Top-tier Indian Loudspeaker Brands

[hifimaddy]

Many local brands have tried doing this in the past. With inconsistent levels of success. I am wondering if this is caused by a brand and story telling issue. People don't have a problem with buying Indian manufactured "foreign brand" cars.

No brand has really tried what I am thinking about. People may believe others tried and failed, but in reality, they haven’t actually done it.

In India, many audio brands focus on storytelling and advertising. But they have not built real trust or created a strong emotional connection with people in the way I am imagining.

This is not directly related to audio, but it explains my point. Ferrari did not become famous by doing a lot of ads or storytelling. They did not advertise in every newspaper. Instead, they built their reputation through Formula 1. Their investment, fame, trust, brand value, and luxury image all came from their performance in F1. Before joining Formula 1, Ferrari was just an ordinary car manufacturer. F1 made them special and premium.

Indian audio brands today are like that early Ferrari. They focus on ads and storytelling, but they have not shown their engineering strength on a global stage. They have not built a true premium image yet. Many brands only focus on profit. They try to sell anything they think people will buy and often give poor after-sales service. But trust and brand value are not built in one day. If a company only focuses on profit, it will never build real trust. Profit is important for any business, but trust is what keeps the business alive.

 

[morerajendra5678]

Eight Audio - They are distributors and their speakers are just implementations of SB Acoustics open source designs. Granted they are nicely finished and have good parts but that's all they are.

Eight Audio also execute custom design models. They have designer Mr. Mallik associated with them. I have heard only Gema from the range they have it sounded pretty good to me for 1.3 Lacs when put against Pre-owned Harbeth which costed me atleast 8x of the asking price for Gema and that too in Pre-owned version. Gema carries a lot of Value for money.

I have heard Suman's Ragini Be at his place. Lovely speaker with fabulous fit and finish but these are not commercial mass production designs. It's way too expensive to replicate.

I have never personally heard them but couple of Kolkata guys own them and have high regard for them. Even one from Bangalore sold his Rethms to have them and is still holding on to them even today.

The above two have a good fan following and hence I mentioned them in my post. There are others also like Torvin in Chennai and Craftel who have very limited users down south only. Hence I didn't make any mention of them in post though they been in business for a long time.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Imo - there is a very low demand for high-end speakers in India. Even to have a small workshop type manufacturing you need to have consistent demand of around 50 pairs per month. Now this is definitely not goingvto happen in current scenario. If you setup a shop it's going tobe 100% loss.

Hence high-end speakers are now only in the hand of boutique custom built projects on a case to case basis. This will increase the manufacturing cost and delivery time by atleast 30%. The advantages are many if you understand drivers even 10%. You can have the choice of budget, driver selections, crossover component selection, wood selection and finish selection. Also you can listen the final product before approving it as ok and take part in the voicing of your speakers. Imo charging 30% to 40% more is justified.

On the contrary most buyers consider boutique builders because they found manufacturer to be expensive. But later they discover boutique builders can also be expensive on a case to case basis with their advantages and disadvantages.

PS: I will be restoring my ML- TQWT Vigot pipe speakers next month with a new full-range driver. Currently it has a Russian driver. Fostex, Tangband and PS Audio drivers are shortlisted.

 

[reignofchaos]

Eight Audio also execute custom design models. They have designer Mr. Mallik associated with them. I have heard only Gema from the range they have it sounded pretty good to me for 1.3 Lacs when put against Pre-owned Harbeth which costed me atleast 8x of the asking price for Gema and that too in Pre-owned version. Gema carries a lot of Value for money.

I have never personally heard them but couple of Kolkata guys own them and have high regard for them. Even one from Bangalore sold his Rethms to have them and is still holding on to them even today.

The above two have a good fan following and hence I mentioned them in my post. There are others also like Torvin in Chennai and Craftel who have very limited users down south only. Hence I didn't make any mention of them in post though they been in business for a long time.

Mr Mallik Reddy is a friend - his designs are completely independent and he builds those up from scratch. Great guy with a bucket load of knowledge both practical and theory - he is just an advisor to them and will build a custom design based on user requirements. I've heard one of these designs which a friend owns - its an excellent neutral speaker. I'd recommend them but again these aren't commercial designs like what Rethm does.

They sound completely different to Rethms - they have a very modern high resolution sound.

 

[morerajendra5678]

It’s very sad that very few people in India consider it. Unfortunately, in India, it never managed to get a good dealer network.

In India, at it’s selling price, it will easily compete with speakers costing three to four times.

My journey in HiFi is just 2 years old. When I started my journey, I wanted speakers from Indian brand. Rethm speakers even the saadhnas are pretty affordable when we opt for Pre-owned stuff. But what I was told is that Rethm sound is not for everyone. It is supposed to sound very good with few genres of music. I was advised to opt for 3 way BBC kind of monitors as they go pretty well with larger genres of music. General notion is that it is difficult to go wrong with BBC monitor kind of speakers. Also as per opinion of people who are experienced in HiFi, pricing of Rethm speakers are pretty high against what it offers. I think that is the reason there are not many users of Rethm speakers in India.

 

[morerajendra5678]

Mr Mallik Reddy is a friend - his designs are completely independent and he builds those up from scratch. Great guy with a bucket load of knowledge both practical and theory - he is just an advisor to them and will build a custom design based on user requirements. I've heard one of these designs which a friend owns - its an excellent neutral speaker. I'd recommend them but again these aren't commercial designs like what Rethm does.

They sound completely different to Rethms - they have a very modern high resolution sound.

Isn't it better to go with a company who does good work and are also willing to customise them for you rather than choosing something just because it is produced by some brand.

 

[reignofchaos]

Isn't it better to go with a company who does good work and are also willing to customise them for you rather than choosing something just because it is produced by some brand.

The question the OP made was about "Top Tier Indian Loudspeaker Brands". We are digressing.

 

[morerajendra5678]

The question the OP made was about "Top Tier Indian Loudspeaker Brands". We are digressing.

Eight Audio is brand. Doing custom work doesn't dilute their stake as a brand. That is my point.

 

[prem]

My journey in HiFi is just 2 years old. When I started my journey, I wanted speakers from Indian brand. Rethm speakers even the saadhnas are pretty affordable when we opt for Pre-owned stuff. But what I was told is that Rethm sound is not for everyone. It is supposed to sound very good with few genres of music. I was advised to opt for 3 way BBC kind of monitors as they go pretty well with larger genres of music. General notion is that it is difficult to go wrong with BBC monitor kind of speakers. Also as per opinion of people who are experienced in HiFi, pricing of Rethm speakers are pretty high against what it offers. I think that is the reason there are not many users of Rethm speakers in India.

A single driver with a well designed powered bass is a different kettle of fish. It’s niche for sure. Definitely not suited for heavy metal and hip hop. Other than that it plays all other genres of music.

Listening to a good single driver with or without the powered bass is a different experience. Much more closer to real with certain genres as compared to a 3 way or a 4 way speaker.

I have owned all kinds of speakers from B&W 801 to Audio Artistry Beethoven to Martin Logan to PSB Strata Gold to many others.

Single drivers do things which no other speaker topology can do. The sense of coherence and being there is quite amazing. As i mentioned it’s unfortunately restricted to few genres only.

I primarily listen to Indian classical, old Bollywood, new Bollywood, classic rock, fusion and acoustic. So single driver works perfectly for me

 

[reignofchaos]

Eight Audio is brand. Doing custom work doesn't dilute their stake as a brand. That is my point.

Yes no doubt but top tier?

 

[morerajendra5678]

Single drivers do things which no other speaker topology can do. The sense of coherence and being there is quite amazing. As i mentioned it’s unfortunately restricted to few genres only.

I primarily listen to Indian classical, old Bollywood, new Bollywood, classic rock, fusion and acoustic. So single driver works perfectly for me

Pardon me for my question.... But I want to know your reasoning behind opting for other speakers after you found that Rethms were delivering quality music to you and single drivers works perfectly for your listening taste.

 

[morerajendra5678]

Yes no doubt but top tier?

What makes you feel that Rethms are a top tier brand and not Eight Audio? Are you judging it by selling price of speakers?

 

[square_wave]

Eight Audio - They are distributors and their speakers are just implementations of SB Acoustics open source designs. Granted they are nicely finished and have good parts but that's all they are.

I have heard Suman's Ragini Be at his place. Lovely speaker with fabulous fit and finish but these are not commercial mass production designs. It's way too expensive to replicate.

Do these open source designs sound great ?
Yep, lets leave custom high end diy out of our discussions.

 

[square_wave]

Eight Audio is brand. Doing custom work doesn't dilute their stake as a brand. That is my point.

My goal is to identify brands with a proven track record—those that have established a few "original" models in the market and consistently deliver on value, performance, and long-term reliability. If someone is just creating open source models, it just means they have great manufacturing standards and they may also sound great. But they are not new designs that have established themselves in the market.

There are a few people already in the market with capability and skills and they do custom work that sounds amazing, but lets leave those out of the shortlist. Discussing them is fine because the thread may serve as a reference for available skills in the market too.

 

[prem]

Pardon me for my question.... But I want to know your reasoning behind opting for other speakers after you found that Rethms were delivering quality music to you and single drivers works perfectly for your listening taste.

I keep changing my equipment every two-three years. I like to try different topologies.

My present speakers are single driver. My previous was JBL 4343. I find both equally enjoyable.

My next speaker would probably be a Geithain 901, which is an active studio monitor.

In amps too i have owned PP, SET, OTL, Hybrid, SS Class A, SS Class AB-low and high power. My present amp is a lowly Denon mini which i preferred with my single driver over amps costing 3-12 lakhs.

This whole experimentation is part of my journey to understand what each topology brings to the table and what works with what to get that crucial synergy.

 

[prem]

On a non related speaker subject, another Indian brand getting world recognition is EBI audio for their cartridges. Kudos to Tareeq.

 

[morerajendra5678]

I keep changing my equipment every two-three years. I like to try different topologies.

My present speakers are single driver. My previous was JBL 4343. I find both equally enjoyable.

My next speaker would probably be a Geithain 901, which is an active studio monitor.

In amps too i have owned PP, SET, OTL, Hybrid, SS Class A, SS Class AB-low and high power. My present amp is a lowly Denon mini which i preferred with my single driver over amps costing 3-12 lakhs.

This whole experimentation is part of my journey to understand what each topology brings to the table and what works with what to get that crucial synergy.

Nice to have your perspective on Audio journey.
Till now what I was told is that we listen to music through the gears and not to gears. Hence we need to figure out the gears that enables the synergy which in-turn enables us to have long sessions of fatigue free music listening and once we figure out these gears we need to hold on to them for a long time to come.
Given the kind of experience you hold, we can always reach out to you to figure out synergy between gears when we have face situations which warrant change of gears due to equipment failures.

 

[prem]

There’s no right or wrong in this hobby. For me experimentation gives me joy. To some others DIY gives them joy. To some building a vinyl collection gives them joy. At the end of the day it’s a hobby. Go with what gives you joy. And never spend beyond your capability.

 

[Hari Iyer]

And never spend beyond your capability.

This is the mantra that i follow.