Audio Exotics Hong Kong Reports on the PranaWire Ground Master Level III Mains Treatment Device

"We also took the opportunity to ask Anders to discuss the difference he heard after adding the Pranawire Ground Master Level III to the system. He described the effect as being like switching from a large studio to a formal concert hall and being there in person at the scene. Everyone present unanimously praised the extraordinary effects of GML3."

Listening to the violin under the guidance of a famous teacher by Mike Yu

Mr. Anders Hui is a violinist, chamber musician, orchestra coordinator and music educator active in the contemporary classical music scene. He joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010 and is currently the second  concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. On November 2, he visited the Divin Studio to share his experience of listening to the violin with the public.

Anders helped me understand that when listening to recorded the violin, I should pay attention to the following elements:

1. The origin of the violin in the sound stage
2. The acoustics of the recording venue
3. The thickness of the violinist's fingers
4. The violinist’s body shape
5. The violinist’s skills, specialties and habits
6. Understanding of the repertoire

The most interesting point he made was that that shape of the violinist's body and fingers have a profound impact on the sound he projects. David Oistrak had a sturdy body and meaty fingers. These innate advantages allowed him to use his dexterous finger strength to control the strings, producing a round tone, creating a distinct playing style. Nathan Milstein's hands are not big, and they are extremely soft, almost as if his fingers had no bones or joints. His fingering is very clear, allowing him to use relatively low pressure and long and sliding strokes to express the explosive power of the bow. His playing is fluid and not stiff. The sound is thorough, brilliant, and penetrating. In order to achieve maximum resonance between the instrument and his body, he never uses a shoulder rest. David started using shoulder braces in the 1950s. These habits are a secret technique for subtly adjusting the timbre.

If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. Anders shared the independent characteristics of each famous violin. It seems that the Stradivarius has a clear and bright treble and a gorgeous and continuous midrange, while the Guarneri's bass is more stable and thick. Different woods have different timbres. The type of varnish has a profound affect on the timbre. The old growth trees are gone. Climate changes over the years have altered the growth pattern of trees. New trees cannot produce the beauty of tone of the old ones. Even the master-level David Oistrakh had to encounter the famous Stradivarius instrument before he could play the sounds that allowed him to achieve the pinnacle of harmony between human and instrument.

Anders also told us that performers use different types of bows in rehearsal in order to coordinate with the acoustics of the concert hall. Only when the performer achieves the three-in-one realm of "human, violin, and ground" can the audience hear the best performance. After Anders demonstrated a composition by Bach with the Vuillaume violin, he felt that the acoustics in the Divine Comedy Studio were a little on the bright side, so he had to use more force to achieve the type of sound he sought.

Chris immediately turned off one of the active bass-absorbing instruments, and Anders performed the same song again. The violin immediately released more harmonics, but the technique became a little blurry. He demonstrated again that using bows of varying weights, even though differing by only a few grams gave the listeners different tonal experiences. When playing real instruments and speakers, you must deal with room sound effects.

Listening to the System

In a vinyl system, the phono stage is  very important. The famous vinyl record "The Magic Bow" was played with the world's only active RIAA phono stage "Hummingbird", using ordinary wires and  not connected to the Tripoint Elite NG and Subbase Vividus Zwo. Michael Rabin played Camille Saint-Saens' Rondo Capriccioso Op. 28. When bowing, the placement of the fingers of his left hand was very firm and precise, showing amazing clarity immediately awakening the soul of his famous Guarneri del Gesu instrument, delivering amazing energy. This shocked the whole audience.

When the same song was played with a passive RIAA phono stage, despite all efforts in noise management and improved cables, the treble completely lost its sense of movement and three-dimensionality, and the violin's ability to project was greatly reduced. I think this is a problem with the format. Using video as an analogy, Blue-ray is far better than DVD in terms of picture and sound. So it is in terms of phono stages: If you could only own one phono amplifier in your life, the Hummingbird would definitely be the one.

We also took the opportunity to ask Anders to discuss the difference he heard after adding the Pranawire Ground Master Level III to the system. He described the effect as being like switching from a large studio to a formal concert hall and being there in person at the scene. Everyone present unanimously praised the extraordinary effects of GML3.
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After that, Chris replaced the four-story Wellfloat Babel placed under "Hummingbird" with the limited edition six-story Babel Genesis. After comparing before and after, Anders described the sense of presence as even more shocking because the listening position seemed to have been moved a few lines forward, adding to the sense of intimacy with the musicians on the stage. Not only did the dynamics of each instrument come clearly into view, but different gradations of energy went straight through his eyes and body. I really think that the level of violin replay performed at Divin Studio has reached the realm of Ultimate Fidelity, which is amazing.

I sincerely appreciate that AE often invites experts in various fields to mentor everyone how to appreciate music. If you don't have the most basic musical knowledge, holding hundreds of thousands of dollars of famous cables or millions in pieces of equipment, the meaning may be limited to the satisfaction of material desires. Price may reflect quality, but these exquisite items require knowledge and perseverance to discover their value.

The spiritual satisfaction from this encounter cannot be described in a few words, and the excitement has not yet subsided.

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