KL International AV Show 2018

This is a yearly event which I was always keen to attend. Not much of an audiophile nowadays but I like good recording. The current hifi setup I had was bought after attending one of this event a couple of years back and it was a good event to see new gears and just have a good look.

This year's venue was a departure from the last one. It was held at Sunway Putra Hotel, right next door to the old The Mall opposite PWTC.

I'm legit!The venue was smaller than before - JW Marriott at Bukit Bintang. But the concept were the same. Using hotel rooms emulate our living room to a certain extand, which gave better acoustics rather than open spaces. But walking through hotel corridors did pose some unique problem. The traffic flow around the venue as well as queue for the lifts proved testing.

So, did I hear any good stuffs? I sure did.

This must have been the most expensive kit on display Some of the gears were deduct loudly expensive and relatively unknown. The rigs were too big and difficult to maintain. I wanted a streaming system which is more practical and would fit both my budget and space.

The one which caught my eyes were the system from Linn. Not an all in one like my Naim set, but sounded excellent. The units were not yet available in Malaysia though. The unit on show were from Singapore although I was welcome to order.

There were some good clearance deals as well as it was the last few hours of exhibition. And I was guilty of picking up a Bluetooth amplifier. I have yet to get a speaker for it at the minute but the deal was just too good to ignore.

Now to the poor man's area ...Headphones were also seemed to be making a comeback ...There were units going in excess of RM100k with great sound. But it would depend on the source. Just a plain CD would not be enough to explore the real quality of the system. Most of the units either use a specialized streaming unit or turntable. Not practical really for casual users like myself.

I may have a closer look at the Linn system once a local unit is available. The sound were good enough for me ...

The Replacement

My Zeppelin Air has packed up in the last few months. We enquired about repairs, but the service available locally was pretty limited and it would take a couple of weeks to get feedback. To make matters worst, it was still using the old iPhone connector rather than lightning. It was of a previous generation.

We had been mulling over its replacement for quite some time. Initially I wanted to go with a Sonos system. It lacked AirPlay capability, and the sound coming from it was rather tinny to say the least. It needed a separate subwoofer for it to really sing.

I auditioned the Bose system last month, and was quite smitten. It was a wifi streaming system and it would suit our apartment nicely. There was also a satellite unit with a built-in rechargeable battery that can be placed anywhere in the apartment as long as it could be reached by a wifi network. That would be for Anita's use.

My children were not into music yet, but should they be, we just need to buy some new units and connect them into the network. It would be expandable.

Setting up was much easier than I thought, and once hooked up, it seemed to be pretty stable. Not much to tweak in terms of sound quality. The bass was really booming, and I would need to place it properly in the room. It filled up our main bedroom with music effortlessly, although the bass could be overwhelming in the expense of the midrange.

KL International AV Show

I remember going to this event about 5 years back, at the similar venue - JW Marriott opposite Pavilion. I was surprised then to find out that the exhibits were quite literally in hotel rooms. It was a similar affair this time around as well. This time, I went there with Puan Anita. And this was the first time she was there.

During my days in the UK, I used to have a hi-fi system. It was a Rega Planar 3 turntable, Audiolab amplifier, Arcam Alpha CD player, with a separate DA convertor. The cables were from Linn and these were connected to a pair of Mission floorstanders. Not a bad setup actually.

My dream was one day to own a Naim amplifier and CD player, connected to Linn speakers. So, I saw just that yesterday. And still, I couldn't afford them.

The show itself was OK. Since it was late afternoon - we arrived there at around 6, with the doors closing at 7.30, those who were left were enthusiasts. We spent some time on the lower floors looking at cinema displays and sound system. Nothing really fancy. The newly released Panasonic 70 inch LED was quite good, and retailing at just over 10K was reasonably prices too.

Anita was looking for an integrated stereo system, similar to my Zeppelin Air at the moment. After browsing on a few models, the Zikmu Solo caught her eyes, but the sound we found lacked weight. Maybe it had something to with the space we heard the speakers at. There were too much sound from the adjoining rooms to really listen. At the end she decided against buying it.

I spent some time listening to the Audiolab line-up. The current amplifier series was called the 8200s - my 20-year-old amp was part of the 8000 series line-up. The sound coming out of the bundled Mission floorstanders were quite sweet, until I realised that the setup also had a couple of power amps strung in. Too much wiring and of course, too costly. Not the time to indulge in such luxury at the moment. Maybe in a few more years.

In the end I was glad that I went. I learned a lot about what was available. The only thing I missed was the chance to have a look at a Bose system. I couldn't find them in any of the exhibit floors. This was the system I wanted to install in my office at the apartment.