vivek.saikia
Active Member
<<The below review is from a newbie in the Audiophile world hence everything should be taken with a pinch of salt.>>
Hi All!
To find a cure for this deadly disease called upgraditis, I started with a haphazard auditioning of the speaker brands available in Pune.
My first day of auditioning started yesterday as I collected online details of all the Hi-Fi dealers in Pune. My exhaustive list of Pune dealers came down to the following contenders:
1. AVXellence
2. Vijay sales
3. Melody Pro Sound
4. Silo media
5. Sound & Vision
6. Audio Visual & More
7. Focal Audio Systems
8. Croma
I called up Silo media and they informed me that they only have Wharfedales. I shunned the idea of visiting them as i had auditioned the wharfedales many times and was searching for something which will be an upgrade to the Wharfedale sound.
I steered clear of the Croma showroom as they had only some Yamaha floorstanders. I don't think that the Yamaha speakers are audiophile grade at all.
I decided to visit the Vijay Sales showroom only because their showroom was on my way to AVXellence. They had a few Mission floorstanders. Though I am not a fan of Missions (blame it on their annoyingly ugly looks and average SQ, no offence any Mission fan), I just decided to audition them so as not to miss any fun. The CD played was John Mayer's Continuum from a Sony DVD player and a Denon AVR. I asked the attendent to stop the music after 1 or 2 minutes of listening as I was not interested anymore. I don't want to pass any judgment over the SQ of Mission and would just say that the SQ was not as per my liking.
Then I hurriedly moved out of Vijay Sales and headed straight to AVXellence. I had called them up beforehand so they were ready to handle me
On entering their showroom I realized what a wide range of equipments they offer! They have a variety of Foreign Hi End brands and I had not even heard of many brand names (even after reading AV Max for ages and even being associated with HFV). The attendent there was quite attentive and polite (as opposed to the Vijay Sales guy) and he had set up a NAD rig beforehand as I had mentioned him that i own a NAD C350, over the phone. I told him that I wanted to upgrade my wharfedale 8.2 so asked him to show me the options accordingly. He had a pair of Polk Audio TSi 200 bookshelf for demo besides a Paradigm Titan monitor and few other hi-end-wallet-holling speakers which I dared not to look at. The rig was having a NAD 326BEE and a NAD CDp. I gave him the same John Mayer Continuum CD for playback. But we experienced a glitch as the NAD CDp refused to even switch on. After fiddling with the NAD CDp and failing, he finally took out a Sony DVDp and connected it to the amp. It was better for me as the set up was much like my own set up which don't have a dedicated CDp. Now the reference plane was much familiar to me. After all these hurdles, finally I got to listen to the sound of Music. After listening to the Polk Audio bookshelves for some time I found them to be quite bright, even after being paired with a NAD amp (with tone defeat on). The midrange was not that much refined as I would like. The low end was also not too defined. The lower octaves and midrange freq were diffused, creating a confusing soundstage. Muddy is the word. I asked him to change the CD and play some Ghazal. He played a Jagjit Singh collections CD. The sound was bright and the midrange failed to lure me. After few minutes of audition I realized that these speakers are not going to replace my Wharfy 8.2. Sad I was as I had read many online reviews singing praises of this speaker. I realized that it is always better to rely on your ears rather than some online reviews as the big bad cyber world is filled with many highly biased uncooked reviews.
As the expectations were not met, the enthusiasm was lowered a bit. It was then when my attention was grabbed by the Paradigm Titan monitors sitting next to the polk Audio. They looked quite expensive (atleast for my budget) and looked indeed like a condom, as rightly mentioned by someone. They were quite big for a bookshelf. I thought, what the hell! it will not cost me anything to audition them! And friends, just there I took a bite of the sin! and guess what, I could have been never been more happier.
The attendant happily connected these Titans to the NAD amp and he played the same John Mayer track "Gravity". I had no expectation, bias or for that matter any barriers for these speakers and I was totally neutral about these speakers. But as the track started playing, my whole wide world started changing! The music was finally sounding like Music and John Mayer did the rest in drowning me in to melody. The speaker is capable of producing a very big sound and a huge soundstage. The first thing which really bowled me over was the imaging! It was well centred and the music was sounding as if I am listening to a live performance, as I can easily make out the instrument positions. And this was something I was searching for so long. The highs were just perfect, allowing the right amount of shimmering and the lows were well controlled, very tight and well articulated. The best part about this speaker, the midrange. The fluid midrange is so natural. John Mayer's voice was so lifelike and the drums were sounding, well, just like drums! Of all the speakers I have auditioned till now, nothing have moved me like the way these beauties have! May be You guys can feel the elation in my heart after looking at the length of this post.
Now coming to the million dollar question. The price of these beauties. The quoted price for the pair was 30k. The price was much beyond my budget but the damage was already done. My heart had developed a "strong love" for these speakers and I knew it will not settle for anything less than the mighty Titans now. Eventhough, this will mean a few more months of savings and living with my Wharfy for some more time.
After spending lot of quality time auditioning these speakers, I decided to visit some other showrooms in a hope to find some cheaper options having sound signature similar to the mighty Titans (if the luck may be), so as to save some moolah.
I headed to Melody Pro Sound. They had the ready stock of Mordaunt Short, Quad and Jamo speakers. I auditioned them all one by one but none of them was able to wash away the sweet memories of the Titans. Much like first love! The more speakers I auditioned, the more realization I had that the Titans are irreplaceable.
Technically, the Paradigm Titan v6.0 bookshelves are quite advanced. The specifications are as follows:
Design: 2-driver, 2-way bass reflex enclosures
Crossover: 2nd-order electro-acoustic at 1.8 kHz
High-Frequency Driver: 25-mm (1 in) H-PTD dome, ferro-fluid cooled
Bass / Midrange Driver: 190-mm (7-1/2 in) M-ICP cone, 25-mm (1 in) voice coil, GRIP chassis
Low-Frequency Extension: 39 Hz
Frequency Response On-Axis: 2 dB from 65 Hz - 20 kHz
Sensitivity: 93 dB
Recommended Amplifier Power: 15 - 100 watts
Maximum Input Power: 80 watts
Impedance: Compatible with 8 ohms
Dimensions (H x W x D): 18-7/16 in x 8-7/16 in x 11-7/8 in
Weight: 20.0 kg per pair
They are the most sensitive speaker I have auditioned till now (93dB) and with the biggest midbass driver (7.5 Inches).
In my quest to achieve audio Nirvana, I will try to audition as many speaker brands available in Pune and will keep you all updated about my aural pleasures. Till then, some eye candies:
Cheers!
Hi All!
To find a cure for this deadly disease called upgraditis, I started with a haphazard auditioning of the speaker brands available in Pune.
My first day of auditioning started yesterday as I collected online details of all the Hi-Fi dealers in Pune. My exhaustive list of Pune dealers came down to the following contenders:
1. AVXellence
2. Vijay sales
3. Melody Pro Sound
4. Silo media
5. Sound & Vision
6. Audio Visual & More
7. Focal Audio Systems
8. Croma
I called up Silo media and they informed me that they only have Wharfedales. I shunned the idea of visiting them as i had auditioned the wharfedales many times and was searching for something which will be an upgrade to the Wharfedale sound.
I steered clear of the Croma showroom as they had only some Yamaha floorstanders. I don't think that the Yamaha speakers are audiophile grade at all.
I decided to visit the Vijay Sales showroom only because their showroom was on my way to AVXellence. They had a few Mission floorstanders. Though I am not a fan of Missions (blame it on their annoyingly ugly looks and average SQ, no offence any Mission fan), I just decided to audition them so as not to miss any fun. The CD played was John Mayer's Continuum from a Sony DVD player and a Denon AVR. I asked the attendent to stop the music after 1 or 2 minutes of listening as I was not interested anymore. I don't want to pass any judgment over the SQ of Mission and would just say that the SQ was not as per my liking.
Then I hurriedly moved out of Vijay Sales and headed straight to AVXellence. I had called them up beforehand so they were ready to handle me
On entering their showroom I realized what a wide range of equipments they offer! They have a variety of Foreign Hi End brands and I had not even heard of many brand names (even after reading AV Max for ages and even being associated with HFV). The attendent there was quite attentive and polite (as opposed to the Vijay Sales guy) and he had set up a NAD rig beforehand as I had mentioned him that i own a NAD C350, over the phone. I told him that I wanted to upgrade my wharfedale 8.2 so asked him to show me the options accordingly. He had a pair of Polk Audio TSi 200 bookshelf for demo besides a Paradigm Titan monitor and few other hi-end-wallet-holling speakers which I dared not to look at. The rig was having a NAD 326BEE and a NAD CDp. I gave him the same John Mayer Continuum CD for playback. But we experienced a glitch as the NAD CDp refused to even switch on. After fiddling with the NAD CDp and failing, he finally took out a Sony DVDp and connected it to the amp. It was better for me as the set up was much like my own set up which don't have a dedicated CDp. Now the reference plane was much familiar to me. After all these hurdles, finally I got to listen to the sound of Music. After listening to the Polk Audio bookshelves for some time I found them to be quite bright, even after being paired with a NAD amp (with tone defeat on). The midrange was not that much refined as I would like. The low end was also not too defined. The lower octaves and midrange freq were diffused, creating a confusing soundstage. Muddy is the word. I asked him to change the CD and play some Ghazal. He played a Jagjit Singh collections CD. The sound was bright and the midrange failed to lure me. After few minutes of audition I realized that these speakers are not going to replace my Wharfy 8.2. Sad I was as I had read many online reviews singing praises of this speaker. I realized that it is always better to rely on your ears rather than some online reviews as the big bad cyber world is filled with many highly biased uncooked reviews.
As the expectations were not met, the enthusiasm was lowered a bit. It was then when my attention was grabbed by the Paradigm Titan monitors sitting next to the polk Audio. They looked quite expensive (atleast for my budget) and looked indeed like a condom, as rightly mentioned by someone. They were quite big for a bookshelf. I thought, what the hell! it will not cost me anything to audition them! And friends, just there I took a bite of the sin! and guess what, I could have been never been more happier.
The attendant happily connected these Titans to the NAD amp and he played the same John Mayer track "Gravity". I had no expectation, bias or for that matter any barriers for these speakers and I was totally neutral about these speakers. But as the track started playing, my whole wide world started changing! The music was finally sounding like Music and John Mayer did the rest in drowning me in to melody. The speaker is capable of producing a very big sound and a huge soundstage. The first thing which really bowled me over was the imaging! It was well centred and the music was sounding as if I am listening to a live performance, as I can easily make out the instrument positions. And this was something I was searching for so long. The highs were just perfect, allowing the right amount of shimmering and the lows were well controlled, very tight and well articulated. The best part about this speaker, the midrange. The fluid midrange is so natural. John Mayer's voice was so lifelike and the drums were sounding, well, just like drums! Of all the speakers I have auditioned till now, nothing have moved me like the way these beauties have! May be You guys can feel the elation in my heart after looking at the length of this post.
Now coming to the million dollar question. The price of these beauties. The quoted price for the pair was 30k. The price was much beyond my budget but the damage was already done. My heart had developed a "strong love" for these speakers and I knew it will not settle for anything less than the mighty Titans now. Eventhough, this will mean a few more months of savings and living with my Wharfy for some more time.
After spending lot of quality time auditioning these speakers, I decided to visit some other showrooms in a hope to find some cheaper options having sound signature similar to the mighty Titans (if the luck may be), so as to save some moolah.
I headed to Melody Pro Sound. They had the ready stock of Mordaunt Short, Quad and Jamo speakers. I auditioned them all one by one but none of them was able to wash away the sweet memories of the Titans. Much like first love! The more speakers I auditioned, the more realization I had that the Titans are irreplaceable.
Technically, the Paradigm Titan v6.0 bookshelves are quite advanced. The specifications are as follows:
Design: 2-driver, 2-way bass reflex enclosures
Crossover: 2nd-order electro-acoustic at 1.8 kHz
High-Frequency Driver: 25-mm (1 in) H-PTD dome, ferro-fluid cooled
Bass / Midrange Driver: 190-mm (7-1/2 in) M-ICP cone, 25-mm (1 in) voice coil, GRIP chassis
Low-Frequency Extension: 39 Hz
Frequency Response On-Axis: 2 dB from 65 Hz - 20 kHz
Sensitivity: 93 dB
Recommended Amplifier Power: 15 - 100 watts
Maximum Input Power: 80 watts
Impedance: Compatible with 8 ohms
Dimensions (H x W x D): 18-7/16 in x 8-7/16 in x 11-7/8 in
Weight: 20.0 kg per pair
They are the most sensitive speaker I have auditioned till now (93dB) and with the biggest midbass driver (7.5 Inches).
In my quest to achieve audio Nirvana, I will try to audition as many speaker brands available in Pune and will keep you all updated about my aural pleasures. Till then, some eye candies:
Cheers!
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