Karaoke at Home

Although it happened quite a few months back, I thought it might be good to post it here for the benefit of others. I saw in the papers an advertisement (sometime at the beginning of the year) on the 'Golden Voice' DVD Player which claims to be able to record karaoke and allow on screen selection of songs.

This interests me because I know that:-

1) No DVD player in the market can record karaoke from DVD and 2) A screen song selection will require a computer to be connected

I was looking high and low for a player that can record karaoke and perform on-screen song selections like what they have at most Karaoke rooms. However, I do not want to have a computer attached. Looking at the advertisement, I thought to myself that this is exactly what I wanted and immediately called up to make an inquiry.

Someone (sounded “Ah Beng”-like) picked up the phone and I started to ask my question. Actually, I only needed to verify the about two points and the following are his answers:-

1) 'Can, who say cannot...' 2) 'No need computer, you can come down and see it yourself..'

I was not convinced because there was no logical explanation at all. So I told him I still cannot understand how it works and all he said was “I already tell you a lot. You come down and take a look.”

I must say that there is nothing wrong with the shop, but the attitude of the sales person was a problem for me. That ended our conversation and I never visited that shop.

One week after the enquiry made with Merdeka Audio, I saw another advertisement from K Box Karaoke System Pte Ltd. It caught my attention because the product advertised was identical (GV520) and the shop is not at Sim Lim Square. (Thank goodness, I think I have a phobia about Sim Lim Square shops) This time, I decided to visit the shop at Eminent Plaza and see for myself if the system lived up to my expectation.

The showroom is not very big and it has only the advertised product on display. So it looks like they are fully concentrating on selling this product. Since there were few clients in the shop at that time, I can take my time to fish out some information from the sales person about the product and ask all the questions I had in mind.

I was not in the buying mode yet, as I was comparing with other similar product in the market. Honesty I was quite confused by some of the products out there as some required a PC to operate while others did not. So I did not know which would be the most suitable product for me.

Since there was a sales person attending to one other customer at that time, I took the opportunity to listen along to his product explanation. Nicky seemed to be sincere, polite and logical with his explanation. This made me ask him more questions. I was happy with his answers and demonstration. Since all of it went smoothly, I told myself that it is time to run before he pesters me to buy!

Just as I was about to do that, he said that he is not the salesman and that the price he quoted was the lowest a salesman has ever quoted. This statement made me retrace my steps and eventually led to a big hole in my pocket.

In a moment, this guy by the name of Sam Tai (don't know where was he from) appeared in front of us and 'took over' the conversation between myself and Nicky. I guessed it was time for Nicky to do his work, (I found out at a later stage that he is the IT guy), he has 'tuan' for more than an hour with the customer and is time for the sales person to conclude the deal.

Sam, explain all over again the good features of the GV 520 'Golden Voice' DVD player as if Nicky’s explanation was not good enough. After a while, I was quite convinced and decided in my mind to purchase only the DVD player. Perhaps he has installed a virtual 'Surveillance' system that can read minds. Before I could place my order, he started to explain the difference between the normal speakers and the Karaoke speakers. I do agree that speakers are important part of a Karaoke system, but I never expected him to make me interested in the expensive speakers. He took the trouble to connect and disconnect between various speakers to convince me of the sound quality of the recommended speakers. This went on for more than half an hour.

Having a proper DVD player and a good pair of speakers, obviously, you need a good amplifier to drive it and a balancer to fine tune the sound effect. Sam even setup the system and demonstrated the difference between a normal amplifier and one with the balancer connected. The amplifier for Karaoke is different from the normal amplifier because of the added control for music key and microphone. I also recommend to install the balancer. It is different from a mixer. It really enhance and balance the audio output for both channels.

Finally, I made my purchase due in part to the sincerity and the diligent services provided by Nicky and Sam. They took time to explain and that took care of my initial concerns. I was satisfied with their explanation and knew that this is the right product to purchase. So off I went and walked away happily with a hope of receiving my Karaoke system in a week's time.

Till today, the Karaoke system still serves me well and I am glad I made that right decision.

- Sent in by Starry

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