annual pilgrimage - kl international av show 2006

5 swedish designers joined hands to create swedish statement

hi-fi shows come and hi-fi shows go. generally we have become quite blase about hi-fi shows, especially the one in KL which is declining in standards with each passing year. still, we treat this as our annual pilgrimage to meet up with some long-lost audiophile friends to TCSS (talk cock sing song). some of these audiophiles travel from as far as s'pore and other states like penang and ipoh. it is an annual big party where everyone would gossip, compare notes and talk all things hifi.

the most talked-about display in this year's KLIAV show is the multi-million setup by swedish statement, the local importer of swedish delights such as marten design, bladelius, nordic concept (turntable) and jorma cables. i find the sound pretty ordinary even under show's conditions. it lacks openness in the highs and even dynamics are not as impactful as befitting a multi-million dollar system. however, it is great to catch up with eugene from audiomatic, ah chee and ah heng from audio art ipoh. the latter duo is my favourite dealer at the moment cos they are such savvy and nice dealers!

another show stopper is the 1.5mil setup courtesy of high-end research. (no relation to s'porean anthony koh) here, we witnessed the debut of goldmund telos, kharma exquisite reference and top-line NBS cables called the black label. the sound fares much better here but the NBS signature sound of fast, furious but rather dry and steely doesn't really do it for me. it somehow doesn't gel with goldmund and kharma. again, i was happy to meet up with pv liew and wong tatt yew, the super duo behind high-end research.

other notable setups include A&L's, who displayed a very formidable MBL power amp driving wilson sophia speakers using AQ cables. the bass was lighthing quick and transient is impressive. this is one of the best setups, in terms of playinig demo drum music. the CMY's setup of full naim driving the big proacs (including naim's latest top-loading cd player CD555) also makes good drum music. but readers of this blog would know that i am no lover of kick-ass drum music! maggie lovers are refined and cultured, thank you very much.

the room of perfect hifi displayed the full suite of audio research latest line-up which included the ref 3 peamp and ref 210 monoblock. the speakers used are the sonus faber amati anniversary and guarneri homage. the sound is not very ARC, lacking the airy highs and definition. i blamed it on show's conditions lah. i have been eyeing on the new ARC LS26 preamp... hope i can get it by end of this year :-)

the CDs are relatively cheap but we all know that it is a scam. china-made audiophile cds are sold at RM20 a piece in HK but here greedy importers upped the price to RM45. due to bad sales over the 2 years, china-made audiophile cds are no longer selling well hence the dumping of them in this show. i bought 4 pieces of TIS recordings (now manufactured in china instead of HK) and only 1 is tolerable. the rest are sung by b-grade singers. really pathetic.

i spoke to ah chee (audio art) after the show and he lamented that audiophiles who have deep pockets and are willing to splurge is truly a thing of the past. 2 channel hifi is going downhill all the way. the relatively poor attendance is also alarming.

i don't know how many more years KLIAV show will survive but i will still go without fail every year for the simple reason to look-see and talk cock sing song!