South India Audio Meet-2013

[madbullram]

My hearty congrats to the entire team. heard lot of good things about the meet. Had to drop out due to a medical condition of my kid. Great going Captain and Srini.

 

[srinisundar]

Hi Thad,

I expected you bring mahler symphony and some carnatic cds for meet and eagerly wait to listen symphony on MBL Setup but i missed that.Because my understanding is high end setup will give more performance with complicated music like symphony because in symphony more instruments will play at same time and this is tough to reproduce all the detail , any way you brought balamurali krishna cd at the end of meet which was very good and i enjoyed very much.

MBL Speakers:

Worth mentioning an thread about this. The sound is very solid and punchy and it beautifully played with MBL Monoblocks while played in the Audio people demo room.

The sound is outstanding and it produces very natural sound and we can expect like an singer is playing in front of you and forcing you to hear The MBL will sing if it matches with the right amplifier or else you will not like it.

When it is paired with Dared amplifier in the Analog Audio room it beats every speakers in the room and it sounded like an floor stander.

Nevertheless it is value for money if you are behind an high end bookshelf and this is worth buying. In my opinion the dared amplifier with low budget makes a good match, so you can reduce the amplification cost.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

... Don't know how I managed to miss that one --- but I guess I was somewhere all the time, and somewhere else I wasn't!

I expected you bring mahler symphony and some carnatic cds for meet and eagerly wait to listen symphony on MBL Setup but i missed that.Because my understanding is high end setup will give more performance with complicated music like symphony because in symphony more instruments will play at same time and this is tough to reproduce all the detail , any way you brought balamurali krishna cd at the end of meet which was very good and i enjoyed very much.

I think it would/should have been wonderful on that MBL equipment and any of those speakers. In fact, I think it should have wonderful with the valve stuff too. Somehow the brain cells didn't function on this one --- but, right at the end of the day, and on a specific request for carnatic vocal, I remembered that there are always a small selection of carnatic and rock CDs in my car

Whether one actually like it or not, I do not think there is anything to either test or show off good hifi equipment like Western classical orchestral music. Nothing has the detail, the soundstage, the dynamics. The problem is that pieces are long: half an hour, an hour or more.

Having said that, my Western-classical enthusiasm was mostly about 45 years ago, and I do not have much material: a couple of CDs and some FLACs. I'll try to put some short extracts together that won't require people sitting for an hour --- for next time.

 

[KiranPS]

I second that , MBL setup was the best I've ever heard. They sounded better than my first favourite - Sonus faber . I could not move from the seat when they were playing. I wanted to hear each song fully. I am pretty restless and I switch between songs a lot during auditioning ( as others in my auditioning group would agree ). These on the other hand really blew me away. These are the first three way bookshelfs I've heard. The depth of bass from the Kevlar driver was amazing. The imaging with the dome midrange and the details in ribbon super tweeter was unbeatable. They do sound like floor standing speakers. As these are recommended with an all MBL gear, they were sadly well out of my range.

 

[Rajiv]

Hi,

The original plan was to showcase two classic vintage systems at the meet .One a classic valve based system(Quad II/LS3/5A) and the other a classic solid state system(lUXMAN M4000/Infinity RSII).

Since we could not get a couple more rooms at the venue the soild state system could not be showcased. Pity, as it would have been great for members to listen to these vintage dinasours and see how they compare to the newer stuff.

On Saturday afternoon Santosh dropped by to listen to these vintage speakers.



Regards
Rajiv

 

[thevortex]

Yes sir, Mr. Vortex, you did miss a lot of fun this time, hopefully you should make it to the next one. And, you do owe me a bike trip to Pondy, if I remember correctly, so we need to talk...hyeah:

Haha...so you do remember me?

Sure thing. PM me when you get a chance and we can sync up.

 

[t.antony]

Wonderful pictures, they look similar to those hi-fi meets abroad. Congrats guys for having a good time and kudos to the organizers for taking the HFV meet to this level.

From the pics, my favorite is the Analogue audio room .

 

[srinisundar]

Looks like you guys had a blasting time. I wonder if time was adequate with so many gears. Good job and kudos to the organizers; I know its just not easy.:clapping:

Meanwhile I can't wait to lay my hands on the LS50 monitors.

Hi Santy,

Thanks for your appreciation.

We had extended sessions too after allotted / proper listening sessions and not much of gears by way of looking in photos, every dealer had 3 set of gears and everybody could hear the gears with sufficient time.

Regards

 

[rameshbitra]

Thanks Srini/Captain/Rajiv/Murali for organizing this event very well.

Though I am in this forum for couple of years and ensure to read almost every thread daily, never got a chance to meet FM's apart from Srini. This is my first HFV meet. It was good to meet people who I speak over the phone but never met them earlier.

Somewhere gramaphone mentioned in his thread - "I very vaguely understood the real meaning of the words the reviewers used. This meet helped me to understand and feel all what i have read" - I am in the same boat too

Missed to listen this combo - Quad II with LS3/5A + Bryston + Lyrita Pre :sad: .Was in the other hall listening Analog Audio tube amps.

My favourite in this meet was Analog Audio labs audition hall.

 

[captrajesh]

My hearty congrats to the entire team. heard lot of good things about the meet. Had to drop out due to a medical condition of my kid. Great going Captain and Srini.

Thanks Ram. How is your kid doing now. Wish him early recovery.

BTW, we missed you in the meet.

 

[madbullram]

Thanks Captain. Both are slowly recovering and getting back to good shape. Flanker was giving me live updates, was impressed with his version of the MBLs and I personally wanted to get back with tubes...which again was the big miss for me.

 

[captrajesh]

was impressed with his version of the MBLs and I personally wanted to get back with tubes...which again was the big miss for me.

I guess you are referring to the MBL bookshelfs. They sounded fabulous and had great dynamic range. They sounded superb with the Dared tube amp which I've loaned from the Analogue Audio guys and would most likely retain. If you wish, we can take the amp to the Audio People and play with the MBLs. Alternatively, we can ask them to bring them to your home and play them with the Dared amp and see how it goes. Le me know if this interests you.

 

[mikehcm]

Dared tube amp were sounding great, KEF/Mbl were sounding so smooth and rich, I'm sure tube amps will provide fatigue free listening experience for hours.

 

[thevortex]

I realize the contributions in personal time put in by the organizers must have been tremendous. At the end of the day I hope these encouraging comments and frank praise comes as soothing balm for all your efforts. Do keep it up, team!

 

[madbullram]

I guess you are referring to the MBL bookshelfs. They sounded fabulous and had great dynamic range. They sounded superb with the Dared tube amp which I've loaned from the Analogue Audio guys and would most likely retain. If you wish, we can take the amp to the Audio People and play with the MBLs. Alternatively, we can ask them to bring them to your home and play them with the Dared amp and see how it goes. Le me know if this interests you.

Thanks Captain. I have just upgraded my speakers to MA Gold 1200. So speaker upgrade needs to wait. Will try to make to your home to listen to the Dared amps.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

The best was served last! Only when I listened to Quad II with LS3/5A + Bryston+Lyrta Pre, I felt that the trip was well worth. I really sounded warm and engaging. Thanks to Rajiv and others for the thoughtful arrangements especially the last session

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Were the MBL bookshelves (monitors?) even better than the Keff LS50s?

 

[john_k_antony]

Were the MBL bookshelves (monitors?) even better than the Keff LS50s?

I found the MBL bookshelves more detailed sounding than KEF LS50 and also the low ends reproduction was better than KEF LS50. I think the ribbon tweeters in MBL is doing the trick. However, I personally liked "sweet" highs and mids of KEF. I think KEF LS50 with a good musical SUB will be a great setup.

-John.

 

[john_k_antony]

The best was served last! Only when I listened to Quad II with LS3/5A + Bryston+Lyrta Pre, I felt that the trip was well worth. I really sounded warm and engaging. Thanks to Rajiv and others for the thoughtful arrangements especially the last session

Oh I missed that :sad:

 

[kuruvilajacob]

Were the MBL bookshelves (monitors?) even better than the Keff LS50s?

The MBL bookshelves was excellent and it was better than KEF LS 550s in my opinion but the warmth of the vintage audio gear was more endearing to me. Maybe it's my personal taste as it sounded more analogue than other gear including Analog Audio Labs presentation. Did you all notice that nobody wanted to leave after a long day's auditioning?