Repairs: Part 1 - You Meet Some Nice Ones & Some Others...

          I want to take this opportunity to talk a little about repair work in Malaysia. Over the past week I've conversed via email with the authorized repairer of AVI amplifiers and had a pleasant surprise when I threw a request to one of the leading sub-woofer manufacturers in the UK.

AVI S2000MI

          First up is Phil of P.G. Electronics in the UK. I contacted Phil via email to ask if he had any literature on an AVI S2000 MI integrated amplifier. Unfortunately he couldn't help me there but he did provide a couple of tips on servicing the AVI. Very helpful individual and a brilliant human being overall. By the way, it costs £250-350 to get an AVI S2000 MI up and running in tip top condition from P.G. Electronics. 


          The second pleasant surprise of the week was REL Acoustics. You know REL, those guys who make those earth shattering sub-woofers, yup, those guys. We picked up a REL Q-Bass earlier in the week. This Q-Bass had been "repaired" previously for the princely sum of RM150. It got a new woofer and some major caps according to the owner...but it started cracking if the volume went past half. 

          Opening up the Q-Bass, immediately we gasped at what we saw. The amplifier's main filter capacitors were dangling off the board with wires and those wires had been covered with electrical tape which had already started peeling off. Imagine what would happen if the contacts on those caps were to touch or touch something else on the board! Another issue was the unbranded woofer with no specs on it sitting in place of the original REL unit. 

REL Q-50 Sub-woofer

         A quick check showed that the original unit was no longer in production and also looking at those dangling caps, we didn't believe those were the correct types. Only way to find out was to get a Service Manual. No luck finding one so decided to give it a go and ask REL themselves. They actually replied saying that the Q-Bass was under the old REL management and they too don't have the Service Manual and all they had was the Q-50 and Q-100 manuals which they sent over! Amazing people over there. Unfortunately, the manuals were of not much help as the Q-Bass uses a completely different design to the other Q-series subs. But anyway, kudos to the people at REL.

          Earlier in this blog I said that I wanted to talk a bit about repairs in Malaysia, well, the REL above is an example of the workmanship we sometimes find in equipment we receive. Will expand on this in a different post sometime in the future with a few pictures for examples.


          Well, this is the end of Part 1. In the next post, I hope to touch a bit on trade repairs. Till the next one! 

          

System Matching, Reviews, Guides, Ratings, Pros & Cons...Aargh!

          I remember the first hi-fi setup that sat in our living room back in the early 90's. It was a NAD 510 CD player, Denon PMA250III amplifier, Harman Kardon TU930 and a pair of Mordaunt-Short MS20i bookshelf speakers. It was decent, it sounded good and that was it. Then I got into the habit of reading hi-fi reviews and was quite annoyed that most of the equipment I had only garnered 3 or 4 star ratings instead of the highly coveted 5 stars. 

5-stars must mean its good...right?

          What Hi-Fi?, Hi-fi World, Hi-fi Choice, Stereophile...heck, even our local daily; The Sun's Perfect Pitch pullout, any magazine I could get my hands on, I bought and gobbled up everything the reviewers had to say. These guys were gods, they must have had perfect 20-20 hearing (guessing with sound its 20Hz to 20Khz? Haha...)! 

          But then I started to notice something. If two magazines reviewed the same amplifier or speaker, both the reviews would be slightly different or in some cases, worlds apart! One magazine would give it 2 stars and another magazine would give it 4 stars. What's going on here? 

Back to zero. Back to basics. Back to our own ears.

          Fact of the matter is this; the reviews serve as a guide. Nothing more. They do not mean that if you took a 5-star CD player and paired it with a 5-star rated amplifier and speakers, you'll get the best sounding system in the world, it just means that you probably have a slightly better chance of getting an "ok" sounding system. It could sound great but most of the time, it will sound just alright.

          The best judge of any piece of equipment is ourselves, or to be more precise, our very own ears. Not the ears of some person sitting thousands of kilometers away writing about some new piece of gear. End of the day, we are the ones who are going to be sitting down listening to our favorite tunes. 

Yup, those two things sticking out the sides of your head are your best friends

          Forget the number of stars and the bundled discount sets you see advertised. Listen to various pieces of gear, make use of the sales attendant, ask to listen to different combinations. Try listening to two different sets of speakers using the same amplifier. This will give you an indication of the character of that amplifier. Same goes for speakers, sources and everything else in between (cables). Bring along your own CD's for listening. 

A pinch of salt with every opinion is just what the chef ordered

          Ask for opinions but take each one with a pinch of salt. People are biased. They do not intend to be and most would recommend something from the bottom of their hearts but what's dear to them may not be to you so always keep that in mind. Do not get influenced by the latest trends. Set aside a realistic budget. Also list out what you need your system to do and also make notes of what you do not need. Ultimately, there is a system out there with your name on it. 

          The best piece of advice I can give is to enjoy the process. Its a hobby after all. A very satisfying one when you get it right and a very frustrating one which can be very expensive when you get it wrong so take your time. Good luck out there and have fun!

The Black Octagon BOS1 3.5mm to 3.5mm Interconnect

The Black Octagon BOS1 Interconnect

          The very first cable to carry the BOS moniker, the BOS1 is a 3.5mm to 3.5mm interconnect. This was the cable that started it all for us but this would be the first time that we are officially introducing it to the market. Reason? We never got round to it to be honest and initially we thought it would be a limited production run. However the response from those who have purchased the cable has been nothing but positive so with some encouragement from our customers, we have decided to make it a permanent fixture in our line of cables.

          Employing a double copper shield like the BOS4, the BOS1 is paired together with Switchcraft 35HDBAU connectors and soldered with WBT4% Silver Solder. Known for being neutral in nature, some may find the BOS1 to be unforgiving within certain systems. Whereas in others, it can be that link which has always been missing. 

          As with all our cables, we believe copper is the best conductor overall and the BOS1 uses oxygen free copper for its two cores and the double shield. 

Switchcraft 35HDBAU 3.5mm connector

Key Features:

• Switchcraft 35HDBAU 3.5mm connectors on both sides
• Black braided sleeving to protect the cable and enhance the look
• Terminated with WBT 4% Silver Solder
• Double copper shielding for enhanced noise rejection

Black braided sleeving

What Our Customers Have To Say:

"...very good value for money. Neutral sounding..." - Eddy

"...boosts everything compared to the stock interconnect..." - George from Sarawak Malaysia

Switchcraft 35HDBAU in all its glory

Price:

20cm and below = RM135.00 / USD$42.18

Customized lengths are available. Lengths refer to the length of the cable before connectors are soldered on. Use the Contact Form on the upper right hand of the screen to ask us for a quote and postage rates to your area.

Postage within Malaysia is via Pos Laju and the rates are as follows:

• Anywhere in West Malaysia = RM8.00 / USD$2.43
• Anywhere in East Malaysia = RM10.00 / USD$3.04

NAD 3020 Rebuild

The 3020 when it first showed up at our doorstep

          The classic (some would say legendary) NAD 3020. This particular example was bought second hand by the owner some time back and came with a few issues. Apparently it had no power LED and there was a slight hum from the speakers when in operation. Well, the hum grew into a massive hum and the owner finally decided to do something about it so he sent it to us.

          A quick visual inspection of the inside showed that the power LED was still there but had become detached from the front panel. The main filter capacitors had been changed to some unbranded ones and the output transistors were also not original. Fuses had been changed to fast blow types instead of the original slow blow fuses. As for the rear of the NAD, besides a layer of dirt and crud, everything looked as it should.

These transistors would have worked in place 

of the  originals, the only problem was that we 

suspected that they were fake.

Fast blow fuses in place of slow blow ones. 

Power LED detached from front panel.

PCB tracks for the output transistors had

been previously damaged.

Tear down

 The 3020's board was removed from its chassis 
and given a good clean.

Output transistors were removed and their 
heatsink was removed for cleaning. All of the old
thermal paste was cleaned off so that the new 
transistors would seat perfectly.

 All switches were cleaned.

Pots were cleaned as well and all found to be 

functioning well.

Assembly

The main filter caps were replaced with 

Panasonic FC caps. New STMicroelectronics

transistors were seated with new thermal 

paste and mica insulators. Bourns trimmers were 

also installed to adjust DC offset and bias.

The one mod that we had to do was to install

emitter resistors for the new transistors. This 

would prevent the amp from going into thermal 

runaway.

New fuses in place.

The amp also got a full recap with Panasonic

capacitors. 

Complete

 Almost done. 

          The 3020 was finally reassembled and turned on. Initial test showed everything to be fine so the bias and DC offset were set and the amp was put through the paces. 

          We had not heard the amp before as it was not operational when it first came in so we did not have anyway of knowing how good it was going to sound. We were pleasantly surprised because for a 30 year old amp, it sounded tight. Bass was there, clarity and not too harsh. No hum from the speakers. There was power on tap as well as we really couldn't go past 10 o'clock with the volume knob. All in all, it actually sounded amazing, no wonder these amps were so highly regarded and are still being sought after today. 

The Black Octagon BOS4 3.5mm to 3.5mm Interconnect

The Black Octagon BOS4 Interconnect

          One of our first products and one of our best sellers, the BOS4 is a 3.5mm to 3.5mm or mini to mini interconnect cable. In its first incarnation, the BOS4 came with grey sleeving and black shrinks covering the connectors. The latest and current version of the BOS4 is all black while still using the REAN NYS231BG connectors by Neutrik.


          The BOS4 employs a starquad configuration which is great for RF rejection. It also has a double copper shield which further helps with noise rejection.

REAN by Neutrik NYS231BG

Key Features:

• Gold plated contacts on both ends
• Braided sleeving to protect cable and also enhance the look
• Terminated with 2% Silver Solder as standard

What Our Customers Have To Say:

"...there is a difference in bass performance and sound separation. The "boomy-ness" has been knocked down a notch and the quality has improved..." - Dae

"...soundstage becomes wider, treble and details are more emphasized..." - Azri from Perak, Malaysia



Applications:

• To connect anything with a 3.5mm output (iPod, iPhone, mobile phone, media player, mp3 player) to an amplifier with a 3.5mm input.
• To connect a laptop to an amplifier with a 3.5mm input.

Price:

• 20cm and below = RM65.00 / USD$20.10

Customized lengths are available. Lengths refer to the length of the cable before connectors are soldered on. Use the Contact Form on the upper right hand of the screen to ask us for a quote and postage rates to your area.

Postage within Malaysia is via Pos Laju and the rates are as follows:

• Anywhere in West Malaysia = RM8.00 / USD$2.43
• Anywhere in East Malaysia = RM10.00 / USD$3.04

Remembering Ray Dolby

       

          The audio visual world has lost one of it's patrons in the passing of Ray Milton Dolby OBE on the 12th of September 2013. Dolby was the founder of Dolby Laboratories, an American company specializing in audio noise reduction and audio encoding/compression. 

          What better way to remember a man than by the way he thought and lived his life. Here are some quotes by Ray Dolby.

- "I think I was both lucky and I was also straightforward with people, and I think they liked that attitude"

- "You can't imagine the amount of snickering that went on in that late 1952 period when we were trying to build our first video tape recorder. Let's say we'd go into the lunch room or the coffee room to get a cup of coffee, and the other engineers would say 'he's still working on that stuff? It's never gonna work.' "

- "Inventing is a skill that some people have and some people don't. But you can learn how to invent."

- "There is no major next step. It's a matter of constantly being aware of one's environment, of keeping track of what's happening in the various industries that we're operating in and just sort of sensing what's possible and what's not possible, what's needed, what's not needed - just having all your antennae going, sensitized to all the signals that are out there."

- "I wanted the experience of travelling to many parts of the world. Inventions were part of my life, but they didn't overtake everything that I was doing."

          Great man, great contributions. We can all take away something from the way this man conducted himself and the way he lived his life.

The Black Octagon 3.5mm to Stereo RCA MkII Cable

The Black Octagon 3.5mm to Stereo RCA MkII

          The Black Octagon 3.5mm male to Stereo RCA male MkII cable. Built to the highest standard, this interconnect was designed to be an upgrade over a basic interconnect and to perform beyond its price range. Performance, durability and pricing were key factors that went into the thought process of designing and producing the final product.

Amphenol Connectors

Key Features:

• Gold plated contacts all round
• Reinforced split to two RCAs
• Braided sleeving covers shrink covered cable insulation for RCA connections making it more durable to wear
• Terminated with 2% Silver Solder as standard

What our customers have to say:

"...Solid construction and heavier than expected..." - C.S. Ng

"...the Black Octagon 3.5mm to RCA was a pretty good buy. It brought out what I exactly wanted in my audio which is the slight bit of sparkle to the treble and a tighter low frequency range..." - Benjamin

"...I do have to say that the cables are really good quality cables..." - Anonymous

Braided Sleeving

Applications:

• To connect anything with a 3.5mm headphone output (iPod, iPhone, mobile phone, mp3 player, etc) to an amplifier with an RCA input.
• To connect a laptop or desktop to a headphone amplifier, hi-fi amplifier or AV receiver. 

Price and Postage:

• 1 meter  = RM75.00 / USD$23.01
• 2 meters = RM85.00 / USD$26.08
• 3 meters = RM95.00 / USD$29.15

Customized lengths are available. Use the Contact Form on the upper right hand of the screen to ask us for a quote and postage rates to your area. 

Postage within Malaysia is via Pos Laju and rates are as follows:

• Anywhere in West Malaysia = RM8.00 / USD$2.43
• Anywhere in East Malaysia = RM10.00 / USD$3.04

*Many thanks to SSJBen for the brilliant pictures*

Why We Did It?

                    France? China? Malaysia? Can you tell the difference? 

          Truth be told when we started Black Octagon Solutions a year ago, we had a few things in mind. Remember how I said we had 30 years between us? Well, in those years we saw what the market was like and where it was headed. With the influx of Chinese made products into Malaysia, we saw a decline in quality goods. Also the line between imitation and genuine goods was blurred. In the AV rental market for example, big companies couldn't cope with the sudden appearance of new rental companies offering rock bottom prices with China made gear. The clients didn't know the difference between a "Made In France" Nexo PS15 loudspeaker and a "Made In Balakong" Nexo PS15. Which leads us to another point...

          With the advent of Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and the growing popularity of social media, one would be inclined to think that people grew more knowledgeable and wouldn't fall for false marketing/advertising but this couldn't be further from the truth. We know for a fact that just about anyone with internet access can write about anything, post it on the web, claim it to be true and there will be those out there who will take it as the honest truth.

          We see it in forums, websites and even videos where unsubstantiated facts are simply put out there for anyone seeking information to gobble it up. And these people who put these "facts" out there can be called false prophets if it were not for the sad truth that even they believed some of the stuff they "preach". I guess in some ways, this would apply to any industry out there so before I get sidetracked, let's get back to the reasons we're here.

          At Black Octagon Solutions, our objectives are pretty simple:

• We want to educate to the best of our knowledge and to provide facts which are backed up with results. We won't claim to know everything because just like everyone else, we are continuously learning and improving ourselves as well. So if we make a mistake and you spot it, let us know.
• We want to provide products which are made to last, to perform to expectations and surpass those expectations.
• We're all for making a profit but a profit within reason. Part of those profits will go into development of new products so that the trial and error process for our customers is reduced.
• We love what we do hence we want to share it with everyone. We believe good sound is affordable and is within reach of the average Joe and you do NOT(!) have to settle for mediocrity. 

Call this our objectives, our mission statement, whatever...fact is this, we want to make a difference. We may not always succeed and we may not make a big impact in the giant world of sound but we're sure as hell gonna try to at least create a dent. Thanks for reading.

Yup...that picture up there was a cheap plug again. Seeing a pattern forming here? ;)

Black Octagon Solutions - An Introduction

Here's How It All Started

          Where do I begin? I'd love to say that the company was born because two brilliant individuals decided to put their years in the audio industry to good use and improve on what was already out there but then it would be a blatant lie. Truth be told, this company was born at a regular "warung makan" in Kajang (in 2012) where two individuals with about 30 years in the industry between them were having a conversation about...well, nothing to be honest. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing where it was decided we should start a company.

          We got the necessary documentation. Went home, thought about a few names and my better half said why not go for shapes and a color? So after more mind-numbing thought, I said; "it shall be called...Silver Decagon!" Filled out the forms and back we went to get it registered. Well, the name was taken, can you believe that?! Silver Decagon?! Really?!! Well, we changed it on the spot to Black Octagon and the name was available so it stuck. 

          All that was about a year ago and it actually doesn't seem that far back which makes you think about how fast time flies. What do we actually do? Well, we got a small line of audio cables, a hi-fi repair service and we do sell some audio gear as well....yup, that's it...Ok Ok, there's more; On to the next post about Why We Did It (?) ! 

Cheap Cable Plug Below!! 

                           Black Octagon 1 meter RCA Interconnects

Musings... : Saying Cheap Cable Plug would probably get some people confused into thinking that the plugs and cable used for the Black Octagon RCA Interconnects are actually cheap...the Black Octagon RCA Interconnects go for RM150 for a 1 meter Stereo pair by the way...anyway...

Here's something I got from Yahoo! Answers: 

A "plug" is usually referred to as a form of advertisement or commercial comment. "Cheap" simply means the person saying it is getting his ad in free or very "Cheap"

Sigh...its no fun when you have to explain it...