Shoot Out In Navi Mumbai !!!(Mumbai Meet 2013)

[satyakibanerjee]

Denom, Santy, Hemantwaghe.. You have put together a great event. I deeply appreciate the thinking that you had put in to this event. It was great to start the day calibrating the auditory senses to a set of professional monitor speakers paired with very refined electronics. Being a hobbyist speaker builder it gave me a lot of insight as to the potential colouration that sets in with various designs. I personally enjoyed every moment of the listening experience..very nice introduction to the recording aspects of each track by Khushrau coupled with the nice collection of music of Jignesh and other FMs.

For those who arrived early; would have had an interesting experience watching the setup and calibration of the Bel Canto - PMC gear. The effect of room acoustics and Khushrau's / Jignesh's efforts to tame the effects using styrofoam blocks and cardboard cartons acting as resonator was a learning experience for me.

The AVI and the SDM speakers were excellent performers. An excellent day overall.

 

[smd]

Sandeep, a suggestion. Why don't you update your website with the speaker products [including the BS's] that you create? I just checked your website and I think I remember seeing everything currently in there as the same early last year too when I last checked.

Sure Keith... will do that now on...Thnx .

 

[smd]

Hi Sandeep
Welcome to the forum!! So the meet prompted you to register huh:clapping:
My only suggestion is to review the tweeters on all your creations. I somehow find it to be little on the harsher side. Otherwise the bookshelves were too good, more so considering the price bracket in which you have positioned them. Thanks for participating.



Hi Rajdeep
Glad to have you on our forum!! So the meet prompted you too to register huh:clapping: Thank you for participating and hope you enjoyed your weekend 'hifi getaway' with your family!

No doubt the actives were sounding too good. It was crisp, fast and accurate. It was forgiving to the room deficiencies. Many members appreciated them though they missed a breath or two after knowing the price. I know you do not like to play it without the sub but many of us were happy with the 2.0 setup Please look at concealing the wires which could be 'seen through' the port and review the pricing if possible. I am sure it can create a new market if the price sensitivity of Indian market is reciprocated.


@ participants
Guys I should have announced it earlier. If you wish to buy these actives, you can get 10% discount provided you buy it in this month. Offer code is PDMSHW.... well, its the initials of the organizers hyeah: but I guess it will work!

[ Sorry I am not selling, just passing on the offer given by Rajdeep. ]

Hi santy,

Thanks for the welcome. All the speakers I sent for demo were not over a week old and hence that bit of shrill can be associated to the newness.. As in case of any speakers break-in period of around 50 hours shall surely take care of that.

 

[Rajdeep]

Dear Rajdeep:

Glad to know you are importing AVI here. Have heard one of the older versions before when they just came out, really nice. Was looking to buy them in 2011 but were not available in India and then i got a real good deal for the Aktimate Maxi so went for them. Those also are pretty good.

Wanted to know if you are also importing the new Adm40's? What is the mrp on those?

Dear arhantd,
The mrp for adm 40 is 4.5 lakh a pair.they are available only on special order with your choice of veneer.

 

[Hari Iyer]

I wish first test will be against Hari Iyer's - TL speakers which were handmade and personally tweaked, which can be conducted locally in mumbai.

I am open for the compare if Rajdeep is keen on the same & if possible in Mumbai / Thane / Navi Mumbai. Can invite other FMs too if interested.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Santy I corresponded with the manufacture regarding the wires being visible.he suggested that the speakers are meant to be with grills on and wires are a fall out of trying to fit in all the electronics in the small space.he is open to the idea of making them with wood finish if we place enough orders.sound quality wise they easily beat passive speakers 3 times the price not including the cost of pre n power amp.internet forums are a testimonial to the last statement.also we are open to a shootout between avi speakers and any other bookshelf speakers with the most expensive electronics .the only reason I insisted on the woofer is because of the huge listening room .

Hi Rajdeep,
You are welcomed to compare the speakers with my TL BS speakers if you are inclined and keen.
Regards, Hari.

 

[Rajdeep]

mr Iyer
We can do the comparison as and when convenient for you and other people interested in the two speakers.

 

[docd]

I found that the sound from all the three dacs, Teac, Beresford, Asus was similar.The Wiess didnt impress me much. Maybe the speakers and the electronics also played a part. The Asus felt a bit more refined. Perhaps we should have tried replacing the Dac in the Bel Canto PMC system with the three Budget Dacs and checked out if it made any difference.

 

[Amp_Nut]

Guys, some of you may recall that I had brought along a CDR compilation of 'audiophile music'.

I am reiterating my offer made at the Venue.

If Any of you want a copy of that CD, please just PM me the address and tel number ( Tel required by the courier). I will send you a copy Free.

... Yes, those that did not attend or are not even in or around Mumbai are welcome to ask for a copy of the compilation.

If any of you guys are feeling generous, please contribute a touch to the 3 Great guys who organised the meet... and ended up Out-Of-Pocket.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself."
Galileo Galilei - Italian astronomer & physicist (1564 - 1642)

 

[hemantwaghe]

If any of you guys are feeling generous, please contribute a touch to the 3 Great guys who organised the meet... and ended up Out-Of-Pocket.

Thanks Dinyaar so generous of you!!:clapping:

Now a small clarification we are not at financial loss - although we had to pay for minimum gurentee and 2 halls our safety calculation helped that..

Our loss is not finacial but emotional. Last meet we had SOME loss but looking at good first time responce we really felt happy , I felt proud of mysel , we organizerswere so happy that we swallowed the small loss.

This tear we did not expect too much but 50-60 is decent turnaround to expect. In fact it is good for everyone as a dealer responds to decent turnaround. Dealers do not buy theory of quality audience...In fact a decent turnaround covers all audience including quality audience..

So we lost face in front of dealers - thankfully we got al niche dealers - if we got anyone catering wider segment we would have lost our face in big way.

We set some quality benchmark last time , arranged the meet in 4 star ( we were not able to get cheaper venues - wherever we got cost difference was not much , got dealers and we got lesser turnout.

That is why we ( least me) decided not to conduct the meet further!

Btw Dinyar thanks for the gesture. Sorry we did not interacted much at the meet .We will have a micro meet at you pod :cheers::cheers:hyeah:

Thanks onc again...

 

[Santy]

Thanks Dinyaar for the kind words. When you signed up for the meet, I saw your stats; joined 5 years back, I thought you accidentally registered on the forum. But only in the meet, I understood that your experience in HiFi is more than my age! Hope we meet again soon

As for the CD copy, let me barge in to place a small request. Its better not to talk about it here, since it is against the rules of the forum to share media contents openly with FMs.

 

[sonosphere]

I found that the sound from all the three dacs, Teac, Beresford, Asus was similar.The Wiess didnt impress me much. Maybe the speakers and the electronics also played a part. The Asus felt a bit more refined. Perhaps we should have tried replacing the Dac in the Bel Canto PMC system with the three Budget Dacs and checked out if it made any difference.

The difference between above experience and mine goes to show, once again, that personal audition is must to decide what is "good".

My experience:
I found the Weiss DAC202 to be leagues ahead of Asus and Beresford (leagues ahead in terms of separation between instruments, difference between loudness and dynamics of instruments, and distortion-free tone... the "apparent" shrillness in SMD tweeters that Santy posted earlier, was literally gone when Weiss was playing). Among Asus Xonar one, and Beresford Caiman (I think it was Gatorized version). I found Asus better on same criteria as mentioned earlier for Weiss. This also means that these criteria define to me what is "good"... whereas someone else's "good" may mean something else.

(BTW.. I didn't hear the Teac in this meet... I did hear Teac and Asus One in last Pune-meet. I found Teac to be little better on same criteria)

Regds,

 

[srinisundar]

+ 1 to hemant..

My view + Rajiv view + Captn view of chennai meet ::::: On Passion we are conducting the meet, not for financial gain. We are already prepared for paying the rent if there is less turn out, fortunately there is reasonable response as of now. If there is a good response we are proposing to conduct next time an Video meet with normal audio meet.. Keeping in 3 Star or 4 Star hotel is to have sophistication / uplifting or to boost the image of the sponsors + safety of the kits of members and sponsors.

Regards

 

[hemantwaghe]

I wish first test will be against Hari Iyer's - TL speakers which were handmade and personally tweaked, which can be conducted locally in mumbai.

That was Haris decision to remain absent from the meet , we invited him as small manufactures ( like Sandeep of SMD) but I think he did not wish to take the opportunity .... actlally it would have been good benchmarking exercise IMHO..

 

[sonosphere]

mr Iyer
We can do the comparison as and when convenient for you and other people interested in the two speakers.

Guy's please allow me to give a "trailer" of what the above demo may convey, based on little "algebra" ...

a. I've heard Hari's Bookshelf (the one with Kevlar mid-woofer) with Marantz 7003 SACD player (this player has somewhat similar signature like Weiss 202 DAC)
b. I've heard SMD's Mid size bookshelf spkrs with Weiss 202.
Between a. and b. above I can say the signature of both speaker is almost same... Dynamic, open, natural sound (no particular freq-band bumped up or recessed). Hari's bookshelf has cleaner kind of bass that I consider now "trademark bass" of TL based speakers (I noticed this trademark on even the tiny SMD bookshleves, that had TL).

c. I've heard AVI's Active bookshelves being driven by same Weiss 202. And the sound was as different from SMD mentioned in b. above as chalk and cheese
To my ears, the AVI's sounded more "punchy /energetic" (though less bass weight compared to treble punch...I heard them without subwoofer). These delivered less performance on criteria's I personally prefer i.e separation between instruments, difference between loudness and dynamics of instruments. SMD sounded so open with Weiss, that you could practically walk thru the soundstage among the instruments, but it didn't sound as "punchy /energetic" as AVI. SamirK (the owner of Weiss, told me he liked the SQ of AVI's), whereas I liked the weiss best with SMD mid level bookshelf spkr.

Trailer:
This is where algebra comes in...
Since a. is almost equal to b. AND b. is nothing like c. hence a. is nothing like c.

In plain language, Hari's Bookshelf spkr is going to sound very different than AVI's ... so much that it's like comparing apple and oranges.

My apologies, in advance, to those who are aghast at using algebra to arrive at such conclusions... please don't flame me:lol:

Regds,

 

[heliumflight]

Guy's please allow me to give a "trailer" of what the above demo may convey, based on little "algebra" ...

a. I've heard Hari's Bookshelf (the one with Kevlar mid-woofer) with Marantz 7003 SACD player (this player has somewhat similar signature like Weiss 202 DAC)
b. I've heard SMD's Mid size bookshelf spkrs with Weiss 202.
Between a. and b. above I can say the signature of both speaker is almost same... Dynamic, open, natural sound (no particular freq-band bumped up or recessed). Hari's bookshelf has cleaner kind of bass that I consider now "trademark bass" of TL based speakers (I noticed this trademark on even the tiny SMD bookshleves, that had TL).

c. I've heard AVI's Active bookshelves being driven by same Weiss 202. And the sound was as different from SMD mentioned in b. above as chalk and cheese
To my ears, the AVI's sounded more "punchy /energetic" (though less bass weight compared to treble punch...I heard them without subwoofer). These delivered less performance on criteria's I personally prefer i.e separation between instruments, difference between loudness and dynamics of instruments. SMD sounded so open with Weiss, that you could practically walk thru the soundstage among the instruments, but it didn't sound as "punchy /energetic" as AVI. SamirK (the owner of Weiss, told me he liked the SQ of AVI's), whereas I liked the weiss best with SMD mid level bookshelf spkr.

Trailer:
This is where algebra comes in...
Since a. is almost equal to b. AND b. is nothing like c. hence a. is nothing like c.

In plain language, Hari's Bookshelf spkr is going to sound very different than AVI's ... so much that it's like comparing apple and oranges.

My apologies, in advance, to those who are aghast at using algebra to arrive at such conclusions... please don't flame me:lol:

Regds,

What is SMD and AVI?

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Asus Xonar Essence One DAC Review.

http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Asus-Xonar-Essence-One-DAC-Review_475/Review.html


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[edge111hussain]

I personally dont think the avi and smd's can be compared. I mean for starters the cost difference itself is so huge. The avi's with or without the dac sounded amazing whilst the smd will benefit or lose out based on the gear selection. i.e, when connected to my yamaha AVR, i know for sure the smd's r gonna sound no where close to what i heard with the dac amp combo, whilst the avi will still sound exactly the same, if not better(my resi rooms being smaller than the conference hall)

Referring back to my initial post, this being my first meet, what lacked was the fact that we couldn't do a on the spot comparison. If we had another, similar BS in hand, we could have done a A/B comparison there and there itself. This would have helped a amateur like me tremendously.

 

[spirovious]

What is SMD and AVI?

Speaker companies-
SMD AUDIO
AVI Sound International

 

[spirovious]

I have strong feeling that Room acoustics & speaker placement can do magic with the sound quality.In my case If I listen a speaker in Hall(home),they sound different than in Bedroom.even HT speakers too.So may small speakers are not meant for large hall logically & need audition in small room.Mumbai meet was held in a large Hall where as in Pune it was a home.So IMO there can be significant change in SQ.