Bangalore Char Dham Yatra

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prem

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Guys I was in Bangalore again visiting the audiophile gods.

This time I restricted it to only 4

Rajib
Arvind
Arjun
Abhi

Had a lovely time at everyone’s place.

Rajib’s Accuphase Class A integrated with Micro Seiki 8000 with Tareeq’s tonearm and Khumar cartridge was sounding lovely with the JBL 4343 speakers. One of the better sounds I have heard.

Arvind’s TAD Ref monoblocs and pre with EMT 927 and Kondo GE10 phono driving the TAD Ref speakers had lots of details and resolution. But it’s still work in progress. Once properly set, it should be one of the finest systems in the country. Arvind is Abhi’s cousin and I don’t think he’s on this forum.

Arjun’s Tannoy Kensington is always a pleasure to listen to. This time we experimented with 4 amps at his place.

Quicksilver KT88 monoblocs with LTA MicroZOTL pre

Quicksilver EL84 integrated

Lyrita with WE 300 reissue and Yamaha pre

Denon UD M30 mini

I personally liked the Denon mini the best followed by the Quicksilver KT88. The Denon played the full spectrum whereas the KT88 couldn’t do bass as well. Also it lacked the speed, attack and agility of the Denon. The KT88 mids were a bit more fleshed out which am sure a few will prefer. I was ok with the Denon mids because it was truthful. The other two amps just didn’t have the power to drive his speakers in that room.

Moving on to Abhi’s, he’s just moved into a new villa. I am really envious of Abhi. I always wanted to stay in a villa. But to afford a villa in Mumbai, you need to be born into the Ambani family. :)

Coming back to the topic, his music room is now much larger than his earlier one. His Lyrita i thought sounded better in his previous room. This room being much larger showed up the lack of power and the amp struggled to drive his Tannoys. Abhi is working on it and am sure the next time i visit him, it will be all sorted out.

That ends my Char Dham Yatra. Probably, the first of it’s kind in Bangalore :)
 
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Some really hi-flying setup!

Let me ask the question evryone has on their mind, photos :) but then with Prem in the house thats the least on anyone's mind.
 
prem said:
Guys I was in Bangalore again visiting the audiophile gods.

This time I restricted it to only 4

Rajib
Arvind
Arjun
Abhi

Had a lovely time at everyone’s place.

Rajib’s Accuphase Class A integrated with Micro Seiki 8000 with Tareeq’s tonearm and Khumar cartridge was sounding lovely with the JBL 4343 speakers. One of the better sounds I have heard.

Arvind’s TAD Ref monoblocs and pre with EMT 927 and Kondo GE10 phono driving the TAD Ref speakers had lots of details and resolution. But it’s still work in progress. Once properly set, it should be one of the finest systems in the country. Arvind is Abhi’s cousin and I don’t think he’s on this forum.

Arjun’s Tannoy Kensington is always a pleasure to listen to. This time we experimented with 4 amps at his place.

Quicksilver KT88 monoblocs with LTA MicroZOTL pre

Quicksilver EL84 integrated

Lyrita with WE 300 reissue and Yamaha pre

Denon UD M30 mini

I personally liked the Denon mini the best followed by the Quicksilver KT88. The Denon played the full spectrum whereas the KT88 couldn’t do bass as well. Also it lacked the speed, attack and agility of the Denon. The KT88 mids were a bit more fleshed out which am sure a few will prefer. I was ok with the Denon mids because it was truthful. The other two amps just didn’t have the power to drive his speakers in that room.

Moving on to Abhi’s, he’s just moved into a new villa. I am really envious of Abhi. I always wanted to stay in a villa. But to afford a villa in Mumbai, you need to be born into the Ambani family. :)

Coming back to the topic, his music room is now much larger than his earlier one. His Lyrita i thought sounded better in his previous room. This room being much larger showed up the lack of power and the amp struggled to drive his Tannoys. Abhi is working on it and am sure the next time i visit him, it will be all sorted out.

That ends my Char Dham Yatra. Probably, the first of it’s kind in Bangalore :)
Click to expand...

Lets call it Char Jam yatra
 
It was great to have Prem around and recalibrate ones ears !

This time it was interesting to see how each one of us hear and focus so differently even for the same piece of music. While the fundamentals of timing, musicality is taken of course assumed, each of us take joy from very different things in music which are perhaps based on once own journey and evolution ! and if we find that small element or cue missing then we find it difficult to enjoy it.

It could be anything from midrange purity, natural relaxed sound, macro dynamics, bass resolution, slam , flow of the midrange, how silence is handled etc etc etc and for each one of us that small element /group of elements can make the difference between a boring, ok or Wow music even when the music from the system is high by "generally accepted standards"

The effect of Speaker cables, footers even what the amp is placed on and how these can completely change music was so apparently. eg At Dr bass's a change from 3 heavy Brass footers to 4 steel spikes under the TT completely transformed the way music was being represented ! or in mine where moving an amp from a steel slab to the floor.

Another point was how sometimes room treatments can actually bring down the sound when equipment is changed..hence what works for one combination can actually bring down the sound with another speaker /amp and removing it can change the sound from boring to lively !
 
Playing with different tube amps, and comparing them, I have been always apprehensive with room treatments for this very reason.
 
In the room where we compared various amps, there was zero room treatment.

Also in Rajib’s room, we removed all room treatment. There is none now save a few panels on the ceiling which are fixed.

Even in Arvinds room we removed all treatment and then added one absorber
 
Dr.Bass said:
In Bangalore, jam only means one thing...
Click to expand...
If you travel from Silk board junction to KR Puram bridge on ORR, you will actually complete 'Char Jam Yatra'...
Jokes apart... thanks for prem for sharing the journey of audiophile's pilgrimage towards searching for musical Nirvana....'
 
In my nearly four decades of audio journey, if there is one piece of equipment that never fails to amaze me, it is the Denon UD M30 mini. How it puts out that sound is beyond my understanding. In the last 5-6 years, i have owned many amplifiers. But the one i enjoy the most is the Denon. The other amps definitely do a lot many things better but for sheer enjoyment, the Denon, to my ears, is difficult to beat. It’s a very relaxed, natural sounding amp which plays the entire spectrum with no spotlighting. And if you like fast, deep bass with great attack and details, the Denon is a must hear. Among all the amps I have owned, the Denon is clearly the best in this area.
 
prem said:
In my nearly four decades of audio journey, if there is one piece of equipment that never fails to amaze me, it is the Denon UD M30 mini. How it puts out that sound is beyond my understanding. In the last 5-6 years, i have owned many amplifiers. But the one i enjoy the most is the Denon. The other amps definitely do a lot many things better but for sheer enjoyment, the Denon, to my ears, is difficult to beat. It’s a very relaxed, natural sounding amp which plays the entire spectrum with no spotlighting. And if you like fast, deep bass with great attack and details, the Denon is a must hear. Among all the amps I have owned, the Denon is clearly the best in this area.
Click to expand...
Has anyone dug deep into the design of this amplifier ? How is that such a budget device can perform at this level. I need to pick one up and listen now. I see Denon UD M30 everywhere. Is it different from the mini version ?
 
The UD M30 is the same. You can get the UD M31 also.

The grapevine is when Denon was launching the mini series around 2000, they didn’t have an amp design which could fit into the chassis. So they borrowed a design which Denon had designed for Japan Broadcast somewhere in early 70s. They used this design with modern parts. This design was used both in UD M30 and UD M31. Post that i believe Denon engineers had designed another amp for use in later mini series.

In a UK audio show where Ken Kessler was demoing a Wilson Audio speaker, people thought it was the top of the line super expensive Mcintosh pre and power which was driving it. People were very impressed with the sound. When Kessler told them it was the Denon mini driving it, people were shocked.

The sound from the Denon mini is very neutral and natural. No spotlighting anywhere. So it does take a little time getting used to it.

Please keep in mind that at 8 ohms, it only puts out 16 watts
 
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prem said:
The UD M30 is the same. You can get the UD M31 also.

The grapevine is when Denon was launching the mini series around 2000, they didn’t have an amp design which could fit into the chassis. So they borrowed a design which Denon had designed for Japan Broadcast somewhere in early 70s. They used this design with modern parts. This design was used both in UD M30 and UD M31. Post that i believe Denon engineers had designed another amp for use in later mini series.

In a UK audio show where Ken Kessler was demoing a Wilson Audio speaker, people thought it was the top of the line super expensive Mcintosh pre and power which was driving it. People were very impressed with the sound. When Kessler told them it was the Denon mini driving it, people were shocked.

The sound from the Denon mini is very neutral and natural. No spotlighting anywhere. So it does take a little time getting used to it.

Please keep in mind that at 8 ohms, it only puts out 16 watts
Click to expand...
Interesting. This means that the spotlight is on the amplifier section. I presume an outboard source along with this amp with an easy to drive speaker will sound amazing. To make the amp better, do people change things like the volume pot and binding posts to something better ?
 
Nothing. Just use it as is. Volume is microprocessor controlled. Speaker terminals are spring ones. It’s everything that is a no no from an audiophile point of view. But the damm thing works. I set my bass at + 1 and treble at -2. At Arjun’s place bass at 0 and treble at -2 worked.

You can go source direct but i prefer using the tone controls.
 
I thought all knew if i mentioned Abhi’s system, Tannoy and 300b amp is a given.

He has the John Nantais Lenco Reference turntable with EMT cartridge and Tannoy Turnberry. Amp is a specially designed Lyrita with the 45 tubes driving the WE Reissue 300 tubes.
 
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