Wednesday, February 4, 2009

用心玩家Ken的分享

不是小雞雞不寫,而是小雞雞現在人在印尼,連小雞雞都沒得聽歌了,哪裡來的力氣寫呢?

原本昨天可以回星島翻雲覆雨的,卻因為在這裡的卓越表現而被要求留下來了.

天意啊,現在的系統簡直是巔峰時期,加了另外一對喇叭線,喇叭大鈦錐,喇叭端蓋子和完全把系統蓋上了白金蓋子之後,自己就只聽了一個晚上就飛到印尼來了.

友人也開始打電話給小雞雞問Telos喇叭端蓋子的效果了,這樣好了,如果系統平衡了,加了喇叭端蓋子肯定會尖叫!

現在在星島的調音行程已經安排得不錯了,馬國也有一眾朋友等著,一顆分享的心在忐忑不安地跳著,怕就怕人家以為小雞雞瞧人家不起,故作神秘遲遲不到!

小雞雞答應,一有時間就一定為民服務!

請分享用心玩家Ken的分享:

In my 12 years dabbling in hifi, I thought I have seen and heard many things. I already accept that cables and power cords make a difference. I even believe that pieces of ebony wood like Shun Mook make a difference. So does platform where one put the hardware on. I am also convinced that different type of material used to make all hifi accessories affect the sound. All these products are no longer snake’s oil because any audiophile worth his salt can discern the difference that these things wrought, for better or for worse.

It’s CNY and the only time that I am really free from my day job. I thought I call my friend KC, for a chat and maybe a meet-up during this festivity. He told me that he found a new tweak and wanted to share with me when we meet up. I didn’t ask him what it was but I knew he would tell me soon. The date, 31st January 2009 will forever be etched in my audiophile journey as the day that I discover something that has never been discussed in the world of audiophilia. I don’t think it has even been discussed in any forum in the net as well. What KC turn up at my home, he brought with him was a box of screwdrivers that he says will change my thinking of hifi. All he wants to do is to screw all the screws that are found in my hifi setup from the cd player to the speakers and it will bring my setup to another level. The brand of this screwdriver set is Tohnichi and it comes with a variety of screw heads (Allen, Philips etc) with different sizes. It is an industrial screwdriver, which can be adjusted to tighten all type of screws to a fixed level of torque or tightness. It looks plain enough and so I thought to myself “Let’s see if this can really happen”. Anyway, what have I got to lose?

KC states that he has improve the sound of a friend’s setup by doing the same thing earlier in the day. Actually I have just switched on my system about ½ hour before KC turned up. He says that he has set the Tohnichi driver to 5.5 in tightness level and will start tightening the screws on the speakers back panel first (where the speaker binding post is situated). Truth be told, I only heard a slight tightening of the overall sound, nothing special. Then we continue to tighten the Allen screws on the driver, starting with the 12” driver and then the tweeter. Again, the sound sounds a smidgen more coherent. But the sound instantaneously improve when he tighten the Allen screws on the 3” driver. The midbass just tighten up which help to make the bass to sound more developed and tactile.

I asked him to tighten up the cd player next and KC did this with glee. All the visible screws on the back panel and the underside of the cd player were tighten with the Tohnichi screwdriver. I just could not believe my ears. The sound has become extremely airy. The cd that could really showcase the improvement in sound that I am getting is Koji Tamaki Red Wine (MUCD-1064). Track 6 consists of the singer with a guitar accompaniment. At 3.26 minutes into the track, Koji would start the whistle. You can distinctly hear him standing further back from the mike to do so. Just as he about to finish whistling (3.36), he lost his breath. But he quickly continues to whistle in apparent attempt to act as though nothing happened.

I pleaded with KC to continue to tighten the screws of the preamp, power amp and the power conditioners. We did it on all the visible screws on the hardware. I never thought there were so many screws of differing shapes and sizes on those gears. The sound has now become very 3D and even more airy. The front wall (which is untreated) seems to have disappeared to be replaced by a very believable soundstage. The best song to illustrate this is Bill Morrissey’s You’ll never get to heaven (Tag MacLaren). The sweep of the cymbals is so real that I have to pinch myself to make sure that I am not dreaming. And when the kick drum starts, it does so with the full force but never in your face. It is au naturel. Bill is in the room!!!

The true test of any tweak in hifi is to gauge how they sound with challenging recordings. One cd that I have owned for years is U2’s Joshua Tree (Mobile Fidelity UDCD650). I love the group since my younger days and still do so now. Track 3 of the disc (With or without you) is typical U2 music. But whenever I play this disc on my setup, I just had to press stop after listening to it for less than half a minute. The challenging bass and screeching guitar is more than I can bear. It starts with the slow rhythmic bass followed by Bono singing. With the new tweak, the sound is more coherent because of the better-controlled frequency extremes. I like the sound now so much that I even repeat the song again at higher volumes. The Edge electric guitar just sets the drama to the song. The bass is also better developed but does not overpower the sound.

Like I said earlier, I thought I have seen it all in hifi. In comes a tweak, that I never heard before and it change my world. The sound that I am getting sounds marvelous to my ears and the best thing is my friend KC did it for me for free!! Now I know screwing is needed to achieve aural orgasm;-)

My system consists of the Meridian 508.24 cd player, Audio Research LS25 MkII preamp, Rowland Model 8 power amp driving the ATC SCM100 speakers. I used all Audioquest cabling with an assortment of PS Audio and Stage III power cords. I also used an assortment of Shun Mook platforms, Diamond Resonators and mpingo discs.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

平衡的饅頭!


今天真是興奮極了,趕了三場調音大會,明天還有一場.

如果聽了平衡的饅頭而不感動落淚的話,小雞雞也無話可說了.

小雞雞現在只會問兩個問題:
1.這聲音真實嗎?
2.這聲音是你喜歡的嗎?

如果你的答案是真實但是不喜歡,那是個人喜好的問題.

如果你的答案是不真實但是喜歡,那也是個人喜好的問題.

如果你的答案是有改變但是不知道喜不喜歡也不知道好還是不好,那就慢慢摸索,只是時機的問題.

如果你的答案是真實也很是喜歡,那你沒辦法聽了平衡的真善美而不感動掉淚的!

對了,Enjoy the Music今天也來了個Telos全球獨家,去看看哦!

夜了,小雞雞手也很酸,分享的路雖然不好走,可是看到玩家們的滿意笑臉,小雞雞還是備感欣慰的!

等一等小雞雞的分享吧...

Monday, January 26, 2009

沙煲那麼大的...鈦錐


有時,小雞雞很怕分享心得的,因為系統的不一樣,很多時候的效應是不一樣的.

可是,Telos的能耐就是不管是甚麼系統,都能帶來平衡的真善美,把系統的性能大大提升!

為了讓喇叭有更良好的平衡度,小雞雞把喇叭直接就放到了地上.

可是,由於地板是木質的,所以聽鋼琴的時候,泛音就因為被強化了而把基音與泛音的比例搞亂了,鋼琴變得太龐大肥腫了.

放了小鈦錐之後,中低以下的比例被減弱了,也由於ATC SCM20T的单體直徑比較小,所以低頻是線條多於丰潤的.

雖然如此,在琴鍵敲擊了琴鉉之後,基音是很明確的,過後的泛音更會很豐富地交疊,把鋼琴的音階質感多層次地呈現出來.


為了要讓低頻有更實在的質感,小雞雞就等了一段日子,等待喇叭大鈦錐的到來.

小林為了不讓小雞雞失望,就一次過寄了很多產品給小雞雞,就連還沒有上市的喇叭蓋子也寄來了.

可是,收到郵件的時候是小雞雞要回家鄉的前一天,所以只好只放大喇叭鈦錐來試試看好了.

放了之後,小雞雞是期待著很大的低頻回報的.

可是,低頻雖然變多了,卻把鋼琴過度膨脹了,低頻厚厚實實的,不只把歌手高度壓低了,還把歌手氣管壓住了,在情感爆發的時候,總是去得不夠盡不夠放.

小雞雞耳朵不好,不聽使喚,要聽了好幾次才發現有問題.

看了看,想了想,還好小雞雞記得小林說過如果二前一後的擺法不好的話,可以試著一前二後的擺法試一試.

明眼的都看到小鈦錐是二前一後的擺法吧,之前這麼放也是小林試過後這樣提議的.

小雞雞也是不信邪試過小鈦錐一前二後的擺法,聽了就覺得殘響太短歌聲不自然而換回二前一後的擺法.

所以你們不能怪小雞雞用了大鈦錐二前一後的擺法,因為之前就是不好聽嘛!

可是,事實證明音響是死人是活的,一切都要以耳收貨.

放了之後,原以為會有很大的驚訝的,要怪就怪小雞雞的耳朵不靈,不能立刻就辨別有精進的地方.

難道Telos的能耐就只是那麼弱的嗎?聽不上幾次就聽不出來嗎?別急別急,先聽小雞雞解釋吧!

Telos可怕的地方就是聲音的去向是那麼地一致那麼地全面,回想起來可能以前聽了的東西有偏向的緣故而更容易地辨別到變化吧?

放了大鈦錐,中低以上的頻率聲效是跟放小鈦錐的個性去向一致的,可是細節卻變得更多,強弱差比也被拉得更開,聲音更是游走於眼前的空間,音箱與房間似乎對聲音起不了影響了.

而且,喇叭後牆更是更明顯地不存在了(是明顯還是不存在呢?小雞雞真是聽歌聽壞了頭腦!),完全把錄音空間再生出來,音場比小鈦錐更穩定實在!

其實,麥克風不只是可以收錄直接音而已,空間反應的回音也一樣被收錄進去的,只是在協振不協調的情況下被掩蓋了,器材換得再好也聽不出來.

放了大鈦錐之後,小雞雞真是頭一次聽到笛子在右前方吹,回音是在左後方傳回來的,而且,這張CD小雞雞聽了不下十次了.

那麼低頻呢?

由於ATC SCM20T使用的單體其實還是書架型喇叭的大小,所以是不能再生很龐大的低頻的.

可是,鋼琴的琴音是很飽滿的,大提琴的線條也井然有序;雖然離開小雞雞想要的低頻量還有一些距離,但是,聽電子音樂的時候,小雞雞卻頭一次感覺到了椅子的震動!

是別人的給得太多,還是Telos更中性老實地只給了應有的份量呢?小雞雞不敢下定論,因為現在的低頻小雞雞也是頭一次拿到的.小雞雞一路來是聽書架型喇叭的,現在的座地也才聽了兩年不到,而且只是两路的,所以還是不敢賜教.

對哦,那麼多樣東西,小雞雞就只是加了大鈦錐而已,加了再一對喇叭線會不會更神呢?

大家拭目以待吧!

PS:對了,小雞雞就連家鄉的電視機和衛星電視機頂盒也上了鎖,把螺絲扭力等化了,現在連妹妹也會投訴人家的電視不好聽,含糊不清的!哈哈!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

獨家 - Telos海外展覽室

記得哦,你是在這裡看到先的!

看來,Telos的產品大多數都在小雞雞這兒可以看見了.

這次的驚訝很大,也有新心得,要寫的話,可能明天起不了身回家了.

即將負上全文...




Monday, January 19, 2009

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

小雞雞聽到了現場的震撼

那天有個朋友帶了一個朋友到了小雞雞這兒來,好可惜的是,小雞雞竟然自信過度地開機了.

回想起來,可能是緣分吧,有時候事情就是不能勉強的.

既然在還沒有準備好的情況下開機,小雞雞也就只好認命了.

小雞雞有時覺得自己也太溫和了,太隨緣了,以為一般人都能聽到那一個C.

所以,小林就拍了一張照片,叫小雞雞依時行動,等一切都籌集到了,就是出關的時候了.

其實,那張照片就只拍了幾張CD,小林覺得啊小雞雞就是缺少了給人感動的震撼和震撼的感動,所以叫小雞雞買了再調教一下.

可是啊,小雞雞怎按奈得住啊?

今天就買到了其中的四張,小雞雞就迫不及待地播了第一張.


給人嘲笑小雞雞也不在乎了,這也不是第一次了.

這張CD也不是甚麼新片子,而且,買其他片子的時候,還給人嘲笑這麼老的片子還沒有買嗎?

回家一播,小雞雞就被吓壞了!

怎麼可能可以恐怖到這程度啊?!

小雞雞在之前示範的時候就一直示範了歌手情感的起伏對比和樂手播弄樂器的動作與力度強弱的微妙變化.

可是就在一般人都還沒有心中的那個C的時候,這麼抽象的意境叫人如何能體會呢?

小雞雞在很早前就聽過了Four Play的現場表演,當時的現場震撼叫小雞雞久久不能忘懷.

當時回到了家裡,小雞雞是幾天聽不下自己的系統的!

可是播了Friday Night in San Francisco之後,卻讓小雞雞有了當時受到現場震撼所遺留下的驚訝!

那樂手們的精湛技巧,玩法的準與力度的狠,都充分地表現了吉他鉉的韌度和彈性!

要知道,聽了那麼多年,小雞雞已經認為音響系統是無法完全把現場的氣氛與氣勢再生出來的.

有些人肯定會反駁當然可以,當中一些牌子就標榜了可以把音樂很直接地呈現出來.

可是,另一班玩家卻會反駁那一些牌子是無法呈現細膩和优柔的音色的!

之前,小雞雞所說的局限,就是這樣子了,沒有兩全其美的系統,也沒有很全面的調音功夫.

可是,當你聽到了Telos所強調的C之後,小雞雞膽敢擔保你是不能自拔的.

你不相信也罷,當你聽到了Friday Night in San Francisco,而且,越開越大聲,越大聲越好聽的話,你說甚麼都不重要了,因為開心的是小雞雞,不是你!

再等一下,小雞雞的喇叭錐和另一套喇叭線就快要到了,小雞雞就要'看'到更高層境界的C了!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

傳教運動開始了

小雞雞帶著忐忑的心,拿了工具、唱片、Telos金系蓋子和電源線,就開始了第一次調音的實習.

剛開始的時候,小雞雞還真是沒有把握.

新馬一帶的朋友不論是吃東西或是聽音樂,都是喜歡比較重口味的.

如果你在這一帶活動的話,很多系統都會很強調質感,那種把聲音吃得死死的那一種質感.

小雞雞以前就是這一種質感的擁護者,雖然一直覺得若有所失,可是,就當大部分的人或器材不能把:
1.大量的細節(很多會把聲音弄得很前傾)
2.逼真的質感(很多會把高頻拿掉,製造質感假像)
3.正確的形體比例(很多會買很大的喇叭,可是也無法製造震撼的比例)
4.精準的強弱對比(很多根本就沒有聲音的大小變化,音量保持一致的)
5.歌樂手的動作(騙自己嗎?)
6.情感的詮釋交流(呃...)
都一一保留,以及完整地呈現的話,那小雞雞就只有選擇其中之一了.

以前,聽了多年真空管機,小雞雞最有把握的還是溫暖的音色質感,那就選擇質感好了!

現在,小雞雞全部都要!

雖然之前就在小雞雞自家的系統勤練了數週,對於一般調音釘腳、墊板和錐子都有一點丁的認知,可是因為是第一次的緣故,還是很戰戰兢兢地開始了.

從CD唱盤,數碼轉換器,前級,后級到喇叭,一步一步地慢慢調整,同時又把所有調音的墊板、水晶和其他有的沒的拿掉之後,小雞雞被吓呆了!

一般人的見解都是一直增加和升級,才會有相對的音質提升的.

可是,小雞雞就沒有加東西啊,反而,小雞雞就只是把將近一千塊的咚咚拿掉罷了.

從以上的第一點到第四點,在保有原先的器材和擺位的前提下,沒有一點是不能挑戰高價位器材的(當然是還沒有調整過的啦).

要是如此的話,小雞雞可要罵小林師父是笨蛋了,這樣上門調音就能把聲音變好的話,Telos就可以關門大吉了!

且慢且慢,小雞雞要是還沒聽過調整過的系統加上Telos的聲音表現的話,小雞雞也是不會了解的.

小雞雞也是在數個星期的細心聆聽調整,再加上小林的分享調教之後,才慢慢地開始發現自己中的毒不淺!

小雞雞當然會反駁,能中毒的聲音肯定就是有音染的,對!一般膽機的溫暖音色和一般石機的粗狂有力就是音染.

當小雞雞聽到加了Telos的效果之後,就是對"真"的執著與追求了,對於真實至理的毒,中了也死而無怨啊!

所以,這種毒,應該是要分享的.

所以,調整過後,小雞雞立刻加了兩顆XLR金系蓋子.

這下,高音的餘韻飄逸動人,低音的抨擊集中有力,而且是有氣體形狀的,形體更是被空氣塞滿的,很是飽滿.

要命的是,歌手好像是剛剛喝了燕窩滋潤補養過似的,歌喉是那麼的濕潤柔滑,沒有之前的乾枯了.

再加上Telos金系電源線之後,小林的真正實力就出來了.

這時,小雞雞也完全了解為何那麼多人能中毒花大錢之後,也一廂情願死心塌地地想要分享聽歌的喜悅了!

只有真正體驗過聽歌的喜悅,才會了解何謂是真實的震撼,才會了解Telos的真、善、美.

Telos是以’真’實的聲音,把任何聲音完’善’無缺地呈現,讓人真正地體會音樂的’美’妙!

也只有在CD唱盤加上金系電源線之後,小雞雞’看’到了後面的小提琴家們是輕輕地把刷把拉在鉉上,小心翼翼地讓琴聲慢慢地融入,好像一不小心就會破壞了歌手的情緒似的.看到音場不難,看到動作就是見鬼的超凡境界了!

歌手更是絲絲入扣地一字一句把情感注入,用盡心力為的就是把聽者感動,讓音樂充滿了生命與意義!

要是只能在小雞雞的系統聽到的話,一般人可能也不能體驗那種震撼,畢竟你是對小雞雞的系統感覺陌生的.

要命的是,Telos就能在任何調整平衡后的系統,毫無差錯地重複著一樣的效能提升!

試想想,在你投進了那麼多心力與金錢的系統里,突然之間就能夠聽見了這震撼體驗的話,小雞雞也會為你感動流淚的!以上第五點和第六點,要是你有體驗過之後,小雞雞膽敢跟你擔保很多系統你是聽不下去的.不管價位有多高,沒經過調整的系統是完全無法呈現的!

以前,看到朋友升級,小雞雞总是替朋友開心的.

現在,看到朋友升級,小雞雞总是心酸,心酸朋友無法真正體驗自己的器材就放棄了.

新馬很多朋友試過Telos,遺憾的是新馬很多朋友沒有體驗過Telos.

音樂,不是單純聽的,音樂,是體驗的,每一次都是情感的交流,對心靈是有淨化和提升的.

試問,朋友到你家,你是一直播放同樣那幾張CD來分享新器材的聲音;還是一直把最新買的CD搬出來播放,讓朋友也分享聽歌的喜悅?

Telos的真章是在平衡之後才能真正顯現出來的,沒有愛樂者在旁引導,最好不要胡亂試用好了!