"i solve problems"

wong tatt yew of audio note is the equivalent of harvey keital in pulp fiction




in pulp fiction - one of my all-time fave cult movies - vincent (john travolta) accidentally kills a black kid with his gun, in his car, and he needs to clean up his blood-stained car and disposing the corpse as quickly as possible. he finds harvey keitel, who plays winston wolfe, or better known as the wolf. the wolf is a cleaner about town. the wolf talks fast and thinks fast. his solutions are practical and somewhat obvious. unlike vincent (john travolta), you can argue with the wolf and not die in the process, but you can count on a nice verbal lashing. And there's no doubt that if the wolf really wanted to, he could probably make a quick phone call and have you killed. when vincent meets the wolf, with a face that's full of or worries and stress, the first thing that the wolf says to vincent is a cool "i solve problems".

every audiophile should have his problem-solvers like the wolf. in my case i have two. i don't even mind revealing who they are. in terms of solving ARC problems and general trouble-shooting, ah chee of audio art, ipoh, ranks top in malaysia. he also does a mean cable termination and soldering job, the best in the industry. the 2nd problem-solver i have is wong tatt yew, the boss of audio note malaysia. wong has a keen pair of ears and he is a problem-solver of the highest grade. he and his electrician are the subjects of this post.

the last time wong visited me was 3 years ago. it is not that he doesn't like to visit me, it is just that he hasn't got the time. with more than 20 years of hifi behind him, wong is the busiest and most business-savvy hifi dealer in town with non-stop phone calls all day long. because he is a good problem-solver, all his customers consults him all the times.

when wong listened to my system on thursday, he sat in my designer barcelona chair looking rather pensive. i knew something wasn't right. wong finally commented that the midrange is dirty and spiky, making it unbearable to listen long. he went on to inspect my system. first, i told him that my MK uk-made wall outlet has kind of loosen its grip due to my constant pulling in and out of the power cord connecting to shunyata PLC, to avoid lightning strike. so wong wanted me to replace it with his isoclean silver-plated duplex wall outlet. he also inspected my distribution board. to his horror, he found my ELCB and 3-phase fuse box totally unacceptable. they are malalysian made local brand. he wanted to replace it with HAGER, a german brand which he recommends to all his clients.

so he proceeded to replace my wall outlet to isoclean. the silver-plated isoclean wall outlet really looks classy at RM550 a pop. but not until i listened to the improvement, i wouldn't believe that RM550 can bring me this far. the sound immediately improved by 10-15%!

elated, i pressured wong to get his electrician to order the hager for my ELCB, fuse box and MCB (note: I am currently using ABL, also german made, for my MCB) . but knowing that local electrical shops don't carry ex-stock of these foreign audiophile-grade parts and that i have two major home visits on sunday, i wasn't confident that his electrician can deliver in such a short time. goh, wong's trusted electrician, promised me that he could come next day to look into my DB and make recommendations. but next day is already friday, i don't have the luxury of time!

on the same night, getting impatient, i called goh and offered to ferry him from his house to my house. audiophiles are crazy people, don't you know? we reached my house at 10:30pm. goh said if i wanted maximum performance, i really should consider hager for my ELCB, fuse box and MCB. but can we make it by sunday morning? goh promised to try his best to source it from every electrical shop in kl for the parts.

on friday, around 3pm, he sms-ed me with the text "got the parts, can i come now?". i was impressed. he is super efficient. he has to be, because he works with wong, one of the most effiicient dealer in malaysia. i was busy the whole day on friday so i asked him to come on saturday morning, which is today.

i must tell you this about goh. he is not only an audiophile-grade electrician, he is also a seasoned audiophile! he completed installing my ELCB, fuse box and MCB in less than two hours' time. time to listen. wow, another 5% improvement! the background is so much queiter now, the mids are much sweeter and the overall gain has gone down. (note: this is a good sign when your gain seems to go down but you still get the same details and dynamics as before. which goes to show the previous sound with higher gain contains a lot of noise)

so the hager MCB has replaced the ABL MCB. the hager is rated 4,500KVa but my existing ABL is rated 10,000kVA. i called ah chee to ask for his opinion. he thinks the ABL should be better than hager because of the higher kVa. so goh decided to A/B the two MCBs. the differences are day and night! the ABL has higher gain, much more noise, rougher mids. the hager has lesser gain but very controlled dynamics and sweeter mids. it was very apparent which is better. the hager, even with its 4,500kVA rating beats the ABL. both retail for only RM40 a pop. goh has ordered a hager 10,000KVa also to compare it with the 4,500Kva but it will be next week before the stock arrives.

by now, my system, after a total expenditure of only RM1,100, has improved close to 15-20%. can you not be impressed by this quantum of improvement when the total outlay is so little?

this experience humbles me again. wong is such a brillaint audiophile who always imparts critical knowledge to his customers and friends alike. if it is not because of him, my system would forever be compromised. this is the perfect example of inviting the right people to listen to your system. you have so much to gain. i actually jested with him in my sms - "bro, you are so good that as a term of our long-lasting and valuable friendship, you are obligated to pay me a visit every quarter to inspect my system".

i can't praise enough of goh, the audiophile grade electrician who could solve my problems in the shortest possible of time. yes, this is his number 012-2597329. you owe it to yourself to invite him to your house and check your DB and advise you on generally power supply issues. i have said enough of the importance of power supply to your hifi system in this blog. you must never take it for granted.

the sound is so brilliant now. and to think that the ELCB & MCB would further break-in in the next few days, i shudder in great anticipation.

every audiophile must have a winston wolfe for their hifi because simply, he solves problems ever so efficiently.