Top-tier Indian Loudspeaker Brands

[square_wave]

Look carefully, TAD only does pro drivers now. No comment on the rest.

No, they have the reference, evolution and professional series. The first 2 are home hifi.

 

[Decadent_Spectre]

No, they have the reference, evolution and professional series. The first 2 are home hifi.

The pro series is only drivers.

 

[reignofchaos]

The pro series is only drivers.

Yea they no longer make fully built horn loudspeakers - they only sell horn drivers that cost a bomb. You gotta build your own cabinet and crossovers.

Tannoys are still great but only used/pre-owned. I am looking for a GRF memory or Canterbury to upgrade to from my current Turnberry in future.

There is also lockwood which can be considered for more reasonable coin.

 

[Hari Iyer]

So, we have arrived at the the following list.

Rethm - Established brand
Cadence - Established brand but no longer in operation
Acoustic Portrait - Proof of capability established and will manufacture against order
Suman Jana - Proof of capability established and will probably manufacture against order
Mallik Reddy - Proof of capability established and mostly does advisory

Are we missing any other brand ? For a country with 1.4 billion, this is crazy !

BTW, I am building an advance TL speakers next month with Peerless 12" woofer and Celestion 1.5" neodymium magnet CD with 12"×4" exponential horn. Tuning around 63Hz. It will be slightly over damped. Stuffing will be adjusted after listening. It will be a huge speaker with approximate dimensions 50"x 16" x 17". I am a boutique builder and take only 1 or 2 projects in 3 to 4 years.

 

[square_wave]

BTW, I am building an advance TL speakers next month with Peerless 12" woofer and Celestion 1.5" neodymium magnet CD with 12"×4" exponential horn. Tuning around 63Hz. It will be slightly over damped. Stuffing will be adjusted after listening. It will be a huge speaker with approximate dimensions 50"x 16" x 17". I am a boutique builder and take only 1 or 2 projects in 3 to 4 years

Why not focus on a few builds and then refine it into fine products ? Along with a website that showcases them.

 

[square_wave]

Don't know about others, I dont consider these brands and definitely not capable. My money will never go to them.

Just curious. Why did you say they are not capable ? Is it because their products don't meet your requirements ? I am sure if they wanted to, they can easily design enclosures and crossovers around the kind of drivers the PRO driver companies sell and make some fine sounding dynamic loudspeakers. I am sure they are transferable skills.

Yea they no longer make fully built horn loudspeakers - they only sell horn drivers that cost a bomb. You gotta build your own cabinet and crossovers.

Tannoys are still great but only used/pre-owned. I am looking for a GRF memory or Canterbury to upgrade to from my current Turnberry in future.

There is also lockwood which can be considered for more reasonable coin.

Lockwood loudspeakers are really great. They are highly regarded in the UK. I have heard them at a show and loved them. They also have a studio heritage and been around since 1930's apparently. If you like the Tannoy sound, you should also look at the used market for Fyne audio speakers. The 700 series and above. Also the vintage series.

I would say the Lockwood guys will get you the most bang for the buck. Also they will sound more "similar" to Tannoy. Fyne has refined the Tannoy drivers into newer designs and while they have an edge over Tannoy in terms of sheer performance, it will be slightly different to the vintage Tannoy sound.

 

[rwnano]

On this thread : what are the hoops that an Indian Manufacturer has to jump through, in order to :
1. Sell his product - in this case - loudspeakers in Europe & the USA
2. Support his product in EU and USA?
This could be answered in the specific case of RETHM, since they are sold abroad.

 

[square_wave]

On this thread : what are the hoops that an Indian Manufacturer has to jump through, in order to :
1. Sell his product - in this case - loudspeakers in Europe & the USA
2. Support his product in EU and USA?
This could be answered in the specific case of RETHM, since they are sold abroad.

A manufacturer told me that one needs western market approval. This means, showcase abroad, western reviewer approval etc. On top of that one needs to maintain extremely high standards in manufacturing to consistently meet expectations in terms of reliability and performance. On top of that, it need to acquire "used market" value. I will let others chime in with more inputs.

 

[rwnano]

A manufacturer told me that one needs western market approval. This means, showcase abroad, western reviewer approval etc. On top of that one needs to maintain extremely high standards in manufacturing to consistently meet expectations in terms of reliability and performance. On top of that, it need to acquire "used market" value. I will let others chime in with more inputs.

Warranty and repairs support? Who does it well ? How?

 

[Hari Iyer]

Why not focus on a few builds and then refine it into fine products ? Along with a website that showcases them.

Thanks for your suggestion. As I said in Mumbai real estate is very very expensive. Hence stocking even 2 to 3 pairs is an issue. Moreover there is close to zero demand for boutique builders. Only people who have faith in me approach. Unfortunately though what you are suggesting looks nice but practically implementing is a challenge unless someone is ready to take the financial and marketing risk.

 

[square_wave]

Warranty and repairs support? Who does it well ? How?

That too is needed. Rethm does it well from what I know so far. Via dealers. AP had supported me well when I owned their gear when I was in Bangalore.

 

[Decadent_Spectre]

Just curious. Why did you say they are not capable ? Is it because their products don't meet your requirements ? I am sure if they wanted to, they can easily design enclosures and crossovers around the kind of drivers the PRO driver companies sell and make some fine sounding dynamic loudspeakers. I am sure they are transferable skills.

A speakers flavor is subjective, its technical abilities are not. As often said I don't look at flat or not frequency phase response, I use DSP for taste, things like output sensitivity coverage distortion bandwidth thermal/mechanical limits design generic traits matter, I use fr/phase etc data if available for my *taste* selection, not assessing the speaker as tastes differ. Whether they could (or not) is irrelevant, reality is reacted to on what is.

 

[oldmonk]

I remember hearing a speaker brand in bandra.mumbai...
Large satellites + subwoofer

Sounded very nice

The owner/ designer emigrated to Australia

Damn..can get the name now...

 

[Sean de Silva]

I remember hearing a speaker brand in bandra.mumbai...
Large satellites + subwoofer

Sounded very nice

The owner/ designer emigrated to Australia

Damn..can get the name now...

Telome Audio?

 

[oldmonk]

Telome Audio?

Nope Sean

They closed shop and moved to Australia

 

[oldmonk]

Nope Sean

They closed shop and moved to Australia

Its Lithos Acoustics
Mr Rajiv D Souza

 

[square_wave]

Its Lithos Acoustics
Mr Rajiv D Souza

I know that man. He left and apparently left the operations to https://fivehertz.co.in/

A speakers flavor is subjective, its technical abilities are not. As often said I don't look at flat or not frequency phase response, I use DSP for taste, things like output sensitivity coverage distortion bandwidth thermal/mechanical limits design generic traits matter, I use fr/phase etc data if available for my *taste* selection, not assessing the speaker as tastes differ. Whether they could (or not) is irrelevant, reality is reacted to on what is.

That puts you squarely in the "custom audio design needs" domain.

 

[abhinavsri01]

What is their story ? I see a lot of models on their site catering to a wide range of customers.

I found Indiq Speakers to be of good quality. Amit (the owner) of Indiq takes a lot of interest in understanding your preferences.

I purchased their Diamond Achals (floorstanders) around 4 years back. Going good till now.
Two years back got the center channel & rear surrounds from them to complete my setup.

 

[square_wave]

I found Indiq Speakers to be of good quality. Amit (the owner) of Indiq takes a lot of interest in understanding your preferences.

I purchased their Diamond Achals (floorstanders) around 4 years back. Going good till now.
Two years back got the center channel & rear surrounds from them to complete my setup.

Can you share more details about the brand ?
For example, What drivers do they use ? What did you compare the speakers to while you were in the market ?

 

[morerajendra5678]

There are others who have all the infrastructure like wood workshop and even anaholic chamber to take measurement of speakers but they prefer to take volume orders for studio monitors (multiway type). Probably they have so much orders that they don't burn their hands in hifi segment. Faital Pro pune dealer will happily build you speakers voiced to your liking but you have to choose Faital Pro drivers for it.