Stereo Set Up

[RAJESH]

Hi Guys,

Need your expert advice on my choice of a stereo set up. My room size is 18 feet width & 25 feet length. I enjoy listening to Mellow pop, like Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Dire straits, Eagles,country, classics , & old school 80's bands like Metallica, Dream Theater, Manowar among other classic rock bands.
This system that i have short listed on, is listed below. If you guys think of a better system for this price, request you to please advice me on this. Thanks ahead.

Emotiva PT 100 Pre amp	49500​
Emotiva XPA Gen 3, 2 Channel Power Amp	132000​
Polk Audio Rti A9 Towers	121000​
Arcam miniblink bluetooth dac	13800​

​

Regards
Rajesh

 

[fLUX]

Hi,

There are quiet a few better (again before anyone pinpoints, i would say subjectively) alternatives at this price range.

Preamps - Schiit Saga+ / Freya+ Tube Pre , Parasound ZPre3 Solid State , Lyrita Tube Preamp, Acoustic Portrait Tube Pre . Tube preamps are preferred by quiet a few over SS at this price range , so do have a look at the above options (Acoustic Portrait is based out of Bangalore and you can audition their Preamp)

Power Amp - I have demoed the exact same power amp but found it a little bright to my liking. Would suggest to either have a look at used market for Parasound A21 or the likes as with the budget you have mentioned you will get really good used Power Amps ((none of which I have auditioned yet)>

I have auditioned and own the Indiq Audio Saptak Power Amp, its very difficult to beat at the price it sells. Its fairly neutral and was better than the Emotiva XPA gen 3 subjectively. Indiq Audio is again based out of Bangalore their lineup is amazing and has had a recent large group buy on the forum to the tune of 15L+

Speakers - I personally had shortlisted KEF/XTZ before I heard the IndiQ lineup. Owned a XTZ Spirit 11 which i gave up for Indiq Platinum Achal , from the speaker range I heard sub 1.5L the Indiq Platinum Achal are the most well rounded speakers and are very hard to beat. They suit all genres pretty well. Personally for me after the Indiq Platinum Achal comes the KEF Q950 followed by the XTZ Spirit 11, the Qacoustics Concept 40 at 95-98k is also a good option but for the genres you listen to the bass is an important component and the Concept 40 might fall short there.
Also if you are willing to venture into 1.8L territory do consider the Focal Aria 926 , they are wonderful ofcourse at a very huge premium.

If you are willing to go the used route @drkrack was selling his entire chain and speakers , not sure if they are still available.

 

[Ramanuj]

Check with ProFx for the Adcom GFA555 SE Mark 2 amplifier , the matching pre and pair them with a Dali Opticon 6. Will suit the kind of music you listen to.

 

[RRR]

As rightly mentioned by Ramanuj, for your music tastes the Dali Opticon series could be a better choice.

 

[Pratyush J]

Hi,

There are quiet a few better (again before anyone pinpoints, i would say subjectively) alternatives at this price range.

Preamps - Schiit Saga+ / Freya+ Tube Pre , Parasound ZPre3 Solid State , Lyrita Tube Preamp, Acoustic Portrait Tube Pre . Tube preamps are preferred by quiet a few over SS at this price range , so do have a look at the above options (Acoustic Portrait is based out of Bangalore and you can audition their Preamp)

Power Amp - I have demoed the exact same power amp but found it a little bright to my liking. Would suggest to either have a look at used market for Parasound A21 or the likes as with the budget you have mentioned you will get really good used Power Amps ((none of which I have auditioned yet)>

I have auditioned and own the Indiq Audio Saptak Power Amp, its very difficult to beat at the price it sells. Its fairly neutral and was better than the Emotiva XPA gen 3 subjectively. Indiq Audio is again based out of Bangalore their lineup is amazing and has had a recent large group buy on the forum to the tune of 15L+

Speakers - I personally had shortlisted KEF/XTZ before I heard the IndiQ lineup. Owned a XTZ Spirit 11 which i gave up for Indiq Platinum Achal , from the speaker range I heard sub 1.5L the Indiq Platinum Achal are the most well rounded speakers and are very hard to beat. They suit all genres pretty well. Personally for me after the Indiq Platinum Achal comes the KEF Q950 followed by the XTZ Spirit 11, the Qacoustics Concept 40 at 95-98k is also a good option but for the genres you listen to the bass is an important component and the Concept 40 might fall short there.
Also if you are willing to venture into 1.8L territory do consider the Focal Aria 926 , they are wonderful ofcourse at a very huge premium.

If you are willing to go the used route @drkrack was selling his entire chain and speakers , not sure if they are still available.

I couldn't agree more with @fLUX . I too own Indiqaudio's platinum achal towers and saptak power amplifier. I flew from Jaipur to Bangalore to audition them. You can check my journey here which includes other brands I have auditioned. This combo will suit your preferred genres very well. Their 3 years warranty, custom speaker shade to suit your interiors, 15 day trial and their approachability is icing on the cake

 

[Prodigy]

@RAJESH, As you are from Bangalore do audition IndiqAudio. It’s 100% worth your time. My journey into the stereo also started off like something similar how you planned. I auditioned almost everything in my reach during the lock down days under 2L and was contemplating between Q950 & C40. Meanwhile, somehow bumped into a thread here in HFV by fm @dannyarcher in Indian Manufacturers Thread and decide to pay them a visit and voila the Platinum Achal’s caught my attention. The auditioning experience at IndiqAudio was just amazing. No Acoustic Treatment and the speakers were kept just like how we tend to keep it at our house and was played using a simple Phoenix BT receiver connected to the Poweramp without any preamp. It was pure direct and that set up my just mind blowing. Spent hours listening to those and after hearing every detail, I realised these were much ahead of most of sub 1.5L towers available. IndiqAudio is a great brand and it can compete against some of the well known brands out there.

Post purchase experience has also been great. I own both their towers and power amp. I have even used a 8W class A to power these speakers and the puny 8w can run these towers without breaking a sweat. I have my stereo set up in my living room (25x37x11) and these can fill in the room with quality sound.

I would still say, audition different brands that available in your budget and decide what you like but do consider auditioning this Indian Brand as well. It’s definitely worth your time.
Happy hunting!

Regards,
Som

 

[amitk777]

You can also do good by buying a integrated and investing the savings into a better dac/streamer. A decent DAC will make the biggest difference to the sound.

 

[Vishram karande]

DAC is important in set up, prefer for Schitt or Topping. Definitive technology Demand series, even bookshelf are very powerful.

 

[nosortf]

Wow that is a big room, 45sq mtrs. I would suggest 2 towers using dual 5" midbass and pairing two 10" active subs to assist them. Play the towers at 75db C weighting on pink noise(use any good app on smart phone to generate and measure), slowly dial in the subwoofer crossover and gain levels to match the towers. The temptation of big bass is very high, be cautious and judge carefully during subwoofer settings.
Try JBL A170 towers and Stage A100P 10" subwoofers.

 

[DB1989]

Wow that is a big room, 45sq mtrs. I would suggest 2 towers using dual 5" midbass and pairing two 10" active subs to assist them. Play the towers at 75db C weighting on pink noise(use any good app on smart phone to generate and measure), slowly dial in the subwoofer crossover and gain levels to match the towers. The temptation of big bass is very high, be cautious and judge carefully during subwoofer settings.
Try JBL A170 towers and Stage A100P 10" subwoofers.

Wow. That's very very specific.

 

[nosortf]

Wow. That's very very specific.

Yes in theory, but reality is a different story. Right now I am being a gyaandu.

 

[RAJESH]

Hi,

There are quiet a few better (again before anyone pinpoints, i would say subjectively) alternatives at this price range.

Preamps - Schiit Saga+ / Freya+ Tube Pre , Parasound ZPre3 Solid State , Lyrita Tube Preamp, Acoustic Portrait Tube Pre . Tube preamps are preferred by quiet a few over SS at this price range , so do have a look at the above options (Acoustic Portrait is based out of Bangalore and you can audition their Preamp)

Power Amp - I have demoed the exact same power amp but found it a little bright to my liking. Would suggest to either have a look at used market for Parasound A21 or the likes as with the budget you have mentioned you will get really good used Power Amps ((none of which I have auditioned yet)>

I have auditioned and own the Indiq Audio Saptak Power Amp, its very difficult to beat at the price it sells. Its fairly neutral and was better than the Emotiva XPA gen 3 subjectively. Indiq Audio is again based out of Bangalore their lineup is amazing and has had a recent large group buy on the forum to the tune of 15L+

Speakers - I personally had shortlisted KEF/XTZ before I heard the IndiQ lineup. Owned a XTZ Spirit 11 which i gave up for Indiq Platinum Achal , from the speaker range I heard sub 1.5L the Indiq Platinum Achal are the most well rounded speakers and are very hard to beat. They suit all genres pretty well. Personally for me after the Indiq Platinum Achal comes the KEF Q950 followed by the XTZ Spirit 11, the Qacoustics Concept 40 at 95-98k is also a good option but for the genres you listen to the bass is an important component and the Concept 40 might fall short there.
Also if you are willing to venture into 1.8L territory do consider the Focal Aria 926 , they are wonderful ofcourse at a very huge premium.

If you are willing to go the used route @drkrack was selling his entire chain and speakers , not sure if they are still available.

Wow thanks for that detailed information Flux...thanks for taking the time. I will surely look into your advice. So sorry for this late reply.

 

[Indranil Sen]

Hello Rajesh,
In my opinion you should get the best speaker that you could afford when building a 2 channel system.That’s where I would spend 75% of my budget. All other electronics could be purchased later on. You have a relatively large room and you need really good speakers to energize the room. What is the height of your room?
After you get the speaker that you like, spend time in the speaker placement in the room, doesn’t cost much, and focus on room acoustics to get the maximum value out of your investment.
Just to be clear, I am not saying that you don’t need good electronics, source, etc, etc for good sound. You definitely need all of them but I was just talking about the priorities and sequences that I would set if I don’t have unlimited budget.
Thanks.