So I will bring power cord and DY2000. I will Madmen can bring the modded unit for test.

U can also bring your mystery gadget if can.

Heard that Stormspider got this Darth Beyer, if Darth Beyer is there, I could see Empire modded ZERO together with DT990

no speaker only headphone...like that aaa.
i like that i kenot go laa.....

time to pk yulong, little dot, iBraso, The Doctor, YUIN PK.. lets ask those gang out.

I thot only opamp and zero dac.

Hope someone can bring along the cd by Nils Lofgren live and Whitesnake live in Tokyo. Very acoustics.

next wish item is Grado headphone, 325 (bmw).

---

Added on July 27, 2008, 10:24 pm

what difference does it make ? ELNA for Audio and ELNA Silmic 2, ELNA Silmic and ELNA Cerafine ?

the switching diode by MUR is the fastest switching available, heard it improves the sound quality ?

would love to know how the marant cd6002 pair with the zero dac.i got 1 sitting at home

when is the tt any1 can join?

That marantz CD6002 is Crystal CS4398 which is 120 dB SN ratio. 24kHZ upsampled to 192 kHZ, dynamic range 100dB. Wheareas ZERO DAC is Analogue Devices AD1852 which is 120 dB SN ratio and 24khz upsampled to 192 khz, dynamic range 117 dB.

The above does look quite the same, until the Low pass filter stage.

ZERO uses cheapo OPA 2604 whereas Marantz CD6002 uses HDAM.

but ZERO with 2xOPA 627 vs CD 6002, and the implementation between the 2, your ears will be the judge.

There was 2 school of thought about AD1852 and CS4398. 1 is warm and sweet while the other is dynamic and neutral.

At the end of the day, what is the price u are willing to pay.

HDAM can do better than OPA627?

Sorry bro don't think I'll be able to make it for the gathering.. My weekends are all tied up with ACCA classes in Sunway College.
Saturday have class from 2pm to 7.30pm and Sunday 9am - 5pm.



Hehe ccschua u tried the grado sound signature already? If you are interested to try Grado SR80 can find me..
We both in Cheras should be quite convenient....

hmmm, the spec comes close, the sound will too?

zero with 2 x opa 627 is moded spec?

i was offered for rm 1350 for marantz cd 6002.for nd 452 and ca azur 640v2 both less than rm 1500.got this quite good price coz i have some kind of good relationship with them.why? bcoz i already spent close to rm 8k on my ht gears.
after sales service also okay...no complaint.

those diferent cap give different character what i know Silmic 2 produce warmer sound compare to Cerafine .....
Black Gate is more to dynamic very good for highs freq and more stable

1350 is a good price

do let me know ur finding pairing the cd6002 with zero dac

@CCSChua,

have u tried the VIBRAPOD from Tong Lee ?

Four pcs of rubber put bet the speaker and the stand, and for speaker vibration and suspension ( like the car 's suspension ).

Sound changed quite a lot, better soundstage, bass and dynamics.


Not to poison you, but could be the item you are looking for, instead of spikes.

hi all,
here is my report on cd 6002(demo set) pair with zero dac.

1)speaker:epos 12.2(he offered me rm 2300) (gonna get this baby after raya ) with speaker stand made from solid wood
2)interconnect:qed quenex 2
3)speaker cable: chord carnival silver biwire
4)amp:soundstage 1.5
5)power cord: supra lorad for amp and cdp
6)test cd: duffy and pj harvey
7)time taken for the testing session: 3 hours

also tested marantz pm 7001 and magnum intergrated amp and marantz cdp ki sig.

results based on my ears......(without zero dac)
soundstage better than both amp.marantz...too bright.magnum...too laid back
marantz cd 6002 gave some harsh sound on high frequency.

than hooked up dac...wow...sound became so smooth...not too bright...ngam2 chai for me.
that guy in desa also impressed with this dac.
desa also got atc,tannoy,psb and polk audio.
no intention to promote desa overhere(to share only)....coz some shop in amcorp mall also good like accoustic solution and asia soud.can lepak2 the chatting with the boss without buying anything.

tested marantz cdp ki sig(with dac and without dac).......not much difference with cd 6002even ki sig rm 1150 more expensive than cd 6002.

conclusion:
never underestimate this dac.with the price that i paid, i'm more than happy
walked out with marantz 6002 (rm 1350).cdp still in run in process...at the time of writing.

now my 3 months old marantz cd 5001 is looking for new owner.still under warranty,got manual and remote control.i already put it in the original box.price rm 400 only.cod at subang jaya.can test first.no obligation.can pm me if intrested.

also checked some stuff at tong lee...still in big mess after av show.
should i try vibrapod? put this item underneath the cdp okay or not?

cheers,
rey

Sorry do not mean to poison you.

have you tried Soundstage 1.5SE which is of 55 watts ?

Tong Lee said they can upgrade your 1.5 to SE for RM 400 ( may be cheaper ).

But, I leave the Vibrapod and SE upgrade to Mr. Chua to do reviews.

I am just poisoned by Tong Lee to change my newly bought Soundstage 1 to 1.5SE ( 55 watts ).

They say the pre amp of SE version is also better. Otherwise, I can bring back the set to do downgrade to 1.5. ( kenal poison again ).

Next must buy item : Zero Dac ( too poisonous ).

Cheers.

Sorry do not mean to poison you.
POISON IS ALWAYS WELCOME.WILL CHECK AGAIN WITH TONG LEE.

have you tried Soundstage 1.5SE which is of 55 watts ?
NOPE. 55W SOUNDS PRETTY GOOD FOR ME.

Tong Lee said they can upgrade your 1.5 to SE for RM 400 ( may be cheaper ).
HOPEFULLY CHEAPER LAA.WHAT KINDA MODS THEY GONNA DO?

But, I leave the Vibrapod and upgrade to Mr. Chua to do reviews.
YEA, MR. CHUA MUST DO THE REVIEW FOR US

I am just poisoned by Tong Lee to change my newly bought Soundstage 1 to 1.5SE ( 55 watts ).

They say the pre amp of SE version is also better. Otherwise, I can bring back the set to do downgrade to 1.5. ( kenal poison again ).

Next must buy item : Zero Dac ( too poisonous ).
MUST BUY ITEM OF THE YEAR.HEARING IS BELIEVING.

Cheers.
CHEERS TOO.

Bro,

The way u write the review uncle Marantz very soon become Uncle Zero.

Very good review indeed, it actually clears a lot of doubt or suspisions people have about the zero dac, about the value for money.

I believe if u start using ZERO DAC, u will know what kind of sound character u want and later on can promote to the next level. Start with ground ZERO.

Now I am on the hunt for marble as speaker base and also speaker spike or vibropad. i think value for money is still my priority concern.

some say if u pay RM 500, dont expect RM 2000 sound. Well, see how the Japanese cars did to US cars.

about the 1.5 upgrade to 1.5 SE, Tong Lee quoted me RM 500 previously and refuse to tell me what is the upgrade. some more I promote so much of soundstage product. I think I will make 1 more visit to Tong Lee. They are altogether about 9 capacitors, (2 of them made in France) and I think 2 output transistors that need to be upgrade. With that upgrade, it will change from 35 W to 55 W. Again this is just my guess.

Hi Chua,

I did mention to Mr. Ling ( Wen Ang ) of Tong Lee that u did a good job promoting his brand.

He is very keen to meet up with you.

Maybe u can form a club . he might be interested.

Cheers.

P/S : FYI. recent versions of Soundstage come with a small button at the bottom ( whereby u could select a more dynamic soundstage )

Diy you try audit Dynaudio Audience 52 as well?

http://www.dynaudio.com/eng/systems/lines/.../audience52.php

im looking for new amp also, not playing a lot vocal or i will try this Soundstage amp too.

The way u write the review uncle Marantz very soon become Uncle Zero.
- still long way to go before become uncle sifu. to be honest , i really don't think zero dac will be able to perform this far.really beyond my expectation and with some mods on capacitor, i strongly believe it will perform better.

Maybe u can form a club . he might be interested.
- chua, you will be the president, me ordinary member only.

Diy you try audit Dynaudio Audience 52 as well?
- need upgrade my soundstago and se 1.5 to se version first.
i doubt it can power the power hungry dynaudio audience 52 which 86dB
and impedence at 4 ohm.
btw i think it will cost more than epos m12.2
do you know where i can go and listen to this speaker?

my soundstage(with mullard tubes) got no problem to play any types of song but please do not try with some heavy stuff from metalica, megadeath or pantera.....kenot cope with this type of music. nirvana, guns&roses or any "soft rock" materials will be okay.
i will go to tong lee on thursday afternoon to mod my sounstage 1.5.
cheers.
rey.

It's please to see that ZERO dac is performing quite decent compare to established brand. Hope to dig out more compatible component from around the world so that we could unleashed the potential of ZERO

Now my turn to poison you. Are u looking for Mullard like tube. Well I have 1 pair of Amperex lying around.

I think soundstage or other tube hybrid is very interesting gear to begin with, since u can swap tubes to give the signature u like. Later on u can pair with power amp, another upgrade. So many upgrade, small or medium, u can go play around.

I think gatevalve has gone very far liao. The upgrade by Tong Lee is interesting, perhap u can become the path finder.

Still no one want to try the HDAM meh.

becareful with chua....king cobra poisoned me already with mullard tubes and opa 627.10q sifu.
well, i will mod my soundstage at tong lee first, then get new bookshelf speaker.....
chua, you dowan my marantz cd 5001?pls get me a buyer laa boss.....needs some cash to mod my amp

Marantz 5001 @Rm400 or cheaper can easilly sell ma, try open a thread and wait for 1-2 weeks. Might sold within a week.

Yes, I heard your Mullard Tubes at Smarthome in Puchong on one fine Sunday , couple months ago when you were testing out some op amps with Abel. I love the sounds, as to say ( We come from the same garden, remember ).

Like Sifu says, look out for value for money, that is my top priority now.

So the next item on my dream lists is Zero Dac, too poisonous to ignore.

It is more fun to do one at a time, and I get to know what contribute to the improvements to the overall systems. The journey is tough ( and costly ) , but fun.

A lot more to learn from you, Sifu.

Cheers.

VIBRAPOD
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=4...i6lwg9Esx90Pj6g

hi all,
i just mod my soundstage 1.5 to SE ones this afternoon(takes 45 minutes only).test with kef q speaker.very good, than mr ling change the position of mullard tubes.left to right vice versa.i put the tubes in wrong way laa.
now it sound even better.dunno how to explain.....worth the money...at rm 400.
mr ling gives me the transparent the link 100 interconnect and transparent high peformance power line power cord to try (on loan)
the interconnet give me just give slight improvement the details compare to my qed quenex 200.(qed rm 200 cheaper)
the power cable is pretty keng.....clean sound, tight bass and wat to say ahh......overall i would say good cable compare to supra lorad.
will keep and use both of them for one week before make any decision.
i seen 4 of soundstage 1.5 lying there waiting for the mod....sorry guys i jump the q.....he he.
also test opera mini with soundstage amp....so far i think epos m12.2 still better...yeah....epos, come to daddy after raya.
also test the vibrapod with kef and opera mini. my ears say .......nothing.... kenot detect any difference before and after...maybe too much wax inside ,
but the vibration on speaker stand reduces a lot.
chua, feel free to drop by at my house this weekend to audit my se upgrade.

Ya Lah, I also exchanged my Vibrapod to interconnect just now. I leave it to Mr. Chua to do a review first.

However, I try a much cheaper way of separating the wood speaker and the iron stand, is to put a tall layer of Faber Castell TACK IT , for the purpose of absorbing the vibration by rubber. I find it is value for money, less than RM 10.00. I do not know whether it works or not, but better than none , or no suspension . others may suggest a better way in time to come , with less money spent.

I have seen heavy truck using air suspension, and the cargo is well protected, despite bad road condition.

Cheers.