Memory Lane

1990: The first sound system was the AIWA NSX-800 (S$699). Specs: 60W into 6 Ohm amplification, CDP (16-bit), tuner, double tape deck, 3-band graphic equalizer, bass boost and BBE sound enhancement circuit. The system as a whole was good (to my 1990 standards). The speakers were quite heavy and solidly constructed. A 'tap test' suggested that they were strongly braced and damped. The system goes loud without significant distortion - bass was reasonably fast and tight (although not as deep as I would like even with the bass boost at the max). Tape deck performance was also quite OK.

AIWA NSX-800

After 3 years of usage, the CDP stopped working (I consider this a good lifespan for a CDP). Repaired at the Aiwa service center. This solved the problem but after another year, it broke down again. And again and again.... the CDP became addicted to breaking down. Considering the repair costs, Aiwa was finally laid to rest in hi-fi heaven.

1993: Still stuck in the education system and money was tight. Managed to scavenge together a replacement system shown below.

Old HiFi system

The above system was a vast improvement over the Aiwa. Better stereo-imaging. Midrange much clearer and the treble was less shrill. Bass was tighter and deeper. Altogether, the sound was more dynamic and powerful. Yeah.
The 30W Sony amp just managed to drive the Pinnacle speakers. Volume knob at 10 o'clock for a reasonable sound level. The NAD blew away the Aiwa deck. For its relatively cheap price, it made superbly clear CD-to-tape recordings. Pop in a type-IV Metal tape and you can gain-ride well into the yellow without audible distortions. Being a 2-head design, you can't do real-time monitoring but at this price, who's complaining?

1994: I was an initial sceptic about interconnects and used those freebies given by Sony. After some research into the area I took the plunge and bought some Monster cables.

Old HiFi system

I won't say that the sound improvement was amazing, but there was no doubt that the bass was more solid and pronounced. Midrange had a better presence and treble was slightly smoother. A placebo effect? After auditioning with some friends, my conclusion was that the cables do make an improvement in the sound, albeit subtle.

1996: Saved enough to get present system. Old system banished to other parts of the house.

1997: Bought the Philips DCC-730 Digital compact cassette recorder at clearance sale. It can play conventional cassettes but quality is inferior to the NAD. It also records and plays DCCs (digital compact cassette) which cost S$15 for 90 min. However because the magnetic media used is actually Type II (Chrome) whose formulation is similar to BASF's Chrome Maxima cassettes, you can use these cheaper tapes (~S$4) as a substitute! What you have to do is to cut two holes at stretegic positions of the cassette and you can record music digitally on it. The sound quality is much better than a normal cassette (no hiss, clearer and sharper) but still cannot beat a CD (due to the compression technique used in the digital recording process). What we have now is a relatively cheap digital recorder.

Philips DCC

1999: Demise of DCC. One bad thing about living in the tropics is the high humidity. All magnetic tape media become mouldy if unused for a couple of months. All the BASF Chrome Maxima cassettes became mouldy and unusable. Tried cleaning the tape itself but to no avail. The whitish mould was too deeply stuck on the tape. After much consideration, we decided to abandon the DCC concept and the machine was sold off. :(