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My New Speaker

Can you guess what is it?

Comments

  • Photos of my new speaker.
  • It is Tidal's Piano Cera
  • Keith,

    I can post pictures now. Try to shoot picture with horizontal format because the re-sizing makes vertical format looks funny.

    I am glad you are impressed by the linearity of the speakers. There are tons of musical details all over.

    Enjoy.

    PT
  • Before I tell the performance of Piano Cera, let me express my attitude and my journey of being an audiophile, though I am definitely a newbie.

    I have been enjoying music since I was a primary student. I saved all my pocket money for buying a “Walkman” when I was at P.4. I bought my first “Hifi” system when I was F.3. I used listening to Hong Kong Pops at that moment.

    When I owned my first apartment, I had my personal place for listening music in a better environment. I determined to buy a so call Hi End audio system and commenced auditioning numerous hifi gears. Maybe I am a churchgoer and have many opportunities of listening “unplugged” musical instruments, I find myself really enjoying the “real”, “neutral” and “non-coloured” system. I setup my first audio system in this direction.

    Last year, I decided to upgrade my speaker, which is really a good bookshelf speaker that suits my preference – real, neutral, non-coloured and easy for pushing and positioning as well. When I planned my upgrade, I definitely considered the floorstanding speaker of the same brand (for easy reference, let me call it speaker A). At that moment, I knew “Tidal Audio”. I spent many hours to compare the Tidal speaker with speaker A. Frankly speaking, it’s not a fair AB comparison. You guys should know that how distinctive of the performance of AE’s showroom. What I compare is the characteristic of these two brands. According to my audition, both brands are real, clear and non-coloured speaker. My main concern is that I could not have an audition of Piano Cera. I only listened to Sunray and guessed the performance of Piano Cera. On the contrary, I could audition Speaker A, which is also about 30% cheaper than Piano Cera. Finally, I chose Piano Cera as I found Tidal’s speaker is clearer and much stable when playing large scale orchestral classical music than Speaker A. (I do not mean Piano Cera is completely KO Speaker, it’s a matter of personal preference.)

    Two days ago, I received my Piano Cera and I was really surprised….. (to be continued)
  • Thanks PT for assisting me to post the photos of my Piano Cera.
  • Keith

    I like your story. Please continue.

    Many interesting posts today.

    Ray
  • After I connected my Piano Cera to my int amp, I played one of my favourite CDs and was immediately surpprised that piano cera is so easy for pushing. When i used my previous bookshelf speaker in my previous apartment, which is smaller than my current one. I usually turned the volume to the position of 9 o clock. After connected the piano cera, I turned the vulume to 9 o clock as usual and found that piano cera sounded almost as loud as my previous bookshelf speaker even in a larger place.

    Piano cera is not only easy pushing but also not demanding for positioning. I only placed it causally and it produces good 3D sound image. It definitely produces excellent image if I fine tune its position.

    Now, my piano cera has only been using for about 20 hours, which is far from completely burn-in. I've already had a different interpretation of musicality and coherence......
  • Hi Ray,

    I'm glad that you like it. I just wanna share my experience with piano cera of Tidal Audio, which is not as popular as its German counterpart. Some of my peers considered that I was quite risky in choosing piano cera as there was not so many or no user in Hong Kong in the course of making decision and I couldn't have an audition. Now, I can say that choosing piano cera is certainly a right choice. I believe Piano Cera is more suitable than its big brothers for Hong Kong's small apartment. Really looking for a showroom with piano cera in Hong Kong showing its destinctive performance to Hong Kong audiophile.
  • Keith, your attitude is well appreciated by my good self. This is a group of smart people. They know what they want. We are not trying to be different. But we do know at least what steps are required to reach the subjective utopia through constructive criticisms. Your system is meant to serve you, but not your friends. You are a church-goer, and as you claim, presumably know live music better than the average audiophile and that is your criteria. The quantity of people is not a critical factor.

    The speakers that I dislike the most is a brand that has many followers worldwide. If I had followed that route because of its popularity, I would end up spending much more than the current path without reaching anywhere.

    Your attitude is great. I wish you have eternal hours of great music. You act on your belief is good. Most of the young dudes in our generation simply follow blindly without thinking.
  • Keith, I agree with VR very much. In my experience, it is better to have a slight toe in for Tidal speakers. That depends on room acoustics of course, Do you have any wide open corridor next to one of the channels?
  • In my previous experience, musical is something that sounds thick, coloured and soft etc. Now, I realize that is wrong. My Tidal sounds clear, crystal clear, neutral without coloration and really full of details that couldn't be listened with my previous speaker. However, I find it very musical indeed. Many people say ceramic speaker sounds crisp, full of details but will make listener tired. My Tidal tells me that they are not true as well. Tidal is full of details but I don't find it crisp nor makes me tired. I mainly listened classic but I like listening vocal now as the musical expression of Tidal really makes me enjoying difference kinds of music.
  • keith, you are definitely on the right track. May I know what is your current preamp and power amp?
  • Hi Keith,

    Many congratulations...its sounds like an amazing system which you have every reason to enjoy and be proud of.

    FWIW, i agree with your observation about musicality. While "rich tones" are nice...it is surprising to hear a great pair of speakers show you how much true music relies on immediate speed and quickness to delivery "the musical message". in real music, that speed is essential to get the message over properly.

    the problem is many speakers do not deliver speed properly and instead deliver an etched sound that sounds artificial...also wrong.

    But when that absolute quickness and agility is combined with power, then the speaker can deliver the quickness required of musical transients...while also delivering realistic dynamics which real music also requires.

    it has taken me some time to understand this...probably only truly in the last year or two...and that is after years of listening to "rich, warm" speakers because i was avoiding improperly "etched" or bright sound.

    Just one person's experience. Enjoy!!
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