Category: Personal

Irrelevant and self-serving snippets of my personal life.

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Mid-Priced Speakers

With a specific mission to upgrade my existing system, my buddies and I set out on a quest to find the best speakers that money (or more specifically, around RM 8,000) can buy.

We tested several speakers that day but in the end, only two stood out — with one honorable mention: the KEF reference series, which, while very good, was way, way, way beyond my paltry budget (about 4 times beyond to be exact).

B&W Nautilus 805:

First, a note about the B&W showroom in MidValley. This shop is ONE of the BEST, if not THE BEST hi-fi shop in terms of size, variety (if you’re looking for B&Ws and Arcams), interior decoration and, oh yes, tastefully furnished and sonically superb listening rooms.

Now for the speaker:- the Nautilus 805 speaker is sweet!

We tested it with a generic fusion track, and the results were excellent. The highs were crisp, and the mid-range was crystal clear. Being a bookshelf speaker, the bass was slightly muted, but the low end was deep enough for most purposes. It was fast, with excellent transients.

However, there was one small issue—it was a little too sweet for my taste. Normally, I can handle bright speakers, but something about the Nautilus 805 felt incomplete. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it… until we tried the Harbeth.

Harbeth HL Compact 7ES-2:

Before I get into the Harbeth, let’s talk about the shop that sells them—Tropical Audio in Setapak.

This place is the polar opposite of the B&W showroom. Tucked between motorcycle repair shops, it looks completely unassuming from the outside. Upon entering, I was greeted by a shockingly modest listening “area”—which wasn’t really a room at all.

There, against the left wall, was an old rattan sofa, the kind that was popular in the early 1980s. On the right side, a lineup of speakers stood in a row, with an old, dusty Quad CD player and 606 amplifier in the middle. To top it off, I spotted a JBL subwoofer in the setup. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.

Then I saw them.

Three pairs of the ugliest speakers I had ever laid eyes on.

No fancy curves, no glossy finishes—just plain rectangular boxes.

Things got even worse when the shop owner’s wife inserted a Jacky Cheung CD into the player. At that moment, I nearly walked out.

Still, I decided to close my eyes and listen.

And then—pure magic.

The 7ES-2 came alive with tight, controlled bass that went surprisingly low for a half-floor-stander (though we had to convince the lady to turn off the JBL subwoofer, which was adding an artificial rumble to the setup). The highs were clean and natural.

But the real game-changer? The stereo imaging.

I could literally see Jacky Cheung standing in the middle of the room.

Wanting to test it further, I protested against Aaron Neville (which the lady tried to play next) and got her to switch to Telarc’s Happy Trails instead. Once again, the 7ES-2 delivered. I felt as if the orchestra was right there with me– I could almost pinch the red-haired oboist sitting to my right.

The Final Decision

Comparing both speakers, I finally understood what the Nautilus 805 lacked—it didn’t have the superb stereo imaging, clarity, and sheer musical passion of the 7ES-2.

And so, I had no choice but to abandon my personal favorite (though the B&W still looks undeniably sexy) and settle for a pair of boring-looking, yet sonically superior, Harbeth speakers.

Because in the end, it’s not about looks—it’s about the music.

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In search of the perfect sound

Inspired by a visit to a friend’s place in Singapore—where I had the chance to experience vinyl on his hi-fi system—I decided to dive back into the world of perfect audio reproduction.

To be honest, I am a relapsed audiophile.

As a kid, I was always tinkering with audio systems, though I never had the resources to get anything truly high-end. My house started with an 8-track system, later replaced by an unbranded all-in-one cassette-tuner-amplifier and a pair of home-built speakers. On that modest setup, I grew up listening to The Beatles, ABBA, Bee Gees, Anne Murray, Art Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac, Earth, Wind & Fire, Leo Sayer, Boney M, Beethoven, Mozart and Sam Hui. Given those musical influences, it’s no small wonder I turned out emotionally balanced and relatively normal. (Or did I?)

The Audiophile Awakening

The audiophile bug bit me when I stumbled upon an old Hi-Fi Annual from the now-defunct Asia Magazine at a Berita Bookstore warehouse sale. The magazine was filled with insightful articles on high-fidelity sound and reviews of top-tier audio systems of that year. One particular article claimed that every true audiophile’s dream is to recreate, as faithfully as possible, the experience of live music.

That got me thinking– I had never actually heard a live orchestral performance (aside from school recitals, which I don’t think really count). Determined to understand what “live” truly sounded like, I attended a classical music performance by a traveling youth orchestra. Even in the sonically challenged Dewan Tun Hussein Onn at PWTC, I was completely blown away.

It reminded me of that scene in Amadeus where Salieri first hears Mozart’s clarinet concerto—a moment of pure sonic seduction. The music transcended mere notes, becoming intangible ethers of absolute beauty, stirring emotions and soothing the soul. But at the same time, I felt a deep frustration—no matter how much I tinkered, my setup at home could never replicate that live sound.

The Struggle for High-Fidelity Sound

Lacking the financial means to upgrade my system, I survived on compact cassettes—though I had to stick a toothpick on the pinch roller of my tape deck to slow it down (because it played everything slightly too fast). FM radio became another go-to source for music.

Later, thanks to Bob, a fellow audiophile, I managed to get a mini-compo (a term that still gives me shivers), which—crucially—had a CD player. My very first CD? Enigma’s debut album. I played it over and over and over again, mesmerized by the hiss-free, crystal-clear sound.

Adding a CD player to my basic hi-fi system was a small step—perhaps just one out of a thousand—toward achieving live music realism. But it was a step that opened up an entirely new world of sound.

The Audiophile Cycle

But I digress. To cut a long story short, my passion for high-fidelity sound became cyclical.

At its peak, I had a Marantz CD-5000 CD player, a NAD C320 integrated amplifier, and Tannoy Mercury MX1 speakers. At its lowest point, I convinced myself that iPods sounded fantastically natural, and I swapped my Tannoy speakers for a pair of Audio Pro Focus SA-5 floor-standing AV speakers—mostly because they had booming low bass, much like (dread of all dreads) an Ah Beng’s car audio setup.

Next Stop: SACDs, DVD-Audio, and Vinyl

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Ah…the smell of the ocean, lush rainforest, relaxing spas, good food- what more can one expect?

Ah… the scent of the ocean, the lush embrace of the rainforest, indulgent spas, and delicious food—what more could one ask for?

Tomorrow, our company sets off for our annual trip, and once again, we’re heading to the beach. Come to think of it, allof our company trips have been beach getaways—a perk of living in Malaysia, where vacations are typically either up in the cool highlands or down by the sandy shores.

This time, however, we’re headed to the luxurious Pangkor Laut Resort. Ah, the very place where Pavarotti was moved to tears, calling it a vision of paradise or heaven. (How he knew what paradise or heaven looked like is anyone’s guess, but I’d like to think that overweight opera singers have a direct line to the Almighty, given how they dramatically gaze up at the sky while singing.) But seriously—it really is that breathtaking.

This won’t be my first time there; I visited a few years ago, and I can still remember the first-class accommodations and top-notch facilities. What’s new this time? The completion of the Spa Village. After reading about it, I can’t wait to experience it firsthand!