Hi,
Great idea Santosh. Thanks to you and Steven I had a great weekend and listened to some very good music systems.
Regards
Rajiv
Thanks to Rajiv and Stevieboy, I had one of the best musical weekends in a long time. We started Saturday listening to Coaltrain's system, then Stevieboy's system (with his new DHT pre and 2A3 power amp). We then went went to Anilva's system(s) and then ended the day listening to my DIY Altec A7s and ATC systems. It reminded me of the Audio Yatra that Suri, Titus, Kannan, Stevieboy, Saikat & I did a few years ago.
I suggest you post your views / reviews of AP reference system too. Mods could be requested to change the thread title accordingly.
Great!! Let me start with the AP reference system. The AP Reference system consists of the AP CD Transport/Audio PC ->AP DAC ->AP Pre ->AP Active Crossover -> AP Power -> AP Floorstanding Speakers. The source and amplification were from AP's Thiyaga range and I had listened to them earlier with Siva's earlier speaker (Active Floorstander + Active Bass Units) and they were very good. But with the new speakers, Siva has taken it to an altogether new level.
The new speakers are the best AP speakers I have heard so far. While most AP products are quite dynamic, this one takes the cake. The new speakers are a 4 driver - 3 way system (Mid-Tweeter-Mid-Bass) and apart from sounding great they look great too. They sound very open, effortless, coherent and dynamic. It sounds more like an enclosure-less design. The most significant change I could hear over previous AP speakers was the smoothness of the highs which are very detailed, airy, have sufficient bite and do their magic without piercing one's ears.
Siva has an excellent collection of music and he did an A/B on CD v/s Hi-Res using the AP DAC. We all felt that high def was sounding very similar to Vinyl. I have an Analog Productions Verve LP of the record Ella and Louis and high def that Siva played sounded exactly like that. I have heard the CD as well and it just does not come close. I thought this was amazing and anybody contemplating getting into Hi-Res should visit Siva's place for a demo.
We also listened to the AP Swara range of Pre-Power and Speakers while Siva was planning a surprise for us. The Swara speakers were based on Vifa drivers and were sounding great.
The surprise that Siva had in store for us was getting a Hindustani Classical singer and friend, Mithun to perform for us. Mithun was an extremely talented chap, he briefed us with some basics and also about his particular style of singing. I forget the exact sanskrit word (need help with the term please) that he used to described his style but the gist of it was that he singers of that style sang for one's own satisfaction, there was not much of pre-planning and the singer would sing freely without worrying or wanting to impress the audience. But Boy, were we impressed ?! Amazing talent and in some passages, hair on the nape of my neck and hands stood up. I was in total awe and felt very fortunate to be there. The other fortunate members present apart from the trio were gvenu, hifipal4all, iaudio & squarewave. It was very thoughtful of Siva for packing in this surprise for us and getting us to experience live music in the way we did.
What a way to end an already fantastic weekend the trio (Rajiv, Stevieboy and I) had !?!
Experiences of other systems to follow....watch this space
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