Audition - B&W 684, Dali Ikon 6, MA RX6, MA RS8

[hearme]

The Vector is bang on nagarjuna circle. You can come too punjakutta and give me a call around 11.
Audio people is in jubilee hills, we can just go there from vectors.

I am interested to listen to your setup. Where do you live?
I found musical fidelity + MA sharp and lacking in bass. Want to hear it in home condition to find more. If possible, we'll plan that too.

If I like the sound, I might pick up the RS6.

I am unsure of what time I will be able to leave from work, so I hope to catch up with you either at Vectors or Audio people. Will google locations and find the route.

I dont have rights to PM so guess :sad: so will meet you in person and exchange numbers.

I am at Dundigal, you or anyone is welcome to come over and listen to the setup at our both's convenience since things can get quite busy at work.... Thereafter, we can chill out with some :beer:

 

[BLASTO]

From Musical Fidelity M3i review..

Musical Fidelity M3i review: Sound quality | from TechRadar's expert reviews of Amplifiers

This amp is a revealing and insightful performer, able to extract great amounts of detail from recordings without losing sight of the performance as a whole. In part, this is due to a slight lift in the top-end performance, which pushes detail which can often be overwhelmed a little further forward and gives a pleasing vibrancy to performance.

This could potentially become too much of a good thing and we would advise against partnering the M3i with very forward loudspeakers, but running into a pair of Neat Momentum 4i's, the results are lively and exciting without tipping over into harshness or aggression.


...
...

The well-lit top end and excellent tonality combines with a deep and musical low end that is amongst the best in class. The results are never less than convincing be it the reproduction of a kick drum, bass guitar or purely electronic rumble.

Give the M3i a complex and fast-moving bass line and it will reproduce it with fantastic speed and assurance that makes it a must-listen for anyone with preferences towards rock or dance music.

...
...



So basically these amps should not even be placed anywhere closer to the monitor audio speakers. Yet audio people marry them during the demo..

Hmm.. No wonder the HF overpowers the rest of the spectrum.!!

 

[anzy]

Can we share the mobile numbers to coordinate this? I am not sure how to send the PM, so kindly help.

 

[BLASTO]

VECTOR will open only by 3 PM today.
So we will start only after lunch.


Appointment fixed - 2 PM Audio people.
Vector - After 3 PM.

Sorry for short notice.

@Anzy - Cannot send you PM. Anything wrong?
I think yoou should cross 10 posts to get PM facility. Not sure though.

 

[BLASTO]

@Hearme, Anzy..
Mail to <Deleted > for my number. Not sure why yu guys can't PM.
Will send my number.

Mods: This post will be deleted in the evening.

 

[hearme]

Hi Blasto,
Sent you an E-mail...Cheers!

 

[BLASTO]

@Hearme, shared my and Musicbee's number. Pool in with him. He'll come from sec'bad and is a helpful person.

 

[anzy]

Blasto. You are right, I need to cross 10 posts. Send you the email.

 

[jbnpaul]

deleted the message

 

[musicbee]

Posted feedback at http://www.hifivision.com/speakers/23790-speakers-60k-range-4.html#post339562

Blasto and the others should have more details/reviews of the wonderful afternoon spent with fellow HFVers.

 

[BLASTO]

@Musicbee. The sum-up was as more like what I thought too. I will write a bigger post in that lines soon.


BTW, I bought the NAD 2400 THX power amp (100 w/ch) at last. Listened to 683 with those and it was completely different speaker with details and sound stage. Bass was much stronger than the 684 we auditioned. But the vocals were same. I am not sure if the gijantic improvement is due to the wattage or due to the fact that the NAD paired well and had MORE power. Heard the B&Ws are power hungry and the 70w/ch was probably not enough. Increased the sound to insane level and then to NO trace of fatigue. Dunno how B&Ws pull these off.

 

[anzy]

Agree with musicbee's comments.

Dali Ikon 6 was bit of a disappointment due to the imaging taking a hit during vocal sessions. However, it did manage rock music well. For the high sensitivity rating (89-90dB), it does require sufficient power to drive. In fact, Blasto's set-up Music Hall @ 50 w/c came up a bit short!? Could be possible that I had high expectations of it after the first session about a month ago.

 

[geniusidroid]

Check out the quad 22l2 loudspeakers. You'll love them.

 

[musicbee]

Check out the quad 22l2 loudspeakers. You'll love them.

Not sure we can audition them in Hyd unless someone already owns them and is willing to allow us a listen.

But if they are anything like MA RX8 (or even better) then this HiFiMart deal @74K will be a real steal.

Quad 22L2

@BLASTO/anzy - Hopefully something to consider.

 

[BLASTO]

Okey. Here is home audition results of RS8 and RX8. We added NAD 2400 THX speakers to the equation and auditioned with and without it.

RS8 has a wider soundstage and RX8 has a narrower sound stage with bigger bass and slightly better vocals + lesser high frequency extension.

RX8 impressed for the first few minutes until we settled down with different genre of music. Few of the tracks made the RX8 to boom in my home environment while RS8 never boomed. In a controlled environment with lots of mats and draping and side curtains, the RX8 might excel (as in the demo with audio people demo room) but in an untreated room like my living room, they ended up giving a bit of boom. RS8 was always controlled.

So I decided to go with the RS8 after our demo materials exhausted.

Dinesh was undecided on RS8 vs RX6 but RX8 was out since he felt that his room was still smaller)

So we met Harsha and had a demo in audio people with Musichall CDP and Marantz 6004. I was surprised to see the Marantz produce SAME soundstage with both RX6 and RS8 (!!). Both I and dinesh (and I think everyone else who auditioned) remembered Musichall amp produced atleast 1.5 times bigger soundstage with the RS8 with more details. With the soundstage gone, the RX6 obviously sounded better than the RS8 to both our ears. The volume too reduced when we switched to RS8 and it sounded muddy comparatively. So I guess the 6004 was not able to drive the RS8 properly.

This gave hints on the inability of the RS8 to pair well with entry level amps and also exposed problems of amp matching with RS8 which the musichall neatly hid from the beginning.

So dinesh is almost fixed on picking up the RX6 since his room is smaller and amp matching is better with the RX6.

Iam back to square one. Will take the musichall to reconfirm the soundstage in the RS8. If it happens to be good, will pick it up. Else go for the RX6. There might also be problems while amp upgrade if the RS8 is chosen, but that is for another day.

Met harsha and he is a good person. Very softspoken and calm.

Sajjad as usual helped a lot by bringing his speakers to my home and letting us audition.

It is interesting to meet new people everyday and it is surprising to know that every one of them turns out to be a great person end of the day.

 

[BLASTO]

@Kittu :

About the NAD 2400 THX.

These sound more like the NAD amp rather than the Musichall (!!) when connected to the pre out. Sound is smoothed out and Bass is boosted. The Bass boost kind of helped the MA speakers in a way but more auditioning is required to find out if they jel well. They have seperate left and right volume controls (!!). First time I see them in a NAD.


The rotels I earlier connected to the Music hall were true to the source. (Meaning it sounded more like Musichall than Rotel)
So power amps are not entirely 'transparent'. Definetely not the NADs.

 

[BLASTO]

@BLASTO/anzy - Hopefully something to consider.

They are ugly.

 

[musicbee]

Interesting observations. At the demo the 6s were lacking in all departments when compared to the 8s and the battle was only between the RS8 and the RX8 with the X proving superior.

 

[hearme]

So I decided to go with the RS8 after our demo materials exhausted.

So dinesh is almost fixed on picking up the RX6 since his room is smaller and amp matching is better with the RX6.

BLASTO I also feel that the RS8/RX6/RS6 would sound better in an untreated or small room due to their lesser bass.

Dinesh am waiting for your opinion about the shootout at home between RS8 and RX6. Wish I lived closer so as to throw in the RS6 into the equation to compare and add to the confusion....

The Thiels and Avalons are not letting me sleep......:sad:

 

[srinisundar]

Thiel speakers paired with which amp ? Which model have you auditioned?

Regards