In Vietnam I had for the first week only found stores that sold crappy "massive sound" systems. That is, enormous amplifiers with fronts packed with knobs and indicators. And PA-speakers. The purpose was "impressionator"-effect. That is : stripping the paint off the neighbours wall. The sound was terrible, to say the least. I had seen this in a lot of countries. How I pity them. I was also once of the impression that watt was an indicator for good sound. Until I heard a 10 watt tube amp. It completely blew me away. Not by sound pressure, but by its sound quality. And that lauched my career as an audiophile.
I wandered off into the streets of new Ha Noi, and entered into what appeared to be the rich part of town. With the Hilton hotel and a few other luxurious places dotted around. Suddenly, I saw a shop with names that made my mouth water. Audio Note, McIntosh, Plinius. Like moth to a flame, I was drawn to it. Inside the airconditioned room, the altars of good sound was dotted around everywhere. To my disappointment, the staff didn't speak any english, and they where more interested in making their pirate copied Hong Kong movie blast the doors open, than putting together the best gear. I had a suspicion that these where not altars of good sound, but altars of mammon. Where rich people could buy impressivly expensive gear to show off to their peers.
First was a Audio Note Quest amp. 8 watts of purity per channel. Connected to some low-sensitive speakers of dubious origin. I didn't even want to hear it. From another room, I heard the familiar sounds from "Carmen". With a guy tailing me, I entered the room to find a 600 watt Mcintosh connected to some horn speakers. Horn speakers? HORN speakers. 600 watts?! When the crescendos of "Carmen" blasted, the indicators on the maccie showed 100 MILLIwatts. Horn speakers are supposed to be connected to amps capable of delivering a few watts. Not 600. If they can handle the load at all, the speakers would output literally earsplitting volumes. You would be deaf in seconds. For life. You ears would probably bleed.
As if that wasn't enough, I heard something instantly that I didn't quite believe was possible in a shop like this. I tried to find some other explanation, but in the end I just had to admit the almost heart-crushing fact. They had managed to connect the speakers out of phase. And worst of all : without noticing. It was obvious that this was a temple of mammon, not audiophilia. The pricetag was more important that quality of the sound. It ripped my heart. I had to leave.
In conclusion, you might say that it has been a disturbing experience. I have found a number of audiophile recordings in cd-shops around the city. I am hoping these are the japanese versions, as the japanese tend to be REAL audiphiles. I am sure there are some vietnamese true to their audiophile nature, but they are not in this shop.
Some explanations to those of you not into audiophilia :
Horn speakers are speakers with, well, horns. They are normally extremely sensitive in the sense that you need only milliwatts to attain normal listening levels. They are most often used in combination with so-called single ended triode amplifiers. These are notiriously low powered. One example is amps using the tube 45, they normally output a maximum of 750 milliwatts. They would be gasping for air with most speakers. But with horn-speakers, they can reach THX-levels before starting to run out of air.
If you have even a moderate system, set up correctly, you will notice that the instruments are placed between the speakers. And in a high-end system, they are better focused, so the speakers almost dissappear. When the speakers are connected out of phase, the sounds appear to come from the speakers, and what comes from between the speakers, is unfocused. Almost blurred. If you have ever heard it, you cannot miss it.
Ragnar
Licensed audiophile
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