Hyderabad HFV meet ? Interest check

[avidyarthy]

@ ironhorse ..... tag the group photo, man. Let us know whos who!
Also, if possible, name the equipments shown, for the have-nots (includes me) to know what to dream of .........

 

[pdhanwada]

Absolutely true Pandu - concur with you. The dynamics and SPL levels that we were experiencing at the show will be hard to tolerate is smaller rooms for music playback. In fact the preamp level on the belcanto pre 3 was routinely being set at 72-80 for the show, and in my home in my room of 14' x 12' I rarely cross 55-60.
Cheers,
Sid

sid,

That is a good measurement from home to big hall. Another idea being class A/AB with more initial watts in amps like first 30 to 40 watts in class A range and then it switches to class AB.

As our spl levels are low in our small rooms, those 30 to 40 watts should be enough and sound quality should be at Class A level.

I tried to research to find out first watts of class A/AB, not found in most amps specs. do you know of any.

Thanks
Pandu

 

[pdhanwada]

Hi Pandu - My impressions were as follows using the bel-canto pre-power. Unfortunately I did not listen to the rotel pairing as I was packing up:
The S4 had better low frequency extension of the two speakers - logical since it is a larger speaker with dedicated low frequency driver/ 805 is smaller with single driver for mid bass and low frequency. I think the s4 will need a decent powered amp. to achieve this though. For reference the Belcanto S300 is rated 150 watts into 8 ohms and 300 watts into 4. So IMO for an amp change you will have to look at an amp. that does at-least good 80 to 100 watts into 8 ohms if you are looking at class a/ab. Of-course all this is room size dependant, SPL levels you like to listen to, and type of music you prefer. I have used the 805 majority of the time with Quickilver mid mono push pull tube amps. that put out 50 watts into 8 ohms, but majority of my listening is to 60-70 jazz groups and my room size is 14' x 12'.
For high freqency I felt that the 805 had the edge, undoubtedly due to the nautilus tweeter - it felt more airy and smooth. Again an amp that does not sound grainy will be required to achive this in the S4. Usually low priced integrateds struggle in this aspect - just my experience - YMMV.
Sid

Agreed with you. 805's had very clear highs and S4's scored because of extra low end driver.

I have had my S4's for about 5 years. Had been thinking about upgrading my speakers. But after the show I have got a feel that it is not nessacary for now. If you want to do, do a mega upgrade or leave it as is. Even with the mega upgrade, with our small rooms, Sound quality improvement may not be substantial to justify the upgrade.

Any of you guys know paradigm dealer in Hyderabad. Just curious how much does a S2 cost in india.

It is a good speaker with nice reviews across the internet.
It pretty much has the same drivers as S4 except for the bass driver being not present. Also the latest S2 hold Berillyium tweeter which is supposed to be better than the one on S4's we listened.


Thanks
Pandu

 

[sivakuru]

Any of you guys know paradigm dealer in Hyderabad.

Sound and vision located in GVK One mall carry Paradigm speakers.
Dont know if they carry the S2.

 

[sidvee]

sid,

That is a good measurement from home to big hall. Another idea being class A/AB with more initial watts in amps like first 30 to 40 watts in class A range and then it switches to class AB.

As our spl levels are low in our small rooms, those 30 to 40 watts should be enough and sound quality should be at Class A level.

I tried to research to find out first watts of class A/AB, not found in most amps specs. do you know of any.

Thanks
Pandu

Pandu - AFAIK only very expensive amps. will be able to produce 30-40 watts in class a, even the class a/ab amps. Normally in a class a/ab amp. the first 10-15 watts will be class a and then it switches over. Also very few mfrs. advertise what amount of class a watts their amps. produce. I had this in the extreme version:
Odyssey Audio: Stratos Stereo amplifiers. Call us (317) 299 5578. IN, USA.
and I believe I read somewhere that it produces the first 10-15 watts in A. Whatever it was it sounded superb for its price range of approx. $1800.
At the next level you can consider pass labs that have both class ab and class a.
Pass Labs: XA.5 Series Amplifiers
The xa 30.5 which is pure class a of 30 wattsx 2 is about $5k.
Then there are also amps. from symphonic line, plinius, krell etc. that go into higher price ranges for class A.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[msagar]

When are you planning next meet ?
Do you communicate outside of this forum ?

 

[GeorgeO]

Sid

Anil has made Pass F 5 clones here which output 25 watts Class A poer and sound very nice for a fraction of the price that you mention. These are very cost effective diy amps for those who are willing go down that path.

 

[s_sachin]

Guys - Blasto lend me his musichall cdp today and there is a smile on my face Straight improvement over PC - coaxial - DacMagic.

Will update with more details later - right now just enjoying the music

 

[sidvee]

Sid

Anil has made Pass F 5 clones here which output 25 watts Class A poer and sound very nice for a fraction of the price that you mention. These are very cost effective diy amps for those who are willing go down that path.

Yes I guess for people willing to DIY there are a whole host of options. I have seen Wilson audio Alexandria/maxx speaker clones for about a 10th of the originals. But one has to be comfortable with DIY.
http://www.exquisiteaudio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=6
Cheers,
Sid

 

[theironhorse]

@ ironhorse ..... tag the group photo, man. Let us know whos who!
Also, if possible, name the equipments shown, for the have-nots (includes me) to know what to dream of .........

really apologize for the delay guys.. me and sachin are meeting up today evening and will upload the grp photo again with tags and names. i lost contact and actual names of few members as my phone got doomed.

 

[Tanoj]

Friends, i know someone who can build a decent speaker cabinets

anyone looking to go for DIY speaker towers, woofer's etc can get in touch

i would also join in group buy for a speaker kit , if you guys are going for it

Regards

Tanoj

 

[Kevian]

Guys - Blasto lend me his musichall cdp today and there is a smile on my face Straight improvement over PC - coaxial - DacMagic.

Will update with more details later - right now just enjoying the music

njoi

 

[pdhanwada]

deleted to send as pm

 

[s_sachin]

So guys just a short summary of the CD player / DAC comparison - Immdeatly noticed more details and better soundstage, bass was tighter , vocals never sounded so crisp - in short with CD player it became "lively", the DAC somehow seemd to hold back everything.
Comparison was done with same song, original CD played on Musical Hall cdp and the wav file ripped from same CD played on the PC - coaxial - DacMagic.
Ironhorse visited my house yesterday and had similar thoughts. But i would like if he also updates with his feedback.

So overall although i was quite happy with the DAC setup, listening to the CD player made me realize i was missing out on a lot of things. Maybe my PC setup needs some improvement and there are ofcourse much better DAC's there, but i have come to the conclusion that a CD player is a must have, even with all the troubles of managing CD's.

 

[denom]

So guys just a short summary of the CD player / DAC comparison - Immdeatly noticed more details and better soundstage, bass was tighter , vocals never sounded so crisp - in short with CD player it became "lively", the DAC somehow seemd to hold back everything.
Comparison was done with same song, original CD played on Musical Hall cdp and the wav file ripped from same CD played on the PC - coaxial - DacMagic.
Ironhorse visited my house yesterday and had similar thoughts. But i would like if he also updates with his feedback.

So overall although i was quite happy with the DAC setup, listening to the CD player made me realize i was missing out on a lot of things. Maybe my PC setup needs some improvement and there are ofcourse much better DAC's there, but i have come to the conclusion that a CD player is a must have, even with all the troubles of managing CD's.

Have heard the DAC Magic & felt that its way OVERHYPED!!! It did not do anything right for me & feel its way overpriced:sad:

Sorry but that's my opinion.

 

[s_sachin]

Sure denom. I feel the more you listen to other systems , the more you know what is better and best i think the meet surely helped a lot there and ofcourse made so many new freinds.

I am buying the CD player ASAP , missed the boat again on the marantz deal .. damn

 

[s_sachin]

Ok guys finally tagging the pics, ironhorse got his phone contacts wiped and poor guy did not have all the contacts.

hopefully i got all the names right

Sitting (L to R) : theironhorse, RaghuGadepalli, Pdhanwada, SameerKumar, Deepchand, Sidvee ,blasto

Standing (L to R) : praholla , chetan, s_sachin, cha_indian, krishpicean, max123_ind , Stereorules, goldyrathore, Kevian

 

[s_sachin]

The DIY section got everyone interested.
Seen here L to R : chetan, cha_indian,goldy_rathore, deepchand, Krishpicean

Listening to the ushers
Standing L to R : Deepchand, Krishpicean, Kevian, Sidvee, stereorules, blasto, max_123
Siting L to R : RaghuGadepalli, s_sachin

Tanoj recieving his award from praholla - the speaker cables sponsered by Sridhar & ARN. Thanks again Sridhar ! Also seen Pdhanwada on extreme left

 

[denom]

Sure denom. I feel the more you listen to other systems , the more you know what is better and best i think the meet surely helped a lot there and ofcourse made so many new freinds.

I am buying the CD player ASAP , missed the boat again on the marantz deal .. damn

The more gears we hear the more we learn, its always a learning experience. Don't worry, some new deal may just be round the corner, after all we need to help each other in these matters don't we

 

[Kittu]

I was thinking what this person was doing at hi-fi meet. :lol: It was praholla.