MANILA, Philippines - We are out to disprove the maxim that “too many cooks spoil the broth.”
All the ingredients that have been prepared by carefully selected audio master chefs are neatly laid down on the table. What remains is for another set of audio chefs to put them in a musical wok, and whip up a special concoction. Eagerly anticipating the resulting musical delight are hundreds of music lovers who will flock to this year’s staging of the November Hi-Fi Show at the Dusit Thani Hotel.
On Nov. 10 and 11, “AudioFile” and The Philippine STAR will showcase JV Sound Concept, a collaboration featuring a “who’s who” among the country’s audio design industry.
Our exhibit aims to show how the strengths of different audio components can be married to create a holistic system capable of recreating sound in its whole spectrum: gigantic yet soothing; dynamic yet silk-like in sound presentation. We invite you to join us on this extraordinary aural experience.
Although there may not be a perfect system, as I wrote in my previous column, getting the right mix of audio components to reproduce sound that suits your musical preferences will set you on the right path.
Assembling a good sound system begins with your search for speakers to build your system around. For our exhibit, we have chosen speakers with sensitivity ratings of more than 98dB. This simply means that our speakers can be driven even by flea-powered amplifiers.
The speakers are designed and fabricated by Lin Gomez and Larry Roxas of Music Box in Dau, Pampanga. Lin is a legend in speaker restoration, and Larry is a master wood craftsman. Better known as “Batman and Robin” in various audio circles, their partnership has created a niche market, and their creations have become prized possessions in many audiophiles’ audio shelves.
Another component that one should pay close attention to is the music source. Mandy Mariño has custom-built for us a turntable and a tone arm that can extract as much musical information as possible from a rotating vinyl record. A staunch environmentalist from San Pablo, Laguna, Mandy spent almost half of his life in America, but decided to retire to his scenic home fronting Sampaloc Lake. Audio for Mandy is only a hobby and a form of relaxation.
Preamps and phono stages are the most critical components in decoding music from a source because they pre-amplify sound signal and make it discernible as music. We can’t just entrust any Tom, Dick and Harry to design and fabricate these components for us, so we sought out Eric Flores, or Ambel as he is known in the local audio community. Like Mandy, Eric honed his skills in the US, where he probably acquired enough knowledge in audio to become a veritable walking encyclopedia. I have been a happy camper with his famous Isabel preamp which gives out incredible dynamics and soothing music at any given time.
We made sure that our system would not be lacking power. So who did we turn to? The iconic Rodrigo Tiope or Mang Rod of TrodT Audio, who else? He has built for us three stereo amplifiers that will separately power each of our drivers in a tri-amp configuration. Easily the most popular figure in local audiophile circles, Mang Rod is slowly but surely making a dent even in the America market. His creations are not only great-sounding, they are also handsomely built.
What makes our display system a complete musical chain are the cables and interconnects of Cal Cano or the Cable Guy. He has wired my own system to near perfection.
Boy Bustamante and Mike Reyes are providing us with a beautifully crafted audio rack that will house our turntables, preamp and phono stage. The design that Boy, a scion of the family that owns Bustamante Press, has graciously shared with us was used by Mike to construct a sleek and fabulous wooden rack.
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For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit www.wiredstate.com for quick answers to your audio concerns.