@hydrovac sorry for butting in late. I was (rather still am) tied up with certain medical emergency in my wife's family.
I had first auditioned Hydrovac's Stereo setup at his office by the side of his factory many years ago. It comprised of an Arcam Delta-270 CDP connected to his DIY Pre & Power Amps driving Boston Acoustics A26 bookshelf speakers. I was amazed at how good a DIY setup sounds. By then, I was thick into audio. Firstly, into DIY having built a few DIY projects viz B1 & SSP Preamps, My Ref & Class D Power Amp etc. In the meanwhile, I dabbled into the commercial hi fi systems as well: Acoustic Portrait Amp combo, their Philips 1541 based DAC, their Bookshelf speakers, Cadence Aristas, Dared 845 Tube Amp etc; all the churning happening over a period of two odd years.
Last year or so, Hydrovac made a new Pre and Power Amp combo which sounded truly like a high-fidelity system. Only, I felt that the system deserved better speakers to take it to a different level and gave my honest opinion in as many words. But as luck would have it, his power amp conked off. As making a new one would take time, he was on the look out for a quick fix and seem to have come across the DD Pre-Power combo. While the standard version is 120 Watt version, his is said to be a custom version of higher wattage slated to belt out 200 Watts RMS @ 8 Ohms. The amp is a DIYers answer to take on the likes of Marantz, Denon, CA et al at a fraction of cost. It drives his BA A26 with authority. The dynamics, layering and sound stage is immaculate, the sub-optimal placement of the speakers close to the rear-wall notwithstanding. Of course, the treatment on the wall behind the speakers are helping the cause immensely. According to him, the amp sounds almost as good as his original amp while I felt that his amp sounded more organic.
The revival of his audio gear rekindled his desire for upgrading his speakers. Having heard the SB Acoustic Satori based Aras at Shravanth's (of Eight Audio fame) factory along with fellow moderator Nikhil, I suggested the same to Hydrovac. One thing led to other and Shravanth agreed to let him have demo at his place but the lock down made even movement of the showroom manager, leave alone transporting them from Shravanth's showroom at Gacchibowli impossible. After partial easing of the lockdown, Hydrovac informed me that the speakers have arrived. I paid a visit to Hydrovac's place for audition. But I've discovered that they were not the Ara but lower speced Platinas. We sat down for audition. What we heard left us disappointed. The imaging was haywire, there were gaps in frequency response especially in the upper mid-bass, it was anything but holographic. I thought the speakers need breathing space and we pulled it into the room, away from the front wall. Though that helped wee bit in the sound staging, other aspects remained as it is.
As luck would have it, he had just received some 12 guage OFC speaker cable from Eagle, said to be from Germany. So he replaced his 10 year old Monster cables with those. We reconnected the speakers and were shocked to find the difference they made. The speakers were not bad at all was our conclusion. But to be honest, while they were better speakers than the BA A26, the improvement they made was incremental and didn't appear to warrant a speaker change. I persisted with my suggestion that he listen to the Aras. But the Eight Audio showroom in Gacchibowli was part of a commercial complex which was shut for business. Since I drive past the showroom for work everyday, I offered to pick them up whenever it opens. A couple of weeks later, I got a call from Shravant that I can pick the babies up. I promptly turned up and took delivery but couldn't go to Hydrovac's place immediately due to my preoccupations. The speakers were sitting pretty in my office cabin to no avail. So I got it delivered to him.
After a couple of days, I went to Hydrovac's place. We had one more decco at the Platinas and then switched over to the Aras. The Ara bookshelf speakers have the higher end Satori drivers comprising of MW16P and TW29R / TW29R BE. This one has the BE version. I immediately liked what I heard. They were neither clinical nor warm. They just disappeared while music flowed. One can go on and on for hours flying past without the listener being aware.
I feel that Eight Audio has a winner at their hands. IMO, the only grouses being a DIYer are:
Cost is rather high for this fully built speakers.
Non-availability of the speakers in kit form.
