Hello Friends,
After a long wait, lot of reading and research I finally have my 5.1 speakers.
Before I proceed with detailing my experience and the journey of buying the speakers, I want to take a moment to
'Thank Venkat sir' for all the guidance, patience and all possible help he provided in choosing the speakers.
He helped me from short listing the brands to listing out the store and sharing his opinion/experience with each piece etc. So a whole hearted thanks to our guru.
The speakers I am proud owner of:
- PSB Image T45 fronts
- PSB C40 Center
- PSB Alpha B1 surrounds
- PSB subseries 5i Sub
The brands auditioned
The major time I spent was auditioning the fronts. After reading and based on the kind of music my family likes it was clear that I wanted to go for FS instead of BS. The budget for speakers was also fixed. So the brands I looked at following brands:
- Wharfedales Diamond 9.x and 10.x
- QUAD L2 series
- PSB Image series
- Polk Audio TSi & LSi Series
- KEF iQ
- Sonodyne Avant & Sonus
- JBL ES90/100
I wanted to listen to QA and Mission but by the time I could find the dealers, I heard the PSB T45 and thats it, I had made my mind. I am person who gets confused given too many options to choose from. Hence I did not go any further. To match the timbre I went in for the same series (PSB Image C40) of center speaker.
The experience and my feedback/opinion
To audition I had a few selected numbers (mix of Indian & western, hip/hop, classical, and a lots of AR Rahman) My Rahman favorites were Potters Village& Cyclist Rhythm from World of Music and the instrumentals from Taal. I also had borrowed a CD from my friend which was a compilation created by Manger Audio. The 15th track (percussion ensemble by O-Zone Percussion Group) is excellent for testing. I also had some pure vocals like Lata Mangeshkar, MS Subhalakshmi, Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar. Basically I had collections which helped me test the low, mid and high frequencies. I used the same compilation on all the speakers. In all the shops I visit requested them to drive the speakers on Marantz OR Denon. Luckily almost all had Denon and some of them Marantz. This gave me the closest sound to what I have (Marantz SR6003)
Based on my taste and my ears here is what I felt:
Quad 22L2 @ Boomerang:
Speakers are good I felt the bass is but low compared to the wharfedales or PSB and also I was not that happy with the mid-range. The sound was more suppressed/closed. Though the bass can be covered by the sub but they cost 30K more than PSB and double that of Wharfedales. They definitely have excellent high range output.
Wharfedales @ designer Audio:
9.6: I liked these most out of the Wharfedale family and these were my 2nd best choice. The sound is very good and flatter compared to their other cousins. Overall all frequencies are heard well.
10.5 & 10.6:Looks wise I liked the 10 series compared to 9. The 10.5 sounded more flat and clearer than the 106. 10.6s woofer is powerful and it generates more bass but thats not how I want to listen.
PSB T45:
The sound is more balanced with good bass and mid-range. The higher frequency side is also pretty good. Cost wise they are 13K higher than the 9.6 but overall they performed much better than all others I heard.
Some of the notes from the Manger test CD were very sharp and clear in the T45. I felt them almost missing in Polks and JBLs.
Once the fronts was finalized it was easy choice for the center. Though Venkat sir suggested to go for a C60 which has lager drivers, I settled for the C40 due to budget constraints. I had already over stretched myself for the speakers. Now I am in a state that I will have restrain from buying even CDs for some time
. But I am happy that I have invested in a very good set of speakers. My future plan is to spend some more on a good stereo amp just for music and I will be back to bug all our gurus. I will still keep my Marantz for movies. But this will surely not happen for year and half at a minimum.
For subs I had shortlisted
- Polk Audio PSW 125, DSW 500
- Wharfedale SW150 & SW250
- DefTech Pro Sub 800 & 1000
- PSB SubSeries 5i & 6i
- Velodyne VX10 & Impact-12
For some time I thought of waiting and going for an HSU or SVS or Aperion audios subs but dont have budget or patience to wait.
The Polks were very boomy and I was out of the demo room in less than 10 minutes. Velodyne was good for a 8x10 kind of room but I will be using my system in the living which is around 350 sq-ft. Wharfedales had good tight bass but Deftech and PSBs were winners in the race.
After auditioning the above subs I again settled for a PSB. Deftech was also very good in the same price range and it was almost difficult to decide which one. I finally asked my friend who had accompined me (who also is a music lover and very technical) and picked the PSB 5i.
Overall I got around 11% discount on the price plus some discounts on the cables. Yes I picked the cables for Sub and front from Lakozy itself. Fronts have the Supra Classic 4.0 tinned OFC and Sub has the Sommer.
Promod from Lakozy was the sales guy and he was a gentleman. Very soft spoken polite and informative. Maybe his selling was also one of the reason I zeroed down to PSB.
It was an experience to go through this process. I am very sure that without hifivisions wealth of information and support all you buddies I would have spent on something which would have not returned as much.
I visited Mumbai thrice for auditioning the speaker components. The first for listening to various brands for Fronts, second one to spend more time on the T45 Fronts (almost 6 hours @ Lakozy). The last trip was for the surrounds and Sub and then finalizing the pricing.
I still continue to read threads on the forum and every day I learn something new. Though I am not in a state to help or suggest much to people but I will srely try my best.
To be clear on one thing, all brands and products are equally good and I am NOT criticizing either brand. The above feedback is based on my interests and liking, my ears and what I have in my mind. So dont shoot me down for speaking my thought about some of the brands you owe.
Once again, a whole hearted Thanks to all forum members for being so helpful and informative. I wish I had discovered this site much earlier. I would have been a more learned person by now. 
Anyways 'Der aaye durust aaye'
Please feel free to contact me if you need any additional details or help from me. I will be most happy.
Regards,
Arun
hyeah:.
