Krell 400xi

[neo]

Good advice by prithvi
Creek is/was distributed by Refrence point Banglore (080-25257246).
All the best
Cheers

 

[Asit]

Hi Jai,

I recently was in Mumbai and had a chance to hear a few good set-ups and compare with mine at home. I heard a Rethm Saadhna driven by a Rethm SET amp and very expensive sources and rack. This system sounded quite similar to mine at home (in tonality, separation, imaging, dynamics etc). There was a presence of all instruments and vocals separately and the speakers vanish with quite precise imaging -same at home. However, this system had a bit more slam than mine; at the same time mine has more clarity. The owner said he just changed the tubes and a few power cords. So with burn-in, that part would also improve. If you ever come to Kolkata, you are welcome to hear my very modest system and I'd be interested to know about your impressions on the comparison I have made here.

I have a Leben CS300 tube amp driving a pair of Canton Karat 60 huge bookshelf speakers (placed on DIY stands made by Cranky) bought 21 years ago. I suppose one may have to go to the current Canton Reference series speakers to match my old speakers (they were also hand made). They are 3-way, with 10" woofers.

Regards.

 

[jai1611]

Thanks for sharing your experience Asit and the generous offer to listen to your system. Hopefully, I'll be travelling to Kolkata sometime next month. Will contact you ahead of that. Looking forward to another system that is in the same league as the Saadhanas.

 

[prem]

Hi Asit

It was a pleasure having you over. It was nice to meet someone who valued tone and harmonics. What you heard is probably not even 70% of what the system is capable of. More than the tubes it is the powercords which need to burn in.

 

[Asit]

Now that one of my hosts in Mumbai has revealed his name, it's a bit easier to talk.

Thanks Prem and your wife for the wonderful hospitality extended to me, including the great lunch. I quite liked your system. It looks and sounds great. I liked your home too, very very tastefully done. I drew a plan of your home (as much as I saw) and showed it to my wife.

Jai, you are very welcome to my place next month. So far the evenings of March 6, 15 and 16 are taken. Please let me know a bit ahead of time. What is your favourite genre of music?

Regards.

 

[Dr.Bass]

Hi Asit

It was a pleasure having you over. It was nice to meet someone who valued tone and harmonics. What you heard is probably not even 70% of what the system is capable of. More than the tubes it is the powercords which need to burn in.

:yahoo::yahoo:

 

[prem]

Hi Asit

You are most welcome. Next time you are around, you can see the full house and take pictures if you wish.

In fact i would be delighted if you could send me a short list of well recorded indian classical cds. Though i have been born and brought up in a family which values classical music, unfortunately i have no understanding of it. To begin with i would not like something very heavy. I thought the Chanda Dhaara recordings you had brought along sounded pretty good.

 

[prem]

Hi Dr Bass

I really did not quite understand your joy. Am i missing something.

 

[Dr.Bass]

No offence Prem buddy...it was just a tongue in the cheek expression.
Considering that there was a big debate on a separate thread about the effect of power cord at all....here we are talking of power cord burn in...
BTW, I definitely understand what an unburnt power cord can sound like.

 

[prem]

Hi Dr Bass

I was just curious about your comment. Hence the post.

 

[ajay124]

Hi!
I am looking for an Integrated or a Pre Power Amp for Dynaudio Audience122.
Music-Western Classical,Jazz,Rock.
Room 25/16 Feet.
Want to choose between :
Nad C375
Nad 165/275
Odyssey Cyclops
Tempest/Stratos
Tempest/Khartago
Read the posts on Odyssey.How do they compare with the Nad?
Would appreciate all information/opinions regarding performance/prices

 

[jai1611]

I'm not particularly fond of the Nad sound so am not the right person to comment on that combo. Among the Odyssey amps, I dont think the Khartago/Cyclops will be able to do justice to your speakers. The Stratos extreme should. I havent heard their preamps so cant comment on those. In general, the Audience 122 would have higher power requirements than the bookshelves (the extra woofer would demand extra current).

 

[Dr.Bass]

Read the posts on Odyssey.How do they compare with the Nad?

Where do I start..
NAD is Maruti while Odyssey is Toyota...
Even the best NADs cannot come close to an entry level Odyssey and its likes.

Offtopic: I am not sure why NADs are so over hyped and over discussed. So much so that any one buying an amp is almost bound to add a NAD to his shortlist lest it may seem incomplete.

 

[longshanks]

Where do I start..
NAD is Maruti while Odyssey is Toyota...

Then i guess u must say Nad is Maruthi while Odyssey is Nissan.

Cause in my experience Toyota and Maruthi have the same quality but Toyota sells for a way higher price.Maruthi swift has better quality interiors than the Toyota corolla and it also drives better.

 

[Asit]

Hi Asit

You are most welcome. Next time you are around, you can see the full house and take pictures if you wish.

In fact i would be delighted if you could send me a short list of well recorded indian classical cds. Though i have been born and brought up in a family which values classical music, unfortunately i have no understanding of it. To begin with i would not like something very heavy. I thought the Chanda Dhaara recordings you had brought along sounded pretty good.

Thanks Prem. Regarding Indian classical music CDs, it's difficult to find good quality recording, mastering and pressing. Indian pressings are terrible in general. A lot of my good quality CDs are actually bought abroad. Many of the Indian artistes who tour Europe and the US actually record with many small/big recording companies. Most of these are usually not available in India but you get them in stores abroad, sometimes even in Indian grocery stores. But many of the Chhanda-Dhara CDs are available in the music superstores in India. Make sure it's an imported one. Most of them will have German pressings, some older ones will have even Japanese pressings.

If Jai forgives me for continuing to be a bit off-topic here, I remember from our discussions at your place you changed to or from KT88 tubes. I was wondering: Are there SET amps with KT88? When I auditioned the Cayin A88T amp almost an year ago in Kolkata, I remember it had an ultralinear (triode?) mode (halving its output power from 40+ wpc to 20+ wpc). Can you clarify on this by detailing the tube rolling here?

Regards.

 

[prem]

Hi Asit

The Cayin 88 amp is push pull. You can use it in ultralinear mode too. The Cary amp is also similar.

The Rethm amp is single ended. Currently i use it in ultralinear mode. I can also configure it in the triode mode. The 13 watter is in ultralinear mode. If i switch to triode mode rating will be about 6 watts. The Audiopax 88 is a famous single ended design using KT88 tubes.

The Rethm amp accepts both KT88 or the 6550. Initially i had the Gold Lion KT88 reissues. Recently i changed to Tungsol 6550 NOS.

 

[jai1611]

Does anyone here have any experience with YBA equipment? The YA201 / YC201 are apparently available in Mumbai.

 

[prem]

Thanks Audio_Engr. Will try and get my hands on them.

 

[Asit]

Hi Jai,

Yes the YBA's you are talking about are not the original YBA's, they are rather called YBA Design (I guess designed by YBA and manufactured somewhere in the far East). Yes, they are now available in India.

Please look at this post http://www.hifivision.com/amplifier...n-speakers-feasibility-study-5.html#post30871 and the discussion following that. You shall find the contacts for the Indian distributor and also the information from Dinyaar that they were available at the store Boom-a-rang.

For a while I was interested, but quickly moved on to what I thought better products. That thread (mentioned above) has a lot of information about amps and related stuff. However, you will need about 10 days to read it fully .

Regards.

 

[jai1611]

Thanks Asit. I've read through bits and bobs of the thread but not the whole thing. Its too daunting ly long.

I'm ok with Made-in-China stuff as long as the product is good and quality control is up to scratch. After all, labour arbitrage is a fact of life in the manufacturing world these days.