Absolute Phase Bangalore

sidvee

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This past friday, I spent some time at Absolute Phase in Bangalore. Went there to audition the Rethm Trishna. Prithvi is a great asset to the music lover/audio enthusiast. He has a large amount of knowledge of brands and has fantastic equipment for display & audition, including audiophile Cd's and vinyls. I also heard an awesome Air Tight setup with the Harbeth 7es. Unfortunately I did not have much time at my disposal, so will be back to listen some more to the Rethm's.
Cheers,
Sid
 
Good to hear about your experience with Absolute Phase. It was not so great for the friends I know who have tried to deal with them.

Though it is a good thing to have a top notch Hi Fi store, Absolute Phase is never going to be on my list to purchase anything Hi Fi. I rather import the equipment myself. Nor will I ever recommend it to anyone. I think my hard earned money deserves to go to someone else. Opinion can vary on this.

I find their pricing to be ridiculous and no home demo. Do you really expect someone to do a blind buy on even the most basic Hi Fi gear? I also understand that you need to make your cut when you sell a product but not at the rates Absolute Phase does it.
 
and no home demo.

That is the case with most high end audio in India and in certain cases even in the US. I was considering amps. in the 4-5 lac range. Guess what! Almost impossible to get a home demo. especially at this level. So nothing against AP for that. Other than that, yes opinions vary.
Cheers,
Sid
 
Hi guys
I dont know Prithvi so this is not a rant!!!

I guess I am fortunate that I have not had to buy any gear or cables without a HOME DEMO!!! That is the only way to go guys else its a HIT OR MISS.

To be fair to the vendor if its a big bulky speaker for example I offer to get it picked by tempo & returned. I need the comfort of hearing it in MY environment to take a final call.

Rgds
 
Unfortunately Dinyaar,
A lot of high end equipment is unavailable in Hyderabad where I am located. I was at the local B&W dealer here to audition the 8 series, and they stocked only the 6 series speakers. There was no CM and definitely not the 8 series. Their answer - buy with no audition. Similarly with Focal speakers same issues - I believe dealer was Profx. The list goes on. Only dealer I know in Hyd. who is allowing home auditions is Audio People (limited to their selection obviously). So for me even to be able to audition equipment in a dealer's showroom is a big step forward. I recently bought a Lamm pre. and since there is no question of home audition (not even sold in India), I had to buy the unit to compare to my exisiting pre. in my own room. So, though Mumbai seems to be well served with a decent amount of dealers, the rest of the country is underserved and as such I do not mind traveling and at-least listening to equipment in the dealer's room, before I can move forward.
Cheers,
Sid
 
I guess it's not right to blame the dealer to blame if he is unable to give a home demo, there are various reasons for it. I Guess one has to build some trust to get about it.
Cheers
 
It is really tough, but consider another high-cost item: you don't get to test drive a car for a week at your place. And, although the cost might be comparable to a high-end hifi item, it is something of which there is probably stock, plus investment made in demonstration models --- and its easier to repair when something goes wrong.

Even a money-back home trial means the dealer now has something he can only sell as ex-demo.

The situation is far from ideal, but I don't know what can be done about it.
 
Home Demo like Thad and others have rightly pointed out has practical roadblocks in India which is fair considering the comparatively low volume sales here. But at least a showroom demos should be arranged for...I have come across a lot of dealers who insist that you buy without demo'ing or pay upfront for procurement. At times, you won't even get a decent demo if the dealer gets to know that you are still testing the waters and don't intend to plonk down the money in the next 30 minutes. Fortunately, we do have a few 'serious' dealers to whom you can state upfront that you are here only to demo, not buy, and still get attended to...most for most of the other 'commercial' establishments like ProFx, you are a waste of time if you are not buying...
 
Having spent sizeable amounts of money in owning gear from Ayre, Audio Research, Aesthetix, Vandersteen etc, let me tell you that not a single item was bought after home-auditioning. It was never practical and possible, and that is that. But the experience never backfired and all my equipment sound great and work great.

My observations so far are that most people (like me) try to visit dealer showrooms where such high-end equipment are set up for demo in proper rooms, and you can listen to as much as you want. You can even carry your own equpment and many dealers will be happy to connect them to the equipment you are trying to match and buy. Plus, you talk to people who own such equipment and then read a lot about it, and also make your own judgments based on science and engineering. To me, this approach has always worked.

As someone correctly said, you don't keep a car for a week or more before deciding to buy it. I presume most of us, at least old-timers like me, have arranged marriages and never had the opportunity to keep a woman in the house for a few days before deciding whether to marry her or not!

After all, a good equipment is a good equipment, no matter where you play it and with whom you match it. An amplifier will sound the same whether played in the dealer's room or yours, the difference in sound comes from the room characteristics. Of course, certain basic attributes of the equipment you buy have to be considered in matching with the rest of your system and that is no big deal as long as you can communicate with others using the same stuff. Nobody makes an equipment to sound in a specific way in your room.

But all this requires the dealer to be very professional and knowledgeable and patient enough to demo his equipment in his showroom with a decent setup. I had tried with a few local dealers in India and always found their setups crap. But I am lucky that I got some excellent listening experiences with dealers outside India, notably in USA, The Netherlands and Singapore.

Just my 2 cents on this topic and thanks.

murali
 
I presume most of us, at least old-timers like me, have arranged marriages and never had the opportunity to keep a woman in the house for a few days before deciding whether to marry her or not!
Well, that is something that does work differently in other countries (do I dare to say better? ;) ) --- but partly because, since fifty years ago, we do not think of anyone being an ex-demonstration model :lol:
After all, a good equipment is a good equipment, no matter where you play it and with whom you match it. An amplifier will sound the same whether played in the dealer's room or yours, the difference in sound comes from the room characteristics. Of course, certain basic attributes of the equipment you buy have to be considered in matching with the rest of your system and that is no big deal as long as you can communicate with others using the same stuff. Nobody makes an equipment to sound in a specific way in your room.
I agree absolutely. It may sound different in your room, but that difference is going to be the same difference applied to any piece of equipment. If it is better than your current amp in the showroom, it should be better in the house too. Speakers might be the exception, and a vital one that, because, I guess, even if they had the same drivers, sound waves do not leave different boxes in exactly the same way.

I never had a home demo, but I had a bring it back in week if you don't like it deal in London.
 
As someone correctly said, you don't keep a car for a week or more before deciding to buy it. I presume most of us, at least old-timers like me, have arranged marriages and never had the opportunity to keep a woman in the house for a few days before deciding whether to marry her or not!

murali

Nothing impressed me so far apart from above:lol:
 
There is nothing called "the best" equipment in audio hobby (We won't call Usain Bolt the best athlete ever. No doubt he is one of the greatest and a legend. "The best" is always unreachable.). Your equipment may sound good or great but there will always be something better. So the cardinal principle is decide first how much you can spend, then explore and buy what sounds good to your ears. It does not matter where. It also does not mean yours is the best and the rest is all trash.

Bye.
murali
 
A dealer demo is an absolute must. If it wont sound good there, it wont sound good at home. At home, a very sophisticated audiophile can completely optimise his system and room to the point where the delta caused by changing a single component can be clearly exposed. But for people moving up the curve, a home demo may cause disappointment or self doubt and good gear may not show its true colors.
 
Maybe I am in a minority here but I insist a Home Demo is the only way.
You may still not buy the 'best' you can for the money but you are minimising the chances of going wrong.
You do test drive the car before you buy???I cant really answer Mr Muralis comment on arranged marriages!!

Its not that i walk in to a dealership & tell him to send me say 5 pairs of speakers!!!!! I go there are listen to a few on my shortlist. Then try & narrow it down. Finally when I am left with what I think is the best option for me I request for that to be sent home. If i damage it , I buy it!!! As i said earlier one can be decent by offering to get it collected & dropped off at ones own cost.

Your room is 50 % of the battle. Good equipment is good equipment agreed, but just maybe something else in that bracket CAN sound better with the rest of your chain in YOUR ROOM so why not???

In the west you can almost always try things for a longer period (after paying for it in full) which I think is the best way and I would be happy to pay for it here too if that makes the vendor comfortable (or as Neo says that there may be a lack of trust and him having my money takes out the trust factor!!) Dont like it for whatever reason, return it & get back your money.

Anyway most vendors in bbay offer this service, at least the ones I am in touch with surely do. In fact I know of some dealers / distributors who are not from bbay who send stuff to audition at their cost. Many names come to my mind & some are even here on the forum but its best to keep this general. Very recently a particular power conditioner was being highly recommended by TAS, stereophile & tone. Now this conditioner is not distributed in bbay & costs about 3L. We (four of us in total) requested the distri(first time I spoke to the man ) to send us one unit to audition which he did & now he has made 5 sales. When one hears what a product can do for you, how much it lifts the performance of your rig one is a happy buyer.
Rgds
 
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Unfortunately I couldn't get it in Bangalore, only German Maestro was auditioned at home.


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dinyaar... I am in 100% AGREEMENT. But at times, and may a times for many of us, it is not a possibility....

the dealers DO NOT OBLIGE.

so... what else do i say... and in this hobby abstinence is not an option. . .

i for one am not too happy with the said dealer on this thread... for my own reasons...

also I feel, this particular dealer prices the product on a very high premium....

and with absolutely no scruples when it comes to after sales support...

I personally would NEVER buy from him -EVER.
 
A dealer demo is an absolute must. If it wont sound good there, it wont sound good at home. At home, a very sophisticated audiophile can completely optimise his system and room to the point where the delta caused by changing a single component can be clearly exposed. But for people moving up the curve, a home demo may cause disappointment or self doubt and good gear may not show its true colors.

Sir,
I have lost you here;
Can you shed some light ?
Please....
The part that I have marked in Green i.e.
 
There is nothing called "the best" equipment in audio hobby (We won't call Usain Bolt the best athlete ever. No doubt he is one of the greatest and a legend. "The best" is always unreachable.). Your equipment may sound good or great but there will always be something better. So the cardinal principle is decide first how much you can spend, then explore and buy what sounds good to your ears. It does not matter where. It also does not mean yours is the best and the rest is all trash.

Bye.
murali

Sir,
Excellent;
Very well stated;
I cannot agree with you more.

If I may be permitted to add a small bit to it - with your permission;;;

a]
What you like - must play in YOUR ROOM - not in the D & D's room.
Eventually it has to perform for you in your music room...

b]
Choose a speaker that works with your room & not against your room.
Not too Big / Not too small.
Should not over power nor under play in your room...

Rest is what you have stated - Budget / Demo / Performance etc.

& Yes, there is no 'Best' in this world - they are all 'flavours'
Different persons like different things - hence so many products exist in the market & people choose to buy different audio products - all will suit their taste & wallets etc...
 
I stress on home demonstration as much as possible. I also believe that a dealer selling such equipment will know who he can loan the equipment to without having to worry about it. I believe a place like Absolute Phase will serve a client at a level that they take care of the equipment. Even a 25k dac needs to have a home audition. What may sound fantastic at the dealers place may or may not work for you. Also; the quirks of some equipment are unknown unless you spend some time with it.

The best example I have was just last weekend when I was listening to a pair of Usher speakers. I recommended it highly as a good friend and colleague has one. Without thinking about the environement it will be kept in, I suggested the same speaker to another colleague but it just would not work. The speaker sounds better at my colleagues place than at the dealers. For a good reason though, as my colleague has spent a good amount of time fine tuning every single component in his stereo rig to the extent that it is absolutely perfect. I was going to recommend this same speaker to another colleague who is totally new to all this. He prefers a speaker that is easier to work it. When we started auditions, it was a bookshelf and now be bought a pricier floor stander.

I found fault with a amplifier once when the amplifier was at no fault at all. It was the cd player that was not pairing well with the rest of the chain. Now, I am no pro at this. Discovering that a cd player could cause a a mismatch in a system was the hardest thing to digest as the primary problems areas are with the speaker and amplifier combination. The source is probably the last thing to ruin it. I was wrong. A source can destroy what is otherwise a excellent sounding hi fi system. Unless you listen to it in your own environment, you will not know.
 
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