Vitus Audio SS-101 Integrated power amp. 50Watts of Class A smoothness!

I seen the Vitus Audio products in hifi mags, they seemed well built and look like something that'll sound special. Full balanced class A amplifier designs are my kinda thing. It's come to Malaysia now courtesy of Audiomatic in Amcorp Mall.

Vitus Audio SC-010CD player, with built in linestage.

On demo is the SCD-010 CD player and the SS-101 integrated stereo amplifier. You may ask that if I have missed out on a pre amp? No, the pre amp is not required as the CD player has a built in line stage! You can also read about the products and Hans-Ole-Vitus, the brand's designer, on http://www.vitusaudio.com/

Do make an appointment for a demo to avoid disapointment.

Vitus Audio is sold by Audiomatic, contact Eugene, tel:012-3222698

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i have been waiting for this for the last ten years!

finally, evelyn hii, the boss of NBT, got it done in time too for 2v1g's gig in jan 2009.

hooray, the best performing platform in kl has finally got a home!

please guys, if you call yourself a music lover, you owe it to yourself to visit this place.

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with web 2.0 catching fast on netizens, even audiophiles from sleepy kelantan have caught on with the blogging fad!

for the mandarin readers among you, here's one interesting hifi blog from my virtual friend in kelantan. calling his blog "fatty's hifi journey", you can certainly tell that chua has a great sense of humour.

his gear is definitely high-end; it would embarrass anyone out there who claims to be high-end.

but most importantly, chua's passion sees no bound, so too is his pocket, i suspect ;-)

enjoy!

http://fataudioblog.blogspot.com

chua's equipment list

• cd transport－Reimyo CDT-777（Kubala Sosna Emotion power cord, Harmonix Coaxial)
• dac－Reimyo DAP-999EX (Kubala Sosna Emotion power cord,Stage3 Concept Magnus RCA interconnect)
• preamp－Audio Note M5 Line (Shunyata Phyton Helix power cord，Stage3 Concept Magnus Prime XLR interconnect)
• power amp－Classe CA2200 (Shunyata Phyton Helix power cord，Audioquest Mont Blanc speaker cable）
• loudspeakers－Marten Miles 3
• others－Shunyata Research V-Ray (Shunyata Research PhytonHelix20A power cord)，Bright Star Audio platform(DAC)，Symposium Ultra platform+Symposium Roller Block(preamp)，Accoustic Revive RR-77 X3， Isolation Transfomer，AC AnacomX5，Speaker Anacom，Accoustic Revive RD3，Goldmund Spike，Harmonix RF-999MT(speaker))，Harmonix RFA-7800，Oyaide (wall outlet)，Symposium Svelte Shelf(power amp)，Millennium CD Mat，Quantum Symphony Pro(Harmonix X-DC2 power cord)，Finite Elemente Ceraball(for Shunyata V-ray - see picture)

while mulling over a cup of teh tarik, hifi kaki and i brought out the subject of forming a hifi club in malaysia (since the idea was mooted by one hifi dealer). though the discussion here is purely academic, i would share it you here what is exchanged between us.

first, we are going to call the club "hifi utopia", not because we like the jmlab speaker but as an oxymoron to celebrate the idiosyncracies of this hobby. hifi utopia may never happen but at least that's what the club strives to achieve. the club mascot would be a happy audiophile kissing a hose-sized interconnect. just joking ;-)

there are a couple of critical success factors for hifi utopia:

[1] the club must provide real benefits to the members. this can come in the form of equipment on-loan , such as the cable cooker for members' use (great idea that was), a loaner record-cleaner or interconnect/power cords/etc etc contributed by dealers for the sole usage of the club's members

[2] a real discount for members for purchase of goods from participating dealers

[3] regular experiential sharing in the form of forums, talks, seminars - and NOT house visits, please. the club would invite hifi luminaries (local or overseas) to share their knowledge on a particular domain. dealers can be the sponsors for such events.

[4] some well-to-do veteran/senior audiophiles to provide funding for the club. the president should be someone level-headed, respected widely and preferably rich, not a recalcitrant like maggielurva.

[5] a regular platform for dealers to showcase their latest products. the club can organize listening sessions in dealer's showroom (or some neutral place) where members can mingle (or bicker!) in a conducive environment. of course, refreshment and food would be provided by dealers.

other less effective forms of sharing which we are not too keen include:

[1] regular talk-cock-sing-song sessions. this has proven that it won't work in the malaysian context due to our over-inflated egos

[2] house visits. this again is a waste of time knowing how malaysians behave when they listen to other systems.

as far as membership goes, hifi kaki feels that it should be by invitation (extended by the dealers to their valued customers) whereas i feel that it should be open to all and sundry. a lot of newbies (e.g the bunch from low yatt forum) want to come into hifi but have no means to gain knowledge or access to good hifi. hifi utopia would be a good avenue and access path for this bunch of newbies.

these are the basic guidelines for hifi utopia. do you have more to add?

[child-woman jolin cai]

the cd pirates now have gone shopping in taiwan and hong kong. either that, or they are now shopping in yes asia, the largest online chinese cd web store in the world.

they now bring into malaysia many titles well in advance of the malaysian market. (at least 1-2 months ahead). this is something unheard of in the past. and some titles so uncommercial that you wonder why they bother.

it is obvious - the pirates are looking at the bigger global picture now - they want to rule all and sundry.

scary sh*t.

it is a sad day for music. the music industry and record shops in malaysia are promised of an expedited death.

oh, btw, just in case you ask - 2v1g has been pirated. what an irony in all sense of the word.

[the curvaceous fala chen]

it is confirmed - city square, the adelphi-wannabe of kl, is going to have a major face-lift and all its hifi tenants will have to seek new homes.

there was a time in the early 90s when city square was touted to be the adelphi of malaysia. the av centre did attract a number of hifi tenants then and with metrojaya store being the anchor tenant, the dream came close to fruition. close, by never quite there yet.

with the exit of metrojaya in the late 90s, city square soon lost its attraction. husbands could no longer bring their families to city square with the pretext of hifi shopping because the wives and kids have nowhere to go.

the last 5 years saw city square being relegated to a 3-rate shopping destination. there was hardly any attractions. but half a dozen of hifi tenants stayed put as they believe the location does attract a regular stream of loyal customers.

rave, music by design, audio perfectionist, valve and vinyl, asia sound, zest audio would now have to look for new homes. would they all go to amcorp mall, the current home of many hifi dealers, or another building would house an av centre for them? plaza low yatt did at one time want to house an av centre but the IT-centric mall doesn't quite entice hifi dealers.

the dream of having an adelphi-like centre in kl remains a distant one.

It is ever so often I meet someone and the conversation goes to the part where we ask what you do for a living. My quick answer would be, I am a car audio consultant or at times I'll say that I am a car audio distributor.

Speaking to a person that is not all that familiar with car audio can be quite challenging. Well, I take that back, not challenging per se but tactfully amusing. Almost automatically, as a gesture to keep the conversion going, the person may ask me how much does car audio cost. Such a simple question yet I have to pause briefly. What will you reply?

I have to keep in mind that the masses know they have a cd player and it's either a sony, clarion or something that starts with an A. It came as an OEM or it was once changed to an aftermarket replacement when the original konked out. I have to remind myself that they do not listen to audiophile cds or anything close to it and the younger generation may say, ya mp3s!! while the older will nod their head telling me which radio stations. For added enjoyment gospel comes to mind and as a distraction for the kids, childrens songs is a must.

My initial answers to these questions were full of explanations. Since I focus a lot on high-end gears, it is hard to give an approximate figure. I came to realize the more they nodded, the more they could be lost. I understand too that if I mention that depends on the budget, it could sound like I am trying to find out how much they can afford.

Now I find it simplier to give a response by asking a question or two in return. Are you a music lover? Do you know what an audiophile is? The reply helps me figure out how much interest is actually tied to the question and if they have the knack to understand what it takes to reproduce good music.

Suprisingly, most people have the love for music but not enlighten enough about the industry. If only we audiophiles can spread the word around (just like many people do in MLMs), we will help our music, audio and related industries to grow exponentially. Look at how the AV shows and computer fairs are starting to become.

People go for bargains rather than to learn the emerging developments in the industry. We seriously need to open up rather than to keep it to ourselves. It would be cool if we can get them to read the desirable audio boutique blog for a start.

announcing the arrival of A&L audio station at amcorp mall! at the point of writing, A&L has officially opened and we are already seeing some followers frequenting the place!

it is exciting to know that amcorp has become the hifi centre of pj, with more than 6 specialist audio shops congregating under one roof. it currently houses audiomatic, acoustique systems, av synergy, tivoli audio, metro audio and audio synthesis.

visitors to amcorp would be able to tell you how busy the place is over the weekend when the flea market is in full force. for audiophiles, apart from visiting hifi shops, another reason to visit amcorp over the weekend is because of the many LP (Records) sellers at the flea market. at the last count, there are close to 10 of them!

A&L, the big brother of hifi, carries pedigree brands like audioquest, MBL, densen, ps audio and many more. anchoring the shop will be wah chai (mr yap), the ever nice and decent showroom manager that has many years of experience in hifi.

pop over to amcorp over the weekend and you won't be disappointed.

after ARC Ref3, another hot product hits ipoh like a storm.

there are already 4 proud owners of this super-duper cd player in ipoh - audionet ART G2 cdp. touted to even surpass the much heralded meridian 808, audionet art G2 is going to shake-up the scene in the next twelve months. just mark my words.

as usual, i dare not even take home a unit for audition. don't flirt with fire when you don't know how to distinguish it.

only with revolutionary products like this, high-end and audiophilia as a whole will be ignited and prosper.

do you know that when it comes to secondhand hi-fi gear in malaysia, audio art and dong fong in ipoh are the market barometers? they practically dictate the market value of secondhand high-end gear based on market demand and supply.

undoubtedly two of the biggest and most successful secondhand dealers in malaysia, audio art and dong fong respectively garner a big following beyond perak state itself. they have customers from jb, penang & kl as well. and the amazing thing is, the two competing proprietors - ah chee from audio art and ah lin from dong fong - are the nicest people around, completely likeable and business savvy.

a case in point. when the ARC ref 3 preamp came out in late 2005, owners of Ref2MkII and LS25MkII were quick to dump their preamp and went for the upgrade. there are now three Ref3 owners in ipoh alone! over the last 12 months, the ref2MkII is still able to maintain its secondhand value in the market (which hovers around RM22-23K) but my beloved LS25MkII has plummeted to a all-time-low of RM8K in the audio art and dong fong barometer for 2nd hand gear! the simple reason being that almost 90% of the LS25MKII (except mine lah) have been dumped into the market with the owners upgraded to the supposedly vastly superior LS26.

maybe someone should devise a secondhand hign-end gear price index a la KLCI and this index should be published weekly by audio art and dong fong.