Audio Gold For Lucky Men: MY 25 Hi-Fi Malaysia Group
A prosperous two day trip to Kuala Lumpur brings an earful of delights worth millions of dollars.

Sensational Sounding Sensations
When rarity and refinement are perfectly in tune with one another.

There is no doubt that Hock Hoo Gan, a retired business man, is enjoying life. He is amongst the very few music lovers within the world who has the honor to have a pair of Goldmund Apologue Anniversary self-powered floorstanding speakers. In fact there are only 25 pairs of these speakers worldwide and he has #3! They are joined by a Goldmund Mimesis 32.5 digital preamplifier and Orpheus Heritage CD transport. Nothing, and I mean nothing, 'stuck' to the speakers. What I mean by nothing is that you never head sound from the speaker directionally, as the sound freely floated within the listening room. Sound location was wholly depending on what is contained within the source material. Fast and extremely clean, with even the loudest of passages virtually never sounding congested. Harmonically, I'd say very natural without being strident or rich. Good dynamics all around in every sense, mico, macro, and extreme. Notes easily spring forth from violin music like they should, as if electricity is glistening outward with each bow stroke. On rock music, such as Bad Company's Ready For Love, it was just as I recall from the best of the best systems. You could easily discern the difference in how the drumstick hit the cymbal's center bell, with each strike being unique as it delivered a different sound from the bell. Did I mention that nothing ever stuck to the speakers? Most impressive! Unlike some systems that excel with small trios or large rock, this system seems to do everything well and played music. At very high SPL levels the room was nicely energized yet never overloaded. With drums, you could feel the drum whacks, which were vibrant and clean. No matter what we played through this system it never offended the ear. Never! Jim Smith, an American man who wrote a book concerning high-end audio, has a website about audio with videos and more, was a Goldmund dealer back in the day. Within Enjoy the Music.com's Facebook page Jim writes, "As a Goldmund dealer, I sold and installed/voiced several pairs of the original Apologues in the late 1980s. Not sure if I ever heard a better speaker." By the way, it is widely considered that Mr. Gan's setup is the best sounding system within Malaysia, and far be it from me to disagree. It was truly an honor to have the opportunity to hear such a fine music reproduction system whilst being joined by his close friends... all this within an excellent listening room.

Owner: Hock Hoo Gan
Speakers: Goldmund Apologue 25th Anniversary Edition speakers
Preamplifier/DAC: Goldmund Mimesis 32.5
CD Transport: Orpheus Heritage
Power Conditioning: Frank Harmonic Correction CH-5
5 Unit Frank Power Bank PB-15000Ws line conditioner
3 Unit Isol-8 Substation
Quantum QX4
Frank virtual ground PE-5
Clarity 16 and Clarity 8
Nordost Odin power cord, Vahalla 2, Vahalla 1, and Nordost Tyr 2
ABL Surum Cryo ELCB 63 Amp
3 Yong digital cable
24pc Nordost BC cone 

 

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