Speaker Auditioning Experiences - Kolkata

[drkaushik]

You can also try JBL.You can get the address in JBL's website.This was not there when I bought mine in the month of january.
Remember, buy after detailed auditioning with your own CD's.
Most places sales people are ignorant about their setups in Kolkata shops.
Here is where this forum can help you.
After sales support is very significant and bargain well.Best of luck.

 

[sghosh30]

Thank you haisaikat and drkaushik for your response.

I have a 5.1 system in mind in the future, not really looking for a 7.1. I did visit the Sonodyne showroom at South City. The Sonus towers (2605) with Sia 208R was OK but nothing to write home about (as it sounded to my untrained ears). The Sonus 1601 BS were also not up to the mark. The price quoted was 39K and 28K respectively. The pCube was absolutely crap and told them to shut it off.

As for Bose, I kind of seem to have developed a mental block that they are overpriced (probably will get better options for that kind of price).

As I will be mainly listening to soft musics, mainly vocals and instrumental (not much of rock stuff), any specifications for speakers? As for the player wish to invest in a relatively standard DVDP as I plan to get a BDP from abroad next year.

But as drkaushik says, next time I will definitely carry my own CDs.

 

[haisaikat]

We never liked Sonodyne in our auditions. You will get to know that from the reviews of mandark in this thread earlier. Also the attitude of that guy was also not very much to our liking.

You should try going to Promises for many options at various budget levels. SKS and Profx also keeps very good models but less on lower budget side (sub 20K range). Had you said movies are your priority I could have said Yamaha whose budget NSP series is good for movies.

 

[drkaushik]

Listen to the sonus 2605v2 with yamaha amplifiers.They sell those.Probably they want to push their own amps at present.
The HT setup at south city mall is absolutely crap.Those sales people are dumbo's.They bring a bad name to their product.Moreover they do not have an acoustically treated listening room.
You are invited for demonstration to my house with sonus package powered by Yamaha V667 AVR. Get ready to be blown away.If interested call at 9434879256.
As for the prices you have mentioned,I think it ought to be with the amp included.I bought this in the month of Jan at 26% discount.
I had auditioned JAMO,Klipsch,YAMAHA,PSB,ELAC,POLK speakers with the same CD and went for Sonodyne.Klipsch was good but a little extra bright, not to my taste.
The yamaha store gives the best demonstration.

 

[haisaikat]

Listen to the sonus 2605v2 with yamaha amplifiers.They sell those.Probably they want to push their own amps at present.
The HT setup at south city mall is absolutely crap.Those sales people are dumbo's.They bring a bad name to their product.Moreover they do not have an acoustically treated listening room.
You are invited for demonstration to my house with sonus package powered by Yamaha V667 AVR. Get ready to be blown away.If interested call at 9434879256.
As for the prices you have mentioned,I think it ought to be with the amp included.I bought this in the month of Jan at 26% discount.
I had auditioned JAMO,Klipsch,YAMAHA,PSB,ELAC,POLK speakers with the same CD and went for Sonodyne.Klipsch was good but a little extra bright, not to my taste.
The yamaha store gives the best demonstration.

Kaushik, I heard that there is another Sonodyne store in Kolkata. If you have the contact details of those you may pass on to SGhosh. That might help him.

 

[sghosh30]

Thanks Kaushik. The Sonus 2605 is pretty big for my setup , I was eyeing the BS ones (Sonus 1601), but felt uninspired with the only audition that I had. How much did you pay for the v667? and where is this Yamaha store that you mentioned? I definitely would love to hear your setup. Will give you a call soon.

BTW, Saikat the other listening room for Sonoyne is at Mani Square (though I haven't been there)

 

[drkaushik]

Yes it is in Mani Square mall.It is in Eastern bypass, I think. I have not been there.
Sonodyne gave very good auditions at their service centre in wood street, bylane to Elgin road.They don't demo there anymore.

Their service personnel have good knowledge, and I have high regards for them.But their sales people are stubborn and hopeless.

If ever you plan to make a trip to the hills crossing siliguri and have not decided, I would like to offer you my hospitality for a demo.

Remember,similarily priced indian brands sound better than their foreign counterparts.I have learnt this from this forum.

 

[sghosh30]

Had been to the Mani Square Mall Sonodyne showroom. Pathetic setup, no proper listening room, audition marred by songs being played on the mall sound system. Moreover the Sonus FS and the BS both sounded pretty poor (they said its probably due to the low powered amp SIA 208r). The low notes were a cluttered rumble. My personal opinion is that the Sonus 2605 sounded much better at South City (maybe something to do with the setup).

They are not selling Yamaha amps any more, its only their SIA 208r. As for the HT, they are offering the genie series with Denon 1311 AVR (new tieup). The next lot will be 1312 as they said the 1311 is now obsolete.

Sonodyne is offering a 20% discount on exchange of any old audio system, any condition (25% discount on exchange of sonodyne product). They are also willing to offer only the Denon AVR at 20-25% discount during this festive offer (exchange).

Also auditioned B&W BS with NAD amp which sounded great. The response with psb speakers were a bit too hard for my liking. Promises did not have any more options on BS.

At ProFX we had a fantastic experience with Denon amps and KEF Q300 series. Everything was fantastic about this set of BS, with a punchy bass and clear distinct audio quality. Even at extremely low volumes it was very intricate. I personally was very impressed and wanted to listen to the Q100, but they were sold out the day before. So will be back to listen to those in 2 weeks time as they have ordered new sets. But unfortunaltely, the new batch has an increased price tag.

Would like to have your opinion about Denon510AE + KEF Q100.

BTW, Saikat as you hinted, I am now decided to go for a dedicated 2 channel amp rather than a AVR for my music stuff. Will think of the HT setup in the future.

 

[haisaikat]

sghosh. I personally did not audition the 510AE, so you have to look for opinion of others on this front. I think that profx guys are very willing to provide demo and after roaming around ar sonodyne, bose and promises .. profx was a shocker in terms of their willingness to demo and that too till the time we told them to stop. I would also suggest you to take a look at Digital Accoustics (beside maddox square) who keeps Harmon Kardon, JBL, Tannoy stuffs, they also have a turntable in the demo in case you want to try some vinyls. Once done you may want to check out SKS where they do keep some good 2 channel equipments which I am very much sure that you will like. After that you may decide which one to go for.

 

[haisaikat]

In search of a Network Capable (If DLNA compliant then good) 2 channel stereo amp that can drive my Aviano 6, this is on my wishlist for 2012 and will make my system complete.

 

[kohinoorb]

In search of a Network Capable (If DLNA compliant then good) 2 channel stereo amp that can drive my Aviano 6, this is on my wishlist for 2012 and will make my system complete.

So this stereo amp .. will you connect it to the avianos by disconnecting them from your ht and move to a dedicated stereo set up or else how will you toggle/share the avianos with ht and stereo amp .. is this where the biwirable concept comes in.. maybe a stupid question but im on the hunt and vry close to some unbelievable prices.. also is the 1911 proving to be short on dedicated music or is the stereo amp for the jigsaw puzzler in us
Btw do you already have a dedicated cdp oh no you dnt need one you want to stream flac files over Dlna .. but is it comparable? The 1912 can do Dlna so if 1911 could do dlna would you still look for the stereo amp with dlna capability

 

[kohinoorb]

You also have ps3 saikat so you already have dlna to your ht.. so i assume the amp is for the purist in you.. but i do look forward to your response

 

[haisaikat]

kohinoorb, i do not have a dedicated cdp and one reason is that i do not have lor many audio cds and moreover i am lazy to keep changing one cd after another, something that i do not need to do in case of a dlna flac player. Ps3 or my htpc is not a good option sicethat requires meto keep the tv on most of the time. Also 1911 plays music really well but the problem is that when you compare the output witha dedicated stereo amp tohen only you realize the difference.. Trust me this is true for all avr s in this segment no matter how much their owners vouch for this. If they have not listened to a dedicated stereo then they cannot feel what is missing in avr. 1912 is network compatible but not 1911. Also the stereo amp and avr both will be connected to avianos via a speaker connection switch wich would allow switching the avianos between stereo amp and avr.

 

[subha]

Hi All,
I am new to the journey.
Thanks all for your suggestions and inputs.
I too have been to some of the demo offered in kolkata.
1.Sonodyne @ 26% discount from 20th jan till 29th jan '12 (S.City and Mani Square)
Experience :-Movie:- Thumping,Loud,Shaking.In short NOISE !!
Asked the Sales Person to lower the Bass, felling was so so, on
Genie 1 , sounds better in Genie 2 with Roar and Denon 1312.
Audio clarity was missing
Music :- Disappointment for Genie 1, to some extent good for Genie 2

2. Bose @ No Discounts (S.City) only on 3.2.1 Series 79K
Experience :-Movie:- Wanted (english), with 2 speakers and 1 woofer, the sound was unmatching
Hat's off to the technology that with 2 speakers you get a surroung sound.
Felt brilliant.
Music :- Santoor and Jazz , both played nice and was soothing to the ears, with clear
defination as if you are in a concert and music is playing live.

 

[haisaikat]

Hi All,
I am new to the journey.
Thanks all for your suggestions and inputs.
I too have been to some of the demo offered in kolkata.
1.Sonodyne @ 26% discount from 20th jan till 29th jan '12 (S.City and Mani Square)
Experience :-Movie:- Thumping,Loud,Shaking.In short NOISE !!
Asked the Sales Person to lower the Bass, felling was so so, on
Genie 1 , sounds better in Genie 2 with Roar and Denon 1312.
Audio clarity was missing
Music :- Disappointment for Genie 1, to some extent good for Genie 2

2. Bose @ No Discounts (S.City) only on 3.2.1 Series 79K
Experience :-Movie:- Wanted (english), with 2 speakers and 1 woofer, the sound was unmatching
Hat's off to the technology that with 2 speakers you get a surroung sound.
Felt brilliant.
Music :- Santoor and Jazz , both played nice and was soothing to the ears, with clear
defination as if you are in a concert and music is playing live.

Subha welcome here. What is your budget and how big is your room, moreover are you looking for 2.1 or 5.1 or 7.1. There are other places as well in Kolkata where you can visit like Profx, Promises, SKS, etc where I am sure you will get good matches for Bose all the best and please do post for any help or experiance sharing

 

[subha]

Hi Saikat,
My room definition is - L*B*H = 16 ft *14 ft * 10.5 ft.
I am not sure of 2.1 and 5.1; definitely not 7.1
Yes, I have come from your posts about the various listening places in kolkata.
My budget is around 40K.
I don't want the thumping effect, but natural and real sounds that don't stress your ears for continuous listening.

Your inputs and suggestions are welcome.

 

[kohinoorb]

@subha try auditioning a jbl cine 300 fits your budget comes with a powered sub.. .. if its movies you are interested in.. sadly saikat is right .. for good musical experience you need to go for separates.. i think ill get the ca 650 a .. @saikat can you check the current price for the aviano 6s at sk traders? Btw did you check the dlna enabled onkyo .. is it any good? Im getting ca azur 650a at 250 gbp ..whats the price quote inkolkata

 

[haisaikat]

@saikat can you check the current price for the aviano 6s at sk traders? Btw did you check the dlna enabled onkyo .. is it any good? Im getting ca azur 650a at 250 gbp ..whats the price quote inkolkata

kohinoorb, spoke to chanchal in sks just now, 650A costs around 28.5K INR after discount and Aviano 6 still costs around 40K INR. So your local price is still best for 650A. I also enquired about the 651 and heard that it is still about 1 yr to hit kolkata market but I will double check this with fx-entertainment. Good news is that SKS is now also keeping Marantz CD Players. The CA Topaz SR10 2 channel amp costs around 28K INR here. Thinking whether to buy 650A here along with any network capable CDP or wait for any future models .

 

[haisaikat]

Hi Saikat,
My room definition is - L*B*H = 16 ft *14 ft * 10.5 ft.
I am not sure of 2.1 and 5.1; definitely not 7.1
Yes, I have come from your posts about the various listening places in kolkata.
My budget is around 40K.
I don't want the thumping effect, but natural and real sounds that don't stress your ears for continuous listening.

Your inputs and suggestions are welcome.

for your room size what I also need is the listening distance from screen. in 45K budget you will get Aviano 2 bookshelf with AZUR 550A stereo amp and trust me very good bass even without subwoofer.

However for 5.1 movies requirement, Harmon Kardons and Yamaha YHT series are your best best alongwith Onkyo 3400 (< 30K).

However I would recommend you to try out Denon 1611 (around 25K) with some polk speaker combination (stereo now and later on upgrade to 5.1 with more budget).

 

[kohinoorb]

kohinoorb, spoke to chanchal in sks just now, 650A costs around 28.5K INR after discount and Aviano 6 still costs around 40K INR. So your local price is still best for 650A. I also enquired about the 651 and heard that it is still about 1 yr to hit kolkata market but I will double check this with fx-entertainment. Good news is that SKS is now also keeping Marantz CD Players. The CA Topaz SR10 2 channel amp costs around 28K INR here. Thinking whether to buy 650A here along with any network capable CDP or wait for any future models .

Indeed i would love to see a network capable amp from ca... devices should be network capable.. then we have lot of possibilities.. i can clearly see an andriod or ios app to talk to the amp then ... but the 650 A seems to be very competent.. will try to audition it this weekened... what is strange is the power rating is 75wpc which is the same as the denon.. then why is it more capable to drive the avianos ...