Hi,
It so happened that i wanted to upgrade my Yamaha 8390 speakers and was looking for an update.. The list i had in my mind was Polk RTIA 7/9, MA Bronze 6, paradigm 9 or 11, Dali zensor 7 and Focal chorous series, Klipsch and Jamo..Budget was around 80K. And 90 % music and 10 % movies
I started my auditioning with Dali zensor 7..
Dali:Its a very musical speaker! Playing instrumental stuff like jazz, shehnai, Santoor etc is amazing to hear. What i did not like is the bass response. I like thumping bass. Not that the bass is less in Zensor 7.. but for my taste i like musicality as well as good bass response. Somehow i did not want to put a sub as it should have good acoustic room to really make the bass smooth else you end up adjusting sub volume and cross overs to suit most tracks. While having audition for zensor 7, i had chance to audition Opticon and Rubicon. They were awesome! Right bass right musicality and somehow it feels like vacuum between instruments!! all this was played on Marantz AVR 5006 and denon Cd player. BUT out of my budget.. I decided to move on and audition Polk.
POLK: I auditioned RTI A7 and S55 series.
POLK RTI A7: This was the right mix of bass punch and high frequencies i wanted!! It is a bit compromise on vocals though. But that doesnt break the deal.. It was driven by Denon 4100. Played lot jazz, indian classical , pop and i found the best overall frequency response.
Cabasse Java MC40: There i had chance to audition cabasse also.. Excellent highs and vocals!! its like being there !! Nothing would match in this price range.. But bass was a bit less ..and yes price was almost around 1.6 lac which makes it out of my budget. But if i had this budget. surely this was my speaker and probably would have to compromise with adding a sub. This speaker is capable of bringing out so much details in your music tracks. go for it if you have the budget!!!
S55: Well, the bass is too good..but Somehow i did not like the signature sound of this speaker. Suits movies more than music.
Then moved ahead to audition the klipsch and Jamo.
Klipsch R28F... This speaker has a bit strong tweeter..The horn tweeter makes it very bright.. But i must say, at lower volumes this is not a problem..while auditioning , the volumes are typically higher than homes.. but for home use it could probably be ok.. The bass was really good and higher sensitivity makes it perfect to be driven by lesser power amps...well may be.. i haven't tried it. Klipsch , i must say would be good with tube amps and LP. More over, its a movie speaker.
Jamo D590: Excellent bass!!! i would have gone with this series but i heard that it is very old and not in production any more. The mid was a bit noisy or muddy i would say. Highs were ok.
Jamo S626/C95.. When i had bought Yamaha 5 yrs ago , i had auditioned Jamo(some older version of S626 existed then) and i was in love with it. The side firing sub was too good..But, somehow i did not feel it here.. It sounded very dull..Guitar sounds excellent on this though. Somehow i thought it was not for my taste.
Moved on to demo MA :
MA bronze 5: This was the one i had thought of buying.. i had auditioned it when buying my denon avr. I auditioned it and thought bass was good..Highs were good too..but went a bit muddy/noisy with mids..something like shehnai would not sound sweet... i got a chance to audition the Paradigm Monitor 7 too:
Monitor 7: It was so musical!!! its like it adds a bit sugar to your music and makes it sweet.. a harsh sounding bell like sound would also sound sweet here!! But the bass response starts at 42 hz.. which was quiet evident in auditioning.. also definition of bass was not so good..
Dynaudio M30: this speaker was also there and i had almost zeroed in on this speaker. It was awesome!!! Sounded so natural..but a bit above my budget..lacks definition in bass though.
Focal : I heard the chorus series(both 726 and 716) and some how i did not like the sound..the basic signature sound did not meet my choice.. It is good speaker if you are classical and instrumental music kind of a listener.. Vocals were very good.
and guess, i got a chance to audition the Big Daddy of speakers.... Maestro Eutopia Evo.. It was excellent!! costs 1 Cr with the amp and it sounds better than being there.. All frequencies are perfect!!!!!! No words can describe it. There is nothing like signature sound for this speaker..everything sounds like it should!
Now the decision was in Klipsch, Polk and Monitor 9 or 11(with extending the budget a bit for Monitor 11)
Klipsch, the bass response that I liked was a bit above my budget and santoor sound would add a bit bass like sound with the 8 inch woofer models. Now Monitor 9 or 11 sounded really good.. i had to make a decision if i was ok with the bass response and may have to add a sub later.. Finally did one more round of audition of Polk RTIa 7 and zeroed it down to it.. It was in my budget, is real wood, has rubber surrounds, frequency response down to 30 hz hearable..(if i Play 20 hz, the cones do move but unable to hear it..may be somebody can explain this..could be my ear limitation!!) The tweeter is excellent. No coloration at all.. all instruments sound separate.. Currently driving it with my old Denon AVR 500.. But i must say with this AVR also, it sounds good!! Not as good as it was with Denon 4100..
Some cons with this speaker would be Mid range.. It is not as good as it should be.. Not sure if it improves once it opens up.. Another is requires high power amp..various forums say it will sound good with amps beyond 125 watts per channel..not sure..Need to audition it to believe it. And yes excellent bass !!!! As i wanted it! Something like the new "hamma hamma: song, or Beyonce "irreplaceable" or "what a wonderful world" by Eva Cassidy sound excellent.
Anyone going for this speaker, I would recommend to audition the combination of a polk subwoofer and RTI A5.. you might get good bass if you are ok with sub and good vocals also..MAY be.
One last word for my old NS 8390, comparison with Polk RTIA 7 is not fair,BUT,YOU WONT GET ANYTHING BETTER AT THIS PRICE!!
Thanks for reading so patiently!!
Amit.
It so happened that i wanted to upgrade my Yamaha 8390 speakers and was looking for an update.. The list i had in my mind was Polk RTIA 7/9, MA Bronze 6, paradigm 9 or 11, Dali zensor 7 and Focal chorous series, Klipsch and Jamo..Budget was around 80K. And 90 % music and 10 % movies
I started my auditioning with Dali zensor 7..
Dali:Its a very musical speaker! Playing instrumental stuff like jazz, shehnai, Santoor etc is amazing to hear. What i did not like is the bass response. I like thumping bass. Not that the bass is less in Zensor 7.. but for my taste i like musicality as well as good bass response. Somehow i did not want to put a sub as it should have good acoustic room to really make the bass smooth else you end up adjusting sub volume and cross overs to suit most tracks. While having audition for zensor 7, i had chance to audition Opticon and Rubicon. They were awesome! Right bass right musicality and somehow it feels like vacuum between instruments!! all this was played on Marantz AVR 5006 and denon Cd player. BUT out of my budget.. I decided to move on and audition Polk.
POLK: I auditioned RTI A7 and S55 series.
POLK RTI A7: This was the right mix of bass punch and high frequencies i wanted!! It is a bit compromise on vocals though. But that doesnt break the deal.. It was driven by Denon 4100. Played lot jazz, indian classical , pop and i found the best overall frequency response.
Cabasse Java MC40: There i had chance to audition cabasse also.. Excellent highs and vocals!! its like being there !! Nothing would match in this price range.. But bass was a bit less ..and yes price was almost around 1.6 lac which makes it out of my budget. But if i had this budget. surely this was my speaker and probably would have to compromise with adding a sub. This speaker is capable of bringing out so much details in your music tracks. go for it if you have the budget!!!
S55: Well, the bass is too good..but Somehow i did not like the signature sound of this speaker. Suits movies more than music.
Then moved ahead to audition the klipsch and Jamo.
Klipsch R28F... This speaker has a bit strong tweeter..The horn tweeter makes it very bright.. But i must say, at lower volumes this is not a problem..while auditioning , the volumes are typically higher than homes.. but for home use it could probably be ok.. The bass was really good and higher sensitivity makes it perfect to be driven by lesser power amps...well may be.. i haven't tried it. Klipsch , i must say would be good with tube amps and LP. More over, its a movie speaker.
Jamo D590: Excellent bass!!! i would have gone with this series but i heard that it is very old and not in production any more. The mid was a bit noisy or muddy i would say. Highs were ok.
Jamo S626/C95.. When i had bought Yamaha 5 yrs ago , i had auditioned Jamo(some older version of S626 existed then) and i was in love with it. The side firing sub was too good..But, somehow i did not feel it here.. It sounded very dull..Guitar sounds excellent on this though. Somehow i thought it was not for my taste.
Moved on to demo MA :
MA bronze 5: This was the one i had thought of buying.. i had auditioned it when buying my denon avr. I auditioned it and thought bass was good..Highs were good too..but went a bit muddy/noisy with mids..something like shehnai would not sound sweet... i got a chance to audition the Paradigm Monitor 7 too:
Monitor 7: It was so musical!!! its like it adds a bit sugar to your music and makes it sweet.. a harsh sounding bell like sound would also sound sweet here!! But the bass response starts at 42 hz.. which was quiet evident in auditioning.. also definition of bass was not so good..
Dynaudio M30: this speaker was also there and i had almost zeroed in on this speaker. It was awesome!!! Sounded so natural..but a bit above my budget..lacks definition in bass though.
Focal : I heard the chorus series(both 726 and 716) and some how i did not like the sound..the basic signature sound did not meet my choice.. It is good speaker if you are classical and instrumental music kind of a listener.. Vocals were very good.
and guess, i got a chance to audition the Big Daddy of speakers.... Maestro Eutopia Evo.. It was excellent!! costs 1 Cr with the amp and it sounds better than being there.. All frequencies are perfect!!!!!! No words can describe it. There is nothing like signature sound for this speaker..everything sounds like it should!
Now the decision was in Klipsch, Polk and Monitor 9 or 11(with extending the budget a bit for Monitor 11)
Klipsch, the bass response that I liked was a bit above my budget and santoor sound would add a bit bass like sound with the 8 inch woofer models. Now Monitor 9 or 11 sounded really good.. i had to make a decision if i was ok with the bass response and may have to add a sub later.. Finally did one more round of audition of Polk RTIa 7 and zeroed it down to it.. It was in my budget, is real wood, has rubber surrounds, frequency response down to 30 hz hearable..(if i Play 20 hz, the cones do move but unable to hear it..may be somebody can explain this..could be my ear limitation!!) The tweeter is excellent. No coloration at all.. all instruments sound separate.. Currently driving it with my old Denon AVR 500.. But i must say with this AVR also, it sounds good!! Not as good as it was with Denon 4100..
Some cons with this speaker would be Mid range.. It is not as good as it should be.. Not sure if it improves once it opens up.. Another is requires high power amp..various forums say it will sound good with amps beyond 125 watts per channel..not sure..Need to audition it to believe it. And yes excellent bass !!!! As i wanted it! Something like the new "hamma hamma: song, or Beyonce "irreplaceable" or "what a wonderful world" by Eva Cassidy sound excellent.
Anyone going for this speaker, I would recommend to audition the combination of a polk subwoofer and RTI A5.. you might get good bass if you are ok with sub and good vocals also..MAY be.
One last word for my old NS 8390, comparison with Polk RTIA 7 is not fair,BUT,YOU WONT GET ANYTHING BETTER AT THIS PRICE!!
Thanks for reading so patiently!!
Amit.
