@terrible
My requirement is very clear, and it has a bend towards music. The pegging order is Music, Series (DTH), Football, Movies and finally PS3. And I so completely agree that I am loving this entire process of going for demos, finding our more and more details about models. Every weekend is like checking out one thing or other and there is a different kind of thrill to it
)
@efernand
I might change but at the same time, it might not be very soon. I want to make sure that if I am investing around 1l for both speakers and AVR, then I pick something around which I can build my HT.
I plan to check out Audio Desire in this week as its close to my work place in Goregaon and been wanting to check Wharfedale. Total Home Theatre is something which I will go in the next weekend as I could see some of the most talked about brands are available at their place.
Let me give some details around the tower speakers I auditioned recently.
The place : Warehouse Direct, Bhandup
Auditon Room : They have a pretty big audition room and well setup, its like any other room so gives you the close to real feel. A strange thing was that the guy (Joseph) at the place said there would be a charge of 2k for the demo if I do not buy from them and just explore. I still agreed saying we will see that later and asked him to show, once the owner (Sanjay) arrived he said the first demo is free but rest would be chargeable.
Brands : They claim to sell all the brands, but for the audition they had Polk, Pure Acoustics, Jamo and Mission.
AVR Used for Demo : Marantz SR7007 (They sell Yamaha / Denon as well but the guy there claimed that the impact of AVR on the listening is almost negligible and did not have any other demo AVRs)
Range of Songs for Demo : Hindi (Movie Songs, Ghazals) / English (Pop / Hard Rock) / Regional Movies / Instrumental
Movies : We did not play too many but some select scenes from some Hindi movies
Pure Acoustics RB6
I wasnt quite impressed by what I heard from this set of speakers, the output seemed very ordinary and lacked the punch or that touch. All the songs I heard on this were not lively and I could feel that something was missing. The build of the speakers and the look was very good.
Jamo S626
I couldnt find much difference in the output from Jamo and Pure Acoustics, not very impressed by the sound output. In terms of the design and appearance, this was probably the best looking speakers. As suggested by someone in the thread, I checked if they have the cine version of Jamo C97 but they did not have that for auditions.
Polk TSX440T
There was a very clear and distinct difference between Polk and Jamo / Pure Accoustics. The sound was more lively and you could feel life in it, at times seemingly unrealistic types. The output gives you the feeling of a live performance happening right in front of you, its that lively and fresh. I was very impressed by this model and experimented a lot of songs on this. The appearance and design of this model is good, not as great as Jamo and I felt it lacks the finesse. Its pretty towering in terms of size and will occupy considerable area.
Though the guy suggested to go for RTi A5 but he did not have the same for audition, said the performance is much better and would fit in the budget.
Mission MX4
I got this model into the mix a bit late into the demo, by this time Polk was clearly ahead of the others in the demo. Once I heard this, I could feel this was going to a close call between Polk and Mission. Then I heard a lot of songs between these two models mainly to try to narrow at one. I noticed that Mission was handling Bass very well and without the woofer it could give the effect pretty well (this was better than Polk). The sound was very natural in Mission, sometimes giving the auditorium kinda feel. I was equally impressed by this as well but was not too sure about the brand name. Though the guy mentioned that this was originally part of Wharfedale and I need not worry about the brand, they are reliable and pretty good.
Costing and Offers
Pure Acoustics
On the RB6 I had auditioned, there is an offer going on and they are giving Pure Acoustics 5.0 (with surround, center, woofer) for around 61k. I wasnt very impressed with the output so did not probe further on this.
Jamo S626
There is an offer on this as well for the 5.0 (with surround and center, no woofer) for something inside 70k. Again, was not very impressed with this model and could not hear the C97.
Polk TSX 440T
The tower pair for this would come around 40k. The RTi A5 would come for around 56k
Mission Mx4
This was available for 52k.
AVRs
Even though I would be finalizing the speakers and then looking at AVRs. I had a brief discussion with the guy as he was convinced that there is no point in changing the Marantz AVR during the demo with anything else. Basis my requirement and the budget, he suggested to go for Yamaha Rx579 (for around 52k) or Denon 1200 (for around 50k). I had seen the specs of Yamaha RX 579 and it seemed to be fine for my requirement.
