Dali Ikon vs Ikon mk2

Ah the prey is still eluding the predator.
Sathya, what is your current budget? BS/FS? Any preferred brands?

Cheers,
Raghu

Hi Raghu,

The initial budget was 70-80k for speakers and about 40-50k for receiver. Would expand more depending on speakers as it would be one time investment and my parents would not let me change the set-up for another 5-10yrs.

No specific inclination towards BS or FS but so far only checking for FS as fronts as they would give better depth in lows. They have to work for music.

Idea is to get best vfm. For example, i have heard few speakers worth morethan lakh on amps of similar price but my humble set-up is miles better in every aspect compared to them. I am not talking about all the commercial brands but hope you got the idea on what i meant.

Thanks
Satya
 
Agreed. Once you have experienced a certain amp-speaker synergy, it is difficult to be moved away from it.

I did go thru about 3 years of auditioning of various brands of speakers. FS seemed to impress me in the showroom but always had this lingering doubt as to how they would sound at home. I have no opportunity to treat the room. The only weapon is placement.

Eventually, I picked up KEF R300 (demo unit) based on the audition of KEF Q series. Things came together and I was able to get them for 70K (landed price) from UK. Perfect speakers for my room and music taste and they came within budget. They do a fine job on movie tracks too. I am getting away without a sub by using walls to reinforce LFE to a small extant.

Over the various periods of audition the brands/series that sounded good to me were:
PSB (Imagine and Image series) paired with NAD IA
KEF (Q series) paired with my Marantz IA; demo room had Denon AVR and somehow did not sound right
Monitor Audio (Bronze series) paired with Cambridge Audio Azur series

If you have not auditioned these, give them a listen. The PSB minis I felt were good bang for the buck. If you can source from UK, they are available at GBP 250 a pair.

Coming to AVRs, these days they have become kitchen sinks. Every company is competing to max out on ports, sound formats, wired/wireless etc while compromising on basics like SQ, build and usability. The really good ones cost a bomb and sometimes unreasonably so. I have a Marantz NR1605 which is great when it comes to movies, but I have never quite got it to sing for me. May be I do not know the correct settings. Also I don't like the binding posts, cheap plastics used and kindergarten level UI.

You are going about it the right way. Get the speakers first and then the AVR/Amp.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
Thanks Raghu. I do have opportunity to treat the room to some extent as required in case of FS.

I did listen to kef q series but was not impressed much. PSB on hifiads by Nikhil is on my list as am planning to travel hyd next week. Monitor audio, will try to audition that.

TL Speakers made by FM Hari are definitely on cards as I can get them custom made to my room and also probably mean good vfm.

I completely agree with you on AVRs. Would probably look around for a bit old/vintage models that have minimal connection options that i require. Otherwise i may simple end up paying a lot for things i never need. Lets see how that goes once speakers are finalised.

Thanks
Satya
 
TL Speakers made by FM Hari are definitely on cards as I can get them custom made to my room and also probably mean good vfm.

I think one pair of speakers by FM Hari Iyer are on sale. Please check.
There is also AP pair on sale by FM square_wave.
Cheers,
Raghu
 
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