Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Family

High-End Hi-Fi Audio Companies

By 8 Comments

I have always been an audio and music buff and, over the years, I have managed to acquire a very good HiFi system, mainly built using Yamaha components. There are two reasons why I chose Yamaha. First, Mauritius being Mauritius, Yamaha is one of the few brands which can be bought in the island. In particular, it is practically impossible to find high-end components and brands in Mauritius. The second reason is, of course, that Yahama components are of high quality and offer excellent value for money.

Here are some of the high-end audio companies in the world:

How many do you personally know?

My quest for High Fidelity sound

By 3 Comments

I have always loved music and I have composed three albums up to now.

When I listen to music, I like using high-fidelity (HiFi) equipment in order to experience it fully. It all started around 1987 when my parents bought a Tatung AFR-4080S radio tuner / cassette player / amplifier with its set of two speakers. I remember that the Tatung was flimsy and did not sound very nice. The speakers, in particular, were mediocre. But my brother and I spent hours and hours listening to Depeche Mode (and other synthpop artists) on the Tatung and we loved it.

(I don’t have any photo of the Tatung, so I spent days looking for one online with no success only to finally find one video of it on YouTube from which I constructed the above composite image from four different video frames. It is better than nothing.)

A few years later, in 1993, I left Mauritius for Réunion Island for my university studies and my first purchase at the Mauritius Duty Free Store was a Sony Discman, most probably a D-141 or a D-145, (which a very mean and, maybe, racist French customs officer made me pay a lot of VAT when I arrived in Réunion Island):

I used the Discman to listen to the two CDs I had (+ a few I borrowed from some friends) but I was dissatisfied as I couldn’t share my love for music with others. So, a few weeks later, I collected all my money and bought my first Sony FH-B500 Mini HiFi System:

This was a milestone for me. I had my first HiFi system and the sound quality was an order of magnitude better than the Tatung. When Christina and I got back to Mauritius in 1998, we brought back the Sony which worked for some years until the CD player and the amplifier died. Given that the two speakers were proper two-way bass-reflex designs with enclosures made of real wood, I still use them, 24 years later, in my kitchen with a cheap amplifier.

Around 2001, just before Anya’s birth, we finally invested in our first HiFi set of components, a Kenwood KRF-7030D home-cinema receiver / amplifier:

+ a set of Pioneer speakers (which did not sound too great but which I got very cheaply). The speakers were severely limited and I had to resort to all kinds of EQing to make the sound good:

+ a Philips DVD-727K CD / DVD player:

After a few years the Kenwood amplifier died and stayed dead for five years until I finally managed to repair it. Today, I am still using it in my bedroom with an excellent pair of Yamaha NS-7390 speakers and a Chromecast Audio and the combination rocks.

Anyway, when the Kenwood died around 2006-2007, we went to vacation in Thailand and Malaysia where we bought a Pioneer VSX-516 home-cinema receiver / amplifier. The idea was to match the amplifier with the existing set of Pioneer speakers:

And the result was still crap. The speakers were not very good and we took the plunge and replaced them with excellent NS-50F Yamaha speakers:

with a Yamaha YST-SW015 subwoofer:

and the result was awesome. The sound quality was amazing and Christina and I spent hours and hours rediscovering our CD collection.

In 2013, the digital revolution happened in our living room and we needed an amplifier with HDMI connections (which the Pioneer did not have). As all our speakers were Yamaha (which is one of the few brands which can be bought in Mauritius), we decided to get a matching Yamaha amplifier and we settled on the RX-V475:

To summarise, this is our current setup in our living room: a Yamaha RX-V475 amplifier, a pair of NS-50F Yamaha speakers as well as a Yamaha YST-SW015 subwoofer (+ Yamaha central and surround speakers). Add to this a 1st generation Chromecast connected to the amplifier through HDMI:

and the formidable Plex Media Server and Android application and we are good to go:

Phew. It has been a long journey. But very rewarding and interesting.

Whisky I know (and like…)

By 1 Comment

I like to have a nice drink from time to time.

Here are some of the Scotch Whisky I like to have (sorted by price, from most expensive to most affordable):

I have just discovered the Lagavulin thanks to Cédric and it is amazing. I have never tasted a single malt which is so smokey, yet so good. It’s the best whisky I’ve ever had.

Next come the Johnnie Walker (Double Black and Black) as well as the Chivas Regal which are my go-to (relatively) high-end drinks. This is what we have when we have something special to celebrate. The Jack Daniel’s is in the same league but is a whisky that I drink less frequently and I know a few people who do not like its taste.

On the lower level come the Ballantine, the J & B, the Red Label. I prefer the Ballantine which is basically my everyday (not that I drink everyday!) whisky. It’s not very expensive and is quite refined, compared to the Red Label which is not very good to be honest.

Finally, at the lowest level come the remaining three brands (Grant’s, Teacher’s and King Robert) and I have to say that I like King Robert very much. It’s very inexpensive, relatively speaking, and is quite easy to drink. It’s basically what I have with family and friends if we are not in a whisky tasting mood.

To summarize, here are my whisky selection : Lagavulin, then Double Black, then Ballantine’s and finally King Roberts. With those four, I have all bases covered.

Don’t drink and drive, though.