Was just going through this thread again and just remembered what a wonderful time we had that weekend. Great people, great music, great places and finally great memories I will cherish for a lifetime!
It's been two years and I am richer by many valued friendships which started back then.
Edit:
All the folks who asked me about what happened to the rest of the write up, esp the auditions from ARN, I am so sorry. I misplaced the chits of paper on which I had scribbled down my impressions, also details of the exotic equipment that Sridhar kindly set up for us.
I would like to post a little about it from memory.
The main setup I heard at ARN comprise of Ayon CD-1 Cd player fed to Prism Sound Orpheus DAC/Pre with an Odyssey Khartago(?) power amp powering the lovely Usher MD-1 speakers.
The Md-1 speakers look gorgeous, and sound just as good. I remember them being able to do the string notes from my favourite Mandolin track just as well as the Scanspeak based speakers I had heard, be it speed or timbre.
When we played the Marantz test disc(11th edition), the bass on most songs was very accurate and tight. The HF was slightly sweetened, so that it would be less fatiguing. I wouldnt exactly call it rolled off though.
The vocals were very good, but did not have as much presence as Suri's TL's or the AP reference system.
Tried a poorly recorded old Yesudas songs CD and it wasnt very forgiving.
After this, we came out of the dedicated, sound proofed listening room, into the main display hall. Here we auditioned the Emerald Physics loudspeakers. These speakers had a very attacking, raw sound. But the way these speakers reproduced string instruments timbre was not to my taste.
hyeah:...
