Hi Hifi buddies,
I have Polk RTia7 and like most of the audiophiles, upgradiditis happened. I have the Rtia7 in perfect working condition..absolutely no issue. But, wanted to upgrade my hifi experience.
Below is the link of my experience upgrading from Yamaha to Polk.
www.hifivision.com
and continuing my journey to have the best for whatever budget allows.
When I was looking for Polk Rtia7, I really liked bass and treble response (and still like it for the price!). Excellent stereo imaging, can cover even big rooms but only one thing I felt that I was missing: realism. Vocals are too soft.. some people may in fact prefer it. But then I wanted something that sounds more "realistic". Tight bass , not so ear piercing treble and slightly pitched up vocals was my requirement. Went through lot of , I mean lot of reviews. But I was in no hurry as I just wanted to audition and decide for myself. Took 6 months for auditioning and making pages of notes till I picked Audio solutions Figaro S.
Priority was music although we as family do enjoy movies on weekend. So wanted a spkr which cares for both. I listen to Jazz, Indian classical, Western classical mostly with sometimes 80s rock. Only thing mattered for me was " realism" . I do not care if its 2 ways, 3 ways, less sensitive spkr, spkrs with super high tech, speakers with tech of 100 yrs old, bi wire, big woofs or small woofs, rare material tweeters or not , sealed or ported etc.... But if it isn't sounding real, it isn't for me.
My signal chain looks like: Ipad-> Cambridge audio dac magic Plus-> Rega Brio -> Polk rtia7/ Figaro S with "rocket 33" speaker cables and cinammon and big sur interconnect cables. Each of these components are worth a review and will try to put it in coming months.
Right now, lets focus on the speakers:
Below are the few amongst many which I auditioned:
1> MA Silver floor standers:
Best vocal for the price or even for slightly more priced spkrs. If it had not been AS Figaro, I would have gone for MA gold 200. Its that good. Did not get a chance to audition gold series but got chance to audition the silver series. Good bass, very balanced sound ..slight issue: is bit nasal. But do not get me wrong, the nasal thing is very minor. But, wanted to see if I can get more on the vocals and hence the audition continued. This audition was done with my DAC and amp as mentioned above.
2> Fyne Audio F501:
If you like to hear instrumental or jazz, it cant get better for the price. Especially realism of the bass. Tabla sounds very real and bass is so damn accurate! for people who love lot of punchy bass, this is not the speaker for you as per me. My problem for this speaker was it tends to become fatiguing for certain type of tracks (like some klipsch do). May be I should have taken my amp and DAC for audition. This was heard on Musical Fidelity and it is a good amp though. Left it only for it getting harsh for some tracks.
3> Spendor:
4/5: This is a book shelf and the reviews made me believe that this is what I want. But hearing it, I think it is great if you add a sub. And sub was not in my plan. I do not hate sub, but I believe, it needs really good matching and right placement for music else the mix is either boomy or not timed well and so on. But hats off to Spendor guys, they gave me chance to audition multiple times and even they demoed it in my room! Again room is everything in hifi. It may sound great at the showroom but need not sound great in your room. Only reason to leave this spkr was lack of bass and with kids running around, it scares me to put bookshelf on stands.
A7: I actually auditioned A4 and another bookshelf (2/3 or something like that) but mentioning only those which made it to my top list. OK so, A7 is a FANTASTIC speaker. if you like neutral sound, this it it! its not a party spkr, but if classical, jazz and vocals is your thing, do not think beyond. I auditioned this 2 times as it was between this and Figaro S for the final round. Really a tough fight. Both are priced somewhat similar. I have long notes of listening session and at least listened for 2 hrs or more with tracks ranging from Indian classical, western classical , jazz, rock and list goes on.... it does well for almost everything.
But I have to chose only one spkr.. so only thing that I did not like in A7 is you have to have a bigger room for this thing to show its prowess. in small rooms, its bright and certain musical passages are not that smooth. if you have something like 20 feet by 22 feet kind of room at least, this spkr disappears like a bookshelf. Very easy to drive 8 ohm spkr.. my Brio had not troubles at all driving this.
4> AS Figaro S:
Pros:
1> Excellent vocals. Especially singers who have the "pahadi" voice, like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, KV Narayanaswamy, Aarti Anklikar, Louis Armstrong, Willie Nelson etc it just makes you go WOW! Lady singers like Eva Cassidy, Katie Melua, Etta James, Kishori Amonkar sound so real. Or even Pavrotti sounds so real. I would say vocals are equal or better than A7.
2> Too good tweeter:
I do not know how they do. The strings sound great and real but it never gets harsh even sitting close to speaker. tracks which sounded harsh on A7, sounded smooth on Figaro S. Sibilance is well controlled. Sensitivity is good too.
3> Attack and dynamism:
Attack is really great and so is the dynamism. I do watch movies on weekend and the dynamism is so good that sometimes if somebody shouts in the movie, neighbor would probably ring your door bell to ask if everything was alright. I cannot put in right words, but the point here is combined with realism it offers, it sounds really natural. When someone shouts in the movie, it gives a feeling of somebody really shouting loud in the room as if somebody raised the volume before the scene. so, sudden shouts, sudden bomb explosion sounds are all handled effortlessly.
4> Bass:
I have heard speakers with this price with better bass. May be my amp is on the punchy side and hence not suited for the bass. anyways, a better amp is required for this spkr to get most out of it and actually now the hunt for an amp is on. Some amp with better damping is what this spkr needs.
5: In short:
Why I like this spkr is EXCELLENT vocals with good "attack" for its size. String instruments like Sitar, Guitar, Santoor etc are simply great. Best amongst whatever I have heard (even for higher priced spkrs). Bass is punchy and make sure to have some room behind the spkr or it makes it boomy. I am happy with the vocals (the realism).. its never chesty, never too thin and it hits the right balance. Sibilance is also well controlled. Stereo imaging is spot on. For well recorded tracks, you get the 3 dimensional imaging. For the bass, for music, Spendor was better(more tight) and Figaro S is more punchy. So it can party! A7s cannot...
I do wanted something which works for movies as well so the bass came in handy although music is priority. The speaker is compact and easy to place around.
If someone is interested in movies only, this is still an excellent speaker.
Few points which I think are cons for this speaker:
1> Bass can get boomy. Make sure you do not chose an amp which is "bassy". Again, this is for a given room.
2> The speaker shines at some volume only. If you listen at very low volumes, pls look for something like Fyne audio or may be even Klipsch. This speaker is not that great for low volumes at least with my electronics.
3> It is 4 ohms, so be careful to chose your amp.
4> It tops out early. I mean, at 90 watts nominal, I expected more sound. In short, if you have a big room and love to the rock the house, this speaker is not for your big room. For me, I do not even cross 10 "o" clock volume (which is not very low, neither too high) so this makes no difference for me. I sit at 8 feet away from the speaker and so no issues.
I heard lot many speakers of dyne audio, Dali, Elac etc but it takes too long to write the reviews and in fact I have written only the bullet points from my notes. And there is no spkr in this world that is perfect. You just have to chose what parameters you like in your audio system. I only wanted "realism" and I think Figaro S does that for the price at least.
So write down the parameters you are interested in and take time for auditions and make no hurry to decide.
I hope you liked reading it and helps you for your hifi journey.
Cheers!
I have Polk RTia7 and like most of the audiophiles, upgradiditis happened. I have the Rtia7 in perfect working condition..absolutely no issue. But, wanted to upgrade my hifi experience.
Below is the link of my experience upgrading from Yamaha to Polk.
My speaker audition experience
Hi, It so happened that i wanted to upgrade my Yamaha 8390 speakers and was looking for an update.. The list i had in my mind was Polk RTIA 7/9, MA Bronze 6, paradigm 9 or 11, Dali zensor 7 and Focal chorous series, Klipsch and Jamo..Budget was around 80K. And 90 % music and 10 % movies...
www.hifivision.com
When I was looking for Polk Rtia7, I really liked bass and treble response (and still like it for the price!). Excellent stereo imaging, can cover even big rooms but only one thing I felt that I was missing: realism. Vocals are too soft.. some people may in fact prefer it. But then I wanted something that sounds more "realistic". Tight bass , not so ear piercing treble and slightly pitched up vocals was my requirement. Went through lot of , I mean lot of reviews. But I was in no hurry as I just wanted to audition and decide for myself. Took 6 months for auditioning and making pages of notes till I picked Audio solutions Figaro S.
Priority was music although we as family do enjoy movies on weekend. So wanted a spkr which cares for both. I listen to Jazz, Indian classical, Western classical mostly with sometimes 80s rock. Only thing mattered for me was " realism" . I do not care if its 2 ways, 3 ways, less sensitive spkr, spkrs with super high tech, speakers with tech of 100 yrs old, bi wire, big woofs or small woofs, rare material tweeters or not , sealed or ported etc.... But if it isn't sounding real, it isn't for me.
My signal chain looks like: Ipad-> Cambridge audio dac magic Plus-> Rega Brio -> Polk rtia7/ Figaro S with "rocket 33" speaker cables and cinammon and big sur interconnect cables. Each of these components are worth a review and will try to put it in coming months.
Right now, lets focus on the speakers:
Below are the few amongst many which I auditioned:
1> MA Silver floor standers:
Best vocal for the price or even for slightly more priced spkrs. If it had not been AS Figaro, I would have gone for MA gold 200. Its that good. Did not get a chance to audition gold series but got chance to audition the silver series. Good bass, very balanced sound ..slight issue: is bit nasal. But do not get me wrong, the nasal thing is very minor. But, wanted to see if I can get more on the vocals and hence the audition continued. This audition was done with my DAC and amp as mentioned above.
2> Fyne Audio F501:
If you like to hear instrumental or jazz, it cant get better for the price. Especially realism of the bass. Tabla sounds very real and bass is so damn accurate! for people who love lot of punchy bass, this is not the speaker for you as per me. My problem for this speaker was it tends to become fatiguing for certain type of tracks (like some klipsch do). May be I should have taken my amp and DAC for audition. This was heard on Musical Fidelity and it is a good amp though. Left it only for it getting harsh for some tracks.
3> Spendor:
4/5: This is a book shelf and the reviews made me believe that this is what I want. But hearing it, I think it is great if you add a sub. And sub was not in my plan. I do not hate sub, but I believe, it needs really good matching and right placement for music else the mix is either boomy or not timed well and so on. But hats off to Spendor guys, they gave me chance to audition multiple times and even they demoed it in my room! Again room is everything in hifi. It may sound great at the showroom but need not sound great in your room. Only reason to leave this spkr was lack of bass and with kids running around, it scares me to put bookshelf on stands.
A7: I actually auditioned A4 and another bookshelf (2/3 or something like that) but mentioning only those which made it to my top list. OK so, A7 is a FANTASTIC speaker. if you like neutral sound, this it it! its not a party spkr, but if classical, jazz and vocals is your thing, do not think beyond. I auditioned this 2 times as it was between this and Figaro S for the final round. Really a tough fight. Both are priced somewhat similar. I have long notes of listening session and at least listened for 2 hrs or more with tracks ranging from Indian classical, western classical , jazz, rock and list goes on.... it does well for almost everything.
But I have to chose only one spkr.. so only thing that I did not like in A7 is you have to have a bigger room for this thing to show its prowess. in small rooms, its bright and certain musical passages are not that smooth. if you have something like 20 feet by 22 feet kind of room at least, this spkr disappears like a bookshelf. Very easy to drive 8 ohm spkr.. my Brio had not troubles at all driving this.
4> AS Figaro S:
Pros:
1> Excellent vocals. Especially singers who have the "pahadi" voice, like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, KV Narayanaswamy, Aarti Anklikar, Louis Armstrong, Willie Nelson etc it just makes you go WOW! Lady singers like Eva Cassidy, Katie Melua, Etta James, Kishori Amonkar sound so real. Or even Pavrotti sounds so real. I would say vocals are equal or better than A7.
2> Too good tweeter:
I do not know how they do. The strings sound great and real but it never gets harsh even sitting close to speaker. tracks which sounded harsh on A7, sounded smooth on Figaro S. Sibilance is well controlled. Sensitivity is good too.
3> Attack and dynamism:
Attack is really great and so is the dynamism. I do watch movies on weekend and the dynamism is so good that sometimes if somebody shouts in the movie, neighbor would probably ring your door bell to ask if everything was alright. I cannot put in right words, but the point here is combined with realism it offers, it sounds really natural. When someone shouts in the movie, it gives a feeling of somebody really shouting loud in the room as if somebody raised the volume before the scene. so, sudden shouts, sudden bomb explosion sounds are all handled effortlessly.
4> Bass:
I have heard speakers with this price with better bass. May be my amp is on the punchy side and hence not suited for the bass. anyways, a better amp is required for this spkr to get most out of it and actually now the hunt for an amp is on. Some amp with better damping is what this spkr needs.
5: In short:
Why I like this spkr is EXCELLENT vocals with good "attack" for its size. String instruments like Sitar, Guitar, Santoor etc are simply great. Best amongst whatever I have heard (even for higher priced spkrs). Bass is punchy and make sure to have some room behind the spkr or it makes it boomy. I am happy with the vocals (the realism).. its never chesty, never too thin and it hits the right balance. Sibilance is also well controlled. Stereo imaging is spot on. For well recorded tracks, you get the 3 dimensional imaging. For the bass, for music, Spendor was better(more tight) and Figaro S is more punchy. So it can party! A7s cannot...
I do wanted something which works for movies as well so the bass came in handy although music is priority. The speaker is compact and easy to place around.
If someone is interested in movies only, this is still an excellent speaker.
Few points which I think are cons for this speaker:
1> Bass can get boomy. Make sure you do not chose an amp which is "bassy". Again, this is for a given room.
2> The speaker shines at some volume only. If you listen at very low volumes, pls look for something like Fyne audio or may be even Klipsch. This speaker is not that great for low volumes at least with my electronics.
3> It is 4 ohms, so be careful to chose your amp.
4> It tops out early. I mean, at 90 watts nominal, I expected more sound. In short, if you have a big room and love to the rock the house, this speaker is not for your big room. For me, I do not even cross 10 "o" clock volume (which is not very low, neither too high) so this makes no difference for me. I sit at 8 feet away from the speaker and so no issues.
I heard lot many speakers of dyne audio, Dali, Elac etc but it takes too long to write the reviews and in fact I have written only the bullet points from my notes. And there is no spkr in this world that is perfect. You just have to chose what parameters you like in your audio system. I only wanted "realism" and I think Figaro S does that for the price at least.
So write down the parameters you are interested in and take time for auditions and make no hurry to decide.
I hope you liked reading it and helps you for your hifi journey.
Cheers!
