New Saadhanas on order
- Thread starter prem
- Start date
Jacob George
New Member
Hello Guys,
Good to know that Prem is enjoying his new Saadhana. I am sure he will be able to report very accurately on how it sounds, and how it compares with the older Saadhana's, especially as the new ones break in.
I thought i would chip in with a few comments in response to Prems observations and Nikhil's questions.
First, Prem's comment that the new driver is as good as the Lowthers:
Our aim was not just to equal the Lowthers, but to surpass it. While the Lowthers were amazing drivers, they had one fundamental, almost fatal, flaw -- and that is an unnatural "lift" in the upper midrange/lower treble area -- which can actually become annoying after some time. When we were using the Lowthers, we had to design certain modifications to "tame" this peculiarity. And it is this flaw that made me decide to try and develop our own driver in the first place. It was a difficult process because we had to be very careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. So -- retain all the speed, dynamics, transparency, "liveness"....while eliminating the frequency anomalies and producing a smooth sounding driver.
It was almost 2 years of work, and i believe we succeeded in doing what we set out to do. And MOST of the credit for this success must go to the engineer who designed and manufactured the driver for us. His name is Milind Patel, is Bombay based, and apart from being a great engineer, is also one of the finest human beings i have met. I was just the ideas man, who told him what i wanted, how i wanted it to sound, what efficiency i needed etc..... and helped him to solve certain design issues, like deciding on the right kind of paper and brainstorming with him on creative solutions whenever we hit a roadblock in terms of performance. I also did all the critical listening and giving him feedback for him to make changes. However, if not for him...... there would be no driver, and there would be no Rethm as we see it today. More people in the Audio world in India need to know about Milind.
And there is another moral to this story: and that is.... that we in India are capable of competing with the very best in the world, if we set our minds to it.
Now, Nikhil's question:
The new Saadhana is a totally new speaker with NO shared parts, drivers, electronics, or architecture with the old Saadhana. Starting with the new 7 inch wide-band driver, which is really the heart of the speaker, we had to redesign the labyrinth for the driver to maximise its efficiency all the way as far down as it would possibly go ( which is about 45 hz, in this case ). Bass module: the old Saadhana had three 6 inch drivers in a modified isobaric configuration. The new one has three 7 inch drivers with a larger sealed chamber, and a horn with a substantially bigger mouth. And the bass amplifier, as Prem mentioned, is now a 220wpc unit.
What all of this should do.... is to present music with the same liveness and dynamics, but flows more easily, with less of a feeling of strain, or compression....getting it a little closer to live music. It is akin to allowing water to flow out of a bigger tap. There are also definite gains we managed to make in midrange "tonal density" etc. which do go a long way towards making it sound better than the older units.
And Prem can tell you if that is what he is hearing....
Cheers,
jacob
Good to know that Prem is enjoying his new Saadhana. I am sure he will be able to report very accurately on how it sounds, and how it compares with the older Saadhana's, especially as the new ones break in.
I thought i would chip in with a few comments in response to Prems observations and Nikhil's questions.
First, Prem's comment that the new driver is as good as the Lowthers:
Our aim was not just to equal the Lowthers, but to surpass it. While the Lowthers were amazing drivers, they had one fundamental, almost fatal, flaw -- and that is an unnatural "lift" in the upper midrange/lower treble area -- which can actually become annoying after some time. When we were using the Lowthers, we had to design certain modifications to "tame" this peculiarity. And it is this flaw that made me decide to try and develop our own driver in the first place. It was a difficult process because we had to be very careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. So -- retain all the speed, dynamics, transparency, "liveness"....while eliminating the frequency anomalies and producing a smooth sounding driver.
It was almost 2 years of work, and i believe we succeeded in doing what we set out to do. And MOST of the credit for this success must go to the engineer who designed and manufactured the driver for us. His name is Milind Patel, is Bombay based, and apart from being a great engineer, is also one of the finest human beings i have met. I was just the ideas man, who told him what i wanted, how i wanted it to sound, what efficiency i needed etc..... and helped him to solve certain design issues, like deciding on the right kind of paper and brainstorming with him on creative solutions whenever we hit a roadblock in terms of performance. I also did all the critical listening and giving him feedback for him to make changes. However, if not for him...... there would be no driver, and there would be no Rethm as we see it today. More people in the Audio world in India need to know about Milind.
And there is another moral to this story: and that is.... that we in India are capable of competing with the very best in the world, if we set our minds to it.
Now, Nikhil's question:
The new Saadhana is a totally new speaker with NO shared parts, drivers, electronics, or architecture with the old Saadhana. Starting with the new 7 inch wide-band driver, which is really the heart of the speaker, we had to redesign the labyrinth for the driver to maximise its efficiency all the way as far down as it would possibly go ( which is about 45 hz, in this case ). Bass module: the old Saadhana had three 6 inch drivers in a modified isobaric configuration. The new one has three 7 inch drivers with a larger sealed chamber, and a horn with a substantially bigger mouth. And the bass amplifier, as Prem mentioned, is now a 220wpc unit.
What all of this should do.... is to present music with the same liveness and dynamics, but flows more easily, with less of a feeling of strain, or compression....getting it a little closer to live music. It is akin to allowing water to flow out of a bigger tap. There are also definite gains we managed to make in midrange "tonal density" etc. which do go a long way towards making it sound better than the older units.
And Prem can tell you if that is what he is hearing....
Cheers,
jacob
Prem, Congrats !
It is wonderful to see Indians specially rethm doing their name in audio field. So congratulations to Jacob also. I see the rethm logo is also changed. Liked that too. All the best for the future.
Regards.
It is wonderful to see Indians specially rethm doing their name in audio field. So congratulations to Jacob also. I see the rethm logo is also changed. Liked that too. All the best for the future.
Regards.
I remember reading the long version of the story about the development of the Saadhana v3 here: 6moons audio reviews: Rethm Saadhana
A somewhat long read, BTW
A somewhat long read, BTW
M
mpw
Guest
wow. thats a nice post by Jacob..
wishing rethm good luck in populating more listening spaces in India and abroad.
regards
mpw
wishing rethm good luck in populating more listening spaces in India and abroad.
regards
mpw
GeorgeO
Well-Known Member
Jacob
Welcome to this forum, I've listened your speakers at Prem's place as well as the pair in Alwaye, with your amp. I've been wanting to meet you sometime and will plan to do it on my next trip to Ernakulam.
A friend ( Billy Malieckal) who lives in Ernakulam said he knows you and offered to set up the meeting, I wasnt able to follow up, but will correct that hopefully in the not too distant future.
Cheers
George
Welcome to this forum, I've listened your speakers at Prem's place as well as the pair in Alwaye, with your amp. I've been wanting to meet you sometime and will plan to do it on my next trip to Ernakulam.
A friend ( Billy Malieckal) who lives in Ernakulam said he knows you and offered to set up the meeting, I wasnt able to follow up, but will correct that hopefully in the not too distant future.
Cheers
George
ranjeetrain
New Member
Congrats Prem! And Jacob, and Milind, and everyone else involved in Saadhnas V3. I am indeed delighted to hear about V3's performance. I wish there was an easy way to hear the Saadhnas in NCR region.
Jacob George
New Member
Thank you all....
Unfortunately Prem my friend, some questions only you will be able to answer, as you are certainly the resident expert on the Saadhana's. So keep up the good work!
George....of course, you are welcome to visit anytime. Yes, Billy is an old friend, and he has not heard any of the new Rethms either. So do come with him. While i have not heard Prem's set-up in its highest state of tune ( especially after he switched to vinyl ), i have heard from many people that it was an excellent set-up. The one in Alwaye with Abbas, unfortunately, was not optimal.
Unfortunately Prem my friend, some questions only you will be able to answer, as you are certainly the resident expert on the Saadhana's. So keep up the good work!
George....of course, you are welcome to visit anytime. Yes, Billy is an old friend, and he has not heard any of the new Rethms either. So do come with him. While i have not heard Prem's set-up in its highest state of tune ( especially after he switched to vinyl ), i have heard from many people that it was an excellent set-up. The one in Alwaye with Abbas, unfortunately, was not optimal.
abhijitnath
Active Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2008
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Congrats, Prem! Look forward to stopping by on my next Bombay trip for a listen
Are there any published measurements of the new Saadhanas? The 6moons review quotes Jacob as saying these go down to 18 hZ, which would be amazing if that's actually the case!
Are there any published measurements of the new Saadhanas? The 6moons review quotes Jacob as saying these go down to 18 hZ, which would be amazing if that's actually the case!
Jacob, I will definitely answer as many as I can. I always tell people to listen to the Rethms at your place. As you know with all the curved windows and the huge opening on the right side I am always fighting the room
Abhijitnath, I do not know all the technical specs. Sensitivity is around 102 db. Jacob is best qualified to answer that. And you are most welcome to drop in when you are in Mumbai
Abhijitnath, I do not know all the technical specs. Sensitivity is around 102 db. Jacob is best qualified to answer that. And you are most welcome to drop in when you are in Mumbai
Jacob, thanks for taking time to answer our queries on here.
I have enjoyed my visits to Prem's place - still trying to wrap my head around what could be further improved on what was already a stellar setup. Going by what you have said, I really look forward to my next visit to Prem's place.
Same for me ,Prem's visitors list is getting longer.
cheers
apk
Well-Known Member
some pics please....
ranjeetrain
New Member
Thanks Prem! I'll definitely come for a listen when in Mumbai.
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