Johnson Lee, Singapore (Updated)

The Oris 150 replaced my corner wall Lowther TP1 two years ago when I moved from my pre-war flat to a high rise apartment as it could not achieve its maximum bass diffusion and suit the interior theme. As my current premise is about 100m2 in area, space is definitely a restrain. For that I have incorporated the TV, Hifi and AV system together in the living room. Source components are placed on the left, the amplifers centre stage and the AV (for the kids) components in a rear ventilated cabinet (not shown) on the right. 5nos. AV satellite speakers (not shown) are mounted on the side of the drop ceiling and its cable within the ceiling space.

I listen mainly to vocal recording and through the years my taste have matured now opting for the passion of the recording music a minimalistic approach rather than an analytical one.

The single ended triode and horns (min. 28inches) are my basic component. Output tube are the KR Enterprise 300B which are creamy in nature. With these, my living is alway filled with warm, smooth, rich in mid range but not too bassy music. Only with horn and tubes can the human voice and piano tone be reproduce it its natural glory! I have mounted 2 tonearm on to my turntable. The high mass arm is mainly for the old 45s singles & EPs and the internal silver wire arm starts my all 'silver wire link' system up to the Lowther silver voice coil.

   

The result is a very smooth sound transition in the system. The Oris horn are supported by metal tubes filled with pebbles and its brass phase plug aim at the listener's ear so as to achieve the precise 'sweet spot'. The pre-out from my tube amp is fed to a crossover which is cut off from 170Hz and connects to a power amp. I have experimented with other transistor crossover but they produce too much coloration to the bass field even though they 'live' up on early hearing. I have opt for a older analogue design instead.

  

   

My system:

  • Tone arm: Denon DA309 + Shure M-55E MM, Audio Note/Rega 300B + Dynavector DV-10X4 MC
  • Turntable: Micro Seiki DDX-1000 RIAA: Audio Note Phono M2 CD Player: Wadia 28
  • Amplifier: Audio Note Meishu SE intergrated, Sudgen AU.41 100w power
  • Crossover: Recording Studio Design cut off from 170Hz
  • Speaker: Oris 150 front horn, Onken bass box
  • All interconnects and cables are 20 strand 0.2mm 99.99% pure silver lintz except to the bass components

Happy Listening!

Johnson Lee