The system view! Though doesn't quite show on the above pic, the back wall is actually a shallow bay curved gently.

I was listening to one of Danny Summer's LP's with the above song tittle on this very system, and then it suddenly dawned on me that it's how this system owner, philosophically sums up in life as in hifi, Never give up!

This gentleman has been tinkering with hifi for past 30 odd years or so, and through out all the challenges faced and conquered, never gave up or wavered. That's the spirit!

The Jeff and Adam partnership, and an almost perfect one too!

Adam back woofer view, note the top to bottom connected via professional Neutrik Speak ON lock plugs.

The hifi is set up in a dedicated room, estimated to measure something like 15ft x 23ft with 10ft ceiling. The speaker's back wall is gently curved, just like a very shallow bay design. There are some bass traps at the room corners and echo busters at the back of the listening position.


The top range Wadia 7 CD Transport.
Partnering the equally top Wadia 9 DAC.
Wadia 9 DAC power supply, in separate box.

The system starts with a 4 pc Wadia Digital CD player, comprising of a Wadia 7 transport plus power supply, and Wadia 9 DAC linked via clock link cable. The said DAC also has it's own power supply! The other source is a Thorens Prestige, SME V tone arm and Koetsu Onix cartridge, which looks like it weights 50kgs or so! Phono stage is Jeff Rowland Design Group's(JRDG) Cadence and partnering Synergy Pre amp and power supply unit. The JRDG units look very impressive when stack up with FE Cera Balls in between, isolating them. The low level signal is then amplified by JRDG 9Ti 4pc power amps. The power amps have an elegant and sumptuous look to it, each sitting on 4pcs of FE Cera Pucs!

The Wadia 7 CD Transport power supply(left) and Thorens Prestige power supply(right).
Thorens Prestige, SME V tone arm and Koetsu Onix cartridge, excellent combo!

Finally, all the amplified sound is reproduced by a pair of recently purchased, and just run in, Adam Tensor speakers. The Adam is a 3 way design top(with the famed ribbon tweeters mated to a 6.5 inch carbon fiber mids) and a coupled to a bass module, which has a pair of self amplified, with built in volume, phase, low pass and x-over slope control, 12 inch carbon fiber bass drivers at the bottom operating in push-push configuration at the front and back baffles.

From top: Jeff Rowland Desgn Group Synergy power supply, pre amp and Cadence phono stage. Note the FE Cera balls in between?
JRDG pre amp, phono stage back end!

Interconnects are from MIT, Kubala Sosna and speaker cable is from top range Transparent XL SS. PS Audio supplies all power product package in the form of UPC200 conditioner and the Statement power cord supplying to all front end and pre amp components. A PS Audio Duet filters the power source to the power amps. All cables sit on cable elevators.

High end cables galore! MIT, Kubala Sosna, and Tranparent. Cardas is DC power supply cord from power supply module.
PS Audio UPC200, with various PS Audio power cord, including the top range statement(with blue network box).

The sound is confident, big, life size scale(as a big system should be) and very open(with no shut in detected at the fringes of the sound stage). The treble quality is at once, smooth, articulate and extended. The mids very liquid, face, mouth, lips, chest, hips and all solidly anchored within the huge sound stage. Needless to say imaging is first rate. The bass is goes impressively low, loading the room down to the actual claimed spec of 22hz! If you've being a car audio nut like me, and played with the Bass Mekanik test CD, you'd know what I mean. From 25hz downwards, you could hear each bass cycle clearly loading the room, that feeling which moves the guts and heart of a music lover is priceless. In order to reproduced such solid bass, the all the flexible adjustments provided by the Adam's woofer module, has been well tweaked by the owner. The system's transparency is first class, yet always neatly integrated in to the whole presentation of the music, never calling attention to it self.

Jeff's a beast! Never get hot at all. The 2 pcs at the side is power supply units to the 2 mono blocks in the middle.
The back end of the 4pcs mono blocks. Note the cable elevators and PS Audio Duet power line filter.
Jeff Rowland 9Ti, standing loud and proud! This system is capable of ear shattering loudness.

I asked the owner what is his next hifi game plan? Without hesitant, he answered, "room treatment!" He is said to have ordered some custom Auralex stuff, and they are on route to be delivered to him soon. He further explained that because his speakers have just started to run in, he can now experiment with room treatments. Clearly a work in progress system, that can only get better with time. I can't imaging how stupendously glorious sounding it will be once complete.

Another look at the new star, Adam Tensor. Note pyramid tweak at the right of speaker on marble. Supposed to open up the sound stage!

"Never give up!" does indeed sounds like this system owner.


25 comments:

hifikaki said...

Panzer,

Wow, great stuff! To think that I had to give this visit a miss, awww...

STEVEN TAN said...

panzer you very happy can know high grade hifi friend, chance can we enjoy?

Joamonte said...

Auralex room treatment? are you kidding?? for entry level equipment or mixing Studio Auralex is ok, but for High End system like this, he should look for below.

http://performanceacousticslabs.com/PAL/Home-Acoustics_Listening_Rooms.html

http://www.rpginc.com/

This system deserve better Room treatment...

Can contact me at linyonghui@hotmail.com if the owner interested to have more proper treatment.

Anonymous said...

panzer you very happy know a lot high grade hifi friend chance we enjoy? steven tan

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

panzer,
great write up! enjoy the article!

Panzer said...

hifikaki,

Don't worry, once the room treatment is underway, and with the system owner's blessing, we can go visiting again.

Steven Tan,

I know a few high enders, however most are very shy about allowing write ups and photos about their system. Their privacy, however, must be respected.

Joamonte,

He's already ordered them, not sure if he can do anything else at this stage. But if he is un happy with the results and wants to try other things, then I would certainly pass your contact to him.

ML,

Glad you enjoyed reading the article as much as I enjoyed visiting and writing about it.

Anonymous said...

Please disclose that you are a reseller of RPG clones

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=61690.0

Otherwise people think that you are neutral which is apparently not

joamonte said...

Well...in that case maybe I should "disclose that I am a reseller of Auralex clones,since 2006 too....

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=39131.0

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=48903.0

Joamonte

Felix said...

Looks like a phenomenol sound system.

If it ain't broken, why fix it?

Anonymous said...

Because there is always room to improve.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe for an owner who's been tinkering into hi-fi for the past 30 years only realizes NOW that room treatments are a MUST.

Ken said...

Hi All,

I would advise those who are thinking of having room treatment to be very carefully before they venture towards it.

Steven Tan said...

Joamonte, it is not right for you to put down auralex or other brands, and promote your own. Have you used these products yourself? And what are the things you actually find lacking?

Ken, do you imply that room tune is not necessary or even not good? Have you heard a properly tuned room? Have you been to the petronas philharmonic hall and experience the acoustic there? You will not get that kind of great result without the treatment.

David phan said...

Ken,agree withu.U are torque sifu.can help me torque my hifi?

Panzer said...

Felix,

Yeah, sound improvements that may be obtained by venturing in to room treatment. Never give up because also never satisfied, well at least not for long!

Anonymous 4.38pm,

Well, I very sure he knows about those things, he's just taking his time, letting the speakers run in and settle down in to his system. Like I said, it's an WIP system, that I'll look forward to re-visit.

Ken,

Regarding the room treatments, as all things in hifi, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Sounds familiar?

joamonte said...

Steven Tan,

I hope you read my post again, the 2 link I post is PAL and RPG Diffuser system, those are not my product.

I am only suggesting PAL and RPG Diffuser system instead of Auralex (And Real Trap) absorbing system are more suitable for this type of Hi-end audio system...No disrespect to entry level equipment or mixing Studio, but different system need different Room Treatment concept.

(I know Auralex start to make diffuser product last few years too, but compare to PAL and RPG those are not effective diffusing enough)

And talk about Auralex room treatment, pls check my second reply, not only I have tried the Auralex product(far before Malaysia have Auralex Dealer), I even clone their Acoustic foam and sell in Singapore/Malaysia.


Ken,
If I am not wrong you are the Jeff Rowland 8 + ATC 100 guys? I tried to ask KC to give me your contact so to pay you a visit tomorrow when I visit KL, but KC told me you are not in Malaysia now....hope able to have a chance to pay you a visit to learn from you next month when I visit KL.

Joamonte

Anonymous said...

And if the real RPG is too expensive, the clone is good enough too...so clever ')

Panzer said...

Guys,

Give Joamonte a break, I think he meant well by offering an option.

Joamonte said...

Panzer, no worry....

I think I know who is the one that keep attacking me ... and I also already get used to it~~~this guy unable to argue with me in fact due not enough knowledge on this subject, so he have to keep personal attack in order to in-fame me....

But at least I put my name here... LOL!

Joamonte

Ken said...

Steven,

I think you need to read my post again.

I did not say that it is bad to go into room treatment. I said that you have to be careful. The reason I say this is because you have to balance the sound that you want to get. Most room tunes does a good job in controlling the bass but they suck up a lot of the highs as well. That is why I said to be careful.
Do you know how much they pay to control the acousitcs in Dewan Philharmonik? I don't think any audiophile would have the capacity to do that in their own room.

Joamonte,
Actually I have been travelling a lot lately. The weekend is the only time I can relax a bit. I may not even listen to music during those times but mainly to relax the mind before the start of the following hectic week. I would advise you to come with KC if both of you can make the time. Hope you understand.

David,
Torque yr setup? What hardware do you have in your setup? Can you also tell me more abt yrself? like yr years in hifi.

Regards.

Joamonte said...

Ken,

No problem I can go at week day night...my email. linyonghui@hotmail.com , let's keep this off line.

BTW, I think I disagree with you that most room tuning product is doing good job in controlling the bass , in fact I spend more than 3 years to find room treatment product that able to control bass below 100Hz, only until recently I found a way...

You after right about most room treatment have too much absorbing on high and balance absorbing from high to low is the key, but IMHO the main problem of most room treatment product are unable to control low bass...you can look at the absorption co-efficiency of product from Real trap/RPG/ASC/Auralex...etc to check it up, some company like Echobuster/eight nerve..etc dont even dare to post their absorption co-efficiency....

Joamonte

Ken said...

Joamonte,

I almost do not have room treatment for my hifi. I have a curtain on one of the side walls. One can call that room treatment if they want.

What I totally believe in apart from torquing is also the speaker placement. With correct speaker placement, you can eliminate or minimise bass boom. You can also enhance the soundstage in terms of size and also depth. You can also help to focus the vocalist mouth if you take time to play with speaker placement.

YMMV

Joamonte said...

Ken,

I also did heard some system in Singapore without special room treatment and sound very nice too....

Those owner with their seasoned ear, years of experience in that room,used some furniture alter the sound(intentionally or unintentionally) and very far from at least one wall's speaker placement to reduce the harmful strong early reflection ,and they able to get very good sound too..

....but allow me to share my personal view, I also believe with their voicing skill they do able to get similar tonal balance,but even better resolution and wider sweet spot if used proper Hi-end Audiophile room treatment method (meaning absorption for lowest bass and diffusion on mid and high, similar to shift the system into a bigger untreated room)too,making full used of the better quality reflecting sound in room to improve micro dynamic...its different method for Home theater,entry level HiFi or mixing studio we use more absorption to reduce the lower quality sound reflection that affected the direct sound.

And for those of us who too lazy or with less time, some room treatment do able to shorten the time to get what we want, LOL!

Room treatment is a too long topic to discuss here, I will go KL again tomorrow night, do drop me a email at linyonghui@hotmail.com today if it's convenience to visit you.

TQ.

Joamonte

David phan said...

Ken,does equipment make a difference when torque? U previously said all will give consistent result? Is it in god"s only hearing?

Ken said...

David,

I need to know your setup so that
1. I can get a handle of what can be torqued and what can't
2. which item that will bring the maximum amount of improvement after torquing
3. what kind of torquing tightness is necessary for the hardware.

I also need to know the tweaks that you use because I can know if it helps or will affect the performance of your system.

When KC and I go torquing, we don't just torque for the sake of doing it. We have a way to torque and tweak your system and all this is done systematically.
If torquing is all that matters, all you need to do is just go buy a torque screwdriver and all the nuts etc to torque your hardware and be done with it.

If you are interested, then pass me your email address and see where we go from there. If not, forget abt it.

Regards