ISSE 07: i.e. hifi show (in plain text)...

today is first day of the annual ISSE..... usual spot @ le meridian.... haha did they sign a long term deal with shi ting yi shu (a local hifi magazine in chinese)???

wanted to take the bus (direct bus ... no need to look for parking) but ended up driving as i was running late...... alas took me 30 mins to find a parking lot along killiney road... sigh.....

haha sorry for keeping my fren waiting..... anyway visited the ballrooms first...... pioneer stuff: their range of plasma KURO...... nice but super expensive BD player in cool slippery glossy black...... and how about the super nice but super expensive EX range of speakers...... the centre speaker alone is a monster.... didnt stay long in the dark room cos my pocket is not deep enough haha

local boys creative is also onto the scene..... with a new active loudspeaker and preamp equipped with an ipod dock.... not bad at all.... sound is pretty good too...... under show condition, i consider it as a good start..... i didnt pay notice to their computer speakers.... hehe.... not that i am snobbish but i dun give much damn about computer speakers in the first place....

had a brief look at the thiel 3.7 and bel canto stuff..... but the set up was so narrow ....such that not "inviting" to listen at all..... they are more keen to show their JVC dila projectors which i didnt go in to see..... wanna listen to thiel? better to visit the showroom .......

there were many setups selling CDs and LPs... almost like the a wetmarket ...... i heard someone saying that this is a CD show not a hifi show haha...... well what is hifi without good music right? both goes together....... just how good wine should be shared among good friends......

high end research showed off top level ARC source/preamp and power amps...... all their reference series products.... the speakers used are sonus faber stradivari homage....oops shd be sonus faber elipsa (thanks to an alert extremeplace guy rc5al for pointing this out).. a pair at S$30k (IIRC)...... these mighty components look delicious enough to kill for haha..... too bad the music was boring..... so i didnt stay long...... i was back towards the end and it was much better when they played the hong shao xuan LE CD..... my fren bought a copy and surely will ask him if it's good.......

next room saw boulder equipment...... which is another line of out-of-this-world-prices marque....... however i saw a halcro preamp on the table....... is halcro coming back??? that will be good news ..... also burmester stuff.... big big loudspeakers......

ong radio shut their door ....... full house for their HT demo.....there were static displays outside the room though so saw the mc1000 preamp and the new mc2300 tube preamp too......... tubes are illuminated with a soft green light..... nice touch but the key attraction are the blue meters... :)

lexicon/mark levinson/revel joint up to present "transformers" the movie...... dunno why didnt like the setup.... maybe they were playing too loud...... i am not deaf and loud is not more impressive or better.....

surprisingly, absolute sound came out in full force this year...... they used to be kinda reticent .... a big room was showing meridian, magnepan, naim, roksan, esoteric...... yeah room is big but not conducive to listening...... end up like pasar malam........ one setup was interfering with another.... everyone is a loser here.... haha.....

ok let me take a rest before continuing.... :)

update for thursday....

ok here's the little fellow in ceramic white.....



comes with 1 controller oni..... which btw is white too..!!! ....... surprised? haha...

well compared to the 80 gb version, this one is a cut-price product..... but then it's the cheapest BD player in town..... retail price is S$559....

sony style has only black colour..... so i went elsewhere to see the whitie.... black components are far too common.... followed by gold, silver...... white is kinda unique :)

to set up the ps3 is fairly simple.... cos i using the hdmi connection only......... one gotta set the display resolution (1080p for my case)...... and then the network settings...

if this fellow can play dvd for all regions.... that would be wonderful right...??



so here's the latest setup..........

playing casino royale in full HD (1080p 24Hz)...... the sound is mighty good also....the bass response seems so much more than a normal dvd......is that normal?? .......

now looking forward to collect a few more BD movies....

btw those vases and decorations are not mine........

today's buy: playstation 3....!!

ok ok got the 40 gb sony ps3 in ceramic white........ although it stands out like a sore thumb on the tv console, i love the white too much to give up.....

more updates on the way.....

time flies..........

i was putting away the invoice for the onkyo and MJ sub ....and took the opportunity to look at some of my past purchases.....

OH MY GOD..!!!!!!!!!

didnt realise that my pair of jm lab micron carat is almost 10 years old.....!!!!!!!! amazing huh........ that's reliability..! but of cos most loudspeakers can last for many years.....

the pair of jm lab micron dates back even further........... haha.... date of purchase: 27 June 1992....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cost = $980

wow..... amazing.....

my dream loudspeakers (affordable category)

haha.... i like paradigm..... like the reasonable prices, the sound and the looks ..... those tall and slender tower loudspeakers.....

my target, before i decided on getting the polks, were paradigm studio reference 100 v3........

now my attention is on this....

paradigm studio signature s6 v2 loudspeakers ............ v2 for version 2....... also available in cherry and maple....... the cabinet and veneer are of VERY high quality....

selling for US$4500.......... but but but...... at no more than S$6000 here ..... isnt that a bargain??????

OF COS IT IS...! one of the most affordable loudspeakers with a beryllium tweeter.... simply awesome.... :)

that aluminum midrange cone is WAYYYYYYY COOOOOLLLLLLLLLL..... wait till u see the actual thing for it catches light most beautifully.........

ok.... check it out at asia sound if u are looking for something around S$6k......

celebrate the beijing olympic games with this....

Omega Limited Edition DeVille Co-Axial Chronograph


pics from timezone.com

serious bling watches for the ladies (just my opinion.....)

seems like most watches targeted at ladies come with a white leather strap........ white is the new cool colour? maybe.... tough to keep clean but better than black black black all the time...... i think they will look good with a brown alligator strap too.....

with so many diamonds these will cost serious money..... not my kind of watches but i can understand if ladies are smitten..... for they are kinda sporty, classy and in a horological perspective, very advanced pieces too.......

The Straits Times ...special supplement

there's a special supplement for today's The Straits Times, titled "festival of watches"..... quite an informative read for beginners..... there is a total of 16 pages... mostly filled by colourful advertisements and pictures....

at least they are decent enough to include the MSRP for most of the models covered in the supplement.... so now ppl know that the rolex datejust special edition aka "the zebra" cost S$103,729 haha...... quite alot to ask for a watch that looks so "good"..... :)

another hot piece covered is the AP ROO TA...... it lists for S$39,900 but is currently trading at approx S$65k......! even the ADs are selling it at such a high premium...... !!!! simply amazing.....

one thing to note....... all advertisements except one are for watches...... the special one belonged to vertu..... they sure know who to target..... WIS !! which stands for watch idiot servants.... haha

that's all for now folks.......... time for dinner

IWC boutique..... Kuala Lumpur

here is a link to some pics of the new IWC boutique about 300 km away....

http://www.horomundi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3390