Amphion Argon 2

So I wake up early for a Saturday morning job and while having breakfast thereafter at home, i came upon a WTS post about Amphion Argon 2 speakers. I texted the seller on availability (i think he/she had listed it for 5 years with no takers) and agreed on the timing to collect.  The post described it as a 7 years old speakers with some usual dings and cosmetics issue and my guess it the speakers probably not even played for past years.

I made a fundamental error during transportation by not really securing it properly in the boots (note to self) and that is another story altogether, with me having had to did some minor maintenance to one of the woofer to eliminate the scratchy sound. I am waiting confirmation from Amphion on the woofer SKU# so that I can order a new replacement unit.

Argon 2 by now is a discontinued model in Amphion Argon series and the nearest model in current production would be Argon 3S ( 1″ titanium tweeter, 6.5″ aluminum woofer, 1 passive radiator & crossover at 1600 Hz)

Argon 2 is Finland made 2 way vented speakers that is mid-size bookshelf  of  1″ aluminum tweeter & 6.5″ aluminum woofer (Norwegian SEAS), with a very low crossover at 1200 Hz! The speakers has a gorgeous Uniformly Directive Diffusion to it’s tweeter that is placed in the same distance with the woofer.  UDD deals with the off-axis response of the speakers and in layman term, we gets to hear more of the sound from the speakers and less fro the room.

Sound’stage has a very detailed review of this speakers here.

Verdict: bigger sound than KEF LS50 (capable in its own rights , size and design). It’s high resolution, neutral without sacrificing listening pleasure. It is room placement friendly and it’s totally handmade in Finland.  For the price that I paid and also hands-on tinkering of the speaker(dismantle and all), this is 4 Tuning Forks out of five.

 

Giussani Research Delta Butterfly One

Butterfly ONEGuissani Research’s Delta Butterfly One. An ultra full range speakers in a large book shelf format. With the bass drivers firing from the sides and easy to drive, it’s effortless power protection of utmost musical coherence

I would liken it to a very intricate speakers where it can pick up the secondary and third layer of mix easily.  With ample bass representation and unique design of the Butterfly, coupled with firing power of the Jeff Rowland Model 10 and Mark Levinson Pre 320s, it makes very comfortable listening experience. This is a big book shelf speakers that does not have a bookshelf sound! Immediately, i was drawn into the music.

Available in Singapore and the region via Audiosound.biz !!!

Cheer Chen

 

2015 Audio Year

It is a good year in my audio journey. Thankful for William of Audiosound.biz to share his passion and time with me. Here are some of the cool stuff, new and vintage that I fell in love with.

Audionet CD Player, Pre-Amp and Power Amp are some of the best in class hardware. Flank on the left is some very nice Mark Levinson 33H power amp, 326s Pre-Amp and vintage Krell power.

New and Vintage

Closeup of Audionet Versatile Integrated Player G3

Audionet VIP G3

Guissani Research Delta Butterfly

Delta Butterfly

Duntech Sovereign

Duntech Soverign-19

 

The massive Duntech Sovereign (130kg per cabinet) bridged with Mark Levinson 33H & Krell 350M power amp for a 1000W peak output. It drove the complex 7 drivers with ease and George Porter vocal doesn’t sound nasal at all. It’s an audiophile speakers famed for mastering works due to it’s sonic revelation of sub-sonic defects in the music. Ain’t no where to hide if it’s a bad mix. ( 音色有就有,沒有就沒有)

 

Duntech Soverign-17

Sonus Faber Toy Tower (Walnut)

Toy Tower-13

More photos of this wonderful little floorstanding speaker, Sonus Faber Toy Tower. I have mounted Finite Elemente Cerapuc on the front & Ceraball on the back of the speakers spike. It tightened the bass and mid vocal immediately. Finally i have a full range speaker in the house for listening pleasure! The Italian are sure artisan in making sexy and desirable speakers and this is just the entry-level.

Having said this, the Scanspeak 25mm Ring Radiator tweeter is awesome ( found in higher end range eg: Cremona M , Guarneri Memento).  Midrange deployment of 110 mm coated cellulose cone driver. Woofer duty is the 180mm hard Nomex cone driver ( notably used in PMC IB2 speakers).

There is nothing toy about the sound. It’s musical and enjoyable.

Sonus Faber Toy Tower Walnut
Sonus Faber Toy Tower Walnut
Sonus Faber Toy Tower
Sonus Faber Toy Tower
Sonus Faber Toy Tower
Sonus Faber Toy Tower

Sonus Faber Toy Tower

SonusFaberToyTowerNight

My first floor-standing speakers and it’s the Sonus Faber Toy Tower! Got this 3 years old baby from the previous owner due to upgrading (what’s new?) and he keeps it in very good condition. No visible scratch, dents and it’s show room quality.  I am pairing it with DH Labs Q-10 Silver Sonic speakers cable to complete my current configuration. Am a happy camper.

ISSE 2014 Singapore

Went to the Hifi show like a little boy to a candy store. My own fav equipments are the Harbeth SHL5+ , Divini Audio, Weiss DAC & Egglestonworks

Harbeth SHL5+

The Harbeth SHL5+ was slamming the house !

 

Divini Audio

This pair of Divini Audio was singing !

 

Advance Music Streaming

Adam Compact active speaker

PLiXiR power conditioner/interconnect cable/power cable
Weiss MAN301 Network player
Weiss Medus DAC
Certon Integrita C4 NAS

Egglestonworks

Egglestonworks

 

Kent Poon

Kent Poon & William Whey

 

JBL 4345 Speakers

JBL 4345

This is a monster of a speaker ! Was over at Mike’s place to listen to music with kakis to this beautifully restored 1980’s speakers from JBL. It’s a 4 way speakers and Mike is using 2 set of amp to run the highs-mid & woofer separately.

Cranking it out to almost concert level music listening at 95db. Truly the hallmark the legendary JBL sound but most importantly music and frens.

And that my friends is audio for the win.

 

Audio Hum & Buzz

Jeff Rowland Mode 10_Side

With the introduction of Jeff Rowland Design Group Model 10 into the house, i experienced audio hum & buzz! Initial troubleshooting showed  removing the 3M lighting 2 pin plug from same power strip  to resolved it . Apparently it worked for 1 night.

Configuration is CD Player > Pre > Power Amp.

To cut long story short, after trying out several combination to trace the source issue.  It is the the RCA – XLR cabling from pre to power amp. Right now, I am using RCA – RCA to the Rowland amp (unbalanced selector) and the noise floor drop to acceptable level again.

Yamaha PC2200 Power Amp is the workhorse! thrown anything at her so can produce. The RCA-XLR is an audio hack which the Ferrari JRDG rejected.  It might be unfair to compare the Yamaha with JRDG but it looks like my new girlfriend is very particular to get the best out of her.

I think i earned my morning breakfast with the 45minute troubleshooting and work out.

And that my friend, is audio FTW.