Kaymee Audio AMT-1S The Bookshelf (Stand Mount) Loudspeakers

This is actually DIY Loudspeakers which has been built recently together between Kaymee Audio and me. The name of our collaboration is Kaymee Audio AMT-1S.

Kaymee Audio AMT-1S

The Specification of Kaymee Audio AMT-1S
2-way speaker with magnesium cone woofer and Air Motion Transformer tweeter with a frequency response of 50Hs to 35Khz, a sensitivity of 90db 1w/1m 2.83 volts. The minimum power to drive them is 20 watts per channel while the max power is 250 watts RMS per channel

The Philosophy Behind Kaymee Audio AMT-1S

 The philosophy of AMT-1S actually has the same meaning as the word amities  

1. friendship; peaceful harmony.

2. mutual understanding and a peaceful relationship, especially between nations; peace; accord.

So this is the loudspeakers which build, listen and enjoy because of peaceful harmony and friendship around it.

The Making of Kaymee Audio AMT-1S

The Sketch Up

The Drivers and simple crossover

FA-1 AMT Tweeters

SEAS Lotus Reference with Magnesium drivers

The Inside Bracing

The half naked enclosure

The Painting Process

The Ported

The Binding Post

The finishing in red

    The Team of Kaymee Audio (from left to right Satyagung Indra, Trias Ananta, Hamass Shofwanudin)

  

The Listening of Kaymee Audio AMT-1S
On the setup The Kaymee Audio AMT-1S are driven by an Ilusi Audio 211 Vacuum Tube Amplifier with separate tube power supply rated 2x20watts RMS

The Great Vaccum Tube Amp!

Another Glowing Tube and Shining Red!

The Complete Setup

Testing and Listening together with friends

We are very happy with the good result and the friendship among us

Thank you so much for the courtesy of our friend Moko Aguswan (he is one of the greatest sound engineer in Indonesia) who is willing to lend his apartment as  testing area of both Kaymee Audio AMT-1S and Ilusi Audio 211.  For 5 hours several songs from various genre has been played including the new song being mixed recently by Moko Aguswan and we we very happy for the result, the music was flowing, blooming and shining. In short you must listen it by yourself.


Asawendo, February 2017

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RAAL 64-10 Ribbon Review

What makes a good or decent tweeters?
In my humble opinion, since I really like that sparkling, tingling and shining sound of music, so I have some preferences as follow:

1. Capability to well integrate with other drivers such as midrange or woofer to give all around and proportional sound reproduction.
2. Capability to give lifelike high frequency of such instruments like triangle, harp, piano or cymbals
3. Capability to have linear sound from lower high (i.e 3-5KHz) midhigh (5-10KHz), high (10-16KHz) and extended high (16-30KHz) without cone break up or beaming frequency.
4. Capability to give extended listening time without ears fatique.
5. Capability to reproduce any kind of music genre

Enter the RAAL 64-10 Original Equipments Manufacturer tweeter from Serbia, Europe. RAAL has long history of making products with build quality and sound quality ribbon tweeters like no others manufacturer ever built. The small team under the supervision of the man named Alexsandar Radisavljevic has been providing several famous brand of Loudspeakers company with their line up of ribbon tweeters.

So when my friends Kelvin from Vermouth Audio asking me to test and review the 64-10 OEM version. I jumped out without thinking twice to review the products.

This time I put The RAAL as super tweeters with my DIY Bookshelf loudspeaker. The Bookshelf consisting of 2 way Loudspeakers both with Jantzen Audio drivers. The crossover region is as follow
1. Jantzen Woofer from 60Hz-1.5Hz 12db Butterworth
2. Jantzen Tweeters  from 1.5-5KHz 12db Butterworth
3. RAAL Super Tweeters from 5KHz-50KH 12db Butterworth

I'm using Indonesian composer from his albums "The Sound of Indonesia" with the Track Ayo Mama (C'mon Mama). Actually it is my favorite folk song of Indonesia.

I have linked video of my review so you can hear how clear, clean and transparent the high frequency and well integrated with the rest of music.It is also gives me an extra ambiences of the sound stage.

Video Review of RAAL 64-10

Pro:
1. High quality tweeters
2. Ideal for super tweeters
3. Very transparent, airy and crystal clear sounding.
4. Expanded soundstage
5. Phase coherent


Cons:
1. Higher price than most ribbon tweeters but you get what you paid
2. Need matching crossover, drivers and amplifiers to sound best

Summary:
If you like the extended high but still sound like a real instruments this tweeters are very recommended to buy

Asawendo 
January, 2016

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Sony RSX G9 Hires Head Unit Review

Courtesy of Sony

In my humble opinion hires is the ideal format to listen to the music. The versatility, high quality and ability to play them in car audio or home audio make the format getting more and more popular in music lover. Also thank to the large memory card or usb, as reliable storage for Hires format.

Sony as one of most company which is really serious into hires format in 2015 released their first head unit named Sony RSX G9. Now after a year waiting for my unit. Finally I can have it on my personal sound labs.

The specification are as follow:

General DAC (Digital Audio Converter) device: ES9018S by ESS Technology, Inc. Outputs: Audio outputs terminal (FRONT, REAR, SUB) Power antenna (aerial)/Power amplifier control terminal (REM OUT) Optical output terminal Inputs: High level input terminal (3 V – 12 V) Remote controller input terminal Antenna (aerial) input terminal MIC input terminal AUX input jack (stereo mini jack) USB type-A port (front, rear) USB micro-B port

MP3 (.mp3): 16/22.05/24/32/44.1/48 kHz, 16 – 320 kbps (CBR/VBR) AAC (.m4a, .mp4, .3gp): 16/22.05/24/32/44.1/48/88.2/96 kHz, 16 – 320 kbps (CBR/VBR) WMA (.wma): 32/44.1/48 kHz, 16 – 320 kbps (CBR/VBR) WAV (.wav): 16/22.05/24/32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/ 192 kHz (16/24 bit) AIFF (.aiff, .aif): 32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192 kHz (16/24 bit) FLAC (.flac): 16/22.05/24/32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/ 192 kHz (16/24 bit) ALAC (.m4a): 16/22.05/24/32/44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/ 192 kHz (16/24 bit) DSD (DSF/DSDIFF)* (.dsf, .dff): 2.8 MHz (1 bit)  

Power requirements: 12 V DC car battery (negative ground (earth)) 

Rated current consumption: 10 A 

Dimensions: Approx. 178 mm × 50 mm × 167 mm (7 1/8 in × 2 in × 6 5/8 in) (w/h/d)

Note:

It has Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) to improve sound compressed music files

The Sound Quality of ESS Sabre DAC can improve the internal DAC from iPhone or android (with proper connection)

The Package

The Hires

   

Full Spec

The Black Beauty

The Beast Installed
Courtesy of  Gatra and Audioworkshop

The Hires Album

1. Three Blind Mice - Tatsuyoshi Yamashita Misty 24 Bit PCM 192Khz

    This Japanese recording is one of the best in term of dynamic and ambience.

2. Beethoven Monlight Sonata DSD 1 Bit 5.6 Mhz

    An example how the good music on the good recording can make goosebumps!

3. Lucky Sing Broery WAV 16 Bit 44.1 Khz

    Indonesian singer that really has great voice and great interpretation of the music

I must tell you that in order to play the music properly you must make folder named music and put all the Hires files into it.

The Review

1. Misty feels like...ah that song with clean and detailed presentation, very dynamic and palpable imaging.

2. The Moonlight Sonata track is one of the best classical composition from Beethoven to make our soul energizing. On the Hires format this song is closer to perfection.

3. Warm and tender sound of Lucky make me want to listen to his voice more and more. Liquid, sweet and soulful. What a sound! 

Courtesy of Google

The Result

Pro:

1. Clean and detailed sound

2. Somehow the high is very extended 

3. Smooth tonal balance and great imaging

Cons:

1. Relatively high price tag (but worth the money)

2. Can not play DSD higher than 5.6 Mhz sampling

Now I can enjoy listening to the Hires music in my car. I'm so happy to have this as part of my audio gears. Thumbs up to Sony!

Asawendo, December 2016

Indonesian High End Audio Club Show 2016 17-20 November 2016

Some photographs during 5th IHEAC Show at Menara Peninsula Jakarta, Indonesia. Interesting show in sight and sound! 

Viva DIY!

At Main Lobby

Audio Note Stand!

All DIY Stuff!

The Estelon

Harberth and McIntosh

Genetic Loudspeaker

Anda Blameless 100 Amplifier

Xavian Speaker

In Harmony

Amazing Venture!

From DIY With love

All the smiles all the heard for the music!

DCS Stuff

Add caption

Interesting new line of of Scanspeak

With SB Acoustic Team

The Genetic Booth

Thank you and cheers...

Asawendo

All rights reserved, 

November 2016

DIY Stereo Loudspeaker

How to make a good do it yourself loudspeaker? This simple question have been haunting DIY'ers like me for years. Luckily I have good relationship with several friends whom willing to help by sharing their precious advice as follow.

A. Always plan your work and work your plan in detail

Building speakers is not an easy task because it takes a lot of knowledge, effort, time and money to do it right.  Please measure the size of the room (small, medium or large room) to determine the size of the speakers. You can not put small bookshelf loudspeaker in a large living room and expect them to sound optimal or the other way around. Please consider also the rest of the equipment for your references. If you have Single Ended Triode Vaccum Tube Amplifier with only 3-10 watts per channel you must look some highly efficient drivers (usually above 90db with 1 watts/2.83Volt). But if you want to build tower loudspeakers please use high power amplifier (recommended above 250 watts per channel)

Open Baffle Enclosures With AMT Mundorf  Tweeter and Monitor Audio Woofer

B. Choose the right drivers for your plan

The right but affordable drivers will be good to start. You can search about the review on reputable website, social media or specialty magazine so you can comparing one into another. If available try to find some friends who already have the drivers installed and listen to one. Look at the T/S (Thiele Small) Parameter and the recommended enclosure for your drivers.Please also consider to pick the drivers from reputable company since they are willing to back you up in case there is a problem with their products.

 

Bass Reflex enclosures with a/d/s/ drivers

C. Choose the right enclosure of your drivers

Whether they are open baffle, sealed, bass reflex, transmission line, band pass enclosures etc. You must consider the drivers specification, then your budget, woodworking skill, your tools and your time to do the project. Sealed is recommended for the most DIY'ers because of their simple design and also forgiving one. Transmission Line is one of the hardest and also unforgiving if the enclosure is not accurate.  Please consult with the drivers manufacturer before you pick up one which suitable for your DIY Project!

Bookshelf Enclosures with Phass Drivers

D. Be a die hard DIY'ers

Do not worry about failure in the making, there are always something to learn. Experiences is the best teacher. So be persistent and consistent is the best way to achieve great result at some point.   

Floorstanders with Scanspeak and Jantzen drivers

E. Your ears will be the final judge

If it sound good to your ears it is! So enjoy it and listen to you music truly, madly, deeply with your new DIY Loudspeakers!
 

Transmission Line Enclosures with Accuton Drivers

Enjoy!

Best Regards

Asawendo 

October, 2016

 

The Oldies But Goodies Sansui T-7 FM Tuner Review

I just bought got Sansui T7 FM Tuner from reliable source at flea market (for USD 40).  The reason I bought was nostalgic reason to listen the radio (where I spent the good old days of listening habit). 

So I set up the old school stereo equipment as follow:
Source                 : Sansui T7 FM Tuner
Antenna               : Dipole Quarter Wavelength (Tuned at 95.9 Mhz)
Equalizer             : Marantz EQ-20 (house curve room response)
Preamp                : DIY TVC (Passive Attenuator)
Power Amp         : McIntosh MC 2120 (120 watts x 2@ 8ohm)
Loudspeakers      : JPW Sonata (Vintage Monitor Speaker)

Sansui T-7 was middle up quality tuner in Vintage Sansui (not even the highest one), But this analog tuner, when equipped with good antenna will receiving all the station in my hometown in crystal clear FM Stereo quality! So solid reception you can go listen to any station but the quality is always rock solid without much of degradation.

When I first powered them up; I was blown away the warm and tender analog sound immediately filled the room. The articulated voices of the announcer hit me straight into my ears and into my heart.The human voice was so natural, with his or hers lush and fluid sound. As if someone talking and speaking with me directly, simply real human voices!. I could understand each words and each note with ease and without having ears fatigue. But what I found more interesting are their good tonal balance and solid imaging in musical session. Musical instruments have body and timbre and that sweet delicate vocal of the singer floating in my room. 

Whew...This is absolutely beyond my expectation for such a inexpensive FM Tuner!

All of the experiment and experiences makes me thinking hard; how on earth old school hifi equipment could sound like this?! Is it just pure match of any equipment involved?! or is it indication of build quality tuner from the past is that good? But before getting out of hand,  I must admit the resolution and the linearity were not their strength. Thus, they are more suitable only for news or background music reproduction not main music. However one thing for sure I will spend my listening time my radio again. And I'm very happy with that... Radio someone still loves you!

Best Regards

Asawendo, September, 2016


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