Soul of Shakti.

The system over view, note the Pipe Dreams speakers, just barely visible next to the Harbeths.

I met Mr.A at the time I was covering the CMY dealer focus through a group of senior hifi gurus. We struck up a conversation and next thing you know, resulted in this home visit which Hifikaki tagged along. Mr. A(whom wishes to remain anonymous for this posting) is a vinyl man first, CD man next. I flipped through his LP and CD collection and discovered many gems I have never heard or encountered before. Mr.A has also developed a taste for percusion jazz/rock or fusion music. As they say, your musical taste dictates your system's sound, how true in this case!

Scheu Analog turn table, note the squash balls for damping/isolation? Harmonix record clamp.

Shelter phono MC transformer. Qi cones at the bottom for isolation.

Let us start with introducing his system's cast members, a.k.a. "the equipment list". It starts with a Clearaudio Concerto cartridge equipped turn table, made by German firm Scheu Analog on the vinyl front. The low level signal extracted by the Clearaudio cartridge is sent to a Shelter MC transformer for the first 30db of amplification, followed by Audio Image's potent in house solid state phono stage doing the work of the remaining 40db or so.

Phono stage(on top) with separate power supply at bottom and various other spare TS Lim's Diva pre amps.

On the CD side of things, a Marantz CD67SE, treated to a full mod job by TS Lim( Diva master tweaker in Singapore). All source signals are then sent to a Jadis Gloria tube pre amp. Power amp is TS Lim's Diva Blue Sky, which uses NOS EL34 Mullard tubes(these babies are sweet!) to output 50W per chanel.

Delicate balancing act! Note the TS Lim "full mod" Marantz CD67 SE sitting on wooden Qi cones and the brass Walker cones on Tong Lee supplied Mana clone shelf.

The amplified signal this converted to sound energy by a pair of Harbeth M30 monitors sitting a top it's dedicated stands. Inter connects are FM cable(CD to pre amp), Diva Tocatta and Fugue(phono stage to pre amp and pre to power amp). A pair of lovely Yamamura Churchill speaker cables takes care of the final transmission duty. Power cords are from various sources including TS Lim's Diva Mongoose. A pair of Tice PLC and a unit of RGPC 400Pro cleans power from wall before supplying to system. Mr.A loves to balance his components on Qi Cones and Walker cones of various sizes on top of Tong Lee supplied Mana cloned racks, for every single component's isolation.

Jadis Gloria pre amp (top) and dedicated power supply unit (bottom).

See the Yamamura Churchill speaker cable resting on the Jadis power supply.

The system is set up in the lounge/hall area of his house, with the minimal use of room treatment products. I counted a pair of Tong Lee supplied bass traps at the corners of the speaker back wall and some Micheal Green look alike corner and front wall treatment patches. The speakers are placed well in to the listening area, almost near field like arrangement with no toe in.

Proudly TS Lim's fan club member, Mr.A!

We started the listening session by playing the soundtrack "Warriors of Heaven and Earth", scored by the really talented AR Rahman on CD. The sound of the system shocks me, at first with it's macro and micro dynamics's capabilities, then the overall drive, bass weight and slam really sounds like more than the 50 tubed watts powering a pair of 85db sensitivity speakers had any right to. This full tubed system has pace and speed that can rival any solid state based system with ease. Despite what all that has happened so far, this system also has a mellower side when the music calls for. Female voices(Rickie Lee Jones) breath beautifully, and the lively percussive quality(when playing the CD "Shakti" by John Mclachlan and gang) of this system is top notch! As we proceeded to play some LPs, namely Hugh Masekala's Hope 45 rpm LP and the "Stimela" track, (Hifikaki's fav this!) The low level resolution retrival quality from this LP playback is jaw droping on the very familiar track which both me and Hifikaki always listens to on CD.

Diva Blue Sky EL34 power amp, note the Diva inter connect cable?

While the CD player was spinning, I kept thinking this doesn't sound like a humble Marantz CD63 at all(which I had used for close to 10 years!). And I was right, Mr.A said it's a CD67SE(the CD67 does look exactly like the CD63!, except the model no. print), and a TS Lim full mod version at that! Ahh.... that's why people pay lots a $$$ for an old humble Marantz to be moded by TS Lim. It really is a giant killer!, in the context of this system.

Harbeth M30 speaker on dedicated stand.

TICE PLC and RGPC400 Pro. Note the Tong Lee suppiled corner tube trap?

Time certainly flies when we are having fun. Before we knew it, the time was past midnight and we had to make our way home. I ask Mr. A about his near future plans for the system?

For those wondering how a pair of Pipe Dreams look like, it's a 4 pc speaker design, with the towers taking care of the highs and mids in line array formation coupled to a pair of subs! Hifikaki counted 30pcs of tweeters on each side! The pair in the picture taken from website is the newer model but very much the same.

He replied that he can't wait for the up graded cross overs to come back for his Pipe Dreams speakers(Mr.A's main speakers, the Harbeths are just his spare back up speakers) , and a TS Lim Diva tubed phono stage to come for his vinyl source. Yummy! A follow up visit is due once these up grades are completed.