The Midrange and detail king - Diamond Mishra, Indiqaudio - Review

[Thirumalkumaran]

I used to be an earphone audiophile decades ago.! Now a HT user which is a good movie system, but you have to agree HT cannot replace a stereo (Whatever, stereo, direct, pure modes you throw at it).
So, started the hunt for a pure stereo setup which might be dedicated for late night sessions and only for vocals and classical. Me being impatient I was, got a BS22 as a stop gap. In parallel, as a DIY guy started to work on my stereo design.
I was auditioning various stereo systems as well, ranging from Simple Yamaha NS-555 to Focal 926. Either they didn’t match the vocal clarity I was after, or didn’t fall under the price bracket I was looking for.

Days passed on...! One day I visited a HFV member for a speaker my relative wanted. There I come face to face with one of the detailed sounding, clear representing, soothing systems I have come up on! (Note, it was not the speaker I went to look at). Pulled an old song, which immediately transported me to my earphone audiophile times. (Serious ratatouille moment!)
What is the point of a new design, if you can get what you want directly with support and made in India? It was a custom LR by Indiq audio, got recently on a GB. Called Amit for knowing the further details, and proceeded to have an audition with my wife at his home. Played various songs, and being as accommodative as he is, let me audition as much as I wanted.

I was waiting for another GB (Who wouldn’t want to get a VFM speaker at steal deal?). BTW, these were having a new name, “Diamond Mishras”
How the 2nd GB went is history. The 1st delivery of the GB is delivered on 15th Jul 2021 to me.



Do you think I will wait for anything else? System was opened, checked. These things are a lot larger if you are in the impression of “bookshelves”. Being around 21inches tall and weighing around 11KG per speaker, I would call this "Mini towers". The custom laminate option and the front black fascia, gave a modern yet fitting look into the décor I have. The heavy gauge 5 way binding post, rubber feet and Magnetic grills just elevate them altogether.
These were immediately setup with my Norge Concerto gold 1000 and ASUS HDP R1 running a custom firmware with some Flacs I already have in my system. Swapped my Amazonbasics CL2 with the belden 8477, and there it goes.

First impressions: The level of detail and the voice clarity was remarkable; the sound was very open. Though it’s not fully burned in when I received, I was not expecting a forward vocal and wide stage music which was presented before me. Like our Munna Bhai,

“Wo raat apun do baje tak sunaa!”

Listening the speakers more and more asserted one thing... This thing is born to sing what your music has, in a way you were not prepared for.

I never thought Asha Bhosle & Janaki would visit me for a direct audition. This thing brought it closer to it. SPB and KJ Yesudas was lively. Started feeding of songs which gave me some “perspective”. Mishras and Norge was able to cope up with them and still wanting more.

Combine this system with whatever electronics you have, you can easily find the place where your chain is improved! And its way forgiving while doing so.
Tried with RPi Volumio on a Fiio Olympus DAC, swapped with an Echo dot running spotify and apple music, these were showing up more details on the lossy formats than I’m used to.

Never heard a speaker that’s both forgiving and transparent!

These experiments are still running and I’m yet to reach the depths what can be said as its limits.
As of this writing it has ran more than 50-55 hours at my home. And I never felt the fatigue or the feel to stop at the current song.
I was always like Desmond Doss (Hacksaw ridge)

“Lord, help me get one more! (Song)”

And it’s still going on...! On the way are various components which I cross fingers that would try to reach the limit of what these can do.

Will try to keep this as a log or live review where I want to pen my thoughts on how Mishras behave & improve with the change it undergoes in time and sources.

Regards, A happy owner.

 

[captrajesh]

I wish that the drivers were flush mounted on the baffles onto countersinks rather than surface mounting over the baffles! Or is it that they are designed that way?

 

[Pratyush J]

I used to be an earphone audiophile decades ago.! Now a HT user which is a good movie system, but you have to agree HT cannot replace a stereo (Whatever, stereo, direct, pure modes you throw at it).
So, started the hunt for a pure stereo setup which might be dedicated for late night sessions and only for vocals and classical. Me being impatient I was, got a BS22 as a stop gap. In parallel, as a DIY guy started to work on my stereo design.
I was auditioning various stereo systems as well, ranging from Simple Yamaha NS-555 to Focal 926. Either they didn’t match the vocal clarity I was after, or didn’t fall under the price bracket I was looking for.

Days passed on...! One day I visited a HFV member for a speaker my relative wanted. There I come face to face with one of the detailed sounding, clear representing, soothing systems I have come up on! (Note, it was not the speaker I went to look at). Pulled an old song, which immediately transported me to my earphone audiophile times. (Serious ratatouille moment!)
What is the point of a new design, if you can get what you want directly with support and made in India? It was a custom LR by Indiq audio, got recently on a GB. Called Amit for knowing the further details, and proceeded to have an audition with my wife at his home. Played various songs, and being as accommodative as he is, let me audition as much as I wanted.

I was waiting for another GB (Who wouldn’t want to get a VFM speaker at steal deal?). BTW, these were having a new name, “Diamond Mishras”
How the 2nd GB went is history. The 1st delivery of the GB is delivered on 15th Jul 2021 to me.

View attachment 60172

Do you think I will wait for anything else? System was opened, checked. These things are a lot larger if you are in the impression of “bookshelves”. Being around 21inches tall and weighing around 11KG per speaker, I would call this "Mini towers". The custom laminate option and the front black fascia, gave a modern yet fitting look into the décor I have. The heavy gauge 5 way binding post, rubber feet and Magnetic grills just elevate them altogether.
These were immediately setup with my Norge Concerto gold 1000 and ASUS HDP R1 running a custom firmware with some Flacs I already have in my system. Swapped my Amazonbasics CL2 with the belden 8477, and there it goes.

First impressions: The level of detail and the voice clarity was remarkable; the sound was very open. Though it’s not fully burned in when I received, I was not expecting a forward vocal and wide stage music which was presented before me. Like our Munna Bhai,

“Wo raat apun do baje tak sunaa!”

Listening the speakers more and more asserted one thing... This thing is born to sing what your music has, in a way you were not prepared for.

I never thought Asha Bhosle & Janaki would visit me for a direct audition. This thing brought it closer to it. SPB and KJ Yesudas was lively. Started feeding of songs which gave me some “perspective”. Mishras and Norge was able to cope up with them and still wanting more.

Combine this system with whatever electronics you have, you can easily find the place where your chain is improved! And its way forgiving while doing so.
Tried with RPi Volumio on a Fiio Olympus DAC, swapped with an Echo dot running spotify and apple music, these were showing up more details on the lossy formats than I’m used to.

Never heard a speaker that’s both forgiving and transparent!

These experiments are still running and I’m yet to reach the depths what can be said as its limits.
As of this writing it has ran more than 50-55 hours at my home. And I never felt the fatigue or the feel to stop at the current song.
I was always like Desmond Doss (Hacksaw ridge)

“Lord, help me get one more! (Song)”

And it’s still going on...! On the way are various components which I cross fingers that would try to reach the limit of what these can do.

Will try to keep this as a log or live review where I want to pen my thoughts on how Mishras behave & improve with the change it undergoes in time and sources.

Regards, A happy owner.

View attachment 60173

Great review @Thirumalkumaran. How is the bass performance?

 

[Prodigy]

I used to be an earphone audiophile decades ago.! Now a HT user which is a good movie system, but you have to agree HT cannot replace a stereo (Whatever, stereo, direct, pure modes you throw at it).
So, started the hunt for a pure stereo setup which might be dedicated for late night sessions and only for vocals and classical. Me being impatient I was, got a BS22 as a stop gap. In parallel, as a DIY guy started to work on my stereo design.
I was auditioning various stereo systems as well, ranging from Simple Yamaha NS-555 to Focal 926. Either they didn’t match the vocal clarity I was after, or didn’t fall under the price bracket I was looking for.

Days passed on...! One day I visited a HFV member for a speaker my relative wanted. There I come face to face with one of the detailed sounding, clear representing, soothing systems I have come up on! (Note, it was not the speaker I went to look at). Pulled an old song, which immediately transported me to my earphone audiophile times. (Serious ratatouille moment!)
What is the point of a new design, if you can get what you want directly with support and made in India? It was a custom LR by Indiq audio, got recently on a GB. Called Amit for knowing the further details, and proceeded to have an audition with my wife at his home. Played various songs, and being as accommodative as he is, let me audition as much as I wanted.

I was waiting for another GB (Who wouldn’t want to get a VFM speaker at steal deal?). BTW, these were having a new name, “Diamond Mishras”
How the 2nd GB went is history. The 1st delivery of the GB is delivered on 15th Jul 2021 to me.

View attachment 60172

Do you think I will wait for anything else? System was opened, checked. These things are a lot larger if you are in the impression of “bookshelves”. Being around 21inches tall and weighing around 11KG per speaker, I would call this "Mini towers". The custom laminate option and the front black fascia, gave a modern yet fitting look into the décor I have. The heavy gauge 5 way binding post, rubber feet and Magnetic grills just elevate them altogether.
These were immediately setup with my Norge Concerto gold 1000 and ASUS HDP R1 running a custom firmware with some Flacs I already have in my system. Swapped my Amazonbasics CL2 with the belden 8477, and there it goes.

First impressions: The level of detail and the voice clarity was remarkable; the sound was very open. Though it’s not fully burned in when I received, I was not expecting a forward vocal and wide stage music which was presented before me. Like our Munna Bhai,

“Wo raat apun do baje tak sunaa!”

Listening the speakers more and more asserted one thing... This thing is born to sing what your music has, in a way you were not prepared for.

I never thought Asha Bhosle & Janaki would visit me for a direct audition. This thing brought it closer to it. SPB and KJ Yesudas was lively. Started feeding of songs which gave me some “perspective”. Mishras and Norge was able to cope up with them and still wanting more.

Combine this system with whatever electronics you have, you can easily find the place where your chain is improved! And its way forgiving while doing so.
Tried with RPi Volumio on a Fiio Olympus DAC, swapped with an Echo dot running spotify and apple music, these were showing up more details on the lossy formats than I’m used to.

Never heard a speaker that’s both forgiving and transparent!

These experiments are still running and I’m yet to reach the depths what can be said as its limits.
As of this writing it has ran more than 50-55 hours at my home. And I never felt the fatigue or the feel to stop at the current song.
I was always like Desmond Doss (Hacksaw ridge)

“Lord, help me get one more! (Song)”

And it’s still going on...! On the way are various components which I cross fingers that would try to reach the limit of what these can do.

Will try to keep this as a log or live review where I want to pen my thoughts on how Mishras behave & improve with the change it undergoes in time and sources.

Regards, A happy owner.

View attachment 60173

Great review @Thirumalkumaran . Enjoy your music.

Regards,
Som

 

[Thirumalkumaran]

I wish that the drivers were fixed flush on the baffles onto countersinks rather than over the baffles! Or is it that they are designed that way?

I think that's one thing which might not look good due to the manufacturing process. These front fascia and sides are using laminates than vinyl like most of the speakers do. Laminates are hard, non flexible and durable. but if you want to make a countersink, the clearance it needs for the speaker to sit flush have a minute chance of the edge showing up.
As a DIY guy and a speaker designer myself, I would take this approach as this is more consistent in result and give higher yield. The crossover should have taken care of the edge diffractions that should occur!

Great review @Thirumalkumaran. How is the bass performance?

Thanks @Pratyush J There were 2 reasons why I didn't talk about bass;
1. Bass is very subjective, it varies with requirements, Mine was mostly into classical and vocals where the instruments starts above 60-70Hz. Mishras provide that range with out an issue.
2. The speakers are still settling in. though it might have a while, still its slowly opening up it s bass performance. Thus, it would be tough to decide on the bass at this early time of ownership.

If your requirement or listening genre is Bass oriented which needs them to reach below 35Hz, I would suggest looking at Diamond Achals, which is a 3 way tower. or add a subwoofer if your system supports it.
(BTW I tried using my subs with pre outs of Norge, and only 1/100 in my genre showed the difference, it might be 60/100 or 100/100 for you)

Great review @Thirumalkumaran . Enjoy your music.

Regards,
Som

Thank you @Prodigy Som.

 

[sandeepmohan]

Thanks for sharing.
I would ask that you evaluate a speaker like this with a more modern recording. A lot of the old recordings from Artists you've mentioned are not that great and may not give you the true identity of the speaker.

 

[Vineethkumar01]

I used to be an earphone audiophile decades ago.! Now a HT user which is a good movie system, but you have to agree HT cannot replace a stereo (Whatever, stereo, direct, pure modes you throw at it).
So, started the hunt for a pure stereo setup which might be dedicated for late night sessions and only for vocals and classical. Me being impatient I was, got a BS22 as a stop gap. In parallel, as a DIY guy started to work on my stereo design.
I was auditioning various stereo systems as well, ranging from Simple Yamaha NS-555 to Focal 926. Either they didn’t match the vocal clarity I was after, or didn’t fall under the price bracket I was looking for.

Days passed on...! One day I visited a HFV member for a speaker my relative wanted. There I come face to face with one of the detailed sounding, clear representing, soothing systems I have come up on! (Note, it was not the speaker I went to look at). Pulled an old song, which immediately transported me to my earphone audiophile times. (Serious ratatouille moment!)
What is the point of a new design, if you can get what you want directly with support and made in India? It was a custom LR by Indiq audio, got recently on a GB. Called Amit for knowing the further details, and proceeded to have an audition with my wife at his home. Played various songs, and being as accommodative as he is, let me audition as much as I wanted.

I was waiting for another GB (Who wouldn’t want to get a VFM speaker at steal deal?). BTW, these were having a new name, “Diamond Mishras”
How the 2nd GB went is history. The 1st delivery of the GB is delivered on 15th Jul 2021 to me.

View attachment 60172

Do you think I will wait for anything else? System was opened, checked. These things are a lot larger if you are in the impression of “bookshelves”. Being around 21inches tall and weighing around 11KG per speaker, I would call this "Mini towers". The custom laminate option and the front black fascia, gave a modern yet fitting look into the décor I have. The heavy gauge 5 way binding post, rubber feet and Magnetic grills just elevate them altogether.
These were immediately setup with my Norge Concerto gold 1000 and ASUS HDP R1 running a custom firmware with some Flacs I already have in my system. Swapped my Amazonbasics CL2 with the belden 8477, and there it goes.

First impressions: The level of detail and the voice clarity was remarkable; the sound was very open. Though it’s not fully burned in when I received, I was not expecting a forward vocal and wide stage music which was presented before me. Like our Munna Bhai,

“Wo raat apun do baje tak sunaa!”

Listening the speakers more and more asserted one thing... This thing is born to sing what your music has, in a way you were not prepared for.

I never thought Asha Bhosle & Janaki would visit me for a direct audition. This thing brought it closer to it. SPB and KJ Yesudas was lively. Started feeding of songs which gave me some “perspective”. Mishras and Norge was able to cope up with them and still wanting more.

Combine this system with whatever electronics you have, you can easily find the place where your chain is improved! And its way forgiving while doing so.
Tried with RPi Volumio on a Fiio Olympus DAC, swapped with an Echo dot running spotify and apple music, these were showing up more details on the lossy formats than I’m used to.

Never heard a speaker that’s both forgiving and transparent!

These experiments are still running and I’m yet to reach the depths what can be said as its limits.
As of this writing it has ran more than 50-55 hours at my home. And I never felt the fatigue or the feel to stop at the current song.
I was always like Desmond Doss (Hacksaw ridge)

“Lord, help me get one more! (Song)”

And it’s still going on...! On the way are various components which I cross fingers that would try to reach the limit of what these can do.

Will try to keep this as a log or live review where I want to pen my thoughts on how Mishras behave & improve with the change it undergoes in time and sources.

Regards, A happy owner.

View attachment 60173

Great to hear that you are enjoying your system..
I have some technical doubts about audible edge diffraction looking at the construction of these speakers.
Flush mounting the drivers helps in reducing frequency response artifacts caused by diffraction thereby resulting in a smoother responses in frequency domain. Another potential cause of diffraction are those sharp edges of the baffle. Here is an excellent article on cabinet diffraction (https://www.salksound.com/blogtopic.php?id=7). Here is another one: (https://heissmann-acoustics.de/kantendiffraktion-sekundaerschallquellen-treiberanordnun/)
Since I see no rounded/beveled baffle edges, a surface-mounted tweeter, no offsetting of tweeter to smooth out diffraction, no significant waveguiding of tweeter etc in the pics, I am wondering how significant the effects of diffraction are in the above speakers.
Also, as per the little understanding i have of this subject, edge diffraction is a problem that should be taken care of as much as possible in the acoustical domain rather than in the electrical domain, meaning that crossover should be doing (can only do) minimal diffraction mitigation (without making the circuit significantly more complex). Also, even if we try to mitigate diffraction effects in crossover for on-axis, it usually screws up the off-axis responses (peaks and dips in the frequency responses at different angles, which changes the tonality of perceived sound at different angles/listening positions). At the end of the day the room itself will cause more anomalies in the frequency response, but I still couldn't help wondering about all this looking at the pics.

Thanks for sharing the pics and your experience with the speaker...

 

[keith_correa]

The points of BSC, Edge diffraction has way less effect compared to placement and the environment its in.
If you are going to place this in an anechoic chamber on a half space (2pi) or quarter space (Pi) the factors will play a role. but placing in a living room or even a dedicated stereo room will have its effect more than the diffraction & BSC.

The point about the room interfering and eventually screwing up the sound is indeed true for all speakers. But, I'm wondering - how did the designer know that this is going to land in a room that would screw up the sound more than diffraction artifacts itself? Does this mean that he/she designed it for rooms that would overwhelm the diffraction artifacts? Even if we accept that this were true, the room would mess with what is radiating from the speaker wo why give the room a "less than ideal" response to screw up even more? It just does not make sense [to me]. If the argument for surface mounting as opposed to flush mounting the drivers were to be budget constraints or speed in churning out finished speakers, one can totally understand that.

 

[Vineethkumar01]

HI Vineeth,
The points you laid are very valid. I'm a speaker designer myself and I was looking at this aspects when we design the system. But we forget one major factor, which space does this occupy? what are the room interference, bounding materials, the furniture its in, where its placed? a lot of factors throw a wide variety of factors when the output reaches our ears.
The points of BSC, Edge diffraction has way less effect compared to placement and the environment its in.
If you are going to place this in an anechoic chamber on a half space (2pi) or quarter space (Pi) the factors will play a role. but placing in a living room or even a dedicated stereo room will have its effect more than the diffraction & BSC.
I would suggest to have a quick audition, as I can see you are in Bangalore and decide yourself.

@mods, please merge with post above, as I cannot do the same.

Thanks a lot for your reply.
My questions came from the little experience I had in building speakers and in an effort to try to understand more about the subject.
I had built a pair of jeff bagby-inspired tributes speakers myself. I have attached the pic of the front baffle of my speaker (which has a flush mounted SB26STAC tweeter & SB17MFC35 midwoofer). Even after flush mounting, in attached quasi-anechoic measurement that I took with the mic placed about 10 degree down from the tweeter axis (ideally i should have measures it "on" tweeter axis), I see the lack of full baffle-step compensation and edge diffraction-related ripples in the frequency response. This is because I didn't do anything to mitigate baffle diffraction effects such as rounding of front baffle, etc. Even though the farfield, in room response is quite different from what is shown in the attached measurement, I can still hear harshness in vocals etc in some songs, thinness in bass sometimes, to the point that some amount of equalization becomes necessary when I sit closer to the speakers. I had heard a recorded youtube video of similar indiq speakers uploaded by one of our fellow forum members. Listening to it, the first thing that hit me is slight treble-heaviness. Off course, as you said there are a lot of variables at play including the crossover, comb-filtering by the room itself and the different objects present, and personal preferences but I believe that we should take care of fundamental, well-known issues like this as much as possible in the design stage itself.
I believe this company (Indiqaudio) has great potential and probably may have good products now itself. I just wish that they keep on learning and refining their speakers for better performance in future.

 

[jenson]

Looks really well made..two mid range drivers.. Almost like an array I would imagine bass would be prodigious and tight...

Are these sealed boxes?

is there any info in drivers used...also is it ok to share pricing.

 

[Thirumalkumaran]

Thanks a lot for your reply.
My questions came from the little experience I had in building speakers and in an effort to try to understand more about the subject.
I had built a pair of jeff bagby-inspired tributes speakers myself. I have attached the pic of the front baffle of my speaker (which has a flush mounted SB26STAC tweeter & SB17MFC35 midwoofer). Even after flush mounting, in attached quasi-anechoic measurement that I took with the mic placed about 10 degree down from the tweeter axis (ideally i should have measures it "on" tweeter axis), I see the lack of full baffle-step compensation and edge diffraction-related ripples in the frequency response. This is because I didn't do anything to mitigate baffle diffraction effects such as rounding of front baffle, etc. Even though the farfield, in room response is quite different from what is shown in the attached measurement, I can still hear harshness in vocals etc in some songs, thinness in bass sometimes, to the point that some amount of equalization becomes necessary when I sit closer to the speakers. I had heard a recorded youtube video of similar indiq speakers uploaded by one of our fellow forum members. Listening to it, the first thing that hit me is slight treble-heaviness. Off course, as you said there are a lot of variables at play including the crossover, comb-filtering by the room itself and the different objects present, and personal preferences but I believe that we should take care of fundamental, well-known issues like this as much as possible in the design stage itself.
I believe this company (Indiqaudio) has great potential and probably may have good products now itself. I just wish that they keep on learning and refining their speakers for better performance in future.

That's a great job @Vineethkumar01. Just curious, Have you tried mounting Non-flush and measured the same?
Another way to design a crossover, is to mount it on to the design and take readings then tune the same. I'm not sure which method Indiq follows, but it seems to work. My point was there might be other factors than the losses what was taken out by Edge diff and BSC and compensating it electronically.
One more thing I found, Best sounding speakers, Tube amps & R2R dacs don't measure well!

 

[Pratyush J]

A question worth pondering : A non technical consumer (like me) should rely more on the design aspects or purely on the music reproduction? Should he buy a perfectly designed product which does not sound to his taste / good OR buy unconventional design which sounds great to him?

I will take my example, I auditioned multiple brands (QA, KEF, MA etc) in Delhi / GGN / BLR, but did not find them to my liking or the one I liked was 2X over my budget. After auditioning Indiq at one of their customer's place in GGN and then in BLR, I absolutely loved them. For majority of the consumers it is all about the sound, irrespective of the design aspects

 

[jenson]

A question worth pondering : A non technical consumer (like me) should rely more on the design aspects or purely on the music reproduction? Should he buy a perfectly designed product which does not sound to his taste / good OR buy unconventional design but sounds great to him?

I will take my example, I auditioned multiple brands (QA, KEF, MA etc) in Delhi / GGN / BLR, but did not find them to my liking or the one I liked was 2X over my budget. After auditioning Indiq at one of their customer's place in GGN and then in BLR, I absolutely loved them. For majority of the consumers it is all about the sound, irrespective of the design aspects

That's it! Go with what u like... How does measurement matter to users like most of us..

 

[Yogesh]

R

Looks really well made..two mid range drivers.. Almost like an array I would imagine bass would be prodigious and tight...

Are these sealed boxes?

is there any info in drivers used...also is it ok to share pricing.

Rear Ported! AFAIK Indiq makes their own drivers. 42K.

 

[Vineethkumar01]

That's a great job @Vineethkumar01. Just curious, Have you tried mounting Non-flush and measured the same?
Another way to design a crossover, is to mount it on to the design and take readings then tune the same. I'm not sure which method Indiq follows, but it seems to work. My point was there might be other factors than the losses what was taken out by Edge diff and BSC and compensating it electronically.
One more thing I found, Best sounding speakers, Tube amps & R2R dacs don't measure well!

Thanks again.
I have not measured the effects of a surface mounted tweeter in my particular build.
However here are 2 articles about this topic:
1) https://ampslab.com/blog/2017/09/11/dome-tweeters-flush-mounting/
2) https://www.rjbaudio.com/Audiofiles/flush mounting.html

In the above articles, the authors also say about the effect of cabinet edge diffraction being a bigger devil than surface vs flush mounting of tweeter. There are more articles like above elsewhere on the internet, where this and similar subjects are treated in more technical depth.
I agree with you and others that at the end of the day, audio experience is a very subjective thing that is decided by our ear-brain combo and our biases. I also agree with the fact that just a few frequency-domain amplitude responses similar to the one i posted above does not tell everything about a speaker. But I believe that a more extensive set of measurements that include on and off-axis frequency responses and measurements derived from it such as power response and directivity, distortion measurements, energy decay plots along with others tell us a great deal about a speaker in the design stages. I feel that taking these measurements, studying them, and sorting out the obvious anomalies will create a measurably and audibly better speaker. Maybe my opinion is biased by my academic training. But I feel that If we haven't done proper measurements yet and still find that a speaker is good, all I have to say is just wait till we hear one which is well designed..

I will stop about this at this point as I don't want to trigger a subjective vs objective debate in this thread. Thanks everyone for your valuable responses. I wish all the best to @Thirumalkumaran for the new purchase. May we all enjoy this hobby more and more. (May we also learn and appreciate the design aspects more and more)..

 

[musiz_craze]

I used to be an earphone audiophile decades ago.! Now a HT user which is a good movie system, but you have to agree HT cannot replace a stereo (Whatever, stereo, direct, pure modes you throw at it).
So, started the hunt for a pure stereo setup which might be dedicated for late night sessions and only for vocals and classical. Me being impatient I was, got a BS22 as a stop gap. In parallel, as a DIY guy started to work on my stereo design.
I was auditioning various stereo systems as well, ranging from Simple Yamaha NS-555 to Focal 926. Either they didn’t match the vocal clarity I was after, or didn’t fall under the price bracket I was looking for.

Days passed on...! One day I visited a HFV member for a speaker my relative wanted. There I come face to face with one of the detailed sounding, clear representing, soothing systems I have come up on! (Note, it was not the speaker I went to look at). Pulled an old song, which immediately transported me to my earphone audiophile times. (Serious ratatouille moment!)
What is the point of a new design, if you can get what you want directly with support and made in India? It was a custom LR by Indiq audio, got recently on a GB. Called Amit for knowing the further details, and proceeded to have an audition with my wife at his home. Played various songs, and being as accommodative as he is, let me audition as much as I wanted.

I was waiting for another GB (Who wouldn’t want to get a VFM speaker at steal deal?). BTW, these were having a new name, “Diamond Mishras”
How the 2nd GB went is history. The 1st delivery of the GB is delivered on 15th Jul 2021 to me.

View attachment 60172

Do you think I will wait for anything else? System was opened, checked. These things are a lot larger if you are in the impression of “bookshelves”. Being around 21inches tall and weighing around 11KG per speaker, I would call this "Mini towers". The custom laminate option and the front black fascia, gave a modern yet fitting look into the décor I have. The heavy gauge 5 way binding post, rubber feet and Magnetic grills just elevate them altogether.
These were immediately setup with my Norge Concerto gold 1000 and ASUS HDP R1 running a custom firmware with some Flacs I already have in my system. Swapped my Amazonbasics CL2 with the belden 8477, and there it goes.

First impressions: The level of detail and the voice clarity was remarkable; the sound was very open. Though it’s not fully burned in when I received, I was not expecting a forward vocal and wide stage music which was presented before me. Like our Munna Bhai,

“Wo raat apun do baje tak sunaa!”

Listening the speakers more and more asserted one thing... This thing is born to sing what your music has, in a way you were not prepared for.

I never thought Asha Bhosle & Janaki would visit me for a direct audition. This thing brought it closer to it. SPB and KJ Yesudas was lively. Started feeding of songs which gave me some “perspective”. Mishras and Norge was able to cope up with them and still wanting more.

Combine this system with whatever electronics you have, you can easily find the place where your chain is improved! And its way forgiving while doing so.
Tried with RPi Volumio on a Fiio Olympus DAC, swapped with an Echo dot running spotify and apple music, these were showing up more details on the lossy formats than I’m used to.

Never heard a speaker that’s both forgiving and transparent!

These experiments are still running and I’m yet to reach the depths what can be said as its limits.
As of this writing it has ran more than 50-55 hours at my home. And I never felt the fatigue or the feel to stop at the current song.
I was always like Desmond Doss (Hacksaw ridge)

“Lord, help me get one more! (Song)”

And it’s still going on...! On the way are various components which I cross fingers that would try to reach the limit of what these can do.

Will try to keep this as a log or live review where I want to pen my thoughts on how Mishras behave & improve with the change it undergoes in time and sources.

Regards, A happy owner.

View attachment 60173

Great review. Happy to share that I m also using this speakers.

 

[keith_correa]

Thanks again.

But I feel that If we haven't done proper measurements yet and still find that a speaker is good, all I have to say is just wait till we hear one which is well designed.

+1!!!!!

 

[Prodigy]

Thanks again.

+1!!!!!

I have had opportunity to compare the Indiq Speakers with some well know and highly hyped brands and these stood out completely.
Now! Its up to us what we want to do with the speakers.. Look at the graph on the manufacturers page and lust over it or sit and relax with a glass of whisky and enjoy the music.

All it matters to me is sound, dynamics, instrument separation and to top it Emotional Connect. It does not matter what the graph looks like or how it is designed and what the designer has done to it.

Speakers Sound good? period!.

Regards,
Som

 

[prem]

The fact that 30 to 40 odd members have purchased the Indiqaudio speakers in the last year and a half is the biggest testament to its sound quality. To have so many people purchase and like these speakers is phenomenal. More power to Indiqaudio.

 

[fLUX]

For most of us folks while trying out speakers we focus just on the following
- Sound Signature: How well does it suit our use case and genres
- Placement/Acoustic related challenges : How much flexibility does our room offer in terms of placement and ability to do some amount of room treatment
- Ease of driving them: We would try to drive and match with existing gear instead of needing completely new chain to get the best out of them
- Cost: How far and beyond our budget would one like to go and at what cost in terms of the Sound Quality
- Aesthetics: How good does it look when placed in a public environment

Majority of us would not know the in-depth setup of constructing a DIY speaker , the resonances and various mounting methods being discussed here. So a well-designed speaker for us would be something which fits our subjective criteria with very little focus on its objective performance limited to impedance , sensitivity and FR curve in most of the cases.

I did audition numerous offerings in the range of IndiQ Platinum Achals to Diamond Achals budget and found that the Platinum Achals do really well with a wide variety of genres and are pretty much an all rounder doing well in all areas with some competing brands doing slightly better in specific areas but don't suite as many genres.

I have been playing around with IndiQ Platinum Achals for almost 10 months now and its difficult to fault them , they sing with almost anything I pair them with be it a 25WPC Tube amplifier, 8 wpc Class A amp , AVR or 150 wpc Platinum Saptak. Of course they have their own preferred synergies where one pairing sounds better than the other but with none of these did I feel the speaker run out of steam or perform badly and are driven easily @ 8 ohms/91.5-94.5 db sensitivity & do well with bare minimum distance from the back wall. The finish is again to your choice and liking so aesthetics should not really be a problem and if we figure in the warranty terms, return policy and the actual price paid its a bargain beyond measure for me and I know Amit is just a phone call away if I face any doubts or issues. Best design or not , IMO for the money you are paying these are easily right there on the top in terms of a must audition before you decide on a speaker sub 1.5L (cant speak for the bookshelves as I have not really heard them a lot). Best design or not , easily one of the better options in this price range and beyond.