There has been a lot of talk about e-zone that has opened in Chennai. I was busy with other things and could never find time to visit it until last week. There was a big hype about this place and I wanted to know what the place was all about. When people said it was an audiophiles haven I simply could not resist. I had to cancel all that I had planned on a Wednesday morning, excuse myself from work that day and visit e-zone.
The place looked nice from outside and is spacious inside. It has 2 floors (ground + 2 floors).
The ground floor is dedicated to Plasma, LCD screens and HTIB setups. Since I am a stereo fan and primarily a music guy I did not even bother looking at this section. I saw a dedicated section for LG and Samsung and knew right way these guys were playing it to the gallows and were targeting the not-so-quality conscious, me too, technically ignorant average consumer. Hitachi, Panasonic and reputed brands were tucked away in a corner and were not even switched on. The second section on ground floor consists of PS2s, PS3s and xbox stuff, CD storage covers, headphones, Cell phones, etc
I climbed to the 2nd floor (I never take the lift in places like these. I have seen good products being placed in bad locations like stairways and taking the lift denies me the chance of seeing these) and told myself this is the reason I was here and this is where I was going to find what I was interested in. First brand on display here was Samsung. It was disappointing but I continued. There were demo rooms for LG, Samsung, Onkyo, Philips and Sony. There was another room for some other brand of speakers that looked pertinacious and they were being promoted by the firm with a dedicated display area and were the only speakers that had their grills off (the drivers had shiny reflective powder on them similar to the ones found in speakers manufactured by Pro-FX). On closer look they were some Korean/Chinese brand. Ezone was supporting and endorsing these speakers whole heartedly. Only decent speaker brands I saw were Klipsch and Jamo but they were all switched off and demo rooms locked. The LGs and Samsung were playing at full level generating odd, odder and oddest harmonics. Distortion of 1st order, 2nd order and 100th order were everywhere. Its a wonder how these speakers play with so much distortion all through their life but nothing happens to them. I could not take it anymore and asked a sales guy if they had any stereo systems. He gave me a strange look and asked me '2 speaker system sir?' He continued 'Sir they don't move at all these days (?????) but we have few for people like you'. I got skeptical when he said that sentence and wondered what he meant when he said people like me. Somehow it did not sound positive but this was my last hope and I was optimistic. He took me to one of the shelfs and there was a Philips midi system lying there. I said thank you and started wondering how people had killed good old stereo
I walked up to the 3rd floor and saw microwave ovens, grinders, coolers and did not even bother walking further. While in 2nd floor again I scanned the whole place again to see if I had missed something (this was such a big place and people on forums and papers were sating this is an audiophiles (I shrug these days when I hear that word) haven. No 2 channel hi-fi separates. Not a single amplifier, CD player or even cable and this was supposed to be an audiophiles haven
Almost more than 10000 sq feet of swanky showroom and not a single decent hi-fi separate system was a big letdown for me. This is just another vasanth & co, viveks, or ABC enterprises or one of the firms who are into everything but into nothing specific
The disappointment was not about e-zone but the revelation the visit gave me. Stereo is lost. Nobody wants it these days. Or in the salesmans words it does not move. Guys, if you get a chance get back to stereo, do it. Listen to a good stereo system before you go for multi-channel. It has all the power to move you emotionally and make music what makes music so enjoyable. No home theatre, multi-channel setup can bring you as close to the music as stereo can. Unless there is a market there is no point in manufacturing them. The few who do listen to stereo end up paying exorbitantly as most manufacturers have stopped making them and the few who do, do not have volume sales
Ya I was disappointed that day but at least made it to work and shared it with my colleagues. A few agreed with me but then after about 10 min one guy asked me to evaluate a new nokia phone he had purchased and claimed it had extreme fidelity and wanted my opinion on how the effect was. Well, nothing more could be said!
The place looked nice from outside and is spacious inside. It has 2 floors (ground + 2 floors).
The ground floor is dedicated to Plasma, LCD screens and HTIB setups. Since I am a stereo fan and primarily a music guy I did not even bother looking at this section. I saw a dedicated section for LG and Samsung and knew right way these guys were playing it to the gallows and were targeting the not-so-quality conscious, me too, technically ignorant average consumer. Hitachi, Panasonic and reputed brands were tucked away in a corner and were not even switched on. The second section on ground floor consists of PS2s, PS3s and xbox stuff, CD storage covers, headphones, Cell phones, etc
I climbed to the 2nd floor (I never take the lift in places like these. I have seen good products being placed in bad locations like stairways and taking the lift denies me the chance of seeing these) and told myself this is the reason I was here and this is where I was going to find what I was interested in. First brand on display here was Samsung. It was disappointing but I continued. There were demo rooms for LG, Samsung, Onkyo, Philips and Sony. There was another room for some other brand of speakers that looked pertinacious and they were being promoted by the firm with a dedicated display area and were the only speakers that had their grills off (the drivers had shiny reflective powder on them similar to the ones found in speakers manufactured by Pro-FX). On closer look they were some Korean/Chinese brand. Ezone was supporting and endorsing these speakers whole heartedly. Only decent speaker brands I saw were Klipsch and Jamo but they were all switched off and demo rooms locked. The LGs and Samsung were playing at full level generating odd, odder and oddest harmonics. Distortion of 1st order, 2nd order and 100th order were everywhere. Its a wonder how these speakers play with so much distortion all through their life but nothing happens to them. I could not take it anymore and asked a sales guy if they had any stereo systems. He gave me a strange look and asked me '2 speaker system sir?' He continued 'Sir they don't move at all these days (?????) but we have few for people like you'. I got skeptical when he said that sentence and wondered what he meant when he said people like me. Somehow it did not sound positive but this was my last hope and I was optimistic. He took me to one of the shelfs and there was a Philips midi system lying there. I said thank you and started wondering how people had killed good old stereo
I walked up to the 3rd floor and saw microwave ovens, grinders, coolers and did not even bother walking further. While in 2nd floor again I scanned the whole place again to see if I had missed something (this was such a big place and people on forums and papers were sating this is an audiophiles (I shrug these days when I hear that word) haven. No 2 channel hi-fi separates. Not a single amplifier, CD player or even cable and this was supposed to be an audiophiles haven
Almost more than 10000 sq feet of swanky showroom and not a single decent hi-fi separate system was a big letdown for me. This is just another vasanth & co, viveks, or ABC enterprises or one of the firms who are into everything but into nothing specific
The disappointment was not about e-zone but the revelation the visit gave me. Stereo is lost. Nobody wants it these days. Or in the salesmans words it does not move. Guys, if you get a chance get back to stereo, do it. Listen to a good stereo system before you go for multi-channel. It has all the power to move you emotionally and make music what makes music so enjoyable. No home theatre, multi-channel setup can bring you as close to the music as stereo can. Unless there is a market there is no point in manufacturing them. The few who do listen to stereo end up paying exorbitantly as most manufacturers have stopped making them and the few who do, do not have volume sales
Ya I was disappointed that day but at least made it to work and shared it with my colleagues. A few agreed with me but then after about 10 min one guy asked me to evaluate a new nokia phone he had purchased and claimed it had extreme fidelity and wanted my opinion on how the effect was. Well, nothing more could be said!