hifi setup

nandakumarhv

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Hi guys,
My room size is 5.5m by 7m and I listen to mostly classicial & fusion,
I have short listed the following setup, please give your opinion and advice,
Thanking to all the guys well in advance,
1, Quad 22l2 - speakers, roksan knady L!!! amp and roksan kandy cdp
2, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, nad pre-power amp and nad cdp.
3, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, quad 909 and 99 pre-power with quad cdp,
4, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, cyrus 8 amp and cyrus cdp.
 
hi nandakumar ,

If i am your position , i will either go for quad pre and power or the cyrus combinations,
But all the amplifier combo are very good in their own respect, and almost all the electronics you have choosen goes well with quad. i think you should listen to them before deciding , i have heard quads along with NAD combo in a showroom and the sound was good , when he paired with cyrus it was even better.,
The best judge is your ears , so have an audition before buying.


regards
Tharun.
 
Hi,

Hi Nandakumar of all the shortlisted electronics ! I suggest the Quad 909 and Quad 99CDP ( with inbuilt pre) I would not recommend the 99 pre as it hardly makes sense with the CDP having inbuilt ! also the 99 Pre is tad bit wrong for the 909 !

The other electronics are also very very good as tharun and said ! but this would a perfect match since all are of the same company and besides the 909 is one terrific Amp !!

One question ?? why you have not put the Odyssey in the list inspite of my suggestions ?? just curious thats all ! don't feel otherwise !!

Regards.
 
hi soundgreat,
I had auditioned oddessy with usher speakers but i felt it was more for rock and stuff like but not for classicial and fusion.
 
Hi Nandakumar
I guess you can audition the Mccormack which is for sale by ROC
He is selling at quiet a good price and you are also looking for a high end amp
 
Hi,

Ohh Ok but I also heard the same combo ! but I thought differently ! anyhow thanks for letting me know !

Ohh yeah ! almost forgot :p! please have a look at his amp very very good option !

Regards.
 
Frankly speaking I'd take the odyssey stratos over the quad amp anyday. You can also check out the Usher R1.5 which in essence is a very high end Threshold (Nelson Pass) design at a more realistic price point. To my ears, it sounds better than the Stratos. It is more expensive too. The quad amps sound very very colored to me. It is voiced to sound great for classical but let me tell you its anything but neutral. Another issue with them is they have hardly any drive. The 140W rated power amp frankly sounds like a 30W tube. I feel my Musical Fidelity A1 integrated in my bedroom has more drive than the Quad poweramp. The odyssey is a far better performer. Its the same with the Quad L'ites... they are voiced in a certain manner. If you like it, you'd be very happy with it. However I can't live with something that colors the sound so much. The roksan kandy is a nice vfm integrated amp. The NAD amps are pretty pathetic. Not at all musical. The also have the traditional british midbass hump. Avoid at all costs.

Nandakumar I'm curious as to what cd player did you audition the usher with? Was it the usher cd player? If so, let me say that particular player has a slight solid state edge to it and may not gel well with classical. As for the source, there are very many interesting options out there from the far east.

Personally... I listen to a lot of classical and jazz on the Usher bookshelves powered by the McCormack DNA and a valve pre. If you are interested, you are most welcome to come over and audition my setup. You might have a completely different opinion of the speaker after that. Please PM me if you are keen on this.

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Hi guys,
My room size is 5.5m by 7m and I listen to mostly classicial & fusion,
I have short listed the following setup, please give your opinion and advice,
Thanking to all the guys well in advance,
1, Quad 22l2 - speakers, roksan knady L!!! amp and roksan kandy cdp
2, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, nad pre-power amp and nad cdp.
3, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, quad 909 and 99 pre-power with quad cdp,
4, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, cyrus 8 amp and cyrus cdp.

Hi Nandkumar,
The Roksan is a sweet integrated but IMO does not have the grunt to drive these speakers. The Nad has the grunt but is lacking in tonality and is not as clean as the others mentioned above. The cyrus cdp i like but in tandem with the cyrus integrated and my speakers(B&W 805) it sounded a little thin and a little bright. This may not be the case with the quad speakers as they are FS and will naturally have a more pronounced bass than my stand mounts. Sound wise IMO the Quad 909 will be the best for your quad speakers though i dont like the preamp.
Have not heard the usher or the stratos so cant comment.
Regards
 
Hi guys,
My room size is 5.5m by 7m and I listen to mostly classicial & fusion,
I have short listed the following setup, please give your opinion and advice,
Thanking to all the guys well in advance,
1, Quad 22l2 - speakers, roksan knady L!!! amp and roksan kandy cdp
2, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, nad pre-power amp and nad cdp.
3, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, quad 909 and 99 pre-power with quad cdp,
4, Quad 22l2 ?? speakers, cyrus 8 amp and cyrus cdp.

IMO, the Dali Ikon 6 with the Cyrus 6se and 8vs2 will be a better combo.

Regards
SNV
 
Hi Nandkumar,

I am planning on selling my Odyssey Stratos Plus amp and Candela preamp as I have upgraded my entire setup couple of weeks ago.

I will be putting an ad in the classified section of this forum shortly, if you are interested in the combo give me a call -09920400541.

I hope I have not broken any forum rules by this unsolicited post!
 
For anyone out there looking for a great tube pre and amp combo - I cant think of a better baragain/price than what Surrealistix is asking for it.

Soundsgreat
thanks for your recommendation of the Odyssey, glad to know that you like them as well!

Nandakumarhv, which combo did you hear? As ROC mentioned, the setup may not have been the right one in terms of Synergy, do try it out in ROC's place or send me an email and I can arrange an audition for you next week. You can also contact another person in BLR (near cox town, I think you are also close by) who recently picked up an Usher with Odyssey and he listens to classical as well.

Cheers
[email protected]
 
Hi,

Sridhar I don't see the price from Surrealistix !:confused:

As with the recommendation,its my pleasure as I think its very good VFM product ! and Am always up for those kind of products ! Moreover the as long you are associated with the brand I don't have to worry bout recommending it !! I know the service that you offer ;) !!

Regards.
 
Hi
thanks again :eek:
Surrealistix has yet to post the prices but he mentioned them to me. I had told him that if he doesnt sell at those prices, I will buy them myself :) I will leave it up to him to post the expected price here.

Basically, at this price, if one buys it, they dont lose anything if they dont like it as they can re-sell it again. This version of the Candela comes with a remote too.

cheers
 
This is a great combo.

The Candela (with remote) is 1 year old and the Stratos is 6 years old, I bought it used 2 and a half years ago. They are both in perfect condition.

I am expecting 90K + shipping for the pair.
 
Wow ronnie upgrading again? What electronics this time?

I met with nanda today and he auditioned my setup. Frankly all the things we are suggesting to him are kinda against his taste. What he really desires is not absolute tonal accuracy but rather something that is meant for easy listening and equipment that is a little forgiving to not very well recorded pieces.

I demo'ed both my setups to him... the Usher+McCormack+Lyrita and my bedroom setup which is a Jamo E700+Musical Fidelity A1. The latter is definitely not as brutally accurate as the first one... it is something I typically use to listen to music when I'm relaxing or working or chatting with friends... i.e. most of the time I listen to it passively and never really do any active critical listening. I find it to be colored and on the warmer side.

Nanda actually preferred my bedroom setup over the Ushers which he found to be a bit too forward sounding. I can't really blame him as the Ushers are ruthlessly revealing of any not so well recorded content. Most of the music he listens to really can't be put as Classical. Its more biased towards easy listening and not necessarily recorded extremely well.

He also has a Marantz PM7200 amp which though is not very high end, is not terribly bad either. He can live with it for a while before he upgrades it and its best if he gets a good pair of speakers first. His listening room is seemingly big and needs floorstanders. Based on this, I suggested a few options to him to audition... mostly speakers which are kind of laid back. One of them is the original Quad 22L which he started the thread with. I also suggested the now discontinued Jamo D590, the Epos M16i, Pre-owned Cadence Electrostats and the Acoustic Energy Aelite 3 as he seemingly had Acoustic Energy before and loved it.

What I realized is once in a while, people have unique requirements and the most accurate or the most revealing speaker which seems to be the best bang for the buck to me might not fit them well due to their musical tastes. I hope my post makes sense :).
 
ROC
It is real coincidence that the preamp that Ronnie picked is from a line that I have had my eyes on for a while :D We are going to be carrying it in ARN shortly...! My first choice was Leben which we might still carry but is not in the same league.

Ronnie's setup has to be really good now, if you are ever in bbay, I recommend that you check it out.

I will let him post a photo and name the brand! (ROC, I mentioned it to you, so you probably already know ;) )

cheers
 
ROC,

I got the Shindo Auriges with Phono stage. This is one heck of a pre. It was completely out of my budget, but I couldn't resist the temptation. I also bought the Usher R 1.5 amp to go with it. I can tell you that the Be-718 with this pre-power combo sounds mind blowing.

If you are in Mumbai, you MUST definitely pop-in for a listen.

I am getting my listening room constructed, it should be ready within the next 10 days, will post pics as soon as it's all setup.

Check out the Stereophile review of the Shindo - Stereophile: Listening #54


Ronnie
 
ROC,

I got the Shindo Auriges with Phono stage. This is one heck of a pre. It was completely out of my budget, but I couldn't resist the temptation. I also bought the Usher R 1.5 amp to go with it. I can tell you that the Be-718 with this pre-power combo sounds mind blowing.

If you are in Mumbai, you MUST definitely pop-in for a listen.

I am getting my listening room constructed, it should be ready within the next 10 days, will post pics as soon as it's all setup.

Check out the Stereophile review of the Shindo - Stereophile: Listening #54


Ronnie

Absolutely... would love to come over and listen :). I've only heard incredibly good things about Shindo Labs preamps. All I knew about them was that they are very good and very very expensive :p. A visit to ARN is due once the preamp is here. The R1.5 is a lovely power amp. I found it to be way more musical than both my mccormack and also the stratos extreme.
 
Hi oddessy,
sorry i could not reply to your post immediately,
I had listened to usher be-718, other book shelves, the tower with kartiago integrated and oddessy pre-power combo and and at roc's place i listen to Usher 718 +McCormack+Lyrita. According to me these were very revealing and forward and to put it my langauage I can say it was on the face. I think you have my number and if not you can pm me.
thank you
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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