Furutech Select SK-II Electrostatic brush, made from "finest of hard to find goat's hair!" Now I am wondering Hmmm........

The contents and the packaging. The Tsai Ching LP does NOT come with it!

When an LP sticks to the platter felt mat when you lift it up after playing, means it is statically charged, very dangerous scenario as the lifted felt mat could get caught with the stylus tip and break it, an especially pain full experience if you've got an expensive cartridge installed! The static charge can manifest itself in the next play in the form of clicks and pops. One effective way to kill the static charge is using the Milty static gun. Furutech proposes another way, in the form of the Select SK-II brush. Apparently made from "finest of hard to find goat's hair" as quoted from packaging. The brush bristles are soft and feel nice to touch.

Now, that's how you do it! I can be a hand model too! How's that for an alternative career choice?

It's the most effective brush I've come across so far. LPs that previously lifted the felt mat after playing doesn't do so anymore after a brush before play. Post Furutech Select SK-II brushed LPs sound very quiet, without the clicks and pops, if there were stubborn dirts, it's very certainly lessened(the clicks and pops that is). It also claims to do the same on CDs. Do CDs get static charged as it spins inside the player? I don't know, nor can I verify the phenomenon. However, I did try the SK-II brush on some old dusty CDs, and it works by very completely removing the dust from CD's play surface, which is the non-label side, just in case you're wondering.

It's supposed to work on CDs too!

The Furutech SK-II brush selling price is RM$590 each. I know, it's obscene amount of $$$ to pay for a brush. I have an Allstop Antistatic brush, bought a few years ago for less than RM$100 a piece. By comparison, the Allstop does a half decent job of removing the static charge on LPs. As to the value of the brush, I would leave to the eyes of the beholder, personally I know two owners of reference level LP playing system already bought the Furutech SK-II brushes. For them it's small money to pay for peace of mind, knowing that they have one less reason to worry about snapping off the stylus tip on their very expensive cartridge. If you have to ask how much does their cartridge cost? I would say about the same price of a brand new Perodua Viva!(Malaysian made entry level 0.66ltr engined car!) Just to put things in to perspective and whom might buy them.

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

This was happening in my room last night. Cool!

I thought I'd take a break from hifi last night. I also wondered if, after all my hifi improvements, does my system, just ticks all the right audiophile boxes? or does it still have the pizzas to rock?

One of my all time favorite bands, Queen is always a good test! So I sat down and put in the Queen Greatest Hits CD in to my Marantz CD7 player. I have bought this CD 20 years ago and have listened to it more than a millionth times by now. I know all the songs by heart.

Queen Greatest Hits CD.

But last night, something magical took place, I was transported back in to the studios when the songs were recorded, for the very first time in a few years, no leap of faith was required. I finished the CD in no time, I reach for Queen Greatest Hits II, plonk it in to the CDP press play, and returned to the studio with Queen.

Queen Greatest Hits II.

The older Greatest Hits was more convincing in the illusion, despite the louder tape hiss! The rather cleaner sounding Greatest Hits II was clearer and had more definition, i.e. more hiss free, but proved just as fun. In the end the music took over, I played at near concert loud levels! yet my system never sounded noisy, staging and imaging was stable and it was never strained. Many a times when a system is pushed to the limits, harshness, staging and imaging disintegration sets in.

By the end of 2 hours, I was pretty tired, not from listening to music, but participating in music. Like I said, I knew all these songs by heart. I sang along side Freddie Mercury, played air guitar with Brian May, plucked bass lines with John Deacon , and jammed drums with Roger Taylor! I did a four things in rotation, as and when, what came naturally. No wonder I was tired.

It is rare days like this, when all the effort, money and time spent on improving the hifi pays off handsomely. For 2 hours, I was transported in to a musical event, and away from reality.

Bottom line is "My system still rocks!" and that, is a good feeling.

Now if only they were more days like this? Perhaps I am just in a good mood as weekend comes around again.

The outside, nothing has been changed.

Many thanks to GCK and a few others whom pointed out some missing elements in my home brew Kable Kooker. Chief amongst those is the variable frequency sine sweep function, which unfortunately, came to a point where a DIYer like me has to call it a day. After all, certain things are just beyond my grasp and abilities.

The inside, note the white 5W rated loading resistors.

I went to the Audio Dharma website, where there's plenty of information on how the real thing worked. It than dawned on me that I had made two mistakes in my earlier attempt. The mistake was that I had used the standard XLR/RCA cable spec impedance to load the cables as it cooks. As per explained clearly by Alan Krafton on the Audio Dharma website, I should 've used a power amp's load to cook the XLR/RCA interconnects instead. A quick consult on my Pass Aleph 0 manual indicates the amp's load to be 25k ohms for XLR and 10k ohms for RCA. Further consultation with my senior DIYer sifu tells me that some tube power amps can present loads as much as 47k ohms for XLR and 20k ohms for RCA interconnects. Just to be sure, I used the bigger values for a more effective cook.

Another view of all the loading resistors for XLR, RCA and speaker cable cooking. The top 2 resistors for XLR loading value 47k ohms @ 5W.

As my previous load resistors for the XLR and RCA are rated 2W, I've found them to run moderately warm when cable cooking. To increase reliability and lifespan, I used 5W rated resistors this time. Similarly, my home brew kable kooker also measured up to 1.86 amperes when cooking speaker cables, against the original measuring 1.88 amperes. That means I was right on the $$$ where speaker cable cooking is concern.

The RCA(at bottom) load resistor value 20k ohms @5W.

Just to try, for my self, I re-cooked my AQ Sky and Colorado XLR interconnects again, and found the results of the cooked cable much more sonically satisfying at shorten cooking time. To get the same level of results, I used to have to cook about 96 hours, or 4 days. Now I can do so with the same great results in 24 hours!

Now that's what I mean efficient cooking!

Once again, thanks for sharing your "desirable thoughts" with me. I've learnt so much from your kind responses.

[In-Line Advertisements]

The front of the kable kooker, note output sockets on the left, input sockets on the right. Speaker cables should be connected from left to center left, center right to right to form an electrical loop.

Here it is! My DIY version of a kable kooker.

First a declaration before I proceed with this article. I have never seen the actual Audio Dharma Cable Cooker before embarking on this project. I have, however seen some pictures available here on this blog and else where on the www.

The rear panel with IEC and fuse holder.

I just made an educated guess that it will sort of work this way, and along the way have the guiding hand of a senior DIYer. From the photos and pictures I've seen, the commercially available cable cooker works by supplying 12V A/C to the cables and applying the appropriate resistance to each intended cable to simulate the necessary load, like 8.2 ohms @ 50W for speakers cables, 75 ohms @ 2W for RCA and 100 ohms @ 2W for XLR interconnects.

The transfomer, note ratings.

To start with a 6V 0 6V @ 3 amps rated transformer is used to step down from our 240V wall supply via an IEC socket and ON/OFF switch with indicator, fused with 0.5 amp 30mm fuse, for safety purposes. From the step down voltage of 6V 0 6V, power is parallel supplied to the out put speaker connectors, RCA and XLR connectors. On the receiving end of connectors, are resistors attached, to simulate load on the cables when connected to form an electrical loop. See connection picture for a better idea.

The internals, note the load resistors on the right side.

Like the commercially available unit in use, the DIY kable kooker will need some adaptors to work. It will need a female - female RCA connector to cook a pair of RCA simultaneously. It will also need a speaker(spade/banana) connector - wall plug converter and an IEC - speaker(spade/banana) connector for cooking power cords, which I have yet to build, but can easily do so should the need arises.

Another look at the connections, from the back. Note that everything is reversed!

For XLR interconnect cooking, just connect the pair of XLR's output to input before routing them back to the kable kooker to form an electrical loop.

Kable Kooker in action, top is back panel, bottom is front panel. Abbey Road speaker cables and AQ Sky XLR cooked in pairs simultaneously.

It was a fun and easy project for me as it took about 2 hours to finalise component list, circuit and layout. Half a day at Jalan Pasar(Kuala Lumpur's electronics supply area) to pick up the parts and another one day to drill the necessary holes, fit all the plugs, sockets and connectors plus finally, wiring it all up.

Another cooking view from front panel.

The kable kooker project was born out of the necessity to cook the Abbey Road speaker cables reviewed earlier. Whilst at it, I also took the opportunity to cook my AQ Sky XLR pair of interconnect. I can in fact use the kable kooker to cook all 3 types of cables in pairs at one go! that's how versatile it is. Like the Audio Dharma unit, the DIY kable kooker runs rather warm when doing it's job. The RCA and XLR sockets should also run a little warm when cables are inserted for cooking.

I do not have the chance to A/B it's effectiveness against the "Real McCoy" but my own subjective post cooked cable experiences echoes those of the Audio Dharma users reported here earlier.

The usual DIY caveat applies should you decide to build one for yourself. I cannot be held responsible for any loss, damage equipment, shock hazard, injuries or death as a result of negligence from following my posting here. Please DIY at your own risk.

[In-Line Advertisements]

master ken suggested to use double dosage of mpingo disc on my curtain - by sticking one on top of the edge of the other using bluetak and the result is very drastic - even more concentrated vocalist's mouth, a warmer and more analogue sound but at the expense of some airiness in the highs.

while i like the fact that i get much more focus on the mouth, i am not quite sure if i like a slight loss of air in the high-end.

this SM thing is dangerous, don't pray pray ;-)

i have been thinking long and hard on how to install a very effective spotlighting system in my hifi hall, one that can spotlight the stage and enhance the vocalist's presence. after seeing how some of my friends implemented their own spotlighting system, i wasn't quite impressed. instead, i came up with my own implementation and i have ikea to thank for providing a wonderful range of spotlights.

look at my centre stage! with the standing wall light, it mimics the microphone stand and it illuminates the all-important vocalist's mouth with a halo effect.

the other two spotlights are meant to lit up the left and right spots just behind my maggie.

the overall effect is stunning, especially at night time. spooky realism!

this is psychoacoustics at its best :-)

just how could this be possible? ken, a bass freak and a lover of ass-kicking ATC speakers, praising, for the first time, my maggie's performance? it is like bon jovi telling karen carpenter that he likes her music.

i had a fabulous weekend. my story goes like this...

my closest hifi buddy, ken, has been on hifi sabbatical for the last 3 years due to work commitments. before that, we used to talk day and night about hifi, with him stationed in ipoh and me in kl. ken was the one who introduced me to high-end cables and for that i am eternally grateful to him.

ken knows his hifi like a guru and is one who doesn't mince his words - straight-talking, no-nonsense guy. in hifi preferences, we are also world apart yet we share common fundamental beliefs, that's why we click so well and respect each other. ken likes his hifi live, loud, and dynamic whereas i like my hifi tubey, classy and intoxicating. it is then easy to understand why ken loves ATC and behemoth solid-state amps like jeff rowland. for the record, he has never praised my system whole-heartedly, because he thinks my maggie can't do bass and is dynamically wanting.

but that was before yesterday, when he visited me for the first time in the last 12 months.

the first disc i played for him is rickie lee jone's "pop pop" and almost instantly, ken uttered, "i like this! you system has never sounded like this before?!". was it a question or a statement? he meant the highs and the mids. he thinks my highs used to sound glamorous, showy and a tad thin in the past. then i proceeded to play a lot of complex and juice-sucking, dynamic stuff - including my current fave, teddy robin goes to movie, the cd with 6 fabulous drummers on rotation - while blasting the volume way beyond 90db. ken kept mum for a few moments; the silence is deafening. he looked baffled as he uttered in total disbelief, "how could this be possible? this is maggie being pushed by only 120 watt of 6550 triode, furchristsake!"

i counted. he uttered the same sentence 3 times. i am not even sure he was talking to me or to himself.

then, almost as if he has regained he composure, he turned to me and said, "i have only ONE small gripe - and that's totally nit-picking - you vocalist's mouth is not as small as it used to be". i answered, non-chalant, "yes, i know, i haven't really bothered to tweak it yet". did i say ken is a man of few words when it comes to giving understated, positive assessment?

just how could this be possible? ken, a bass freak and a lover of ass-kicking ATC speakers, praising, for the first time, my maggie's performance? it is like bon jovi telling karen carpenter that he likes her music.

it is my time to regain my composure. i pointed to one small inconspicuous silver fascia black box at the back of my hifi rack and said to him, "you know why? it is all because of this."

and that small little silver-plated black box is called shunyata hydra 4.