post your AV audition/Demo here
- Thread starter spirovious
- Start date
machinfinity
Member
Hello Guys.
Today i went to an AV store in pune at laxmi road, dont remember its name now.
first let me give you a short idea of how untrained my ears are. i own a basic phillips bluray htib and its been serving me well for 2 years. But i always knew that there were better brands out there, which led me to this forum. And by going through tons of posts by fellow fms, i got myself acquainted by all the HT jargon. But i had never heard a real HT system before, its like i have tons of theoretical knowledge due this lovely forum but never got to experience it
I had not even planned to visit this shop, i just saw it while on the way to my relatives place and decided that ill visit it while returning back home.
Finally in the evening i visited the store and even took my father with me. I took him to the store as a surprise and he kindly obliged. I met the store manager and told him that we want to listen to a branded htib and he tried to show us htibs by samsung, sony etc no offence to those brands but i had to explain him that i already own a commercial ht system myself and i want to see the real deal 
he understood what i was saying and immediately took us to a room on the first floor. As soon as he switched on the lights i saw a huge rack full of receivers (yamaha, denon, Marantz, pioneer) and floor standers lined up at the front, surrounds and some ceiling mounted speakers.. Well, finally i had arrived and i was excited to see how these babies were going to sound
1. Yamaha YHT-2910
the room was big enough for the system, i was worried how it will fill the space, but still i asked him to go ahead with the demo.The guy put a pendrive into the BDP and said hes playing some Mp3s
i didnt object because i wanted to see how this sounds as compared to my htib. the moment he started playing a song my mind said "dude this is the real deal ".. the clarity was wayy better than my phillips htib. The presentation was a bit in the face but i still enjoyed it. After the guy cranked up the volume i could hear some distortion. The overall performance of the yht-2910 was atleast 7 times better than my home system.. i wonder how those audiophile stereo systems must be sounding 
2. Yamaha V375, Yamaha NS F150 floorstanders, yamaha center+surround package+yamaha Sub.
The store manager played an action scene from singham movie on bluray on the above mentioned system. The difference was night and day for me. I realized how untrained my ears are, i immediately started evaluating the system in terms of soundstage, effects steering, mid highs and lows The floorstanders and sub together couldnt put out enough bass, or maybe the scene didnt had much of LFE info into it, the bass was almost non-existent. but still i was enjoying the demo a lot and for a person whose never heard to these things before, it was almost mind-blowing. Sadly the particular scene in the movie does not have a lot of sound panning effects, which is why i could not judge the effects steering capability of the system. But i guess it should be good enough because the floorstanders and center created a good soundstage and it felt as if all of them were firing right into the sweet spot with good precision. The overall sound was bright, which was later on confirmed by the store guy who said that the yamaha towers have a bright sound signature. As compared to my home system, the highs were way better. Dialogue was also good from the center but a bit muffled to my taste. Now coming to the surrounds. even though i own a 5.1 htib, i have almost never felt or heard my surrounds. it must be so because my htib has no room correction, but i always have to turn my ears and point them towards the surrounds to be able to realize that they're playing.. Its as if the sounds get heard but you cant judge their placement.. This was obviously not the case with system i heard at the demo. The surrounds came into the soundfield at the right time and also they blended well into the system..
I do feel that if the speakers were driven by a more powerful amp like a V475, the sound could have been better, but honestly speaking i was overwhelmed by the performance of the setup
Sadly i couldnt hear the Denon and Marantz setups because of time constraints.
It was a very pleasant experience for me. When i asked my dad what was his take on this, he said he wants to buy such a system soon
all in a all a great experience and an evening well spent
Today i went to an AV store in pune at laxmi road, dont remember its name now.
first let me give you a short idea of how untrained my ears are. i own a basic phillips bluray htib and its been serving me well for 2 years. But i always knew that there were better brands out there, which led me to this forum. And by going through tons of posts by fellow fms, i got myself acquainted by all the HT jargon. But i had never heard a real HT system before, its like i have tons of theoretical knowledge due this lovely forum but never got to experience it
I had not even planned to visit this shop, i just saw it while on the way to my relatives place and decided that ill visit it while returning back home.
Finally in the evening i visited the store and even took my father with me. I took him to the store as a surprise and he kindly obliged. I met the store manager and told him that we want to listen to a branded htib and he tried to show us htibs by samsung, sony etc
no offence to those brands but i had to explain him that i already own a commercial ht system myself and i want to see the real deal he understood what i was saying and immediately took us to a room on the first floor. As soon as he switched on the lights i saw a huge rack full of receivers (yamaha, denon, Marantz, pioneer) and floor standers lined up at the front, surrounds and some ceiling mounted speakers.. Well, finally i had arrived and i was excited to see how these babies were going to sound 1. Yamaha YHT-2910
the room was big enough for the system, i was worried how it will fill the space, but still i asked him to go ahead with the demo.The guy put a pendrive into the BDP and said hes playing some Mp3s
i didnt object because i wanted to see how this sounds as compared to my htib. the moment he started playing a song my mind said "dude this is the real deal ".. the clarity was wayy better than my phillips htib. The presentation was a bit in the face but i still enjoyed it. After the guy cranked up the volume i could hear some distortion. The overall performance of the yht-2910 was atleast 7 times better than my home system.. i wonder how those audiophile stereo systems must be sounding 2. Yamaha V375, Yamaha NS F150 floorstanders, yamaha center+surround package+yamaha Sub.
The store manager played an action scene from singham movie on bluray on the above mentioned system. The difference was night and day for me. I realized how untrained my ears are, i immediately started evaluating the system in terms of soundstage, effects steering, mid highs and lows
The floorstanders and sub together couldnt put out enough bass, or maybe the scene didnt had much of LFE info into it, the bass was almost non-existent. but still i was enjoying the demo a lot and for a person whose never heard to these things before, it was almost mind-blowing. Sadly the particular scene in the movie does not have a lot of sound panning effects, which is why i could not judge the effects steering capability of the system. But i guess it should be good enough because the floorstanders and center created a good soundstage and it felt as if all of them were firing right into the sweet spot with good precision. The overall sound was bright, which was later on confirmed by the store guy who said that the yamaha towers have a bright sound signature. As compared to my home system, the highs were way better. Dialogue was also good from the center but a bit muffled to my taste. Now coming to the surrounds. even though i own a 5.1 htib, i have almost never felt or heard my surrounds. it must be so because my htib has no room correction, but i always have to turn my ears and point them towards the surrounds to be able to realize that they're playing.. Its as if the sounds get heard but you cant judge their placement.. This was obviously not the case with system i heard at the demo. The surrounds came into the soundfield at the right time and also they blended well into the system..I do feel that if the speakers were driven by a more powerful amp like a V475, the sound could have been better, but honestly speaking i was overwhelmed by the performance of the setup
Sadly i couldnt hear the Denon and Marantz setups because of time constraints.
It was a very pleasant experience for me. When i asked my dad what was his take on this, he said he wants to buy such a system soon
all in a all a great experience and an evening well spent
Last edited:
spirovious
Well-Known Member
One thing to remember that dedicated room plays important job to get best sound from system.
machinfinity
Member
^^ True that. Also forgot to mention that the demo room was acoustically treated!
Last edited:
TheSeeker
Well-Known Member
bumping this old-thread with a couple of cross-posts from this thread:
http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...v581-marantz-nr-1605-1606-a-4.html#post722077
@spirovious
AVR:
last weekend had a demo of Yamaha & Denon AVRs at ProFX, Atria mall, Worli. initially had gone to their Kurla centre (Phoenix Mall), but found that it had been closed.
the demo at ProFX was given using the Atmos demo disc. they didnt have speakers setup in the Atmos configuration though. the demo-room is small, but atleast they have one, and its good enough. the salesperson (Mr. Jadhav) was polite & courteous all through the session. i was accompanied by my brother and a colleague.
watched the clip of the bombing scene from the movie 'unbroken', first on Denon x1200w, plus some music. this was then replaced with Yamaha RXV581, fortunately the same AVR i was after. played the same clip. as soon as the action broke out, my brother's face more than indicated that the sound was harsh. it was indeed! too bright. IDK how earlier in the HT room of The Shop @andheri, i liked its sound when a clip from 'the jungle book' was played. even the music that was played (an orchestral soundtrack) was quite bright/harsh to listen. instantly struck off Yamaha from my options then & there (though after confirming 3-4 times with my brother & taking brother's & colleague's feedback)! Denon sounded well softer & easier on the ears.
(speakers were Polk 50 FS, Polk satellites for rears, cant recall the sub).
my options-list included Denon x1300w (successor to x1200w), which they didnt have ready in stock, but could have been made available. MRP quoted was ~55k. we thanked Mr. Jadhav and came out.
SPEAKERS:
for these, my options were those from SMDaudio, then BIC america DV32 from a seller/user located in Bandra, & then the ones from Taga. since i had discussed with SMDaudio about my requirements first beforehand, went to the owner's place y'day.
had a thorough demo of an array of speakers there. impressive they were! after discussing with him for quite some time and getting clear explanations, realised that DV32 would've been quite small for my hall & usage. so decided on the speakers there itself.
so have decided to bite the bullet now!
AVR - Marantz NR1606
i wanted Atmos & DTS:X, & thus a future-proof purchase...some have observed that Atmos sounds similar to 7.1...however to me Atmos felt more impressive than 7.1 during a couple of demos (as well as affirmed by some folks with the same observation...plus, an Atmos-enabled receiver could anyway be used for 7.1 too, so decided to invest in it). there was/is an offer for an NR1605 from the same user from Bandra, for 43-45k, but since the price of NR1606 has reduced on HiFiMart, & keeping in view my requirements, have decided to go for NR1606.
further, the lowest quote i could find for Denon x1300w was ~55k, across a couple of stores, while NR1606's price seems to be varying wildly in stores (from 60-70k to 82k!). alfa too has no stock of Denon receivers. Marantz NR1606 is for 55k there IIRC).
so keeping all these factors in mind (and that Denon & Marantz sound similar while Marantz is said to be more musical), the best price i was/am getting, is for the NR1606. what more could i have asked for!
1. my decision to go with Marantz instead of Denon was really appreciated by one. his experience with the service of his Denon receiver had been terrible. over here too, i have read members encouraging buyers to go with Marantz as against Denon when build-quality, reliability and service are concerned.
2. about some stores:
- ProFX at Kurla has shut down. is operating at Atria Mall, Worli. dont have Marantz receivers, but good inventory of Yamaha & Denon ones, as well as of speakers.
- The Den at Worli too dont stock Marantz receivers readily, but can make them available for demo or purchase. the person i spoke to was polite, courteous and helpful. but pricing of Marantz receivers was roof-shattering (NR1606 for ~82k!)
- The Shop at Andheri, again, dont stock Marantz receivers, but they have a very good HT-room! its separate from the shop. just beside it. acoustically treated proper HT-room. again, courteous fellows.
- a few blocks ahead of The Shop is Viola. they thankfully HAVE Marantz receivers for demo. but there's no separate demo-room, but the main floor itself, which is cluttered with speakers. the owner seemed a laidback fellow, but wasnt rude or anything. had good knowledge esp. of the business-side i felt.
- Cinebels at Bandra too stock Marantz & Denon receivers (but not Yamaha), and have a good HT room, almost like The Shop's, & perhaps a tad longer or even slightly better, but not darker). but they stock only high-end Marantz receivers, coupled with Klipsch reference series speakers. in their groundfloor space they have a small but good demo-room, where they've kept Denon x1300w for playback/demo. the demo-giver, one Mr. Thakur, was a young and energetic fellow with good knowledge and eloquence like Mr. Jadhav of ProFX, but was kind of insisting for Denon x1300w for me, perhaps because they didnt have Marantz receiver in the segment i wanted to. but i confess that sound of Denon in music-playback pleased my ears more than of Marantz (former being a bit brighter). may be speakers attached too made a difference, or the most diffference.
- Lakozy at chowpatty i didnt visit. IIRC they didnt have either Denon or Marantz, one of the two.
- Alliance4 at Goregaon told me over the phone that they dont give demos, only consultations & installations. seemed strange to me.
- Soundtech at Thane have shifted to a tiny office, from earlier big store at Viviana Mall. there separate demo-room is under-construction that'd take 2-3 months for completion i was told.
- Audiomaxx (warehouse direct) are presently not giving demos. could hear properly as the voice was choppy, but i discerned that its because they are doing some renovation/construction-work, after which from Jan onwards demo could be had. the owner Mr. Sanjay definitely seemed a bit pushy. earlier i was told by a staff-worker that Mr. Sanjay at times comes to the shop at times doesnt, so i will have to talk to him later on, prior coming. when i started discussing further about brands & models i was looking for, suddenly Mr. Sanjay arrived from somewhere. he said having a demo was not much of use as "even if i blindfold you, you wont be able to understand difference in sound". not sure what he wanted to convey, but i thought it to be weird-talk. he said this twice-thrice in a row. also said that the collection he has cannot be found anywhere in Mumbai, as well as the prices. i had already gotten to know from FM efernand1 that he's reported to be selling pre-owned pieces too, so i thought thats understandable (ie, low prices). anyway, i had already read about him on forum & elsewhere on the web, and moreover wasnt to buy from him, so was not concerned. i kept insisting on a demo & finally we both said 'than you' to each other & disconnected from the 'hotline'.
- JS Enterprises at Bandra deals only in Yamaha, so didnt go there.
- there used to be one store at Mulund on LBS road, named 'music' something, long back. the owner was said to be a fellow passionate about all these stuff and hence a knowledgeable and reasonable person. dont know where did that shop shift to or whether it got closed.
http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...v581-marantz-nr-1605-1606-a-4.html#post722077
@spirovious
AVR:
last weekend had a demo of Yamaha & Denon AVRs at ProFX, Atria mall, Worli. initially had gone to their Kurla centre (Phoenix Mall), but found that it had been closed.
the demo at ProFX was given using the Atmos demo disc. they didnt have speakers setup in the Atmos configuration though. the demo-room is small, but atleast they have one, and its good enough. the salesperson (Mr. Jadhav) was polite & courteous all through the session. i was accompanied by my brother and a colleague.
watched the clip of the bombing scene from the movie 'unbroken', first on Denon x1200w, plus some music. this was then replaced with Yamaha RXV581, fortunately the same AVR i was after. played the same clip. as soon as the action broke out, my brother's face more than indicated that the sound was harsh. it was indeed! too bright. IDK how earlier in the HT room of The Shop @andheri, i liked its sound when a clip from 'the jungle book' was played. even the music that was played (an orchestral soundtrack) was quite bright/harsh to listen. instantly struck off Yamaha from my options then & there (though after confirming 3-4 times with my brother & taking brother's & colleague's feedback)! Denon sounded well softer & easier on the ears.
(speakers were Polk 50 FS, Polk satellites for rears, cant recall the sub).
my options-list included Denon x1300w (successor to x1200w), which they didnt have ready in stock, but could have been made available. MRP quoted was ~55k. we thanked Mr. Jadhav and came out.
SPEAKERS:
for these, my options were those from SMDaudio, then BIC america DV32 from a seller/user located in Bandra, & then the ones from Taga. since i had discussed with SMDaudio about my requirements first beforehand, went to the owner's place y'day.
had a thorough demo of an array of speakers there. impressive they were! after discussing with him for quite some time and getting clear explanations, realised that DV32 would've been quite small for my hall & usage. so decided on the speakers there itself.
so have decided to bite the bullet now!
AVR - Marantz NR1606
i wanted Atmos & DTS:X, & thus a future-proof purchase...some have observed that Atmos sounds similar to 7.1...however to me Atmos felt more impressive than 7.1 during a couple of demos (as well as affirmed by some folks with the same observation...plus, an Atmos-enabled receiver could anyway be used for 7.1 too, so decided to invest in it). there was/is an offer for an NR1605 from the same user from Bandra, for 43-45k, but since the price of NR1606 has reduced on HiFiMart, & keeping in view my requirements, have decided to go for NR1606.
further, the lowest quote i could find for Denon x1300w was ~55k, across a couple of stores, while NR1606's price seems to be varying wildly in stores (from 60-70k to 82k!). alfa too has no stock of Denon receivers. Marantz NR1606 is for 55k there IIRC).
so keeping all these factors in mind (and that Denon & Marantz sound similar while Marantz is said to be more musical), the best price i was/am getting, is for the NR1606. what more could i have asked for!
1. my decision to go with Marantz instead of Denon was really appreciated by one. his experience with the service of his Denon receiver had been terrible. over here too, i have read members encouraging buyers to go with Marantz as against Denon when build-quality, reliability and service are concerned.
2. about some stores:
- ProFX at Kurla has shut down. is operating at Atria Mall, Worli. dont have Marantz receivers, but good inventory of Yamaha & Denon ones, as well as of speakers.
- The Den at Worli too dont stock Marantz receivers readily, but can make them available for demo or purchase. the person i spoke to was polite, courteous and helpful. but pricing of Marantz receivers was roof-shattering (NR1606 for ~82k!)
- The Shop at Andheri, again, dont stock Marantz receivers, but they have a very good HT-room! its separate from the shop. just beside it. acoustically treated proper HT-room. again, courteous fellows.
- a few blocks ahead of The Shop is Viola. they thankfully HAVE Marantz receivers for demo. but there's no separate demo-room, but the main floor itself, which is cluttered with speakers. the owner seemed a laidback fellow, but wasnt rude or anything. had good knowledge esp. of the business-side i felt.
- Cinebels at Bandra too stock Marantz & Denon receivers (but not Yamaha), and have a good HT room, almost like The Shop's, & perhaps a tad longer or even slightly better, but not darker). but they stock only high-end Marantz receivers, coupled with Klipsch reference series speakers. in their groundfloor space they have a small but good demo-room, where they've kept Denon x1300w for playback/demo. the demo-giver, one Mr. Thakur, was a young and energetic fellow with good knowledge and eloquence like Mr. Jadhav of ProFX, but was kind of insisting for Denon x1300w for me, perhaps because they didnt have Marantz receiver in the segment i wanted to. but i confess that sound of Denon in music-playback pleased my ears more than of Marantz (former being a bit brighter). may be speakers attached too made a difference, or the most diffference.
- Lakozy at chowpatty i didnt visit. IIRC they didnt have either Denon or Marantz, one of the two.
- Alliance4 at Goregaon told me over the phone that they dont give demos, only consultations & installations. seemed strange to me.
- Soundtech at Thane have shifted to a tiny office, from earlier big store at Viviana Mall. there separate demo-room is under-construction that'd take 2-3 months for completion i was told.
- Audiomaxx (warehouse direct) are presently not giving demos. could hear properly as the voice was choppy, but i discerned that its because they are doing some renovation/construction-work, after which from Jan onwards demo could be had. the owner Mr. Sanjay definitely seemed a bit pushy. earlier i was told by a staff-worker that Mr. Sanjay at times comes to the shop at times doesnt, so i will have to talk to him later on, prior coming. when i started discussing further about brands & models i was looking for, suddenly Mr. Sanjay arrived from somewhere. he said having a demo was not much of use as "even if i blindfold you, you wont be able to understand difference in sound". not sure what he wanted to convey, but i thought it to be weird-talk. he said this twice-thrice in a row. also said that the collection he has cannot be found anywhere in Mumbai, as well as the prices. i had already gotten to know from FM efernand1 that he's reported to be selling pre-owned pieces too, so i thought thats understandable (ie, low prices). anyway, i had already read about him on forum & elsewhere on the web, and moreover wasnt to buy from him, so was not concerned. i kept insisting on a demo & finally we both said 'than you' to each other & disconnected from the 'hotline'.
- JS Enterprises at Bandra deals only in Yamaha, so didnt go there.
- there used to be one store at Mulund on LBS road, named 'music' something, long back. the owner was said to be a fellow passionate about all these stuff and hence a knowledgeable and reasonable person. dont know where did that shop shift to or whether it got closed.
spirovious
Well-Known Member
Nicely written TheSeeker,
Actually sound quality depends on AVR settings too.If speaker levels are kept more(5+),sound can be thinner and bright.
Denon sounds fuller and softer. Marantz sound can be little cleaner than Denon.
"Beats99" was LBS road which is closed long back,They have store called Shreeji in Rmall.
Actually sound quality depends on AVR settings too.If speaker levels are kept more(5+),sound can be thinner and bright.
Denon sounds fuller and softer. Marantz sound can be little cleaner than Denon.
"Beats99" was LBS road which is closed long back,They have store called Shreeji in Rmall.
TheSeeker
Well-Known Member
thanks! yes! beats99 it was! sorry i mistook the name to be something else entirely. may pay them a visit at their new address sometime.
you are correct about your observations of difference in sound of the AVRs. also, i had specifically asked at all demos to keep the sound at neutral. however didnt know about this aspect of sound-level (used to only ask to increase volume and then decrease volume, to listen at both levels). nevertheles...
rpmahale
Well-Known Member
There are few stores more where I have took audition . Listed as MZ Audio, Bandra- W for Marantz,Tags, Boston Acoustic etc, KEI Audio, Santa Cruz- W for Elac, Denon and Tannoy, Sahakar Electronic at Chembur for Denon, Yamaha etc, Hi-fi Mart in Colaba, for Wharfdale,Marantz, Boston Acoustic etc.
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