Hegel H80 vs Arcam A39

[Otpidus]

Finally upgraded to KEF R-700. The mono-blocks can finally stretch their legs. The sound is really much more defined with clear and balanced highs with high impact bass. No more boomy-ness and the smoothness of string instruments are absolutely realistic, so is vocal. I still need to find the best in room position for the speakers and also they need to break-in, as they are only 12 hours old at the time of writing.

 

[JayaRaa]

Congrats. do post some pics

 

[Otpidus]

Congrats. do post some pics

Here are a couple of shots.

 

[Vivek Rao]

The Setup looks quite nice. Congrats.

Are the R700s sufficiently away from the rear wall ? (tough to figure that from the picture). Typically the bass refinement and instrument separation should be acoustically observable if you could pull them out atleast 2 feet from the rear wall (the R700s have 2 ports at the back...)

You seem to have moved on to an irdac... any observations there ?

 

[Otpidus]

The Setup looks quite nice. Congrats.

Are the R700s sufficiently away from the rear wall ? (tough to figure that from the picture). Typically the bass refinement and instrument separation should be acoustically observable if you could pull them out atleast 2 feet from the rear wall (the R700s have 2 ports at the back...)

You seem to have moved on to an irdac... any observations there ?

Hi Vivek, the R700s are about one foot from the rear wall, I will try the final positioning once they are properly broken-in in a months time.

You are absolutely right Vivek, a few more inches of rear clearance improves imaging many folds. I tried the port bungs too, but it robs the scale and dynamics of the speakers.

As far as irDac-II is concerned, it is more neutral than Mojo and has a wider sound-stage. Mojo feels more bass heavy and hence the details are a little pushed back.

 

[mpw]

maybe you may try and see if relocating the TV to another location means anything at all in your room.

what is the speaker-speaker distance ??

regards

 

[Otpidus]

maybe you may try and see if relocating the TV to another location means anything at all in your room.

what is the speaker-speaker distance ??

regards

Relocating the TV would be a real challenge. Distance between speakers at current position is about 6' and few inches. The optimum seems like 8 ft from my initial positioning trials.

 

[mpw]

try and see if it makes a difference..

it would.. i think

maybe it would set you thinking along other lines..the room ... etc..

anyways - as long as you enjoi the music... all is fair

regards
mpw

 

[tubek]

go for Hegel

 

[Otpidus]

go for Hegel

I had home audition of Hegel H80 (thanks to Prithvi of Absolute Phase) before buying the Exposures, you can refer to my earlier posts. I really liked it except for power. At that time I didn't want to go for H160 but when I heard it later, its signature was quite similar to H80 with substantial improvement in dynamics, soundastage and bass.

 

[Otpidus]

Finally, succumbed to temptation. Got myself a Devialet 220 Pro. Spell bounding, although the Exposure Monos are undoubtedly over achievers for their price.