Three days of speaker and systems audition in Mumbai (Part 1)
I am doing a write up about the larger than life experience I have had in the past three days in Mumbai.
I have been lucky to meet a lot of nice people and make good friends and learn a great deal from them.
I have also been lucky to experience a lot of different speakers and systems in a small amount of time.
Due to time constraints i was not able to cover everything and meet everyone i intended to meet. But there will be a next time very shortly.
Opinions expressed are my own and not intended to offend anyone in any manner.
I was to go to Mumbai for some work reason and after consultation with FM Denom i decided to add an extra day and give all the spare time around my work to auditioning.
Denom is a great guy, very accommodating and helpful. Moreover very passionate about music and Hi-Fi, so through him I got in touch with FM Prem, FM Ozzstriker (Ozzie),
Khusroo Jilla, Satayki (Sereneta Audio), Fairdeal Audio(Amphion), Prashant (The Den - PMC), Sushil Anand and of course Viren ji of Lyrita.
I had spoken to most FMs before hand and asked them if it was alright to drop in, and all of them were very accommodating.
FM Ozzstriker- PMC with Bryston electronics
I landed in Mumbai at 10:30 in the morning and straight away called up Ozzie who despite being quite busy just asked me to come over.
I went to his place met his wonderful family and his wonderful system as well. Denom has covered the system in a previous post so won't go in the details,
its a PMC OB1i setup with all Bryston electronics and the synergy between the two is to die for. The Big PMC are wonderfully balanced and handle everything with aplomb,
the associated Bryston gear is delightful. Overall the system is quite revealing yet balanced.
Its amazing with good recordings and high quality stuff but if the quality of the files do not match up to the system it lets you know that very quickly.
And ofcourse the bass in all PMC's is distinctive, transmission line, but in the OB1i because of the size and no. of drivers, bass has got much more body then say in PMC twenty.23.
That is how it felt to my untrained ears.
So overall, i call it the "Savvy and Uptown setup" for someone who loves music across genres and has a good collection of cds - rock, bollywood, jazz and all!
It was a delight to be with Ozzie and he's clearly quite into music and really enjoys the setup daily. In a few words Balanced and Accurate sounding with good Body!
My big thanks to Ozzie and his lovely family for having me over, being such good hosts and letting me be a part.
FM Prem - Rethm Saddhana
Next on, after spending almost an hour and a half with Ozzie, i called FM Prem (or Prem Sir, as i would like to call him) and immediately he asked me to drop in.
He lived close by so Ozzie kindlyly offered dropped me to his place. I had thought it would be a bit formal as Prem sir is a senior audiophile (Not by age but by experience)
and probably has one of the most evolved and carefully optimized setup's in town. But i was wrong, he is an amazing host who makes you feel comfortable, informal.
He treats you really well and also educates you greatly about his system and what one needs to do to achieve musical bliss with their own system.
His setup comprises of a TT, Heavily customised Lyrita tube amp and Volume Control and Rethm Saadhana speakers. I was really interested to listen to the Saadhanas, mainly
because they are Indian made and also because they are very highly rated by some serious audiophiles.
In one word I was blown away by the setup, if only i could replicate the exact sound in my house, it would end a journey that i have not yet begun.
I spent more than two hours with Prem Sir, i think i took half of his Sunday away but boy what a gala time i had.
He played a variety of music for me, as I like bollywood (old and new), rock and gazals, he played a full variety from his extensive record collection.
For information, Rethm is a hybrid of a highest-quality Full range driver augmented by powered Bass module.
But the sheer texture, presence and natural-ness of Prem sir's system is uncanny and unsettling. The amount of times i felt that the artist was in the room it is not funny,
Lata ji, Jagjit Singh and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan all sounded so so natural that i really could not believe myself or control my grin.
I truly have never heard such rich, and natural sound from a speaker setup before. I totally fell in love with it.
The Rethms are, TO ME, the best speakers in their price range without doubt, especially if you are into vocal music, but they really really need to be painstakingly setup.
I cannot stress enough on the subject as i was myself educated on it by Prem sir and Denom later that Rethm's are wonderful but they are for the "Highest Evolved Listener" to use.
But once setup properly they can be very satisfying and really addictive and injurious to health.
One word - Amazing!
I will not go in details of Prem Sir's extensive measures to bring out the best from the Rethms, but truly it is a lot of hardwork and experience that makes the Rethms sound like they do.
I would really like to thank Prem Sir for exposing me to such great sound, for the lovely lunch and for really bearing with an untrained person like me and educating me.
Satyaki -Sereneta Audio meet
Time flew and it was already 3:30 pm, i rushed to leave for Satyaki's place which was a little far. While in the cab I was wondering if anything could sound better to me than the Rethm setup.
At Satyaki's place i met up with Denom, Viren Sir, Sushil Anand and Satyaki ofcourse. The setup and some pictures of it were recently posted in the thread " An evening with Viren Part 2".
Satayaki had setup his Violoncellos with a Lyrita Pre/Power combo and a prototype Phono Stage.
The amps had been modified by Viren sir further as part of ongoing experiment and collaboration with Serenata Audio.
In this session i was the kid on the block completely, Sushil ji is a long time dealer with decades of experience, Viren Sir we all know -
and Denom also has considerable experience and exposure to different setups and he understands audio and the systems very well.
Yet i was there and had been given the opportunity to be part of the evaluation of a master creation by Satyaki.
During the long session i realised that the single range Fostex driver can really reproduce vocals and instruments like no other, having a crossover less design really renders the music in a very pure form.
Ofcourse there are tradeoffs with the SPls and limits to how low the speaker can go. But the vocals and instrumental music sounds blissful.
It sounds very different sound from what we are usually used to listening. I really urge people who have not heard single driver speakers to give them a try just for exposure sake, they will be pleasantly surprised.
Despite a few room and placement issues the speaker was performing its duties well. And i was given a chance to sit in the hot seat more than the others and i really had a blast.
Satyaki is doing this more for his passion for music rather than as a business and his wonderful family is there to support him. These speakers are what i would call the " PURIST".
They are ideal for people in the middle of their audio journey who have reached a stage where they lean towards listening pure master recordings or soulful vocal music.
The air and conversation in the room between the more learned men was about such recordings and how well recorded music really sounds like,
which mic its was recorded on and what year and where it was pressed and by which recording engineer.
It was a real learning experience for me because i had never thought of these things and what difference it makes to the overall sound.
Being in the same session as these people really exposed me to some exotic stuff.
These speakers then are exotic, a work of art and really meant for purists and they really do their designated job very well.
And honestly, they are not really for people who like dhin-chak commercial music recorded on multi-tracks and mixed together. They serve a higher purpose!
Thanks Satyaki for having me over, for being open to my opinions (however immature) and for devoting your time to create these beauties. I wish you all the success from my heart!
That finished my day one and with it finished my home visits. Sincere thanks to everyone for making it so memorable.
Next up in part two are dealer visits.
As and when I got time from work over the next two days i visited AudioVision India (B&W, GoldenEar), Lakozy (PSB & NAD), Fairdeal Audio(Amphion) and The Den(PMC).
More on that in the next part. Thanks for reading.
I am doing a write up about the larger than life experience I have had in the past three days in Mumbai.
I have been lucky to meet a lot of nice people and make good friends and learn a great deal from them.
I have also been lucky to experience a lot of different speakers and systems in a small amount of time.
Due to time constraints i was not able to cover everything and meet everyone i intended to meet. But there will be a next time very shortly.
Opinions expressed are my own and not intended to offend anyone in any manner.
I was to go to Mumbai for some work reason and after consultation with FM Denom i decided to add an extra day and give all the spare time around my work to auditioning.
Denom is a great guy, very accommodating and helpful. Moreover very passionate about music and Hi-Fi, so through him I got in touch with FM Prem, FM Ozzstriker (Ozzie),
Khusroo Jilla, Satayki (Sereneta Audio), Fairdeal Audio(Amphion), Prashant (The Den - PMC), Sushil Anand and of course Viren ji of Lyrita.
I had spoken to most FMs before hand and asked them if it was alright to drop in, and all of them were very accommodating.
FM Ozzstriker- PMC with Bryston electronics
I landed in Mumbai at 10:30 in the morning and straight away called up Ozzie who despite being quite busy just asked me to come over.
I went to his place met his wonderful family and his wonderful system as well. Denom has covered the system in a previous post so won't go in the details,
its a PMC OB1i setup with all Bryston electronics and the synergy between the two is to die for. The Big PMC are wonderfully balanced and handle everything with aplomb,
the associated Bryston gear is delightful. Overall the system is quite revealing yet balanced.
Its amazing with good recordings and high quality stuff but if the quality of the files do not match up to the system it lets you know that very quickly.
And ofcourse the bass in all PMC's is distinctive, transmission line, but in the OB1i because of the size and no. of drivers, bass has got much more body then say in PMC twenty.23.
That is how it felt to my untrained ears.
So overall, i call it the "Savvy and Uptown setup" for someone who loves music across genres and has a good collection of cds - rock, bollywood, jazz and all!
It was a delight to be with Ozzie and he's clearly quite into music and really enjoys the setup daily. In a few words Balanced and Accurate sounding with good Body!
My big thanks to Ozzie and his lovely family for having me over, being such good hosts and letting me be a part.
FM Prem - Rethm Saddhana
Next on, after spending almost an hour and a half with Ozzie, i called FM Prem (or Prem Sir, as i would like to call him) and immediately he asked me to drop in.
He lived close by so Ozzie kindlyly offered dropped me to his place. I had thought it would be a bit formal as Prem sir is a senior audiophile (Not by age but by experience)
and probably has one of the most evolved and carefully optimized setup's in town. But i was wrong, he is an amazing host who makes you feel comfortable, informal.
He treats you really well and also educates you greatly about his system and what one needs to do to achieve musical bliss with their own system.
His setup comprises of a TT, Heavily customised Lyrita tube amp and Volume Control and Rethm Saadhana speakers. I was really interested to listen to the Saadhanas, mainly
because they are Indian made and also because they are very highly rated by some serious audiophiles.
In one word I was blown away by the setup, if only i could replicate the exact sound in my house, it would end a journey that i have not yet begun.
I spent more than two hours with Prem Sir, i think i took half of his Sunday away but boy what a gala time i had.
He played a variety of music for me, as I like bollywood (old and new), rock and gazals, he played a full variety from his extensive record collection.
For information, Rethm is a hybrid of a highest-quality Full range driver augmented by powered Bass module.
But the sheer texture, presence and natural-ness of Prem sir's system is uncanny and unsettling. The amount of times i felt that the artist was in the room it is not funny,
Lata ji, Jagjit Singh and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan all sounded so so natural that i really could not believe myself or control my grin.
I truly have never heard such rich, and natural sound from a speaker setup before. I totally fell in love with it.
The Rethms are, TO ME, the best speakers in their price range without doubt, especially if you are into vocal music, but they really really need to be painstakingly setup.
I cannot stress enough on the subject as i was myself educated on it by Prem sir and Denom later that Rethm's are wonderful but they are for the "Highest Evolved Listener" to use.
But once setup properly they can be very satisfying and really addictive and injurious to health.
One word - Amazing!I will not go in details of Prem Sir's extensive measures to bring out the best from the Rethms, but truly it is a lot of hardwork and experience that makes the Rethms sound like they do.
I would really like to thank Prem Sir for exposing me to such great sound, for the lovely lunch and for really bearing with an untrained person like me and educating me.
Satyaki -Sereneta Audio meet
Time flew and it was already 3:30 pm, i rushed to leave for Satyaki's place which was a little far. While in the cab I was wondering if anything could sound better to me than the Rethm setup.
At Satyaki's place i met up with Denom, Viren Sir, Sushil Anand and Satyaki ofcourse. The setup and some pictures of it were recently posted in the thread " An evening with Viren Part 2".
Satayaki had setup his Violoncellos with a Lyrita Pre/Power combo and a prototype Phono Stage.
The amps had been modified by Viren sir further as part of ongoing experiment and collaboration with Serenata Audio.
In this session i was the kid on the block completely, Sushil ji is a long time dealer with decades of experience, Viren Sir we all know -
and Denom also has considerable experience and exposure to different setups and he understands audio and the systems very well.
Yet i was there and had been given the opportunity to be part of the evaluation of a master creation by Satyaki.
During the long session i realised that the single range Fostex driver can really reproduce vocals and instruments like no other, having a crossover less design really renders the music in a very pure form.
Ofcourse there are tradeoffs with the SPls and limits to how low the speaker can go. But the vocals and instrumental music sounds blissful.
It sounds very different sound from what we are usually used to listening. I really urge people who have not heard single driver speakers to give them a try just for exposure sake, they will be pleasantly surprised.
Despite a few room and placement issues the speaker was performing its duties well. And i was given a chance to sit in the hot seat more than the others and i really had a blast.
Satyaki is doing this more for his passion for music rather than as a business and his wonderful family is there to support him. These speakers are what i would call the " PURIST".
They are ideal for people in the middle of their audio journey who have reached a stage where they lean towards listening pure master recordings or soulful vocal music.
The air and conversation in the room between the more learned men was about such recordings and how well recorded music really sounds like,
which mic its was recorded on and what year and where it was pressed and by which recording engineer.
It was a real learning experience for me because i had never thought of these things and what difference it makes to the overall sound.
Being in the same session as these people really exposed me to some exotic stuff.
These speakers then are exotic, a work of art and really meant for purists and they really do their designated job very well.
And honestly, they are not really for people who like dhin-chak commercial music recorded on multi-tracks and mixed together. They serve a higher purpose!
Thanks Satyaki for having me over, for being open to my opinions (however immature) and for devoting your time to create these beauties. I wish you all the success from my heart!
That finished my day one and with it finished my home visits. Sincere thanks to everyone for making it so memorable.
Next up in part two are dealer visits.
As and when I got time from work over the next two days i visited AudioVision India (B&W, GoldenEar), Lakozy (PSB & NAD), Fairdeal Audio(Amphion) and The Den(PMC).
More on that in the next part. Thanks for reading.
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