Monday 30 November 2009

sunday's buy

other than stepping out for lunch and coffee, i didnt go out at all on fri and sat....... and i told myself, i am gonna get out on sunday.....

after going one entire round from raffles hotel arcade to raffles city shopping centre, i ended up with a bag of biscuits and sweets from marks and spencer....... i took one basket and began filling it up... haha so difficult to resist their goodies when they so are delicious....

other than that there's nothing much to buy.......

there was a sale at FCUK: some items at 50% and some at 30%.......

robinsons: nothing interesting......

topman: boring.....

so buying snacks makes more sense........

Sunday 29 November 2009

california sighting...

i was pretty sure i saw a ferrari california on the opp side of the road a couple of weeks ago....

but wasnt the car due for delivery in months to come...???

ah until i knew there was one out on the road ..... which was used for a magazine test drive as well...

so it is true... there's one out on the loose....

even more hardcore...


for the uber-rich, being seen with similar or identical possessions is a big sin......

which is why customised cars, bespoke suits and watches are so popular....... no one wanna be seen wearing or driving the same old thing....... e.g. no cars like a toyota corolla-altis ..... or a same cocktail dress at a dinner party.......

the top tuners know this.... and brabus can make your already damn fast e63 even faster....... up to 320 kph and 555 bhp.......

enough OOMMPPHHHH?? you bet!!

picture from autoblog

Saturday 28 November 2009

3 days power reserve....

a few of the grey dealers are selling "brand new" pam 312k for list price........ but why would anyone wanna transact at that price when the authorised dealers are also selling at list price..???

if one cannot wait, might as well get one from other local dealers that often post in the internet for about S$9000.....

crazy....

A big convenience

Using the laptop as a source is such a big convenience ... So many songs become available at a few clicks.... One can even have different playlists to suit their moods n preferences

Most importantly I dun even need to change discs at all haha... If u have an iphone or itouch u can even control itunes remotely... Such a boon for lazy people

Maybe I should look for a used imac just to be the transport or music server..

Btw what's the going rate for used itouch??

a costly difference....

some might be curious about the differences between a pam 5 logo and a pam 111.....

well some of the answers can be found here...

Friday 27 November 2009

A B testing

Ok I m going to wash up before I start the a vs b test... cal delta transport vs acer laptop haha....


and this is what i am using to connect the laptop to the msb dac... and you can more about it here http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/musicloverdigital/digital.html

too free

some ppl have too much time on their hands...

and can continue to crow and crow....

so what's new..

but then that's their problem...

get a life....

318....

this afternoon i was having coffee with CSS and we talked about the bmw 318..... and then i saw a long running thread in my car forum about the 318..... some wrote about how they felt the car was over-priced and so on.....

now i dun care whether this is a bmw or whatever.......

i can only remember that when i last drove this car along south bouna vista road, i almost flew into the bushes.......and the handling of this car is ....errrr, not very good hor....

even the toyota liteace didnt scare me as much......

wet and grey....

for such a day it's best to stay home and listen to music.......

going out means getting wet and dirty unless you move from one covered carpark to another covered carpark.....

moreover moving on wet roads equate to higher risks.......... especially when all the vampire cars are out on a public holiday. yeah those vampire cars with their weekend drivers so better stay away from them......

wishing all a happy holiday...!!

not shy??

u think i am a beggar???

Thursday 26 November 2009

burson clock...

i will cut the story short and let you guys know exactly what i'd heard from the addition of a burson clock in my msb nelson link 3 dac:

vocals - better texture, more life-like than before....... image size of vocals is rounder and deeper.....

soundstage - able to discern more layers..... deeper and more 3-dimensional..... placement of instruments clearer ......has a nice bloom and air around each instrument

treble - more extended high frequencies..... able to hear more but never never close to being bright and harsh.....

timing - much better pace ....everything is tighter, louder and has a better rhythm ..... comparison is like watching the march past of a guard-of-honour contingent vs a normal group......

bass - more bounce more impact more slam.....

general - more details......... much more organised and less messy.....

that's all for the moment.....

---------------------------------------------

addendum - 27 Nov 09

i was informed by james that the improvements i have mentioned above are also due to the mods to the XLR input board and the replacement of critical capacitors at the power supply section

thanks...!!

new connection


i spent the 1st hour listening to CDs n then switched to my laptop as the source by using the hagusb device as the go-between the dac n digital source..

to be honest i didnt expect much as most users know that a computer is a very noisy device..... however the very track i played from itunes gave me quite a shock cos it sounded very good.... and from then on i extended the session to almost another 2 hours.....

it does seem like there is indeed much potential in this area of tapping on the computer to play music.....

of cos the key is how to do it..... one can either buy a dac with an usb input or simply buy an usb to s/pdif converter...... no matter what you choose, it's still a quick way to enjoy music from your computer....

if you are serious about this, you should get a laptop with solid state memory which has no moving parts....... that will be quite a potent music source for your audio system....

good day

good day cos friday is a holiday!! which means i hv time to put the
upgraded dac through its paces....

i think after the 24 hr burn in, tonight will be a fun night...

but right now i need a nap

Wednesday 25 November 2009

welcome home 2...

just came back not too long ago..... and was already quickly getting into action to put the msb nelson link 3 back onto the rack.....

before plugging in everything, i cleaned all the connectors with rid-ox and then carefully placed the TAOC footers under the p1000 and the dac itself....

next.... from the box out came the silver sonic d-110 AES/EBU digital cable and when i powered up the transport, preamp and power amps, this time round there was no hesitation, no drop-outs, no clicking.......

only music and sweet music......... haha.....

ohhh forgot to let u guys know that i have added a burson clock for the dac ......

for the moment, i have put the cd on repeat mode and will let everything run in for one day and night before i sit down to listen ......

other than 8b... we have 7b!!



other than exit 8b towards changi airport, the other of my favourites is exit 7b from changi airport towards city.......

now this one is a double apex corner and it opens up gradually towards siglap...... bcos of the kink in the mid section, it presents a different challenge for drivers..... and i found that a downshift just before the 2nd apex is required to get it through the section smoothly without losing too much speed......

no matter what pls drive with care and godspeed.....

welcome home msb nelson link 3

ready!!

yes the upgrade for the dac is done!!

and i m picking it up tonight!!

Tuesday 24 November 2009

switched to tv

my usual retreat after lunch is to nap.... but this afternoon, i spent the lunch hour chatting with colleagues and this made me especially tired after work...... end result of not having a lunch nap = dinner nap from 1800 to 2030 hrs haha.....

well just that take it as compensation or rather charging a flat battery... anyway the DAC is not back so i have nothing to listen to..... might as well go to sleep....

so no a weekday night, the only entertainment is tv...... maybe i am getting old haha cos i find taiwan tornado to be quite entertaining ......


msb upgrade....

ok right now i have no dac in the house and that means i have nothing to listen to.... my only hope is to get it back soon....

to make things better another acrolink 2110 interconnect cable will do the trick.....

Monday 23 November 2009

now resting ....

just came back from my evening run......

so now is shower time..!!

this afternoon as i was walking to my car, rec'd a msg letting me know that the parts to upgrade my DAC is here.... to cut the waiting time i'll be sending it in later in the night...

YAHOO..!!

missing you....



i miss exit 8b.....

so even though i no longer use it on my way home, i made a u-turn to visit exit 8b....

road is wet but by downshifting to 2nd gear midway through the turn, everything feels fine.....

Sunday 22 November 2009

more copper 2... acrolink 2110 mk 2 interconnect cables

ok i cant wait.... so i went to x audio ....

but the 2030 is too expensive for my comfort level so 2110 it is....

the cable jacket may look dull, but the sound even at 10 mins old, is already sparkling in its high frequencies.....

if only acrolink makes this cable more handsome, they can comfortably sell a truckload more of this haha.....

my silver sonic is good at around S$100...... but the yet-to-be-burned-in 2110 is showing the former out of the door ....of cos it's unfair comparison but i am only trying to give you a hint of where this cable stands .....

the bl-1 replaced my kimber PBJ and now the acrolink 2110 is the new resident....... so i need to let it run in before i can have a taste of the full flavour.....

caveat: i'd pasted another 2 pieces of AR QR-8 quartz tuning discs in the room..... so this could be construed as part of the improvements hehe....

one lesson....

yes...

having desserts at restaurants may be cheaper after all.....

cos not all ice-creams are created equal....... some surely are more expensive than others....

haha....

if not just stick to macdonald's hot fudge sundae..... not only cheap but good.....


Saturday 21 November 2009

stiff neck 2.....

right now i can feel alittle discomfort at the neck.....but then i woke up feeling ok...... so it shd not be sleep-related.....

maybe i'd braked too hard on the way to town earlier...... haha i braked till ABS was activated while trying to cut in front of a bus....

OUCH....

hehe but anyway everything's still under control and when one is tired from walking, what he needs is a coffee-break


looks good?

yeah i guess so ...

but the taste is only SO SO.....

to round off the trip, i bought this......

another sale 2... mine



ok i am selling this to clear the room as well as to raise some cash......

all to go for S$900 neg....

kinergetics sw-100.5 stereo subwoofer system

10 inch long throw woofer per side... rubber surrounds still lasting... speaker grilles included....

comes with subwoofer amp with internal crossover....

best mate with spica tc-50 or other small monitors...

speaker spikes included....

job completed....





after abit of hardwork.... everything's up....

and it seems the sound is slightly better hmmmm.....

Friday 20 November 2009

urgent need

ok now at ikea buy curtain ha

but first a cup of coffee

before that i had done most of the dirty work.... i.e.

measure and indicate the spots to mount the holder....

mark out where to drill....

drill a total of 6 holes......

insert the wall plugs....

screw in the cable holders.....

mount and tighten the steel cables ......

pull out the curtains from the store cupboard....

put on the clips and hang up the curtains.....

TADA...!! job done....

but i still need 1 set of curtains..... which is why i am in ikea....

round 2 so standby....

the skies over singapore opens UP .....

so standby for round 2 of floods.....

and get your cars out of basement carparks in low lying areas before you regret.....

spring cleaning....

today is friday and is a spring cleaning day.....

need to clean up the bedroom and audio room.....

and also see how i can put up curtains in the audio room using the dignitet system...... well i bought this many many months ago but am just too lazy to start work...


need to find time to go jogging too...

Thursday 19 November 2009

where's the redress..!!

ho ho....

i happened to watch a clip of the henry handball..............

that's an absolute disgrace.......

come on it's time.... learn from rugby....

use video and catch all the cheats.....!!

the referee Martin Hansson should be so ashamed of himself....

metal charms....



when i saw this earlier in the afternoon.... it was like WOW......

until i saw the price then i repeated this right inside my head... WOW WOW WOW.....

haha.... very nice but also expensive.....

as good as buying another LV belt or wallet........ errr not so wise to spend so much on a bag charm / key ring right???

of cos there more affordable alternatives if you insist on a LV key ring to partner your bag....

like this one..... at S$145 IIRC......

something to bring home

it's abit silly to go back empty handed after a shopping trip....... but i know i didnt need new clothes or new shoes right now.....hehe although the temptation is always there....

and since i am saving up for something else, i am also aware of the need to cut down the frills...... so even though there are clothes at 50% off, 30% off and so on...... i did not flinch ....

so what did i do...???

errr....

i bought kimchi and apples from isetan supermarket instead.... haha.....

comfort food to fill the tummy will do for this round......

that is for lunch



katong laksa..... yummy

especially after a long break

after lunch i walked over to roxy square wanting to check out preowned audio bits but the shop was closed.....

too bad...

downtown browsing

it began to rain heavily so i cant park at my usual place..... to add to the insult, my usual place was FULL.... totally FULL as in not even 1 inch of space for me to squeeze in the butt...... anyway i dun mind paying a little more to stay dry....

itching to see the pam 312, i dropped by hour glass tang plaza....

and yes they do have 1 piece which was already reserved..... i was told the next is mine if i pay a deposit...... price? at $9850....... also managed to touch/feel/see the pam 270 but as you know, this one is 2.5 times more expensive in terms of list prices......

thinking that i love big watches, the salesperson showed me the latest hublot big bang classic in ceramic (500 pcs LE) and zirconium (regular production)....


nowadays i am not much of a hublot fan but the ceramic case is very well done: the sides of the watch case is polished until it is mirror smooth and it looked flawless under the light ..... since the case is in ceramic, i am sure the finish will be durable......

backup plan for TT


in the coming days and weeks, i'll be on a lookout for any used technics SL-1200 mk2 ......

and if i can find a good condition sample at around S$400, then my back-door way into the dark side will become easier........... cos right now i dun think i can spare enough cash to buy a new turntable.....

patience is key when it comes to waiting...... just like fishing, one gotta wait...... and sometimes the waiting game can be a killer......

once the table is in the next steps will be to get a aftermarket armboard and upgrade the stock arm to a rega or jelco pickup arm.....

so my projected costs are:

preowned technics sl-1200 mk 2 $450
armboard $100
tonearm $500

total $1050

timeline? ...... well very flexible and at no rush

Wednesday 18 November 2009

absolutely....



yes this is an absolutely hideous timepiece........

*SMACK*......

*OUCH*.....

*PUKE*.....

fortunately for the rest of the world, there is only ONE piece.....

muff muff...

at one time i was contemplating whether to get a approved exhaust muffler...... so there is HKS and fugitsubo......

but for a piece of steel and titanium that does not add power, not too smart to pay over S$1000...???

so in the end i decided that having good suspension can bring more smiles than having a nicer drone......

although i really love LOUDDDD exhausts haha......

Tuesday 17 November 2009

almost bought this...



while at gramophone, i very much wanted to buy this...... and after listening to it with the supplied headphones, i almost did...

in the end, i passed ..... maybe next time......

and then i went to marks and spencer to buy CHOCOLATES haha.............

and ended up spending more than the price of a CD.....

year end ... ESPRIT clothes

i rec'd a sms from esprit this afternoon ...

to inform me that i need to chalk $1200 of expenses by 31 Dec 09 to renew my membership.....

hmmm i dun think i can do it .... cos right now i am at S$593....... and i dun need another $600 of esprit clothes in 1.5 months haha.......

it's ok, let it lapse then rather than to spend on unnecessary shopping.....

upgrade....

ok i am now officially on 1 gb after upgrading from 20 mb....

and it was a simple 5-10 mins job at the m1 shop....... but then it's really a hassle to need to visit the shop just to sign the contract......

worst deal when one gotta queue behind inconsiderate ppl..... especially those who spend their time at the sale counters CONSIDERING WHAT PHONE TO BUY!!!!

BLOODY IDIOTS!!..... u wanna check out the phones? ask the salesperson for help .... only go for the queue to conclude the sale.... sign and pay and go OFF..!!

DUN HOG THE COUNTER AND HEE HEE HAA HAA LAUGHING AND WONDERING WHICH TO BUY... STOP GIGGLING and MAKE YOUR CHOICE LAH....

BLOODY IDIOTS!!

Monday 16 November 2009

your boss loves you..??

if your boss or your company loves you, then they should give you a h1n1 vaccine jab....

haha... so that you can slog more without taking medical leave for flu.....

air is free....



ho ho ho...... so beautiful so stylish so art-deco

equipped with an air-bearing for the platter and tone-arm, this is one dream TT to own......

but US$20,000 is not a small sum of money ......

i think it looks good enough to eat..... just like a nice delicious CAKE..!!

no compromise 4 - federal ss 595

with renewed confidence, i attempted to push the ss 595 tyres a little harder while on the way to work..... on an almost dry road, the improvement was obvious and i was able to go faster....

but on the way back, the weather conditions has changed drastically....... even though i tried to push abit more, i was held up by the wet grip......

hmmmm i guess that's the limit........ so never never push beyond that.... haha

Sunday 15 November 2009

more copper...

i never like comparing cables.....

maybe i am too lazy to swop them around....

maybe it's usually tough to arrange for home loans.......

maybe mistakes are usually expensive.....

and i believe that cables take time to settle in and immediate A-B comparisons are fundamentally useless...... although one can hear some differences right away, it may not be truly representative of the cable's sonic characteristics.....

for many years, silver sonic interconnect and speaker cables have become permanent members of the system.....before that i was using kimber PBJ and 4TC......

so far i have resisted many attempts to change or upgrade, even from within the range itself........... i have stuck by the BL-1 and BL-1 mk 2 ..... which are very very affordable cables.....

in the recent years, i have been very impressed with acrolink AC cables and since i like the acrolink 4030 so much, maybe i should give their interconnects a chance......

let's see..... cos i wanna tone down my spending for this month.......

let's KIV this until december ok..??

for the MSB...

to check if there are spare parts for the MSB, i dropped by high-end research on saturday ... but too bad, they have not been doing MSB for a long time as well....

so now my bets are with Ong Radio...... if not last resort is to send my upsampling board back to USA...

policemen everywhere...!!

if you were in town yesterday u will have seen the sheer number of policemen out in the streets.... all bcos of APEC 09.......

so what's the big deal about this APEC ....?? whatever that is: MANY important ppl from all over the world coming together to talk ....and talk.....

whether all the talk will translate to any action remains to be seen..... anyway talk is cheap......

alot of uncles sit around in coffee-shops to talk ..... to them, that's ALL they care about ...

and so many cars were stopped and thousands of ppl inconvenienced bcos of one obama........ and the insult was: he didnt even talk much ... :P

haha

Saturday 14 November 2009

not bad an effort....

remember the hokkien CDs i bought quite awhile ago.... ??

it was only today that i brought them up to the listening room.....

oh am i impressed cos the recording quality is very good......

too bad the CD booth that used to be my haunt for cheap MIC CDs is no longer around......

what about flowers....? yours or mine as in LV vs citychain...

finally the verdict at the court of appeal is out.... and so LV has lost their case upon citychain's appeal.....


this certainly proved a point that it can be extremely tough to claim "ownership" of a design unless the copy is blatant....

now we can all rest assured that not all flower monograms are created equal haha.....

you can also read my previous post here


and i cast doubt at the merits of LV's case.... so proven right haha


where's my newspapers...???

maybe i slept too much yesterday ....

which is why i woke up very very early this morning.......

but why is the newspaper man late for his delivery...????

where are you..????

i need my morning fix of newspapers...!

Friday 13 November 2009

quite new audio blog....

the revamped audiophilia as become an interesting read....


so check it out regularly....

no compromise 3 - federal ss 595

after running on the federal ss 595 for a few months i am sort of ready to share my findings about this made in ROC performance tyre.....

i have no complaints with the dry grip..... and the straight-line tracking and performance is very good ....along the highway and narrower streets, it feels fine...... so even during turns and curves, i know i can depend on it.... however, with the pivot 3 drive set on sports mode 5 and above, i can still coax the 595 to lose some composure when accelerating out of sharper turns...... so i take care not to overdrive in these situations......

noise level is high... and if you are looking for a quiet drive u gotta look elsewhere....... and my LKK couldnt stand it at all........ and he thinks that that noise is insane WAHAHAHA.....

now what i am uncomfortable with is the wet grip during enthusiastic driving....... well, on the straight it cuts through water and puddles efficiently..... but when i am attempting to put the power down during sharper turns, i can feel them losing it...... and that is taking away some of my confidence.....

one particular case..... this afternoon i was trying to follow a lotus exige in the wet...... although i know i can do it but the tyres are not quite up to the task.... and that is such a waste...... of cos i know there is no way i can catch the exige on the straights haha.... it's just way too fast for my car......

deep down inside i knew it may not be the tyres.... it could be the suspension and the not fault of the tyres alone.... cos everything works in unison, a package......... up to 80%, the stock suspension feels fine...... only when things get nasty during hard driving, one needs more traction to handle the power.....

let's see if things improve......... cos traction is KING

need a jab...

i have no idea what is giving me a rash....

but what i am sure is..... the itch is really damn giving me fits.....

cos i have no idea how to get rid of it....

so no choice but to seek to doc's help for a jab.....

at least it's a reprieve.....

recipe for disaster...

i've noticed....

that some ppl wear their watch and bracelet on the same wrist....

well that is surely a recipe for disaster.....

cos both will end up scratching each other ........

Wednesday 11 November 2009

intellectual property and what about watches...

this is pretty interesting..... do read about it...

http://ablogtoread.com/jaquet-droz/court-orders-f-p-journe-to-pay-jaquet-droz-for-intellectual-property-infringement/

not good at all... commercial

everytime the advertisement for orchard central shopping mall comes up on tv, i'll tell myself what a crap commercial it is....

definitely it wont help in attracting ppl to visit the mall......

moreover there are not many good reasons one will wanna go there....

new richard mille boutique at ion orchard....

FYI...

the new boutique will operate from 15 Nov 09........

level 3 unit 26 ion orchard.....

as for the look, all richard mille boutiques are somewhat similar.....

will there be boutique edition watches..???

maybe not as this is more of a relocation.... rather than setting foot in another country....

ISSE 09 - 2....

while at the show, i came across the compact ps audio digital link 3 DAC..... on sale for S$1299...

at first i was abit tempted to get it..... but i regained my composure very soon as i wasnt too confident of selling off my msb link 3 at a good price... well i certainly dun need 2 DACs at home right .....??

moreover i wasnt even sure how good it is...... should i spend S$1300 to bring it home and find out for myself? nah certainly not..... but i like the USB input and balanced outputs.... for the price and features, it seems to be a winner.....

ok no rush no rush... i shall not rush into this....

cos there are many worthy DACs out there..... and i am also considering the benchmark DAC 1 USB and northstar model 192 mk 2....

Tuesday 10 November 2009

no choice 2....

but in the end i still found time to take a nap haha.....

no matter what, i cant possibly sacrifice my precious naps......


no choice....

i went for a jog after i came home from work.....

no choice i have...

cos if i were to leave it till later, i will opt for a nap .... anytime haha.....

yeah it happened yesterday.... the day before yesterday .... and all the days before that.....

HAHA....

what to do....?? it's the time of the year...... again....

Monday 9 November 2009

ISSE 09 pic...

i took only a few pics cos after awhile i became lazy... haha

big monsters from dynaudio....... cant really tell from the pictures cos they bear no resemblance to other dynaudio speakers....






hk tweaker is back ... again!!...... with his range of quirky tweaks that i still dun quite understand haha....




emerald physics loudspeakers by raindrop audio - engaging, open and has wallop in the bottom!!....... and avid turntable!! too bad money no enuff....


fm acoustics - by absolute sound, one of the better sounding rooms...... especially when fronted by roksan radius 5 (the nima looks delicious..!!)


as for others, i also like

gryphon - by reference audio

goldmund - by high end research

german physiks - by AVP

Sunday 8 November 2009

van or lorry...

my friend's fav car is a toyota alphard.....

but to me... and i attempted to look at it from all possible angles, it looks to me like a van.... a glorified van.......

haha..... and i think maybe it drives like one too.......

busy sunday....

this morning i woke up at 9 am .....

abit of a pity cos monday is a working day and i wake up early on working days..... if not i surely will sleep in late...... sundays are very precious haha.......

and let me tell you... if you avoid going to singapore expo on sunday mornings pls do....... the place is a GREAT MESS.....!!

at first i was wondering .... what's the occasion?????? until i realised that ohhhh..... sunday CHURCH.....

no wonder.....

the traffic is HORRENDOUS....

mr popular: sold..!!

ok that's pretty fast....

the first person to view and offer gets it....

done deal

bye bye mr popular Linn Sondek LP12

will miss you..!

always singing..... LP12...

since this could be its last night here i might as well give it my best shot....


so before i plonked it on the rack, i adjusted the grommets and springs to make sure that everything's level and ok....... yup the armboard and the platter were level ..... and of course i tried my best to achieve the fabled linn bounce for the LP12.....

once that's done, it's a matter of hooking up the NVA phono 1 and the preamp...... not a big deal of course.....



oh yes i also raised the VTA by a little little bit........

now with all the latest tender love and care given to the sondek, it's once again singing.... and this time round, it's even better.......

i might even regret selling it haha.....

Saturday 7 November 2009

always mr popular...

haha....

the response to the sale of the LP12 is pretty good.... no wonder ppl have always said an LP12 is an LP12, one will never have problems selling it.....

so far a few guys have sent me emails to find out more about the table.... compared to some other things that i'd sold, this one is definitely the most popular......

anyway there will be ppl coming to see it on sunday....

let's grab a quick deal ok?

since i could be saying bye bye to my LP12 on sunday, i should set it up and have a listen tonight.....

up for sale now...



i have decided to sell my LP12 and FR arm....

is anyone interested..???

all for S$1100 neg....

drop me a note if u r keen......

audio vs watches...

seems like audiophiles and WIS do come from a common pool....

cos at the ISSE 09, i saw a fair share of expensive watches..... mainly rolex watches but also a couple of rolex deepsea and one AP ROO.... and a few others that i cant remember.....

but i dun quite see the BIG manufactures making inroads into this market by advertising in audio magazines.....

maybe they should try....

Friday 6 November 2009

back in action..... TAOC 3 !!



looking good and sounding good......

so i am very contented at the moment....

but i think i need to work on dressing the cables to keep them apart.... that will surely help to improve the results....

ISSE 09

Ok i am sitting at the coffeeshop next to hotel parkroyal... after walking around for more than 2 hrs i need a break.. mainly to catch a breath n a drink

like what i said last year, go only if u have time n 15 bucks in your pocket.. compared to 08, 1 entire floor of participating dealers went missing..

the only consolation? there r more rooms that r making good sound.. maybe they have learnt not to play too loud.. cos they are not selling PA systems

will you be there..???

will you be there this year..???

will you get your worth for S$15???

haha maybe i should go down to have a look....

and give you the answers...

Thursday 5 November 2009

got balls..

hun sen has balls....

and cambodia has balls......

kudos to them for respecting the man who was THE prime minister of thailand.....

cheers....

Wednesday 4 November 2009

good entertainment....

haha the man's neck may not be as strong as before but when it comes to racing, he still has the fire in his belly .....

go and watch the race of champions on youtube where team germany was facing team GB......

the man sure knows how to win......

but of course he's not unbeatable...... as mattias ekström clearly showed the world how to beat michael schumacher.... haha

dun forget....

dun forget ah... the annual ISSE will commence on Fri.....

unlike previous years, i dun think i will be taking leave to attend....... maybe i'll go after work.... or maybe i'll skip this $15 event......

one good thing about the place is.... around the area, road side parking is free after 5 pm... haha

anyway a few of the dealers are not participating .... then what's in store for us? lesser and lesser products......?? collect another demo CD that i seldom will listen again?

haha.... let's see how......

too expensive 2....

gosh ...

so it's true after all....

even the mighty TOYOTA has called it quits.....

tidak boleh tahan oredi lah.........

no choice i guess.... cos after spending so much, they did not even win a race....

so it's a sad end as the last of the japanese says byeeeeeeeee

a watch for the man....



yes the watch is made for robert kubica...... and i think it's looks pretty good for the price.....

for a start, certina watches have always been affordable.......

fortunately it's for the person not the team......

cos the team has said bye bye to formula 1......

Tuesday 3 November 2009

the magic word....

haha the magic word for today is....

2 billion dollars!!

haha......

where is the money???......

too expensive....

right now, other than ferrari and mclaren, i think no team in the paddock can afford to hire kimi raikkonen....

even toyota, with the biggest budget for the past few years, is consolidating at the end of this year....... as of now, they have yet to sign off a budget for next season..... so i think they will rule out giving kimi a race seat...... the asking price must surely be prohibitive......

we all know that kimi is special and a super star ........ but even he cannot save the f60........ by comparing the lap times of kimi raikkonen and giancarlo fisichella, the difference is plain obvious......

if .... IF kimi is not on the grid next year, we will miss him.....

not the same stroke....

when the omega boutique at ion orchard had its opening, they invited zhang ziyi to grace the occasion......

when cortina watch held its official opening, they had "only" zoe tay to cut the ribbon......

not quite the same stroke huh hehe....

back to the past 3....

starting from today, mediacorp is showing their repeat broadcasts of the infamous gambling drama..... the unbeatables III...... oh btw it's showing now at 0001 hrs......

haha..... really brings back the memories....

ok goodniteeeeeee.....

Monday 2 November 2009

back to the past 2....

a few days ago, someone posted a thread in echoloft forum seeking opinions about bookshelf speakers....

while i thought it wasnt worthwhile to join in, the thread made me travel back in time and recollect my experience with some of the memorable mini-monitors .....

like this one....


the venerable acoustic energy AE1......!!

my first encounter with them was around 20 years ago at ultralinear in supreme house....... YES!! SUPREME HOUSE!! can you remember where is this place...??? if you have no idea where supreme house is, well today it is known as park mall......

haha ...... haha.....

back then the AE1 was already an amazing loudspeaker..... my cousin and i had never never experienced any loudspeaker this small that sounded SO BIG...... the BASS produced by the pair of little metal cone woofers was just out of this WORLD..!!

if i remember correctly, ultralinear was the dealer for merlin loudspeakers, michell turntables and krell amplifiers........ and today they are still carrying michell and krell.......

supreme house was also the home for CD acoustic..... and today CD acoustic and ultralinear are at the adelphi..... :)

WOW.....they are really among the few long-lasting players in the industry.........

AHHHH..... time really flies....

some just dun get it

yes some ppl just dun get it

they think we owe them a living, owe them an explanation and what we do must be palatable to their liking

dream on

back to the past for music....

for sunday night's listening, i pulled out a few CDs that i'd not touched for many many years...... so long that i cant even remember when was the last time i cast an eye on them.....

i didnt play these CDs bcos i wasnt too keen on the recording quality...... most of them were harsh and forward sounding .... and i dunno why a few of the recording labels were able to get away with using so much reverb....... it just sucks when u know the producers did not do justice to the artistes.....

especially this one from 裘海正.........

the songs were brilliant and she's such an excellent singner.... but the recording sucked big time......

strangely with the latest setup it sounded pretty ok......... not GOOD but still satisfactory...... which is already a big step ahead as i could not have endured through more than a couple of songs from this album previously.....


the next album that i played was by 许茹芸......... in terms of quality, this CD is significant better than the first....... and i really enjoy the tracks that i chose..... good stuff....


to end the night i have i fed 王傑 into the tray of the CD transport......


all are oldies from my school days..... it was like back to the past......

hmmmmmmm.....

Sunday 1 November 2009

cool little jacket.....

while browsing at the good price centre, i came across this nifty little product......

so what is it? well nothing earth-shaking of course as it is only a transparent shrink-wrap jacket for remote controllers....

if u have the time, go and take a look at those numerous remote controllers u have around the house.......

are they often dusty and oily..???

if u said yes, then u should get this jacket.....

to use it, simply slide over any controller and use a hair dryer to heat and shrink the jacket.......

ok from then on, u need only to clean the jacket.......

beats using a plastic bag which is unsightly ....

the big one bows out...... sayonara sembawang...

the writing was on the wall..... for quite some time in fact

and we all know that sembawang has been having 50% and clear-out sales.....

but i was still kinda surprised to see their store at parkway closed when i walked past last week....

so today's papers confirmed everything and covered abit on their demise and bankruptcy.......

now i feel a little upset over their loss cos i was already buying music at their very first store in sembawang shopping centre back in my secondary school days.... and they have been a big part of my involvement in music and audio for all this while.....

wow, it makes me shudder to realise that it has been SO MANY years........

goodbye sembawang...... sayonara..... you will be missed.....

no more...???

yesterday i went over to leng kee to check out the renault sport R27......... mainly out of curiosity and eagerness to know more of 2.0 NA sports cars....

ALAS, there is no more of this limited edition..........

however, there is one more unit of the R26...... which is the test drive car actually with about 500 km on the clock......

too bad i am not looking at force-fed options......

mind your steps... !!!



oh my oh my...... yes indeed there was a huge downpour yesterday but while i expected that some parts of singapore will continue to be hit by flash floods, it's always a horror if this happens to YOU....

according to the news reports, 10 mins was all it took .....

OUCH..!!