Event: KL International AV Show 2022
Venue: InterContinental Kuala Lumpur, 165 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur (Levels 1, 2, 6 and 7)
Date: Oct 28-30, 2022
AFTER a pandemic-enforced gap of two years, the venerable KL International AV (KLIAV) Show is back, this time at a new venue, the InterContinental Kuala Lumpur in Jalan Ampang. The place used to be Nikko Hotel, and is across the road from the former Ampang Park shopping complex. It’s easily accessible via the LRT (just hop off at Ampang Park station).
As with previous KLIAV Shows, your entrance ticket gets you the legendary limited edition KLIAVS Commemorative CD, carefully compiled by Malaysian audiophile personality Jo Ki. This year’s CD, the ninth one, also features a couple of test tracks for your hi-fi system. It’s the first time such material is being included in the KLIAVS CD.
We’ll let Jo Ki enlighten us on the CD and its process:
“Two test tracks were selected from the Ultimate Audiophile Test Disc. In & Out Phase [Track 1] is so enjoyable to listen to, and yet, we could learn to aurally recognise in-phase and out-of-phase characters in our system.
“Seven Dwarfs [Track 16] was chosen due to its arrangements and staging. Although it is engineered from multi tracks and panned in, it is very well done with every bit having the same atmospheric ambience, so that the overall soundstaging remains wholesome.
“On many multi-tracked recordings of some big label by some renowned engineers, some track(s) were panned in to a song and the overall multiple ambience destroyed the music! Here, everything is very well done, it didn’t trigger our aural attention to question, but is fully taken to its theatrical staging dimensionality.”
Obviously, a lot of patience and effort are involved in putting together such CD; what was the inspiration and what elements do you look for in the tracks?
“In the selection of tracks, various sonic elements are covered, including tests that cover various system’s sizes and tests on system handling. The reproduction of music is the key, with ability to achieve sound elements like timbre texture, tonal balance, homogeneity, etc…. but these are merely the requisites. The abilities to get to the music is the goal, with sonic prowess as the fundamentals.”
How long does it take to produce such a CD and what are the tasks involved?
“The tasks of producing such a CD, if you are to include the selection of tracks, takes about nine months. The selection of tracks comes from my daily listening and anything that’s found to be suitable for the show CD will be set aside and filed in a folder of my playlist.
“Four months before the show, I revisit and assess all the shortlisted music, usually the list builds up to between 60 and 100 songs. I spend a month or so to select what I think would be suitable for the album, with a wide range and genres. I then spend two months writing to recording companies or directly to the musician for copyright permission. Usually at this stage, I would lose half of the selected songs. The final month would be to prepare speaking to and looking for CD duplicators, calling for quotations, preparing artworks, etc.”
While the KLIAVS Commemorative CD is not for sale, what you can buy at the show is the Ultimate Audiophile Test Disc produced by audiophile and architect LOON. It is a double CD comprising extensive test tones and music to check and fine-tune various aspects of your hi-fi system.
Priced at RM79.90, it will be available for RM59.90 at the show, but only for the first 100 sold each day. You can find it at Booth 14 on Level 2.
See you this weekend.
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