A love story ...

[aurobindosaha]

Hi

I would like to share with you my love-story for music and audio equipments. The reason I am sharing this today is because after long, long, long wait something is going to happen tomorrow in my life :yahoo:. My wife says she will lets a "sautan" (my second wife) enter our home :annoyed:

But before we get into it, heres a bit of story -

Playing with speakers and sound systems is something I have been doing from my childhood. I remember the days when was 10 years old. An earthen pot turned into a boom box I found if I place a speaker inside it, it makes interesting booming sound. I put a radio inside the earthen pot and waited for weekends. Lunchtime Variety on Saturday noon and Musical Bandbox on Sunday afternoons. May be people from Kolkata can relate to these All India Radio programs aired in mid 80s.

Anyway, my experimentation continued with acoustic - like a secret love of a teenage boy who used to grow green to see his neighbour bought Uranus II . Sonodyne was a big name in those days and its melodious music awed me. Just heard about a name "Bose" in those days, which was like a far reached Disneyland in my dreams. :licklips:

As I grew up - music was always a part of me. When I moved to US in early 2000, I stared interacting with audio enthusiastic via online forum. The aura of romance for "Bose" shattered and I went to their showroom and found their production very colored. They (forum members) cautioned me, I did not listen and heard the reality with my own ears. It was like my first love "Bose: broke my heart:sad:

I walked in to the gigantic BestBuy stores and Magnolia audition rooms - every equipment surprised me - Martin Logans, Bower & Wilkins, Denon, Definitive Technology, Yamaha, Klisp, Kef, Wharfdale, Polk. I remember a day I stepped in beautiful looking glass showroom in a shopping mall in Denver. I remember it was Cherry Creek Mall and name of store .... I could not it pronounce then ..... Bang & Wolfsen. It was before I bought Sony and after I broke my love with Bose. The gentleman in the store asked me what I like to see. I said "I love listening music". And he understood that I am not there to buy and offered me to show their best systems. He took me to a lounge and played a beautiful, beautiful music. I do not know the name of the album, but it was piano and so very melodious. Just closed my eyes and sat there for 30 minutes getting aloft in the spirits of good music. Reality hit when I asked about the price. The gentleman said 84 thousand dollars with a sweet smile.

After I came back from US, listening music took a back stage. Photography was my hobby (it still is). Last few of years I travelled frequently to US - long haul flights, boring layovers at airports and staying alone in hotels..... the solitude reminded me of my long lost love ..... listening music. I bought headphone (Sennheiser 598) and soaked myself in Indian classical music. I listened string music for hours - Sarood - Amjad Ali khan, Minimalistic music from Balmorhea, and so on ... and this time I was completely into it. Its like matured love. You get to understand each other. I also listened to Hindusthani music - Ajoy Chackrabarty is my favourite.

Then a year back I changed my job and moved from Kolkata to Bangalore. Here I met you folks. Thanks to Hifivision community. I interacted with you through forums and met some of you in person. Raghu it was great meeting you to audition Kef R300. I made a new year resolution to buy a pair of good speakers and may be an amp. Auditioned many speakers in Bangalore and Kolkata, but nothing chimed to my ears as good as Acoustic Potrait.

I visited Siva's place last March and requested him build a pair of passive speakers for me. Siva told that they have stopped manufacturing speakers. But I politely insisted. I told I will wait to hear from him. I visited his place again and spend hours listening to Hindusthani and Carnatic music. I asked him if he can reconsider my request for a pair of Acoustic Portrait Speakers. And finally some months back Siva agreed but he mention its going to take some time. I waited, waited for months and finally the speakers are ready.

Tomorrow, I am expecting to bring them home - a pair of Acoustic Portrait speakers and AP integrated amp. Its something I really waited for .. for a long long time.

Today, when I look back - I see a 10 year old enjoying melodies coming out from an earthen pot and 40 year old waiting eagerly for a floor standing speakers with all his expectations and I do not see much difference between the two.

Seth Godin rightly said Don't take the fog away. When the fog is gone, so is our hobby. The fog is the point.

Thanks
Auro

 

[arj]

Thanks for sharing this . Was wonderful reading and wish you lots of years of joy . AP is a great system and Siva himself has a great ear for music adding to his audio design philosophy and passion ,


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[srisaikat]

We really fortunate to find passionate people like you and others on this forum who share same enthuse for music. Getting approval from dearest one in this hobby is not very usual, so you are lucky enough.

By the way, your quotation was very nice indeed - Don't take the fog away. When the fog is gone, so is our hobby. The fog is the point.

Best wishes!

 

[raghupb]

Good going Aurobinbo!!
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Sumanta]

So, have you got the picture in your AP?
How about sharing your experience of having the music playing.

 

[aurobindosaha]

So, have you got the picture in your AP?
How about sharing your experience of having the music playing.

Sure, will upload picture and share experience, just few more hours before I can bring them home.

Delivery is delayed till Thursday. Will post pics next weekend.

 

[square_wave]

Delivery is delayed till Thursday. Will post pics next weekend.

Sent from my Mi 4i using Tapatalk

I know the feeling

Knowing Siva and the philosophy, I can vouch that you will need a full AP system to get the benefits. Since you are a classical listener, it is even more important.

So, pay attention to that DAC you are looking for Up that budget a little and buy something nice from the used market. Or you wait for that thingy siva is working on. It wont be expensive and should sound good.

 

[aurobindosaha]

I know the feeling

Knowing Siva and the philosophy, I can vouch that you will need a full AP system to get the benefits. Since you are a classical listener, it is even more important.

So, pay attention to that DAC you are looking for Up that budget a little and buy something nice from the used market. Or you wait for that thingy siva is working on. It wont be expensive and should sound good.

Good advice square_wave. I noted that. Probably the best option is to ask Siva about it. If his new DAC is round the corner i would rather wait.

What do you think of Raspberry Pi 3 + Hifiberry combination? There are some fantastic review online but I do not know if it adds color to the sound.

Thanks
Auro

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[arj]

What do you think of Raspberry Pi 3 + Hifiberry combination? There are some fantastic review online but I do not know if it adds color to the sound.

Thanks
Auro

Sent from my Mi 4i using Tapatalk

get his new Rasberry pi based Streamer/Dac...ask him about it
As you already know, every component adds colour..it is all about what you like. Since you are into Photography, some just saturate /sharpen..etc the picture a lot more or less than they should !

 

[mpw]

for the music you state - look for a meridian explorer usb dac - simple and gets to the heart of the music without missing too much..

I got one pre-owned and i use it for about 3 hours a day... howzz that !!

ofcourse..YMMV..

regards

 

[aurobindosaha]

get his new Rasberry pi based Streamer/Dac...ask him about it
As you already know, every component adds colour..it is all about what you like. Since you are into Photography, some just saturate /sharpen..etc the picture a lot more or less than they should !

Thanks arj for the advice. Yes, I will ask him in details about the new Streamer/DAC and post my learning here (if Siva has no objection to if)

Point noted about colouring. You know there is something call RAW in camera - The Digital Negative Photo. I do not know the equivalent term in music.

But you are right, generally no photograph is straight from RAW. Generally all photographs are post processed. However there is degree to amount and type of post-processing. There is long debate among photographer's community about Post Processing. I think Post Processing by itself is an art. If you leave post process art or digital art aside, you may still agree that all real image needs minor, very minor amount of processing. But what makes a photograph famous, is the composition, the thought behind it, may be the situation - that is the content and composition of the picture.

Similarly in sound, I guess to some extend we will talk about sound colouring, and other technicalities - but the real joy lies in music itself.

Thanks for sharing your views.

Thanks
Aurobindo

for the music you state - look for a meridian explorer usb dac - simple and gets to the heart of the music without missing too much..

I got one pre-owned and i use it for about 3 hours a day... howzz that !!

ofcourse..YMMV..

regards

Hi mpw,

Good advice. I searched meridian explorer usb dac and read some reviews. In fact there is a tough competition between this one and dragonfly black or red. What is your opinion in case you compared the two ? Are these USB DACs only good for headphone or are they good for feeding to amps as well.

With that being said, technology is changing fast. Streaming is in vogue. What will be your say about Rassberry Pi 3 + Hifiberry ..... just in case you have considered that as well.

Thanks
Auro

 

[SwaroopKS]

Hi Aurobindo,

Please share some pics of the speakers if you can. I presume they come with scanspeak drivers?

Thanks
Satya

 

[aurobindosaha]

Hi Satya

Sure I will share pictures. The delivery is due on Friday. I am hoping to get it set up on weekend and post some pictures.

Thanks
Auro

 

[SwaroopKS]

Cool! Actually I will be in Bangalore this weekend but cannot attend the whathifi show or visit Shiva's place as it is my wedding!

Knowing Shiva's work, u would have a long enjoyable time with your speakers (unless any sort of upgrade bug bites u!)

All the best!

 

[aurobindosaha]

Cool! Actually I will be in Bangalore this weekend but cannot attend the whathifi show or visit Shiva's place as it is my wedding!

Knowing Shiva's work, u would have a long enjoyable time with your speakers (unless any sort of upgrade bug bites u!)

All the best!

Wow, congrats man. Gr8 news. :clapping:I am sure music will sound sweeter to you after next weekend :clapping: (no pun intended.) Anyway, jokes aside. This is really a good news. All the best to both of you.

Thanks for your notes on my new Hifi speakers. Yes, I intend to continue with it.

Thanks
Auro

 

[aurobindosaha]

And finally the speakers are here along with the amplifier. Let me save the speaker pics, reviews, etc. .... for another post.

In this post let me share the experience of listening to music. In fact, the whole evening I spent in Siva and Jeya's place - and they had been a wonderful host.

Tracks I listened there yesterday took me to a different world experiencing good music. Here I am not going to get into technical details of audio equipment because I do not understand that subject well. What I can share is my experience of listening to that music and how I felt.

First Siva played a CD track of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Hamd (Lougange a Dieu). If you like Sufi and Qawwali, please listen to this track. What a God gifted voice the maestro had. Its a 29 minutes track. Turn on low lights and play that till end. Hamd is praises & prayer to God. The track is so emotional ... tears came to my eyes. I hardly understood the lyrics, but the emotion in his voice probably overflowed the lyrics and meanings. Again if you are into Sufii and Qawwali, do listen to it. I found it online here - Patari

The 5 volume CD (Pakistan: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in Concert in Paris) its likely available in Amazon.com @ 100 dollars.

By the way, this is speakers forum, so I guess I should be talking about speakers here. I was playing these tracks in Reference speakers, from Thyaga Transport, Thyaga DAC on the power Speakers. The singers voice just blew the walls and I was feeling I was in open air concert. Its a unrealistic feeling sitting surrounded by the four walls.

I requested him to play few tracks - Balmorhea - Dream of Thaw, Elegy ... those tracks are very detailed. What minimalist music composition on strings can do on good acoustic clearly was demonstrated with these music. Each stroke in guitar is highly very detailed. And sound-stage was wide wide wide. Every note appeared very lively.


Then he played some western tracks, on my request. Eric Clapton - Wonderful tonight, Tears in Heaven, etc. Those are the live recordings from 1970s. The husky voice has exceptional clarity and grains which I liked. The jazz at the end of Wonderful tonight (its available only in live version, not the studio recording), was too good. I visualised myself to float with the jazz. It may just be my stupidity, but I get easily carried away with music. I experienced very very openness in the sound quality and very good balance of huskiness and grain in the vocals.

Next he played some more jazz. He played Paul Simon. I heard tracks like Mrs Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the most famous one The sound of Silence. The mids and voice sounded very melodious and very open.

I think the best track Siva saved for the end. The name of the vocalist is "Shankar" who generally does not perform in public. Siva recorded some of his dhrupad performances - if I remember the track title was "Sahkara Mahadeva". I do not know how to sum up the experience of hearing this track - all I can say I liked it very very much. This is the kind of music I listen to and it chimed well with my taste.

Then he played some of the same tracks on the passive speakers that I bought.

Off course you cannot compare passive with active speakers. Particularly the first (Hamd by Fate Ali Khan) and last tracks (Shanvar Mahadeva) shows the power of active speakers. When the voice pitched high, the speakers did the perfect justice. The active speakers easily responded to the mood and vocal dynamics of the song.

However, I found the passive speakers very soothing, very melodious and sweet too. I do not know the technical term for these .... I can say these are very balanced across mids, highs and lows. The dynamic nature is also very good and so is the wideness, openness and sound stage. Considering the size of my room and the size of my pocket - active ones would not fit me ..... but listening to active speakers like those a reference, a taste in my ears.

I reached home at 1:00 AM at night; got security guards to help me carry the speakers and amp to my home; unwrapped, cabled; poured a glass of whiskey on rocks and turned on Ajoy Chackrabarty vocals (Hindusthani classical). Let me not elaborate how I felt listening to my new pair of speakers and amplifier ..... long story short ..... I could not sleep yesterday night.... I was so very overwhelmed with joy.

I thank Siva & Jeya for being such wonderful people who has deep love for music apart from their expertise in making audio equipment. The whole experience just far more than just buying a pair of speakers and amp.

Thanks
Auro

 

[arj]

Let me not elaborate how I felt listening to my new pair of speakers and amplifier ..... long story short ..... I could not sleep yesterday night.... I was so very overwhelmed with joy.

..And this is why we are onto ths hobby and hearing it from a fellow audiophile only reminds and underlines us of this

Point noted about colouring. You know there is something call RAW in camera - The Digital Negative Photo. I do not know the equivalent term in music.

the RAW equivalent here is the recording and in audio unfortunately the "preprocessing" starts with the recording engineer where he plays around and makes the master for creating the CD/LP/WAV etc and then its all about how the system plays the music. maybe the system is only about the calibrated display ?

 

[mpw]

good to hear another boat floating !!

njoi the music !!

if you like the AP " sound " and AP way of doing things then please stick to that right from the power chord to the hardware to the speaker cables and interconnects... thats when you get the benefit of sum of parts being >> the whole..

looking forward to the pictures..

regards
mpw

 

[prem]

A love story with the perfect ending. Congratulations. Enjoy

 

[aurobindosaha]

Hi mpw,

Yes, that's my plan - to build the chain using AP components only. I am awaiting to buy a DAC from them. May be after sometime

In fact I was hesitating from budget standpoint on getting the Speaker cables from AP. I do n't know how much difference really will cable make in my ears. The one Siva gave is in 15K price range. He asked me to try it and take it only if I like it, but he highly recommend the speaker cable. Its OEM manufactured in Japan, uses Monster banana plugs .... and music good as always in AP. Not sure if its because of cable. This cable, I have been told sell at very very price in market. But anyway, I would have spent around 7K to 8K buying banana plugs and 14 AGW pure copper cables from Amazon. I thought let me keep these.

Thanks,
Auro

good to hear another boat floating !!

njoi the music !!

if you like the AP " sound " and AP way of doing things then please stick to that right from the power chord to the hardware to the speaker cables and interconnects... thats when you get the benefit of sum of parts being >> the whole..

looking forward to the pictures..

regards
mpw