Cadence ARCA : opinions please

[pisa]

Hi there,

I have been very happy since I bought my Arca for some years. I am using a solid state amp, no tube (sorry) and they do provide a great sound in a standard size room (6m x 4m). If you can find them in India at a good price, it is a bargain. Not so many Arca users here in Europe but eveyone hearing them is convinced... All the beauty and details of electrostatic with a lot of drive in the bass and still a seamless transition between boomer and medium/highs. Be carreful about positionning and you'll get a fantastic experience with your amp.
On top, if you also use your hifi for watching movies, you won't need to buy a separate subwoofer: bass is better than any sub I've heard so far.

Pierre

 

[vijayk]

I have been very happy since I bought my Arca for some years. I am using a solid state amp, no tube (sorry) and they do provide a great sound in a standard size room (6m x 4m).
Pierre

Can you please specify which solid state Amp do you use with Arca?


Thank you,
~VijayK

 

[hifiashok]

Hi there,

I have been very happy since I bought my Arca for some years. I am using a solid state amp, no tube (sorry) and they do provide a great sound in a standard size room (6m x 4m). If you can find them in India at a good price, it is a bargain. Not so many Arca users here in Europe but eveyone hearing them is convinced... All the beauty and details of electrostatic with a lot of drive in the bass and still a seamless transition between boomer and medium/highs. Be carreful about positionning and you'll get a fantastic experience with your amp.
On top, if you also use your hifi for watching movies, you won't need to buy a separate subwoofer: bass is better than any sub I've heard so far.

Pierre

Gr8 to hear this. The Cadence ESL panels are heavenly and well mated with the Eton drivers.

What are humidity levels like in your part of the world? Also, do you have the older aluminium based panel material or the recent Indium Oxide one?

 

[nosortf]

A few suggestions from me would be
1)Dynaudio Contour S5.4 or S3.4
2)Morel Octave Signature
3)KEF 203
4)PMC EB1i
5)Spendor A9
6)Manger Zerobox 103. The best

Cheers

 

[milpai]

I would be visiting Mumbai for a couple of weeks and would like to know Cadence dealer's website/contact in Mumbai where I can audition the Arista.
Thanks,

 

[hifiashok]

http://www.cadenceaudio.com/
+91 (20) 26813085/8
[email protected]
Mundhwa, Pune
72-76, Industrial Estate Pune 411 036 Maharashtra State

 

[GeorgeO]

Radni

So did you make up your mind on what speakers to buy?

 

[Radni14]

Radni

So did you make up your mind on what speakers to buy?

I decided on ARCA by Cadence . I ordered them with few modifications / upgrades on capacitors , filter coils , internal wirings etc. Delivery is expected to be by end of Dec. 2011

 

[jls001]

I decided on ARCA by Cadence . I ordered them with few modifications / upgrades on capacitors , filter coils , internal wirings etc. Delivery is expected to be by end of Dec. 2011

Wow! Great choice. And very wise upgrades. For internal wirings, I believe they now use Siltech cables (earlier they used VdH, IIRC). What are the upgraded capacitors and inductors (I mean brands, or is that a 'we do not publish' secret again)?

 

[Radni14]

The upgrades are not offered by Cadence but on my own I decided to go for them and so discussed with them to see if they would do it for me. They readily agreed and were very cooperative .
My ARCA will have Capacitors by Mundorf ( M-Supreme M-cap) in place of Solen Fast Caps which are otherwise standard.
Wiring will be silver by Siltech. Upgrade on Inductor coil was suggested by Cadence ( Tritec) .

 

[jls001]

All boutique brands. And the silver cabling should be quite something.

What's your source and amplification?

Just for a lark, why don't you try pairing it with the Canasya next time you go to the factory? That's a pairing I would really love to hear. Even the modest (relatively) VA1 did a damned good job of driving my Amayas at the factory.

 

[hifiashok]

different classes, altogether!

 

[Radni14]

All boutique brands. And the silver cabling should be quite something.

What's your source and amplification?

Just for a lark, why don't you try pairing it with the Canasya next time you go to the factory? That's a pairing I would really love to hear. Even the modest (relatively) VA1 did a damned good job of driving my Amayas at the factory.

I heard at their factory the Arcas with Canasya. They are good indeed.But it is also hybrid amp .
My amp is AES Superamp AE-25 Djh Signature by Cary Audio , again custom ordered and heavily modified , it it pure class A , triode/ ultra linear , push pull , point to point hand wired , silverr wiring by kimber , no PCB s , Jensen oil in paper capacitors at out put stage, hexFred diodes and rectifiers, and kimber RCA jacks , plus other mods. It gives unbelievably great sound, and should be a good match for Arca. In fact I tried arca on my system (standard arca) , and my upgraded version should only be much much better , at least I strongly believe so.
My source is Cary Audio cd player CD 303 as transport and Bryston BDA-1
As DAC.
My pre amp is Reimyo CAT-777 Which is tube based.

 

[hifiashok]

Meant to ask u for your impression of the unique home audition advantage you had, sir.

 

[dhiman]

Go for Cadence ARCA. Dont get carried away by foreign names.

 

[captrajesh]

My amp is AES Superamp AE-25 Djh Signature by Cary Audio , again custom ordered and heavily modified , it it pure class A , triode/ ultra linear , push pull , point to point hand wired , silver wiring by kimber , no PCB s , Jensen oil in paper capacitors at out put stage, hexFred diodes and rectifiers, and kimber RCA jacks , plus other mods. It gives unbelievably great sound, and should be a good match for Arca. In fact I tried arca on my system (standard arca) , and my upgraded version should only be much much better, at least I strongly believe so.
My source is Cary Audio cd player CD 303 as transport and Bryston BDA-1
As DAC.
My pre amp is Reimyo CAT-777 Which is tube based.

The Cadence speakers are truly wonderful and would surely bring tears of joy when you listen to them. In addition, you sure have some really exotic gear there but I'm not sure what you have stated (highlighted) would hold true. Not necessarily so though I sincerely hope and pray. Pardon me if I'm sounding alarmist but I'm speaking from personal experience.

 

[Radni14]

Yes, I would also have to wait to find out if there is substantial improvement due to upgrades. But going by my experience of mods on my Amp , I am obsessed with upgrades on my gear where ever possible and sensible without reaching insane levels of costs. Also going by what is posted on technical forums and speaker forums on AudiogoN high-end Audio for sale, high end HiFi classifieds, audiophile auctions, audio forums site , overall opinion is quite uniformly encouraging to go for such upgrades. I even personally think , in most cases , with sensible upgrades on a particular gear ( say speaker or amp ) cost / benifit ratio would work very favourable compared to going for higher cost gear ( But unmodified) .
In case of Arca, Cadence was very helpful in carrying out all the upgrades ( which would not be case if I had chosen some other foreign brand ) which I believe worked to my advantage .

 

[Radni14]

Meant to ask u for your impression of the unique home audition advantage you had, sir.

The local Cadence dealer in my City offered a pair of ARCA for my home audition for 10 days . Also he offered a pair of Zingali horn speakers for my consideration to see if I liked horn spkrs.
The ARCA pair he gave was not even broken in ( straight from factory). My room is still not undergone proper acoustic treatment so it is rather live and more reflective. I liked ARCA over my present Jamo and Zingali by far a big margin. The ARCA were more musical , bass was tight and more precise, highs were sharp but not hurting ears ( as I found in Zingali ) . Even at louder levels . Arca sounded very smooth , warm and enjoyable. It filled my house with such sweet music that my wife even came up to say she never heard such sweet and precise sound on my system or on floor below. Every word or note was more accurately heard.
Zingali sounded better on Jazz music, and I found them to score above Arca for jazz , but not otherwise.
I am used to listen to music on my Grado RS-1 headphone for extended time without getting fatigue. Also on Grado I can hear every note very precisely. Now with Arca , for the first time on speakers , I could hear music more precisely than Grado and also without fatigue for hours together. The big sound stage that came with Arca was not experienced by me before on my system . The experience was addictive in a way, and I am not able to enjoy my old Jamo spkrs anymore for time being.

 

[milpai]

hifiashok,
Thank You for the info. I don't think I can make it to Pune....been to Mr. Shirke's home in 1997 where he demoed the Arcas to me. Awesome system!! But I was looking for a local dealer in Mumbai.

 

[hifiashok]

mr. shirke's home!?! boy, u must be one of the lucky few. most of us hav either been to the showroom in the factory premises or if luckier, to mr. shirke's office_cum_listening room, also in the factory premises.

mr. ambalavanan and/or mr. phalke should be able to guide u to the mumbai rep.

and, lotsa changes to the arca since 1997!