Mission M35i and Norge 1000...First experiences

columbus

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Joined
Feb 27, 2009
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Location
Bhopal
Hi! guys...

First off all a big thanks for the wealth of information on this forum. I have benefitted so much from this forum. Keep up the good work of spreading the "sound"...:clapping:

I grew up listening to the likes of Pink Flyod, DireStraits, Eagles, mettalica...
The last band i followed was Guns & Roses. After which i think Rock never reached that heights of 70s and 80s or may be i lost interest because i joined an engineering college in the Hindi heartland of Madhya Pradesh where listening to Rock music was considered "Oversmatness"..:D

After a decade of working in a PSU, marriage and a kid, music never came in the list. Couple of months before, i hit upon this forum and the desire of listening to something good rekindled. My current setup was a sony dvd player combined with a 18 year old Philips Power House system. Some of you may remember it ... a black cube with 3 levels..a double cassette deck at bottom, a graphic equaliser in the middle and an FM radio at the top. Served me well for all these years. Recently i think its amp got busted because of shorting of speaker wires. It has those push type spring loaded connections.

So the quest for a new 2.0 system started. Set a budget of 40-50K for CD player + Amplifier + Speakers + cables and interconnects.

Living in a small city like Bhopal has some of its disadvantages. None of the Hi-Fi brands have a shop here. Sony/lg/samsung is what sells here which i think is certainly not Hi-Fi grade. Onkyo did open a shop here through e-zone but closed in 6 months for lack of market :sad:. The poor guy could'nt manage to sell a single system. :lol:
Coming to Mumbai or some other place and staying there for a week and auditioning different brands was just not possible for me because of logistics ...expenditure and leaves from office. However thanks to people like you all guys like me can make some reasonable judgements and take calculated risks :thumbsup:.
So after hours of pouring in the threads on this forum i zeroed down on following

CD Player

Oppo 980H (black colour)
$190 - Rs 9500/-

I was in look out for an upscaling video player with ability to play different formats and have good audio cd playback. Could not afford a dedicated CD player like Marantz or CA or NAD. Oppo 980H fitted the bill perfectly.
Hence got it through a friend coming from US. The best part is its 110-240 Volt compliant.

Amplifier

Norge 1000 (black colour)
Rs 9750 + Rs 400 for Shipping

Here again severe budget constraints were there and hence zeroed down on Norge. 2060/2000/1000. Finally got the Norge 1000

Speakers

Mission M35i (black ash colour)
Rs. 25000 + Rs 2750 for shipping

Here as usual was the most confusion. My room size is 15x12. First was wheather to go for bookshelves or floorstanders. But with a six year old kid in the house i was not at all comfortable with expensive speakers on stands.
So that pretty much sealed the fate...Floorstanders it is.
I had initially set a budget of 15K for the speakers but it seemed that there is no free lunch. Hence upped my budget to 25K. Based on many of the posts
regarding pairing of speakers with Norge amplifiers narrowed down on to two brands. Wharfedale / Missions.
Now how the heck i hear these speakers let alone with Norge. Finally managed to hear mission m34i paired with Onkyo 606 in Bangalore at a friend's friend place. Liked the sound coming out of it. Could not manage to hear wharfes 9.5 in Bangalore due to shortage of time.

Decision time.....based on suprateeps review of mission m35i took the plunge and ordered them from Vijay Sales Mumbai. I like my equipments to be in black.

Cables & interconnects

12 AWG oxygen free copper cables from Monoprice. Gold plated screw type banana connectors from Monoprice.

cable cost $23 for 100 ft. Banana plugs - $10 for 4 pairs.

Having grown up always with a shortage of funds i could not justify myself of buying 125-150 rs/m cables. moreover my budget was crossing the limits. Read about monoprice and decided to buy a spool of 100 ft 12AWG cables for
current and future use. Got it along with oppo from US.
For connecting the 980H with the Norge i am currently using rca cables which came with 980H.

Oppo and cables were with me for past 3 months and speakers and amps arrived at home a week back.:yahoo:

So with a Total cost of Rs. 50K i manged to set up a "budget" 2.0 system. Pretty expensive for me though...litrellay had to pay through my nose for shelling out 50K. Blessed are those with unlimited funds...!!

To be contd..
 
Hi colombus,

You had very good combo of stereo system package that you have decided buy within your fixed budget and the posts by our forum member suprateep.

A very warm welcome for another stereo music lover in this forum, enjoy your stereo music all the way.

Give your reviews about your systems perfomance from the initial playback stage and after some long time burn-in stage for amplifier,cd player and speakers.

Best wishes...................:clapping::clapping:
 
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Congrats, mate.

Got urself a good stereo setup.:licklips: But, more imporatnat, though u had to pay through ur nose ,u were able to get setup to ur liking.:yahoo::clapping: It is not easy to always get what u want on a PSU salary.

Ennjoyyy ur setup and post ur review of the system.
 
hi, congrats on your purchase. I hope it gives you listening pleasure for years to come. BTW, There is no relation between money & satisfaction. People can be happy with rs 2000 2.1 system & there are some people who are unhappy even after spending lacs of rupees. So if you get satisfation , then what you have got is a hi end system for you.
 
Nice to hear about your hifi adventure. Now we wait for the reviews on the SQ ... :)

Cheers
 
very good choice of components for a budget setup.the oppo is a great all in one player with great cd playin abilities,the missions are great vfm and so is the norge imo.enjoy ur music and do let us know how u find them to be.the m35i takes some time to open up,like most others,but there is a stage when u can literally feel them come alive!!!!happy listenin!!cheers
 
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Hi Columbus,
Congratulations for your new stereo setup.:yahoo:
The M35i is real value and looks beautiful.

Madhya Pradesh...Immm. I studied till 2nd standard in Korba.
Dad was working in KSTPP-Korba Super Thermal Power Project.
You reminded me my childhood days.:signthankspin:

Continue your review and Enjoy your setup.
Good Luck,
Samuel:)
 
thats a great deal - personally i have tested the norge 1000 with the m35 - its sounds good. Great bass response, nice and open midrange, soft treble. Good choice of oppo too - though i am yet to come across a Oppo here in Pune - but judged from the response in this forums and a lot others seems to be a great VFM solution.

Post some pictures and maybe a review of the same soon
 
Hi Columbus,

The last band i followed was Guns & Roses. After which i think Rock never reached that heights of 70s and 80s or may be i lost interest because i joined an engineering college in the Hindi heartland of Madhya Pradesh where listening to Rock music was considered "Oversmatness"..

I can very well understand your statement. I also spent my four years in Bhopal. And I think there is one New Market and one big lake.
Anyways your stereo setup is very good.

Thanks,
Vivekam
 
Hi Columbus,

For 50k its a great setup i think. The Oppo has got a good reputation for playing red book cds.I have read it is better than CD players
costing upto 25k. Mission and Norge enjoy a lot of goodwill in the forum. I can empathise with you for over reaching to get what you want.It is the case of most of the guys:). Though u have paid thro your nose,the silver lining is u will be compensated thro ur ears with beautiful music:D

Have a nice musical journey!

Regards,
ash
 
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Congrats Columbus..
I too had Norge 1000 few years back and i am sure its a great VFM product..will keep you happy for years.
I remember there is a shop in mansarovar complex who deals in mid HiFi brands, yeah but true that guy is a poor chap dont even holds three setups..
anyway, do invite me to listen to your setup, not necessarily with single malt,a plain coffee will do:)
 
Congrats columbus for coming back to the stereo world, i too have a Norge 1000 but speakers are wharf 9.1. Nice choice VFM
 
Congrats, mate.

Got urself a good stereo setup.:licklips: But, more imporatnat, though u had to pay through ur nose ,u were able to get setup to ur liking.:yahoo::clapping: It is not easy to always get what u want on a PSU salary.

Ennjoyyy ur setup and post ur review of the system.

Thanks yogesh....completely agree with your opinion on PSU salary..:lol:

hi, congrats on your purchase. I hope it gives you listening pleasure for years to come. BTW, There is no relation between money & satisfaction. People can be happy with rs 2000 2.1 system & there are some people who are unhappy even after spending lacs of rupees. So if you get satisfation , then what you have got is a hi end system for you.

Very correct...


Gobble, rallynut..

Thanks..
SQ review coming shortly
 
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thats a great deal - personally i have tested the norge 1000 with the m35 - its sounds good. Great bass response, nice and open midrange, soft treble. Good choice of oppo too - though i am yet to come across a Oppo here in Pune - but judged from the response in this forums and a lot others seems to be a great VFM solution.

Post some pictures and maybe a review of the same soon


A big thanks to you mate....your advice had been spot on....:clapping:
 
Hi Columbus,

I can very well understand your statement. I also spent my four years in Bhopal. And I think there is one New Market and one big lake.
Anyways your stereo setup is very good.

Thanks,
Vivekam

:lol:...you forgot to add one ice cream parlour in New market..:lol:

Hi Columbus,

For 50k its a great setup i think. The Oppo has got a good reputation for playing red book cds.I have read it is better than CD players
costing upto 25k. Mission and Norge enjoy a lot of goodwill in the forum. I can empathise with you for over reaching to get what you want.It is the case of most of the guys:). Though u have paid thro your nose,the silver lining is u will be compensated thro ur ears with beautiful music:D

Have a nice musical journey!

Regards,
ash

Thanks ashwin
I am already seeing that silver lining and each day its turning into a golden one..!!
 
Congrats Columbus..
I too had Norge 1000 few years back and i am sure its a great VFM product..will keep you happy for years.
I remember there is a shop in mansarovar complex who deals in mid HiFi brands, yeah but true that guy is a poor chap dont even holds three setups..
anyway, do invite me to listen to your setup, not necessarily with single malt,a plain coffee will do:)

Bobby you are more than welcome at my house. Where do you stay in Bhopal..??...And that shop in Mansarovar complex has also closed down..:sad:
it was an Onkyo showroom..

Congrats columbus for coming back to the stereo world, i too have a Norge 1000 but speakers are wharf 9.1. Nice choice VFM

Yes svknd...it real VFM..
 
Thanks guys for all your support.

here is the initial SQ reports. But do take it with a pinch of salt. The best Hi-Fi i have ever heared is my car audio system. An original pioneer cd player
paired with kenwood 4 way 6x9 speakers in back and front door speakers which came in stock in my car. So no audiophile history. Also i hear a bit loud so my wife thinks i am half deaf. So again take this review with a pinch of salt...;)

I listen to many types of music ...70s-80s rock, good hindi film music..like Taare Jameen pe, Rock on, Jism...gazals from Jagjit & Chitra singh, old 70s 80s hindi film music like...ijaazat, arth, masoom,ghar.....infact i hear anything which i feel like hearing. But to classify broadly 40% Rock, 35% Hindi Film and rest 25% to gazals.

The Missions were purchased from Vijay Sales mumbai prabhadevi branch. Talked to Robert on phone. Deposited the amount in their ICICI account. The missions are available ex stock now and no waiting period. Choice of colours were 2 Beach or Black ash. I chose Black for i like equipments to be Black. They were shipped by Blue Dart and was charged a bit steep amount of shipping 2750/- which i had pay on delivery. An MP govt form no. 50 is required to sent along with the shipment which i had to send to Blue Dart mumbai. The speakers arrived safely at my home.

First impressions...OH My GOD ...they are huge...or shall i say Massive...but they look great and in Black colour they certainly convey business. Try lifting
them alone and you are bound to get slipdisc..... :)i was appehensive whether such huge speakers would sound good in a 15x12 room...

The Norge was ordered from Eastern Electronics. talking to Mr. Bajaj was a delight. I specifically asked the 1000 in Black colour. For Black hides many finishing defects..! The Norge amp is heavy. Weighs around 8.5 KG. The front
looks are fine but i hate that green coloured on of switch. Mr. Bajaj please give us a push button type switch with nice small round red light. The speaker wire binding posts are nothing to talk about. The hole for screw fitting the wire is small ..certainly not for 12AWG wire. But it does accepts Banana connectors which served my purpose.:thumbsup:

No need to talk about the Oppo.....its a fabulous beauty to look at...:licklips:

Hooking up the system using banana plugs is a breeze and had it all wired in no time. Time for the litmus test..

The first CD that put in was Mettalica...

WHAM....I could not believe what i was hearing. I guess now i understand what blown away means...exceptional sound quality.
All my fears about these speakers were put to rest. The treble was controlled. The bass was tight with no overlapping...every instrument sounding crystal clear. And they produce some bone feeling Bass :eek:hyeah:.but very tight no looseness. No need for a sub...at least for me. The result was same for Doors, Dire starits, Pink flyod.....exceptional. All these CDs were listened at 9:00 clock position of the amps volume knob. :yahoo:

Then it was time for some hindi movie stuff. Put in Taare zameen pe.....and VOW...the vocals were super clear...the guitar strings of Kholo Kholo Darwaje was just what i wanted to hear. Then came the CD of Jism...the voice of
shreya goshal sounded excellent. Though felt that treble was slightly more. This may be due to the fact the flooring is marble without any carpet. But no complaints...too good. The put in Rang de Basanti and the result was excellent...:yahoo:

Now the last 25% of my tastes

When i decided on a Floor stander i knew that i'll be compromising on the gazal part of the music and i was right to a certain extent. I put in a live recording of Jagjit singh and lets say it was not exceptional. I had couple of more Gazals Cds. The sound varied from Good to very good depending on the CD quality. They sounded a bit boomy. But this boominess was not there in the Rock or Hindi...??
Things improved marginally on reduction of bass and increase of treble in the amp. Toed them in slightly. The sound stageing is there...i could make put where tabla was playing, where the guitar was....but the music was not crystal clear. I'll live with it ..may be it will improve after couple of months..:D

My system now runs for about 3 hrs a day and everytime i listen to it i feel elated.... Yersterday had a session of :cheers: with it and pure heaven...

All in all i think it was money well spent.....:clapping::clapping:

I'll be updating with time about the SQ ...have myself to learn a lot...

A big :signthankspin: to all you guys..
 
positioning is important with the m35 in a smaller room and someetime these require no toe-ins for that perfect sound. With bad quality source material or mp3's the boominess comes in - i tried it with original CDs and mp3s at 256kbps - so stick with good source material.

I was myslef gunning for the Norge 1000 and probably will buy it but for the last 3 days I am sticking to the Miniwatt - and IMHO the sound staging is on of the best i have heard and I never belived that the missions could be this nice.

Onlyy glitch with the missions - had the sensitivity been a little higher (its 91-92dB) - i would not have to play the miniwatt at 80-905 volume to reach ref. levels. Overall my experience with the missions over the last 5 months have been exceptional.
 
:D congrats man, this happiness is all that this hi-fi quest is all about! And I totally identify with your pushing the budget situation.

I started two months back thinking I'll buy a CD player to go with my Audioengine 2s. I've got the CD player now. Then I wanted to upgrade the Audioengine 2 to the Audioengine 5. Now it's become a quest for a separate amp speaker combo, and it looks like I am going to be spending about 30k on the amp and speakers.

I am hoping that once i buy this amp and speakers, I won't get the upgrade bug for some time at least.

Thanks guys for all your support.

here is the initial SQ reports. But do take it with a pinch of salt. The best Hi-Fi i have ever heared is my car audio system. An original pioneer cd player
paired with kenwood 4 way 6x9 speakers in back and front door speakers which came in stock in my car. So no audiophile history. Also i hear a bit loud so my wife thinks i am half deaf. So again take this review with a pinch of salt...;)

I listen to many types of music ...70s-80s rock, good hindi film music..like Taare Jameen pe, Rock on, Jism...gazals from Jagjit & Chitra singh, old 70s 80s hindi film music like...ijaazat, arth, masoom,ghar.....infact i hear anything which i feel like hearing. But to classify broadly 40% Rock, 35% Hindi Film and rest 25% to gazals.

The Missions were purchased from Vijay Sales mumbai prabhadevi branch. Talked to Robert on phone. Deposited the amount in their ICICI account. The missions are available ex stock now and no waiting period. Choice of colours were 2 Beach or Black ash. I chose Black for i like equipments to be Black. They were shipped by Blue Dart and was charged a bit steep amount of shipping 2750/- which i had pay on delivery. An MP govt form no. 50 is required to sent along with the shipment which i had to send to Blue Dart mumbai. The speakers arrived safely at my home.

First impressions...OH My GOD ...they are huge...or shall i say Massive...but they look great and in Black colour they certainly convey business. Try lifting
them alone and you are bound to get slipdisc..... :)i was appehensive whether such huge speakers would sound good in a 15x12 room...

The Norge was ordered from Eastern Electronics. talking to Mr. Bajaj was a delight. I specifically asked the 1000 in Black colour. For Black hides many finishing defects..! The Norge amp is heavy. Weighs around 8.5 KG. The front
looks are fine but i hate that green coloured on of switch. Mr. Bajaj please give us a push button type switch with nice small round red light. The speaker wire binding posts are nothing to talk about. The hole for screw fitting the wire is small ..certainly not for 12AWG wire. But it does accepts Banana connectors which served my purpose.:thumbsup:

No need to talk about the Oppo.....its a fabulous beauty to look at...:licklips:

Hooking up the system using banana plugs is a breeze and had it all wired in no time. Time for the litmus test..

The first CD that put in was Mettalica...

WHAM....I could not believe what i was hearing. I guess now i understand what blown away means...exceptional sound quality.
All my fears about these speakers were put to rest. The treble was controlled. The bass was tight with no overlapping...every instrument sounding crystal clear. And they produce some bone feeling Bass :eek:hyeah:.but very tight no looseness. No need for a sub...at least for me. The result was same for Doors, Dire starits, Pink flyod.....exceptional. All these CDs were listened at 9:00 clock position of the amps volume knob. :yahoo:

Then it was time for some hindi movie stuff. Put in Taare zameen pe.....and VOW...the vocals were super clear...the guitar strings of Kholo Kholo Darwaje was just what i wanted to hear. Then came the CD of Jism...the voice of
shreya goshal sounded excellent. Though felt that treble was slightly more. This may be due to the fact the flooring is marble without any carpet. But no complaints...too good. The put in Rang de Basanti and the result was excellent...:yahoo:

Now the last 25% of my tastes

When i decided on a Floor stander i knew that i'll be compromising on the gazal part of the music and i was right to a certain extent. I put in a live recording of Jagjit singh and lets say it was not exceptional. I had couple of more Gazals Cds. The sound varied from Good to very good depending on the CD quality. They sounded a bit boomy. But this boominess was not there in the Rock or Hindi...??
Things improved marginally on reduction of bass and increase of treble in the amp. Toed them in slightly. The sound stageing is there...i could make put where tabla was playing, where the guitar was....but the music was not crystal clear. I'll live with it ..may be it will improve after couple of months..:D

My system now runs for about 3 hrs a day and everytime i listen to it i feel elated.... Yersterday had a session of :cheers: with it and pure heaven...

All in all i think it was money well spent.....:clapping::clapping:

I'll be updating with time about the SQ ...have myself to learn a lot...

A big :signthankspin: to all you guys..
 
positioning is important with the m35 in a smaller room and someetime these require no toe-ins for that perfect sound. With bad quality source material or mp3's the boominess comes in - i tried it with original CDs and mp3s at 256kbps - so stick with good source material.

Congrats Columbus... nice review, so lively...

Supra: It would be good if you can give Columbus some advise on burn in period for M35is and how better it can be done.
 
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