ohh gatevalve wanna get some poison ...
u wanna go to smart home cheah place to test the cec 3300 ... that cd player sound not bad sound natural no coloration

btw this is my first step towards another set up...dynamic ones.also will audit nad 541(ultimate sound, ampang park).then will part moolah with the best cdp performance per ringgit.monday will decide which one that suit to my ears.
amp.... could be rotel or audiolab and will do apple to apple comparison only.me no elite only entry level or second hand stuff only.
regrds.
rey.

On this topic i actually have a sound ideal here.

Worse is Better lol. Believe it or not. Now ye shall receive one of my patented dumb lectures.

Taking into assumption that you don't need a shield and have little or no radiated EMI or RFI. Being the inventive student i was, generally bored, and the kind that likes to push buttons for no apparent reason, i did some research using a time domain reflectometer and agilent power meter using 50 ohm matched souce/load combo, signal came from a really expensive Rohde and Schwartz i would love to steal.

I can't do anymore request tests as the lec that let me do this, Mr Varnes took a 1 sem holiday, that old coot. Nonetheless the results from this one are interesting. 

We consider 2 cables, 1 a standard RG58 and another is a Thin Lan Silver plated Cable made by Huber Suhner

Results = Nothing out of the ordinary, the Suhner cable beat the shit out of the nameless RG58, by a good 30-40 percent marging in attenuation up till 500Mhz and after that it went up to 100 percent.

But it did get me thinking. Attenuation at specific bandwidths might be useful, it's a just a bad thing made good by using it in a place where it can help. Attenuation at 60Hz was obviously so small it didn't matter, generally only after jumping to 1Mhz did i see the difference between cables. But what about the rest of the range? All those megahertz must mean something right?

Haha, that's where it all came in.

What do we want from a good power cable?

1) For it to deliver power at a given frequency with the lowest attenuation.

At 60Hz, this doesn't matter, both mathematically and practical test wise, as long as you have a cable that can carry the current, it should never matter)

2) For it NOT to deliver any power at any frequency aside from from the fundemental.

You see, as the frequency rises, the crap cable generally puts up more of a fight to the signal than a good one. This is bad in RF applications, but when all you want is 60Hz, then the reduction of all the junk high frequency signals that travel along the cable is awesome. Awesome Possum.

A good cable generally tries to model a pefect transmission line as closely as possible, a bad cable doesn't. A bad cable has higher levels of resistance, capacitance and inductance, although unwanted in the signal domain, in the power delivery domain, it acts as a low pass filter that filters out crap before it reaches your PSU.

Conslusion/TL/DR : Cheap and crappy cable is potentially far better than expensive cable. As long as your cable is shielded, a crappy cable should always beat a good one when used as a power cable. Yay.

Someone blanja me when i come back in December ya?

Nah, i myself am using a laptop with it speakers to enjoy my music, doesn't matter if it distorts like hell, clips at the best part of the song and generally sounds like a puking monkey, i still turn it on and enjoy. All i miss are my lossless classical music collection

Hard to recommend brand names as i wouldn't know, i usually just build my stuff. But i can give you criteria.

- Should have good shielding
- Copper quality should be low
- Dielectric should be crap

I'm not saying one can hear the difference, but for all means and purposes a cheapie Volex Shielded cord should beat a custom made Suhner in the power role. 

CMY had QED Silver Anniversary XT Speaker cables (3m with gold terminates both ends):
single = RM495
bi-wired = RM950 

If you buy form futureshop.uk, the Airloc is FOC.

ohhh u got visit Uncle Liew also
yeah u are right bcoz those cable is 75ohm is coaxial or digital cable RCA is 100ohm

---

Added on July 27, 2008, 3:08 pm

is depend Bi-wire i means ur amp got 4 out-put if 2 channel Bi-Wire wont help

bi-amp the sound will be smoother if ur amp not enuf power Bi-amp not recommend
bcoz normally Bi-AMP the power only half means ur amp rated 40w RMS x 2 means u bi-amp is 20 RMS x 4

u should total silence. Even when u soundstage volume turn to 3'o clock, u should still hear Nothing.

if your AntiQue got sound, first u have to make sure where the hum come from. Bring your amp to some one system that is totaly quiet, to confirm if the sound is from the amp.

next .. u have to mention your setup. noise can come from RCA as well.

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).

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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

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.

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.

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.

u mean cd6002 with ZERO dac is on par with ki sig? wah then worth itler...

how abt the soundstage and 'airliness' rclxms.gif

not only me, even the guy in desa also mentioned the same thing.no need to spend so much money on ki sig if zero dac able to to do the job.
btw, second or more opinion require before we really can make any conclusion.my opinion remain the same.....zero dac really keng
soundstage/airliness.......dunno how to say...newbie maa.one thing for sure is after tong lee upgrade my amp to se the good just getting better  

chua, i like zero dac with tube/buffer there.when we will start and i'm willing to give my dac for that experiment

i'm going to amcorp mall to day to find new interconnect.will bring transparent 100 link as well and test them before i get the new one.
i guess i think a good interconnect cable for my after raya speaker.... .(epos 12.2).

cheers.
rey

haha, does twin tubes (twin towers) look better? 

Not easy to hide as the heat built-up if put the tube inside the housing