Floorstanders for a Marantz amp

thevortex

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Friends,

At present I have a Marantz 4001 with a pair of PSB Alpha B1s as front speakers. I would now like to expand the system by adding a pair of floorstanders first. The major objective is to keep the system very musical and certainly improve over the PSB Alphas a whole lot. This setup will also be used to watch movies, but I can compromise on bass - as a subwoofer will be added shortly.

All this needs to happen at a budget of around Rs. 25K. The following speakers are under my consideration:

1) Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo3/Neo3 (the Neo is the newer model)
2) Wharfedale 9.5/9.6
3) Jamo S718/S606
4) Mordaunt Short 906i/914i

These speakers should also fit the Marantz amp - hand in glove. Look forward to your suggestions. To emphasize, the music I listen to is all kinds of Indian music, Classical Western, Carnatic, Hindustani and occasional Rock/Pop music.
 
Friends,

At present I have a Marantz 4001 with a pair of PSB Alpha B1s as front speakers. I would now like to expand the system by adding a pair of floorstanders first. The major objective is to keep the system very musical and certainly improve over the PSB Alphas a whole lot. This setup will also be used to watch movies, but I can compromise on bass - as a subwoofer will be added shortly.

All this needs to happen at a budget of around Rs. 25K. The following speakers are under my consideration:

1) Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo3/Neo3 (the Neo is the newer model)
2) Wharfedale 9.5/9.6
3) Jamo S718/S606
4) Mordaunt Short 906i/914i

These speakers should also fit the Marantz amp - hand in glove. Look forward to your suggestions. To emphasize, the music I listen to is all kinds of Indian music, Classical Western, Carnatic, Hindustani and occasional Rock/Pop music.

I have the MS 906's with the Marantz 7002. They seem to pair up quite well and listening to music is a pleasure! Their performance on the lows are quite good as well when I listen to them in stereo mode (in fact I prefer to do that vs. using some matrixing scheme). I've read elsewhere that the MS pairs well with the Marantz. But I also think that the Wharfedales should be a good choice. Not too sure about the other two. Cheers!
 
Abhishek, I dont get this. Are you saying that the AE Neo3 comes filled with sand? I thought we had to fill the sand in as and when required for floorstanders.

And thanks Yog for your comment.
 
Hi,
I had evo 3 floor stander and i was driving these with marantz 7200 amp which is 95 watts @ 8 ohms and this amp was very good at highs and it was not doing well at low frequencies, and i tried 7001 amp with the same speakers and i gave back the amp within a month and I am definetly sure 4001 will not drive these speakers. Evo's are good speakers for the price but you need a good amp to drive these speakers.
 
Hi,
I had evo 3 floor stander and i was driving these with marantz 7200 amp which is 95 watts @ 8 ohms and this amp was very good at highs and it was not doing well at low frequencies, and i tried 7001 amp with the same speakers and i gave back the amp within a month and I am definetly sure 4001 will not drive these speakers. Evo's are good speakers for the price but you need a good amp to drive these speakers.

Hmm...interesting thought there. I remember that in a few other threads you mentioned that you were not quite satisifed with the Evo 3 speakers. With the amp change, are you now satisifed with the speakers themselves?

Taking a look at the specifications of the Evo/Neo3 there is nothing that I see which poses a problem for the Marantz 4001 to drive. If anything, the amp should be able to drive it to fairly high levels of performance. Especially if you biwire it.
 
hi thevortex !
you r right, there is a provision for us to fil the sand in, but some european customers have claimed that they found their sets sand filled. thats why i mentioned it.

Email: [email protected]
Website: audiodynamicsindia.com

Yes, Abhishek, I also noticed the mention of sand being filled in - even in some of the US reviews. I will check on that with Raghu of Decibel.
 
Abhishek, I dont get this. Are you saying that the AE Neo3 comes filled with sand? I thought we had to fill the sand in as and when required for floorstanders.

And thanks Yog for your comment.

The NEO3 has a compartment for sand filling and has to be filled either by the dealer/owner. Pls make sure you use dry sand with a few bags of silica gel to absorb moisture.
 
The NEO3 has a compartment for sand filling and has to be filled either by the dealer/owner. Pls make sure you use dry sand with a few bags of silica gel to absorb moisture.

So, it does not come pre-filled with sand in India? In any case, does it make a big difference in audio performance - with or without the sand?
 
Ichanged my whole setup. I bought a new pair of quad 22l2 speakers and I am hunting for an amp. The evo 3 can be filled with steel dust or sand ( but the sand has to be washed without any silt contents, dried ) . The company says that the low frequemcy will be improved. I feel any amp will drive any speakers for that matter but when you want the best out of the speakers you need a really good one.
 
Also it really does not help that there really is not too much information about any of these speakers (Marantz, Acoustic Energy, Jamo or Wharfedale) on the internet.

I do plan to listen to each one of them and make the decision. But I plan on using this pair of floorstanders as the basis for building an altogether better system in the days to come. And this might include upgrading the amplifier too.

It would really help if people can help me decide on which speakers they would rather use if they were building a new system around a pair of floorstanders. To start with though, I really love how my Marantz sounds, so I would prefer for the speaker to work well with this receiver.
 
hi thevortex !
u may consider going for the jamo 809/807/805 depending on ur budget. they sound good with the marant amps.

Abhishek - are you referring to the Concert series in Jamo or some other series? The Studio series does not have any models starting with 800.
 
Hi thevortex !
.
usually the sand is prepared by first drying it by heating, which of course is a tedious process.

You get better result by using specially treated Audiophile grade sand.

There are companies supplying this kind of sand. Sand is procured from some undisclosed sea beaches where no man ever stepped in, totally virgin sand. Then the sand is washed as many as 135 times using holy water from rivers such as Ganges, Yamuna, Tigris, Nile etc. People have reported that Ganges water brings lots of tonal accuracy while Nile water gives much tighter bass.

The washed sand is then dried in Sahara desert. After that the sand is mixed with gold, silver granules and polished in a ball mill. which works in a zero gravity mode. After this the sand is foot rubbed by virgins on a full moon night. This secret process gives the sand those euphoric hifi qualities.

Typically 1 Kg of sand costs Rs 25000 + taxes. Double virgin version costs Rs 65000 per Kg. Sand tech , the world leader in Audiophile sand has a Nirvana variety of sand costing Rs 2,00,000 per Kg and believe me , there is a long waiting list for this sand.

Of course , you must have a very revealing system to hear the difference.

(Just kidding!)
 
Last edited:
You get better result by using specially treated Audiophile grade sand.

There are companies supplying this kind of sand. Sand is procured from some undisclosed sea beaches where no man ever stepped in, totally virgin sand. Then the sand is washed as many as 135 times using holy water from rivers such as Ganges, Yamuna, Tigris, Nile etc. People have reported that Ganges water brings lots of tonal accuracy while Nile water gives much tighter bass.

The washed sand is then dried in Sahara desert. After that the sand is mixed with gold, silver granules and polished in a ball mill. which works in a zero gravity mode. After this the sand is foot rubbed by virgins on a full moon night. This secret process gives the sand those euphoric hifi qualities.

Typically 1 Kg of sand costs Rs 25000 + taxes. Double virgin version costs Rs 65000 per Kg. Sand tech , the world leader in Audiophile sand has a Nirvana variety of sand costing Rs 2,00,000 per Kg and believe me , there is a long waiting list for this sand.

Of course , you must have a very revealing system to hear the difference.

(Just kidding!)

Hahaha Suhas superb post! foot rubbed by virgins on a full moon night!!!!! Incredible imagination!!!
 
Last edited:
You get better result by using specially treated Audiophile grade sand.

There are companies supplying this kind of sand. Sand is procured from some undisclosed sea beaches where no man ever stepped in, totally virgin sand. Then the sand is washed as many as 135 times using holy water from rivers such as Ganges, Yamuna, Tigris, Nile etc. People have reported that Ganges water brings lots of tonal accuracy while Nile water gives much tighter bass.

The washed sand is then dried in Sahara desert. After that the sand is mixed with gold, silver granules and polished in a ball mill. which works in a zero gravity mode. After this the sand is foot rubbed by virgins on a full moon night. This secret process gives the sand those euphoric hifi qualities.

Typically 1 Kg of sand costs Rs 25000 + taxes. Double virgin version costs Rs 65000 per Kg. Sand tech , the world leader in Audiophile sand has a Nirvana variety of sand costing Rs 2,00,000 per Kg and believe me , there is a long waiting list for this sand.

Of course , you must have a very revealing system to hear the difference.

(Just kidding!)

Suhas, I will be sure to order the Nirvana variety;)

Good one to lighten up the mood!
 
Of course , you must have a very revealing system to hear the difference.

Suhas, now that was fun writeup mate!LOL

The same old caveat the snake-oil folks add-not to forget the holy sign " * " which should be read as *Conditions Apply for the obvious benifit of the seller, with fonts so small that you need a microscope to read em.

Cheers
 
Hey Suhas, that's a brilliant post....the scary thing is how genuinely similar it sounds to the promotional literature for things like power conditioners and cables......

You get better result by using specially treated Audiophile grade sand.

There are companies supplying this kind of sand. Sand is procured from some undisclosed sea beaches where no man ever stepped in, totally virgin sand. Then the sand is washed as many as 135 times using holy water from rivers such as Ganges, Yamuna, Tigris, Nile etc. People have reported that Ganges water brings lots of tonal accuracy while Nile water gives much tighter bass.

The washed sand is then dried in Sahara desert. After that the sand is mixed with gold, silver granules and polished in a ball mill. which works in a zero gravity mode. After this the sand is foot rubbed by virgins on a full moon night. This secret process gives the sand those euphoric hifi qualities.

Typically 1 Kg of sand costs Rs 25000 + taxes. Double virgin version costs Rs 65000 per Kg. Sand tech , the world leader in Audiophile sand has a Nirvana variety of sand costing Rs 2,00,000 per Kg and believe me , there is a long waiting list for this sand.

Of course , you must have a very revealing system to hear the difference.

(Just kidding!)
 
You know what, Suhas, you could have left those last two words - Just kidding - out and seen how it goes! I am sure it would have been a lot of fun. Apart from making your post even more powerful than it is right now.

But guys - can we now get back to my floorstanders if you dont mind?:) I am also confused about the subwoofer or floorstander question. Given that you only get entry level floorstanders at the kind of budget that I am looking at, would it make sense to go for a subwoofer instead? Or would any one of the floorstanders add more to my music than my present PSB Alphas? I can do without the extra punch but not without musicality.
 
Abhishek, are the Concert series speakers not frightfully expensive? I am not looking for floorstanders close to 50K rupees.

Hi thevortex
the concert 800 series are expensive though the products are very good. u may try the concert 407, they are good speakers at lower cost. they will cost you around 45k for a pair. or the 607s, which will cost you around 68k for a pair.
 
Get the Wharfedale EVO 4.2 3-Way Standmount Speakers at a Special Offer Price.
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