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By Joe |
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Since the establishment of 1388, I have made many new friends and also get in touch with many long lost friends. We were stunned when we saw each other’s grey hair and the sizes of our bellies. When we met the first response was always ‘Ah…’. And the topic was nothing else but Hi-Fi…
One of them is Martin. We are from the same village – Hong Kong. I couldn’t remember much about this guy probably because he was one of those who only bought one or two CDs at one time; never exceed three…but he claimed to be our loyal customer at Hi-Fi Corner. Initially, he approached me to help him re-design his website and after some chitchat chitchat and a few beer sessions, we became very close friends. Well…I am easy! Not because he is another Hongkee… He is a Feng-Shui master and he has helped me correct the Feng-Shui (if any) of my office and home, both places are no good according to him. In return I offered to view his Hi-Fi Feng-Shui and help him tweak his system. So last Saturday, together with Kim and another Hong Kong friend also called Joe – Joseph Luk, we paid Martin a visit. Martin stayed in a new condominium at Dover Rise. The surrounding and landscape are really first class especially the large and long swimming pool. Although Kim doesn’t swim she fell in love with it immediately and wanted to view the show-flat… However, the only unit left is a penthouse. Come on, please lah, a penthouse? You mean the magazine? Martin said, yes, Joe, you can afford it by next year. Well…There is a Cantonese saying that “Feng-Shui man usually cheat you for eight to ten years”, that means whatever good things he said about you, they will only happen after 8 to 10 years. And if it does not happen according to what he said, there is no way you can find this Feng-Shui man after so many years…I was surprised Martin said ‘next year’…I prayed that he is right though. Being a Feng-Shui master, I expect his home to be huge and luxurious. Well, it turned out to be small but…how do I put it? Cute! The unit is one of those very typical Hong Kong style design. Perhaps that is the reason he likes it? His living and dining room is a long and narrow part divided into two sections. Martin’s equipment and speakers are all placed against one side of the wall. From the “Emperor’s seat” one side is long French window whereas the other side is open, joining the dining room.
I immediately exclaimed, “Martin, don’t you have any hi-fi sense? Don’t you know that in order to achieve good sound both sides must be as balance as possible? Why don’t you use you long sofa to separate the living room and dining room and placed the speakers against the window instead? ” Martin just smiled and asked me to settle down first. OK, see how! Below is his equipment list:
Hmm…no comment! This is not a review of equipment.
The soundstage is a bit narrow and constricted, not much layering and the bass was a bit messy and not deep enough. However, the overall tonality is very sophisticated and the left and right was not as imbalance as I assumed. This was properly due to the excellent placement of speakers and perfect toed-in job done by Martin. Martin claimed that he spent weeks trying inch by inch to find the perfect position and tilt. Furthermore, there is a single seated sofa placed a few feet in front of the left speaker. It helps a great deal indeed. To be sure, I asked him to put on “Mr. Swing” track 2 of the second CD of the 2-CD set. To many audiophiles including me, this is a critical test track. The deep bass is very difficult to handle for most system. After less than one minute, I declared his system’s performance is…hmm…not bad. Not bad at all! Can it be better? Of course CAN! I proclaimed that I could improve his system for one buck. One buck? Joe, how big is your buck? Martin frowned in disbelief. Singapore buck! Martin immediately forked out one a-dollar coin and handed it to me and said, deal done!
Next, I stick one 5-cent and one 1-cent together and placed the set under each of the speakers (the speakers are on copper cones) with the 5-cent facing upwards. The bass dived deeper and have more control. However, as they said, when you gain some, you lose some at the same time. With deeper and lower bass, the soundstage was pulled down slightly. Well, how to solve this problem? To me is just a piece of cake! I simply placed another 5-cent coin on top of each speaker.
Even though Martin was very happy already, I claimed that this is just the rough part. The best is yet to come. I still considered the soundstage too forward; I needed to pull it backward. “How to pull? Can I give you a hand?” Martin asked. I looked around his house to find some things that are effective. I saw some of his daughter’s marble balls. The top of the rack where the television set is sitting on has a 1cm width grove along the edge. I chose two identical marble balls and placed them at the rear corner sitting firmly in the groove. Immediately the soundstage extended much further back and there were much more layering. By now I guessed the sound stage is good enough. In fact I would say very good. The width/depth/height proportion was appropriately balanced and the focusing was much better; the positionings of all instruments were easily identified and offered much more details. I asked Joseph Luk for his opinions; he just kept his eyes wide open and nodded… I know what he meant, speechless! Although the overall tonality of Martin’s system is considered sophisticated, however, I think I can further improve the musicality. OK, see whether this man has luck. I asked him for some jade ring or jade pieces if he had any. Maybe Martin only bought diamond jewelry for his wife, thus he could only find one very thin jade ring.
Mission completed! Martin was happier than happy, the overall improvement was greater than spending another $10K or $20K to upgrade. Note: Before you rush off to buy any jade pieces, please remember those that look brittle, fragile and elegant are often the most effective one. Don’t pick those that look heavy and not shinny. Don’t pay high prices for them; they should only cost ten or twenty dollars each.
Happy listening! Best of luck! |
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Still crazy after all these years!
D/A cable: NBS Junior
Even though Martin’s LP collection is much larger than his CDs, we started with CD. I chose Aaron Neville’s “Warm Your Heart” to start with. Using my most familiar track 7, I know immediately the symptoms of his system.
I told him that actually I needed some 5-cent and 1-cent coins. Using thin double-sided tape, I stick one 5-cent on the surface of the main 13-amp power plug. Immediately, the soundstage opened grandly; with much better separation and layering. Martin’s jaw almost dropped to the floor. 
Now, let’s listen to Aaron Neville again. Any difference? The difference was indeed great. The height of different instruments and vocal were correctly proportional to each other and can be distinguished easily. Bass rolling through the floor beneath knee’s level… 
That is good enough! I told Martin the weak point of his whole system is his power amplifier; just place the ring on top of the power amplifier, right at the center. Bingo! This is like icing on the cake; the jade ring brought out the musicality and finer details of the system and made the whole system sounded even more elegant and full of life.
