Audio Pilgrimage to God's Own Country

[santhosh]

Hi Friends,

Last Friday, I visited few of my FMs in Kerala. It was a one day trip (Bangalore -> Kottayam -> Cochin -> Bangalore) and was able to meet FMs Kuruvilajacob, Titus (iaudio), Anup (hydra) & Gijo George. I had met Kuruvila Sir at the Chennai meet and met Titus on several occasions, the first being our in July 2010. I knew Hydra briefly through Team-bhp and Gijo through the many phone conversation we had but we hadn't met.

@Kuruvilajacob Sir, Titus, Hydra and Gijo George: Thanks guys for your gracious hospitality, it was really a pleasure meeting you all. It was one of those fun filled days memories of which will last my lifetime - another memorable milestone in my Audio Journey.

In this thread, I will share my experience of my Audio Piligrimage to God's Own Country.

I reached Kottayam at ~9:30 AM and Mr.Kuruvila Jacob kindly picked me up from the Railway Station. The drive to his home was scenic and full of greenery. After about 20 mins of driver, we reached his lovely home which is located amidst a very nice rubber plantation. Perfect setting for what I was about to experience :yahoo:.

Enter Kuruvila's home and I was greeted by this lovely HMV Gramaphone Player in his living room

My attention was drawn towards this wall of a music system

The system: Sony TT, A compact, Sony CDP from a Mini-Component System, Multiple Tape Decks, Sansui Stereo/Quadrophonic Receiver, 15" Goodman Coaxial speakers, Sansui speakers .....

The Sansui speakers were very good condition and sounded superb for their age. Check out the beautiful wooden grilles

Pic of the 15" Goodman Driver in a makeshift DIY cabinet

Mr.Kuruvila Jacob

It was 10:30 AM and by now, I was as excited as a kid in a toy shop:clapping:. Kuruvila Sir assured me that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Titus & Anup had warned me that 2.5 hours in Kuruvila's house would be insufficient. Kurivila Sir knew best, he called Titus (iaudio) and together they changed my itenary. They decided that I will miss my 12:10 PM train to Cochin and take a bus as the time would not be sufficient to just see the stuff that he had, let alone listen to some of them.

Stay tuned. Lots more to come .....

 

[mpw]

Gods own country.. beautiful.. my own part of the country too..



the places you mentioned are very beautiul and sylvan.

I can imagine the fun of spending vacations there with a great rig for company..

bilss indeed and blessed indeed..

look forward to more posts and photos..

regards,
mpw

 

[baijuxavior]

Thanks santhosh and kuruvilajacob. Now I'm eager to visit his home. After seeing iaudio's thread, I contacted kuruvilajacob and he invited me to his home when I expressed my interest to see and hear his music systems. But unfortunately I was a little busy and could not make the visit. Kottayam is my former working place where I worked for three years and it is just 2 hour journey from my home by bus. There is another forum member Manu George who is also from Kottayam. He is a sound engineer in a studio near the Railway station.

 

[corElement]

Wow what a beautiful home and heartfelt setup. I hope to have such a peaceful abode one day in the future.

 

[santhosh]

Kuruvila Sir then showed me around the house very quickly. Every single room in his house had an audio rig and a minimum of one TT and maximum of five TTs connected to it hyeah:. He suggested we listen to his primary rig next and then every thing else based on time available. I was eager to listen to his Garrard(s) and Lenco with his KLH Speakers, so nodded in excitement:licklips:.

Enter the Listening Den and I was greeted by a wall full of LPs and a large pair of KLH Speakers mounted on DIY Stands. Between the two speakers were 5 TTs - two Garrard 301s, a Lenco L75 Goldring, an early Technics SL1200 and a rare Denon DP-80L. One glance at his room and I knew he had very carefully thought out the placement and treatment of his room. He had set up the speakers in an unconventional manner - nearfield with lots of space behind the speakers. When I enquired, he said he has tried a lot of placements and then arrived at this one. When I heard it, I knew it was a very good placement, worked well for him. The walls on either side of the room were lined with LPs - acting as diffusors. He also had DIY absorption panels at the first reflection points, a thick curtain on the rear wall and thick foam cushions in the room corners behind the speakers. The ceiling had around 6 faces with no symmetry - great for avoiding standing waves .

First the TTs:
He had two Garrards 301s, one with a massive DIY plinth, squash balls on all four side (like the Loricraft), SME 3012 with Denon DL103 cart. Sounded fantastic, very fluid and dynamic sound. The KLHs were very good and worked very well with his room to create a very nice 3Dimensional sound. Great imaging, huge soundstage, ample bass, bit punchy with a fantastic body to the midrange.

Garrard 301 with a SME 3009

The feature filled gizmo - Denon DP-80L

Technics SL-1200 - the very first version:

Lenco L-75 with two arms - a stock arm and a vintage Micro-Seiki/Jelco(?) arm

Closeup of the KLH Speaker without the grille

Prima Luna Tube Amp

Yakin tube Phonostage, he also had a Cambridge Audio 640

Kuruvila Sir with his system (Sorry about the poor PQ, shot with my iPhone):

Kuruvilla immersed in music (he does not know I shot this ):

We have just begun....stay tuned hyeah:

 

[iaudio]

Santhosh, I still wish you had more time there! You should have stayed for one more day! I could have listened to my rig for one more day!

Baiju, it is worth making not one but many trips to kuruvillajacobs place. So just go ahead and do it.

Core, mpw, The setting of the house is just plain lovely. You feel a certain calm enveloping you when you enter the property. The long drive from the gate to the house just builds up the anticipation for the beautiful music that one would hear shortly.

mpw, never knew you were from Kerala!

 

[mpw]

titus,

was born in KL. Stidied management there till 2001. Worked there for 4 years and have excellent memories of long rides on my trusty steed.



But.. this thread belongs to santosh and Mr Kuruvila. So will not dwell anymore save to say that this is the kind of place one needs to have to savor music.

Work hard, play hard.. end of the day.. unwind..

I am amazed to see the placement - amazed in a positive way - the listening position, the LP's / shelf acting as sound absorbers and it just reminds me that the most complicated things in life are the most simplest. And all that equipment..

:clapping:

woooow !! need to show this to wifey .. pronto..

santosh.. keep posting more pics.. this is drool stuff..

regards,
mpw

 

[captrajesh]

we reached his lovely home which is located amidst a very nice rubber plantation. Perfect setting for what I was about to experience :yahoo:

Whoa, fabulous setting for getting immersed in musical bliss!!

I do not have much experience in listening to vintage set ups except that of FM Rajiv's. They sure must be sounding as good.

 

[avidyarthy]

Need to visit this long distance 'destination' .... had I been aware of its existence during my last Cochin trip, might have taken on a hiatus ...

 

[mksharan]

Thanks Santosh for this thread. Few days back Mr. Kuruvilajaocob visited Kolkata and I learnt a lot from him. Now I am eagerly following your thread and please post all the details of his setup.

Manoj

 

[kuruvilajacob]

Need to visit this long distance 'destination' .... had I been aware of its existence during my last Cochin trip, might have taken on a hiatus ...

Please consider another trip soon. I love to share musical experience of all music lovers especially if they are vinyl addicts like me

kuruvilajacob

 

[alphacentury100]

wow, great setup and nice AV gears.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Wow, some great vintage gears and speakers. Would love to plan something similar during my next visit to 'Gods Own Country'.

 

[iaudio]

hari iyer, you should club the visit to kuruvillajacobs place alongwith the visit to bijin and bibins place.

 

[Hari Iyer]

hari iyer, you should club the visit to kuruvillajacobs place alongwith the visit to bijin and bibins place.

Sure, will have to plan a long vacation to make that happen. Hope its possible.

 

[santhosh]

By now, it was noon and Kuruvila Sir treated me to some very tasty authentic Kerala food. Post lunch, he showed me the next system which was in one of the bedrooms. This system had a rare Thorens Jubile Turntable, two sets of speakers - An Acoustic Research and a pair of vintage Wharfedales. The amp was a nice old NAD and it looked nothing like any of the newer NADs that I have seen. It even had VU Meters. There was also a NAD tuner, not sure of its vintage.

The Thorens Jubile

AR 925 E Speaker (can't remember the model, too many things to see and remember hyeah

Old Wharfedale 517 C class Handmade speakers

 

[santhosh]

Next we go to another room....

Kuruvila Sir tells me that he buys several TTs every year. Since he has a very experienced technician, in addition to working on his own TTs he also helps restore TTs from his friend circle. Several TTs waiting for Kuruvila's care and a new life.

Good on you Kuruvila Sir. May your tribe grow :clapping:

Thorens that he was restoring:

A NAD TT

A Record Changer

An AKAI Reel to Reel System with Akai Speaker, amp et all

 

[santhosh]

Most Kerala homes have two kitchens. One where the real cooking happens and the other which is used for heating/reheating at the most. FM GeorgeO told me about this two kitchen funda when I visited his home in Bangalore the first time.

So, the next room Kurivila showed me was his second kitchen. Here, he has this rare Normende Radiogram with FM tuner. Look!! It even has a TT inside . Everything is still functioning.

Next to it, in a corner was this old Philips Radio:

 

[kaushik]

Nice writeup..radio takes me to childhood days

 

[ajay124]

kuruvilajacob

Beautiful home. Truly god's own country.