Vue2AStill
New Member
Friends,
Many of you have replied to my earlier post "Connecting two rooms into one amp" (http://www.hifivision.com/what-should-i-buy/2101-connecting-two-rooms-into-one-amp.html). Thank you for the same.
I have now purchased the Cambridge Audio 540D v2 and the Denon 1909 AV Receiver, so as to enable me to judge the speakers I want to buy on the electronics that I use. Based on the suggestions I received on the previous post and elsewhere on this forum, I took the Denon 1909, as it provides zones A & B, was only just beyond my budget and has been rated high for music reproduction (What HiFi group test, Sept 08).
I have already done one round of audition on KEF iQ5, Monitor Audio (MA) BR5 and the Wharfedale 9.5. Wharfedale 9.5 was good, specially on the low frequency reproduction, it almost did not need the subwoofer. But I felt the KEF iQ5 and the MA BR5 were better in the reproduction of the voice (mid range) and the higher frequencies. This is expected since the KEF and the MA drivers are smaller compared to the WH-9.5's 6.5" drivers. To my ears, the KEF had better imaging and was less sensitive to the positioning of the listener. But otherwise, I felt both the KEF iQ5 and MA BR5 were mind blowing, something I did not expect in this budget range. Now this is the problem, that I felt that they are both good.
To give you an idea of the genres of music I listen to, here is a compilation of the tracks I used for the audition:
Mark Knopfler (All that matters, Boom like that), Chris Rea (Road to Helll), Richard Marx (Right here.. ), Clayderman (piano - What a wonderful world), Clayderman (piano - Chariots of Fire), Pan Pipes (My heart will go on), Kenny G (Sax - Going Home), Bombay Jayashree (Lullaby - Kulasekhara Perumal), Saint Tyagaraja (Endaro Mahanubhavulu, Narayanaswamy and group), Johann Pachelbel (Canon, violin concert with Cello), Jagjit Singh (Kahi Door..).
Knopfler, Chris Rea and Jagjit Singh for their voices, Clayderman's What A Wonderful World for its sheer spectral range and sound stage creation, Bombay Jayashree's lullaby for its melody and serenity, Narayanaswamy Group's rendering of Endaro Mahanubhavulu for the sound stage creation and finally Pachelbel's Canon for its strong Cello presence, transients, whispers and the crescendo. These may or may not be appropriate as test tracks, but this is the music I listen to. I have read on this forum that I better use music that I listen to, for audition. That is what I tried to do.
For auditioning the surround effects, I was using the AVMAX DVD released in their October '08 magazine.
The MA BR5 is more expensive compared to KEF iQ5 by at least about Rs.6000. The KEF iQ5 is more expensive than the Wharfedale 9.5 by about Rs.8000. I am talking about the floorstander pair alone. As Venkat pointed out elsewhere on this forum, naturally, I would be forced to buy matching center & surround speakers: MA LCR/BRFx or KEF iQ2c/iQ1 or Wharfedale 9.CS/9.DFS.
I mention KEF iQ1 for surround, since the KEF dipoles are very expensive (more than twice of KEF iQ1 pair). Also, the highly rated KEF iQ5-SE is not available in India, at least not in Chennai, as per Pro FX. So iQ5 is my only option in KEF.
Having given you all the information above, so at this stage I depend on you guys, the experts here to guide me through the final decision. As I mentioned elsewhere, the lounge size is 11' wide (separation of floorstanders) and 13' deep (listening distance).
Music reproduction and a good sound stage are my priorities, movies watched only once in 2 weeks.
Please help guys.
- Vue
Many of you have replied to my earlier post "Connecting two rooms into one amp" (http://www.hifivision.com/what-should-i-buy/2101-connecting-two-rooms-into-one-amp.html). Thank you for the same.
I have now purchased the Cambridge Audio 540D v2 and the Denon 1909 AV Receiver, so as to enable me to judge the speakers I want to buy on the electronics that I use. Based on the suggestions I received on the previous post and elsewhere on this forum, I took the Denon 1909, as it provides zones A & B, was only just beyond my budget and has been rated high for music reproduction (What HiFi group test, Sept 08).
I have already done one round of audition on KEF iQ5, Monitor Audio (MA) BR5 and the Wharfedale 9.5. Wharfedale 9.5 was good, specially on the low frequency reproduction, it almost did not need the subwoofer. But I felt the KEF iQ5 and the MA BR5 were better in the reproduction of the voice (mid range) and the higher frequencies. This is expected since the KEF and the MA drivers are smaller compared to the WH-9.5's 6.5" drivers. To my ears, the KEF had better imaging and was less sensitive to the positioning of the listener. But otherwise, I felt both the KEF iQ5 and MA BR5 were mind blowing, something I did not expect in this budget range. Now this is the problem, that I felt that they are both good.
To give you an idea of the genres of music I listen to, here is a compilation of the tracks I used for the audition:
Mark Knopfler (All that matters, Boom like that), Chris Rea (Road to Helll), Richard Marx (Right here.. ), Clayderman (piano - What a wonderful world), Clayderman (piano - Chariots of Fire), Pan Pipes (My heart will go on), Kenny G (Sax - Going Home), Bombay Jayashree (Lullaby - Kulasekhara Perumal), Saint Tyagaraja (Endaro Mahanubhavulu, Narayanaswamy and group), Johann Pachelbel (Canon, violin concert with Cello), Jagjit Singh (Kahi Door..).
Knopfler, Chris Rea and Jagjit Singh for their voices, Clayderman's What A Wonderful World for its sheer spectral range and sound stage creation, Bombay Jayashree's lullaby for its melody and serenity, Narayanaswamy Group's rendering of Endaro Mahanubhavulu for the sound stage creation and finally Pachelbel's Canon for its strong Cello presence, transients, whispers and the crescendo. These may or may not be appropriate as test tracks, but this is the music I listen to. I have read on this forum that I better use music that I listen to, for audition. That is what I tried to do.
For auditioning the surround effects, I was using the AVMAX DVD released in their October '08 magazine.
The MA BR5 is more expensive compared to KEF iQ5 by at least about Rs.6000. The KEF iQ5 is more expensive than the Wharfedale 9.5 by about Rs.8000. I am talking about the floorstander pair alone. As Venkat pointed out elsewhere on this forum, naturally, I would be forced to buy matching center & surround speakers: MA LCR/BRFx or KEF iQ2c/iQ1 or Wharfedale 9.CS/9.DFS.
I mention KEF iQ1 for surround, since the KEF dipoles are very expensive (more than twice of KEF iQ1 pair). Also, the highly rated KEF iQ5-SE is not available in India, at least not in Chennai, as per Pro FX. So iQ5 is my only option in KEF.
Having given you all the information above, so at this stage I depend on you guys, the experts here to guide me through the final decision. As I mentioned elsewhere, the lounge size is 11' wide (separation of floorstanders) and 13' deep (listening distance).
Music reproduction and a good sound stage are my priorities, movies watched only once in 2 weeks.
Please help guys.
- Vue