An evening spent 'tweaking' Avidyarthy's ATL Speakers

[BLASTO]

hifiashok is paying a surprise visit now ..............

I dont underatand how it is a surprise anymore..

 

[hifiashok]

egad! that was sweeeeeet (incl. coz of de contessa cane rum)!

 

[gobble]

hifiashok is paying a surprise visit now ..............

I dont underatand how it is a surprise anymore..

That sounded like an income tax raid on well connected people ... everybody knows about it in advance .. hyeah:

--G

 

[srinisundar]

egad! that was sweeeeeet (incl. coz of de contessa cane rum)!

Now we know how everybody hears the music.

 

[avidyarthy]

@ hifiashok .... nice of you to have come over ... thanks.

For benefit of rest of the people in here, a bit more of explicitness is looked forward to. Daresay, this to be one of the very first Indian made (planned to be commercialized) TL speaker design, and am sure the creator as well as a few 'more' connoisieurs in here would be grateful for your expert views (a horse's mouth impression). I am ending up using the same adjectives in few of my last posts!

BTW ... your gift is something to vie for. Won't expect to get it at any music outlet, whatever I know of ....

 

[GeorgeO]

Ashok

Being an ex-fauji how come this is not a surprise? Rum drinkers swear by Indian rum, they say that the stuff from the West Indies is only for cocktails. Contessa, Old Port, Old Adventurer ( all standard CSDI issue)are all talked about as possible competitors to the venerable Old Monk.

>egad! that was sweeeeeet (incl. coz of de contessa cane rum)!

 

[hifiashok]

hifiashok is paying a surprise visit now ..............

I dont underatand how it is a surprise anymore..

That sounded like an income tax raid on well connected people ... everybody knows about it in advance .. hyeah:

--G

let me (try and) explain.

i was going thru' http://www.hifivision.com/av-lounge/25562-evening-spent-tweaking-avidyarthys-atl-speakers-28.html#post377751 while still in office and was reminded of http://www.hifivision.com/av-lounge/25562-evening-spent-tweaking-avidyarthys-atl-speakers-24.html#post376279in response to http://www.hifivision.com/av-lounge/25562-evening-spent-tweaking-avidyarthys-atl-speakers-24.html#post376261. thot to myself; what the hell, let me go aX. i realised i did not hav basak sa'ab's number on me (to inform him, tho' strangely i had the address from an earlier session with fm GeorgeO). went anyway. basak sa'ab was at his comp desk (possibly on hfv) and glanced thru' his ground floor window while i was coming in (and while zakir hussain was assisting breaking in the speakers on the first), so posted the 'surprise visit' bit (just b4 letting me in)!

on impressions, i am (certainly) not the correct person for attempting waxing on eloquently as a lot of u seem to have a fine tuned knack at.

suffice to say, kalpana zokarkar (the 'gift') was in the room for me (and av) in total command of her 'baithak'. so, it is obvious mids and (the commensurately relevant) highs on these (definitely) visually appealing ATLs were flowing through in all their uncompressed glory. ditto for john denver (that av mentions in his post/s). initially (IMHO), the beauts were toed in a little more than reasonable. on opening them out, the 'sound stage' 'corrected', with 'separation' and 'placement' becoming much, much better. however (unfortunately, there always seems to be one), personally i seem to have gotten used to (a little) more slam (from a 21" monster), that i missed (ges my version of 'concert levels' is a mite different, thank gawd for natural insulation at home and gr8 neighbors).

thanx (again) av.

 

[hifiashok]

Ashok

Being an ex-fauji how come this is not a surprise? Rum drinkers swear by Indian rum, they say that the stuff from the West Indies is only for cocktails. Contessa, Old Port, Old Adventurer ( all standard CSDI issue)are all talked about as possible competitors to the venerable Old Monk.

>egad! that was sweeeeeet (incl. coz of de contessa cane rum)!

sir, saw another contessa luver after a long, long time, so (tho', am not much of a 'spirits connoisseur')! i always believed it to be preferred over OM, since it is a cane rum, for those who kno of it. unfortunately, it is not as widely available and standard as OM. it is actually restricted from sale in quite a few states.

and, definitely red over white! any day!!

ditto for colonel's special when compared with fauji standards of peter scot and solan no. 1.

apologies for the ot (tho' i believe the coupling makes the experience better [at times] ;-) )

 

[grubyhalo]

My apologies if I'm dragging this thread way off-course, but I couldn't resist. I will remove my post if the OP wishes it removed.

As per my (limited) experience, my choice for the best Indian 'ron' was the Hercules. Is the Contessa better than Hercules? I remember trying a few of the army stuff and liking it but do not remember the names. Like music, I'm not able to say for sure which one's the best but I did enjoy quite a few of the Caribbean ones. I found Cruzon, Mount Gay Reserve, Barbancourt and Pyrat XO to be very good, mostly as a sipping rum. The best VFM rum I found was Sailor Jerry's, not sure if it's Caribbean but at about $18 a bottle, it was fantastic!

Back to regular programming...

 

[hifiashok]

My apologies if I'm dragging this thread way off-course, but I couldn't resist. I will remove my post if the OP wishes it removed.

As per my (limited) experience, my choice for the best Indian 'ron' was the Hercules. Is the Contessa better than Hercules? I remember trying a few of the army stuff and liking it but do not remember the names. Like music, I'm not able to say for sure which one's the best but I did enjoy quite a few of the Caribbean ones. I found Cruzon, Mount Gay Reserve, Barbancourt and Pyrat XO to be very good, mostly as a sipping rum. The best VFM rum I found was Sailor Jerry's, not sure if it's Caribbean but at about $18 a bottle, it was fantastic!

Back to regular programming...

for us mere mortals (sorry generalising here) the names u suggest r too exotic.

hercules had two variants at the time i remember, one good (had xxx on it) and the other so-so.

the easiest for the direction of your thought would be to 'splurge' on a bottle of contessa and see/decide for yourself (of course, with an update here).

also, just as an interesting nugget, trust all of us kno why 'xxx' (no, no puns intended)?

 

[grubyhalo]

You need to understand, I live in TN, getting decent booze is akin to buying black market Uranium. The only way I try the rest of the stuff is when I'm travelling on business. I was trying to get feedback on Contessa to see if that's good enough to replace my much-loved Hercules and if so I'll have to do a few spirit-runs to B'lore...

 

[hifiashok]

You need to understand, I live in TN, getting decent booze is akin to buying black market Uranium. The only way I try the rest of the stuff is when I'm travelling on business. I was trying to get feedback on Contessa to see if that's good enough to replace my much-loved Hercules and if so I'll have to do a few spirit-runs to B'lore...

wil definitely b worth the effort if u like a super smooth ron.

btw, thanx for the post on this thread. ws wondering if all was well or if i had committed some gaffe after my early morning post with nothing comin in thereafter. hope this direction of a discussion does not welcome a ban.

 

[denom]

wil definitely b worth the effort if u like a super smooth ron.

btw, thanx for the post on this thread. ws wondering if all was well or if i had committed some gaffe after my early morning post with nothing comin in thereafter. hope this direction of a discussion does not welcome a ban.

Ashokji, do not worry, the 'spirits' have been well discussed in detail in a number of threads in the past & no doubt will continue to be done in the future, only the thread starter should not have any objection to it. I don't think Avid will be having any objection to it w r t this thread hyeah:

Grubyhalo, your choice of Hercules is shared by quite a few on the forum including Avid & myself. Last time i was in chennai, i was shocked by the way the 'spirits' are consumed in 'special' areas & was an eyeopener for someone like me who has had it so easy living in a city like mine.

Back to contessa, it was a hit in late '80s to early '90s in mumbai, post which it disappeared with the emergence of lots of new entrants.

Have not seen it/rather tasted it in a long while, hence do not have much recollection of it now

For old monk fans, made in ghaziabad is far far better than the one made in khopoli.

Avid,
how 'bout getting some metalhead to bring his tunes & play 'em on the ATL's???

 

[avidyarthy]

eh, why should it? Music does sound 'more music' with it, does'nt it? BTW, Hercules is my fav, beats Contessa hands down! Yea, Contessa is silkier smoother, but 'ardened thugs prefer a smoky zing on the taste buds which Hercules provides.

BTW, an office colleague carried back 2 bottles of Evan Williams Bourbon from a recent trip to Kentucky. Relishing the woody flavour of a stiff 100 ml 'US tharra' (tharra = local brew), quite different from the smooth, sweet Scotch available here. Ex-Faujiii .... come over for a taste again, would you?

Coming back to the 'main' topic .... hic ..... the Krell is definitely NOT to be blamed for its dry, flat lifeless reputation, as posted across numerous Forums. It is everything to do with a proper match ... asynergy with the speakers it is paired with. It sounded so, a bit to my dismay with the Harmony fullrangers. Not so with the ATLs at all, since the speakers were tuned specifically for the Krell amplification. But, yes, it strictly endorses one thing ... garbage in = garbage out. Any anomalies in the recording / source would not get hidden and one would be presented with the amplified version of the garbage as it is. There would be no colouration whatsoever.

hifiashok noted this ... and he did sit up with a start when John Denver (pirated CD, yet exquisite recording) started playing ... did'nt you?

 

[hifiashok]

absolutely (esp. the track u chose to start play wid)!

 

[hifiashok]

Avid,
how 'bout getting some metalhead to bring his tunes & play 'em on the ATL's???

he did say one of the visitors brought in and tried ledzep. by the look on his face....... metalhead!!

 

[GeorgeO]

Atish

I am glad that the speakers are performing well. At the end of the day the owner's full satisfaction is a critical factor in all of it.

 

[avidyarthy]

Gud Morning ...... yes, thanks.

The speakers have really come out well. That so, after all the theoritical R&D that went into it initially. Hari would come up with some suggestion which would fall flat on my rejection, and vice versa. 4 months is what took for it to come by.

Yea, I do this kind of development thingy on a regular basis at work, so, it was not new to me. Have to give Hari full credit to go by each step so meticulously, that too, when he had never attempted this design before. It was a pleasure dealing with such an individual who could combine technicals with logic so seamlessly.

It won't be out of the way to state that the ATL speaker would be an easy match for anything in the 2L bracket .... fit, finish, aesthetics and above all, SQ.

In the end .... as the Old World saying goes ... No risk, no glory! But yea, opting to go for the first pair right out of drawing board requires, as one had said here earlier ... 'balls of steel' .... manganese steel!

 

[Hari Iyer]

eh, why should it? Music does sound 'more music' with it, does'nt it? BTW, Hercules is my fav, beats Contessa hands down! Yea, Contessa is silkier smoother, but 'ardened thugs prefer a smoky zing on the taste buds which Hercules provides.

BTW, an office colleague carried back 2 bottles of Evan Williams Bourbon from a recent trip to Kentucky. Relishing the woody flavour of a stiff 100 ml 'US tharra' (tharra = local brew), quite different from the smooth, sweet Scotch available here. Ex-Faujiii .... come over for a taste again, would you?

Coming back to the 'main' topic .... hic ..... the Krell is definitely NOT to be blamed for its dry, flat lifeless reputation, as posted across numerous Forums. It is everything to do with a proper match ... asynergy with the speakers it is paired with. It sounded so, a bit to my dismay with the Harmony fullrangers. Not so with the ATLs at all, since the speakers were tuned specifically for the Krell amplification. But, yes, it strictly endorses one thing ... garbage in = garbage out. Any anomalies in the recording / source would not get hidden and one would be presented with the amplified version of the garbage as it is. There would be no colouration whatsoever.

hifiashok noted this ... and he did sit up with a start when John Denver (pirated CD, yet exquisite recording) started playing ... did'nt you?

I will prefer coffee over Rum for music.

 

[prem]

Hi Hari

How are the speakers i heard at your place different from the newer ones?