Hi Fi kaki gathering session a.k.a Friday Nite Party (Special)

At this time of the year, many enthusiasts are starting to anticipate the event of the year. Many of us are looking forward to listen to some of the finest hi-fi equipments money can buy and also to update ourselves with the latest toys in town. For those, who want to get a glimpse at those top models, this year's show is the one that should not be missed. I see that this year's show is being taken extremely seriously by the organizer and also the hi-fi community. The admin of hifi4sale forum (http://hifi4sale.fullboards.com/) has even set up a poll to enable fellow members to vote on the day and time for the teh tarik session. Kudos to you, Admin. We hope to see more people joining the fun of music listening.

The audio show fever has even caught up with the Seremban folks and some of them could hardly wait for the show. Therefore to warm things up a bit, we hitched a plan to hold our usual Friday Nite Party with a list of private collector's items in the 'menu'. However, the list of items grew so fast and much longer than we expected, we knew we are going to have lots of fun this time. To make things even better, our friend from KL also came to join us. I guess some might have read in local forums that it was indeed a Friday Nite Party Specials with our guest of honour, Jo Ki.

Careful planning was required to ensure everything runs smoothly and we set the stage one day before the party. We are absolutely grateful that one of us volunteered his equipments to run the show. The moment he loaded all his precious into my car, I felt extremely stressful when I started to think of those infamous potholes on our regular Malaysian roads. Nevertheless, I reached the destination safely with all things still in one piece. Unloaded all the equipments and set up the podium immediately. What a sigh of relief as those Foundation MkII stands ain't light at all.

Becareful of your back when you carry me!!

Up goes the pair of Chartwell LS3/5a onto the podium and straight away I know why Foundation is being preferred by my friend. The size matches so well for the speakers.

The Return of the Jedi

The moment has arrived and we started off by driving the Chartwell with the Audio Note OTO SE Signature while letting the Leak TL50+ to warm up quietly. After the dinner, our friend arrived with his precious Graaf pre-amp and immediately he dashed into the room and hook up the system with the pair of long awaited Tannoy Mini Autograph. I gotta say the Mids and Highs of the Tannoy is very impressive. Pop in the Triangle CD and go for the track with guitar solo and you will realize the Tannoy is doing some of its magic.

Gotta stick your face closer to the screen to check out the stuffs here

All of a sudden, Jo Ki said "I have brought my own pre-amp as stand by too." Well, without hesitate, he brought in the pre-amp. It's a small one and it is passive. Jo himself was very interested to know the true sound of the Leak TL50+ and the pre-amp is the optimum choice. We played the same song again and immediately we noticed the clarity has been brought to another level by the Cello Etude. It matches so well with the Leak TL50+ and also the Tannoy. We like the setup a lot that we nearly forgot about the other dishes in the 'menu'.

Humble little pre-amp

After more than an hour of listening, we swapped the speakers to the Rogers LS3/5a 60th Anniversary Special Edition. And straight away the difference is notable with much more lower frequencies compared to the Tannoy. However, the clarity of the guitar strings and also the airy vocal are not as pronounced as the Tannoy. But still, the Rogers hold some aces in terms of mid bass. Choose the right songs and the Rogers will entertain you for a long session throughout the night.

Nothing special but the back is very special indeed

Now, the long awaited combination which my friend labelled as "The Return of The Jedi" was ready and we placed the Chartwell on the Foundation. The Chartwell is quite different from the Rogers though they are both LS3/5a as this pair is a 15ohm. One will find the Chartwell more relaxed and has more clarity than the Rogers. We suspect the Rogers are still new after listening to the Chartwell. Jo Ki tried an experiment that we never thought of, exchange the grilles of the LS3/5as.

Full time whistle

To end the party, we had a brief listening of the Triangle speakers and it was also a preview of the system for the upcoming audio show. It was already 12 something after many rounds of extra time and it was time to blow the full time whistle. Everyone helped in dismantling the stage and packed up all the precious items before heading for supper. We are very happy to play host to all of you guys, especially Jo Ki who came all the way from KL to join us. Hopefully, we can have such occasion again in the near future. As for now, the party is over and we switch our attention to the upcoming KLIAV 2011 at JW Marriott Hotel next weekend.

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