What HiFi Show Bangalore

[rajzola]

I went to the show today afternoon and its DEFINITELY NOT the place to go and enjoy/audition some setups. Total chaos, people talking while a demo is going on, cell phone rings etc etc.I was thrown out of some of the demo rooms when a "VIP" comes in for demo. Total waste of time.

Here are the rooms I liked in the 6th floor. Everything else was not worthy a visit.

1. PMC
2. Invention Audio. I think the value for money offered is very impressive.
3. Harbeths
4. Sonus Faber

One of the major let down was the new KEF reference series speaker, with top of the line costing 15L. It was so painfully bright (for my ears may be), that I had to run out of the room in less than a minute. Not sure if it was the speakers / associated equipment, but a total disappointment.

Finished the whole "show" in less than 2 hours. Thought of spending the whole day, but was not worth at all!

-John.

Hi Guys,

Visited the show and agree that there was not much to see, I was lucky to get A private audition of the new KEF Reference. Heard all genres of music and found this to be the most versatile high end speaker I have heard in a long time. No wonder it got the EISA award. I also think the pairing with Electrocompaniet was perfect . Really enjoyed.

 

[arj]

Sir,
When I mentioned I was to come to Bangalore - you said you were travelling, so we could not met.

yes Bhagwan I came back 1 day early ie yesterday . in fact I somehow thought the show was over when i was informed that it is still on today as well so somehow made it there.

Asked for you but found out you had left !

 

[arj]

This is possible. It was a paper sleeve type cover but I didn't think that it could have been a poor disc. I'm sure under the right conditions the speakers should sound quite good. The designers wouldn't leave that to chance at that price point.
I recently heard some new generation Focal speakers at a Focal dealer. Great sound. Much smaller than these of course but similar styling and it was all black.

Often there are so many variables that it's sometimes hard to set it right under certain conditions. I heard a pair of Legacy speakers that were as tall as these Focals. Source was vinyl. The sound was superb. Room was about half the length as the one where the Focal was. Width was similar. Speakers also located at about the same place. They were WMTMW's.

In any case it was a great show. I enjoy spending time listening to all the new equipment that keeps coming constantly. It doesn't really matter if something didn't sound so great. I wouldn't ask for a special demo of the large Focals ( set perfectly !) as I couldn't possibly afford them in any case.
Just that I have heard many other reasonably large speakers like Eggleston which did sound great in a not so great setting. But then again , I guess something could have been done if they had time and a proper location.

Lot of people seemed to have enjoyed the show. It keeps the interest up and helps the industry and when the time is right we find something new to pick up ! Wish they were selling CD's and vinyl too ! The show would be a trigger to pick up some new music ! They should keep mostly well known well recorded albums and covering a large range of types of music.

Maybe What Hi-Fi should organise package deals for music. Buy 20 CD's or vinyl at one time at 50% off !

Did you get a chance to hear the Scala Utopias ? initially we thought they sounded so much better. then we put in this recording in the Grand Utopias and everything changed and the Scalas in comparison were tinny !! something which sounded great just 5 mins earlier
i guess the organisers also figured that out and the later demos were only on this record hyeah:

 

[bhagwan]

yes Bhagwan I came back 1 day early ie yesterday . in fact I somehow thought the show was over when i was informed that it is still on today as well so somehow made it there.

Asked for you but found out you had left !

Sad;
We missed each other.
I always enjoy meeting you.
Next time around.

This is the room you may have found me - if I was still around i.e.

 

[krishnamurthy]

Spent 3 hours at the show. Hard to feel the demo, quite a few people walk in and talk at the same time. The hotel is not suitable for AV demos I think.

Klipsch setup - pure muscle, very harsh on the ears - could not stomach much more than couple of minutes.
Genelec (the extremely tiny speakers on the stands) was bloody impressive, 39k each - my wife was like when can we buy them. did not get to know the model number. The subwoofer for it was 1.3 lakhs, astounding figure.
Energy CF-50 setup at Onkyo - average sound reproduction, 63k/pair - maybe okay for some folks
Philips Fidelio wireless speaker setup (2 satellites, subwoofer, sound bar) - 49k - sound was hollow in some areas, suitable only for small rooms like a bedroom. An average keen listener can easily spot the flaws in these.
PMC, Harbeths - did not bother to check them out as there was no way I could afford them.
DynAudio (2.6l/pair Bookshelf) - was as clean as a whistle, brought by Lokesh (HT Store). My wife developed an instant liking for them but got put off by the price. The best speaker amongst all we heard. He also had some good outdoor speakers for 10k upto 38k (25k, 38k options were designed to be like an airport hand bags on wheels). Mission MX-4 speakers were so-so, no soul stirring sound reproduction. DALI was absent as they were not keen it seems to setup there

Sonus Faber - as neutral a sound as one can expect from a vocal perspective but my wife picked up something that somehow the musical instruments delivery were not sharp enough.
QAcoustic 3000 series - did not cut it, the lows were not that good, highs were somewhat overpowering.
Thonet and Vander - their Bluetooth (Ratsel BT 2.1 system) speaker was neat, their active speaker pair (Hoch bt) - 26k - surprisingly good for its price.

Overall observation: Okay show, demo rooms were not setup well, too much talk all around, a good range of speaker options, not a whole lot of technical gyan one could pick up.

 

[Orko]

I was there on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed it far more than I expected to. In the end, I stayed almost 4 hours and would have stayed longer but it was closing time. I agree that some of the rooms were not well set up or not well staffed (in terms of informed staff) but three of them stood out for me personally.

Prithvi's room with the Harbeths and the Conrad Johnsons sounded sublime. Every time I hear the SHL5+, it's a delight.

The Sonus Faber/McIntosh room was another one that sounded gorgeous. Detailed, natural, effortless.

Finally, Khushrau's and Jignesh's room with the PMC and Bel Canto pairing was exceptional. Those tiny PMC DB1 Gold speakers were remarkable. And the Bel Cantos made them really sing.

Another product that bears a mention was the DSPeaker Anti-Mode. I had a quick demo in a very noisy room but it was evident even then that it can palpably improve the sound. Interestingly, home demos are available for this so one can try it in one's own room before plonking down the cash.

All told, I'm glad I went. I've been meaning to upgrade my stereo for a while now and I've been auditioning whenever I can, listening to a bunch of different "sound signatures". But this visit confirmed for me the kind of sound I like. So my thanks to all the exhibitors and the organisers.

 

[srinisundar]

i can't agree with you. One of the worst shows i have ever seen. Except few rooms nobody is entertained properly. Just like the trade centre having stalls roaming people. Not worth for the audiophiles to walk around to have an proper demo. WASTE OF TIME.

The rooms were looking good of-course. Super demo / Super gear on display,,More over super girl on display like some snake oil thing by side of 2.5Crore focal speaker.Funny way of marketing..

Most of the speakers sounded bad and pathetic because of acoustic problems except in Sonus faber room where it was correctly positioned. Harbeth is good and ofcourse prithvi. He is very enthusiastically demoed the speakers.

In Genelec room we are keen to demo, one person is hitting the calling bell and one guy open the door and pops his head out and unwantedly allowed inside. We saw a big lecture is going on explaining to an single whom they thought potential and not even we are asked what to demo... We politely waited for few minutes and banged out.

In the KEF room as usual KEF LS50 mini monitor excelled and others could not be heard due to big glass chandelier is hanging above the room. It spoiled the hearing pleasure of floor standers otherwise KEF staffs were very supportive on showing demo.

On the two days spent at banglore had good time at Anil and George place and Arjun.

I don't know if I should say this, but I went from Mumbai & I liked the show a lot.
It was superb.
Excellent Location - Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Great Room.
Super Demo.
Super Gear on display.
In the Basement / Ball Rooms / 6th Floor Room.
All you need to do is go with your own CD's & request for a demo & ask
questions. People are there to answer them.
Show interest & you will be treated with respect.
That is my suggestion...:licklips:

 

[bhagwan]

i can't agree with you.
One of the worst shows i have ever seen. Except few rooms nobody is entertained properly. Just like the trade centre having stalls roaming people. Not worth for the audiophiles to walk around to have an proper demo. WASTE OF TIME.

100 % OK.
Sad to learn that you did not like the show & it was not up to your expectations;
Hope you encounter better options in your travels.
Just out of curiosity, did any of the demo rooms refuse to play your demo cd / music for you ?
What in the rooms did you not like ?

 

[chandruybl]

Been there on Saturday, as somebody rightly said you get an opportunity to see many of them at a single place, was lucky to have Ramesh and Venu for company,liked the Sonus faber/Mc intosh combo and also the pmc and the Harbeths ,glad i went.ofcourse there was this problem of no acoustics,noise no discipline etc but overall a good effort..

 

[soulforged]

For me the standout rooms were PMC, Harbeth, Hegel/Elac and SF/McIntosh. I don't agree with the comments on the attitude of the exhibitors. Everybody I met was nice to me and willing to spend time. A few of them I knew in person and a few I've interacted over phone or via HFV and some yet I was meeting for the first time. All were courteous and eager to talk...Like Bhagwan said, it's probably the interest you show. I spent a fair bit of time interacting with Khusrau, Prithvi, the gentleman from Preeti trading (Accuphase) and some of the familiar HFV members.

PMC's DB1 driven by Bel Canto (can't recall the model) was the setup of the day for me. Perhaps more so cause I got some dedicated time to audition it with peace and quiet. Harbeth SHL5+ with CJ was another one, more so cause I am familiar with the sound and was able to appreciate it with one of my fave tracks Stimela!

Another setup worth mentioning was Invention Audio, with their own DAC, amp and speakers. The sound was pretty much up there with the rest of the marquee gang...was a little raw around the edges which I'm sure can be honed...They need a bit of attention and encouragement from the HiFi aficionados here to move on in the right direction...

I really don't wanna talk about the 2.6cr speakers...the least DNI could have done was to place an knowledgeable person on the floor to talk about it. All we got was this is the focal grand utopia...its 2.6cr! that was pretty much it! driven by Accuphase pre and monos...but fed from a Marantz SACD player...it is a capable player no doubt but the setup deserved a bit more finesse...in any case there was not much playing with people walking about and plates clattering from the lunch served just outside the room for anybody to do any critical listening...the size was imposing and impressive though!

All in all, it was not exactly how the Mumbai and Delhi showed reported but pretty decent...an afternoon well spent!

 

[srinisundar]

100 % OK.
Sad to learn that you did not like the show & it was not up to your expectations;
Hope you encounter better options in your travels.
Just out of curiosity, did any of the demo rooms refuse to play your demo cd / music for you ?
What in the rooms did you not like ?

1) Demo Cd's are welcome by all. Whereever we asked they are ready to play. I never complained about it.

2) Most of the rooms suffered because of the acoustic problem, especially KEF ( profx) had an big glass chadelier run most of the centre part.

3) Most of the HT rooms i did not like because of boom boom sound and not controlled. We cannot complain the dealers since they tried their level best to setup in the worst room.

4)May be smart dealers could have thought of bringing room correction kits / bass trap / sound abosrption panels where the sound demonstrated is not upto the mark.

5) In my opinion for HT demos the rooms size should be big ( may be like KEF room) and the ATMOS could have been an technology to pull many people to have satisfied demo to plunge into it, rather it disconnected.

6) As told i am not happy with except faber concertino / Harbeth / + dynaudio with belcanto.

7) DNI ( focal ) has wasted their money of becoming an platinum or gold sponsor and kept their stuff in an big ball room without setting up in an controlled room.

 

[bhagwan]

Respected Sir,

If I understood correct;

A]
You had your CD's
B]
You got your Demo's
C]
The Rooms were too small - as per your taste.
D]
You did not like the way the audio gear was installed / set up in different rooms.
E]
You liked :-
1 - PMC + Bel Canto
2 - Harbeth with Conrad Johnson
3 - Sonus Faber with McIntosh
I hope I got the correct combinations as your tried to state above.
F]
DNI has sold that Focal Utopia BE Gold Leaf Version already.
They did have a demo room on the 6th floor too - cheaper gear I suppose.

 

[square_wave]

The show played out according to my expectations.

You cannot expect perfect placement and room setup for a really big speaker like the Focal grand utopia. It is there to see, not to hear. Extracting the best out of it (and opinions about the speaker too) will need a setup sign off by someone really good. Not gonna happen at a hifi show

The science of setup was on ample display by KJ at the PMC room. That system was acoustically locked in to the room. Timing, dynamics and soundstage was spot on. Have a new found love for PMC and Belcanto.

The worst example was how they literally killed a stellar speaker like the KEF Blade !!

The Mcintosh and Sonus faber, Harbeths on CJ, Elac on Hegel ( the sub was the star ) were all really nice experiences.

If you noticed, the best rooms were also by people who put in that extra effort to setup the systems right and were serious about what they were doing.

It was nice meeting with people too. I met MBJ, Prithvi and Edgar team, KJ, Jai, Venu, Hifipal and Neo (for the first time) and many others whose names escape me now..

Thanks so much to the for all the effort the pros and dealers put into it.. Much appreciated !

 

[arj]

You cannot expect perfect placement and room setup for a really big speaker like the Focal grand utopia. It is there to see, not to hear. Extracting the best out of it (and opinions about the speaker too) will need a setup sign off by someone really good. Not gonna happen at a hifi show

It was pretty well setup, just that they were playing the wrong CD. believe me ..it was a very different experience listening to a Stockfisch CD- "One Red Shoe by Ewen Carruthers" having never heard it before, it was really good despite the number of people and the crowd all around

After that the Scala Utopia sounded like a small tinny speaker !! jsut shows how important the source content is. only a really resolving/revealing system can show these difference so well.

All the more reason i would never buy one even if i had so much money to throw around ( Sour grapes hyeah: )

+1 to the below. the Belcantos are good..heard them in the Dynaudio room as well.

The science of setup was on ample display by KJ at the PMC room. That system was acoustically locked in to the room. Timing, dynamics and soundstage was spot on. Have a new found love for PMC and Belcanto.

The Mcintosh and Sonus faber, Harbeths on CJ, Elac on Hegel ( the sub was the star ) were all really nice experiences.

If you noticed, the best rooms were also by people who put in that extra effort to setup the systems right and were serious about what they were doing.

 

[Nikhil]

I am a little surprised by the other replies on the show.
In no particular order here are my "rough notes" version of the show.

I came in late Friday afternoon for the show after finishing my work early that day. I had my luggage with me which I checked in at the concierge service and after a quick fresh up in the gents room I walked up to the ticket counter. Paid my Rs 200 for the day and I was very pleased to see the brands at the show. I would have preferred to have had a preview of the exhibitors on a website prior so that I could have done a little more homework.

The Ritz Carlton is a very good hotel and I am very impressed that the show organizers were able to get the place as a venue. Service is top notch and the facilities are on par with the best. I mention this because you pay much more than Rs 200 for this hotel in general. Anyway, on to the show.

The first room on the ground floor was the Klipsch room which was mostly home theater. Sat in for a brief demo of the Reference Dolby Atmos and took a quick peek at the other gear in the room. There was a Yamaha setup with Klipsch floor standers that sounded quite nice. After a quick look around I nodded my thanks to the dealer and moved to the next room.

This was the home theater demo for DNI which had a wide expanse of recliners for a front row demo of the setup. I walked in to see the intro scene of "Jupiter Rising" - mental note was that the projector in that room was spectacular. The room staff were extremely courteous and I was very happy to see that they were enthusiastic with their responses. On the whole I must say the DNI people were very friendly and open to questions from visitors.

The next room on the floor was the one I had a lot of expectations - the KEF room. The room was quite full when I entered so I walked around the back while others were auditioning. It was nice to see that they had brought a pair of Blades and the LS 50s but they were on passive display at the back on Friday evening. The demo was setup primarily for their new "The Reference" line of speakers that feature the Uni-Q Point Source driver arrays. Partnering the same was what I believe was Electrocompaniet gear from their "Classic Line". The sound was very pleasing to the ear at the listening seat. Given the large room and the number of people milling about I could not fault the system much but I really wanted to hear the Blades.

I was a little disappointed that the Blades were not in play when I went but was encouraged when the staff told me that they will be played the next day. Making a mental note of the same I took a quick look around and ducked out of a room that was getting a reasonable amount of footfall.

So far I could gather that systems would not be setup very well given the general conditions of the large rooms in some places. Being a Friday afternoon it was clear that I had come at a time when the show was relatively empty and I could get some quality time in the listening seat. I also have to mention that while the dealers could be faulted for less than ideal setups, full marks for effort in terms of bringing their big brands to the show.

To be continued ....

 

[Audio_Freek]

The show played out according to my expectations.

You cannot expect perfect placement and room setup for a really big speaker like the Focal grand utopia. It is there to see, not to hear. Extracting the best out of it (and opinions about the speaker too) will need a setup sign off by someone really good. Not gonna happen at a hifi show

The science of setup was on ample display by KJ at the PMC room. That system was acoustically locked in to the room. Timing, dynamics and soundstage was spot on. Have a new found love for PMC and Belcanto.

The worst example was how they literally killed a stellar speaker like the KEF Blade !!

The Mcintosh and Sonus faber, Harbeths on CJ, Elac on Hegel ( the sub was the star ) were all really nice experiences.

If you noticed, the best rooms were also by people who put in that extra effort to setup the systems right and were serious about what they were doing.

I Second that, I had a word with PMC person about the Cute Monster (Does this suits for them) PMC DB1S and was asking why did they brought only Tiny Speakers to the Show since all other Exhibitors were bring their premium Once.He replied that in most of the Shows the organizers would allocate space only for little space and they were into troubles setting up the FS there, But when they landed up here the space was huge, but they cant plan to bring down the FS due to time constraints.

We all should agree that converting Hotel Rooms to the Audio halls is not the best for Demo but its would be too costly to set up a Acoustic treated room for all the exhibitors to give the best Demo.Moreover these Shows are just to introduce the new products to the public under the one roof and not a place to Sell their stuff.

Lets learn thing on how we need to approach these Show efficiently rather than discussing about the flaws of it(which is not going to enter into the ears of the organizers).

Few things I learnt from the show(this is my first Audio Show)

1. Dont Hesitate to carry your Fav CD for the demo, Since CD's used for demo are sometime are not even average or of your liking,Moreover no other media is entertained for source. I do remember one gentleman was arguing with the Harbeth team to play music from his mobile phone(they were in FLAC format)

2. Just make a group visit instead of going alone(Which is a mistake I did),So that you could occupy the room for a sometime and get chance to listen your fav tracks too along with lot of question+ Gain knowledge when fellow members get clarify on things.

3.Be Early I.e by the start of the show, So that you dont get into the crowd.

4. Go visit all the stalls once and they plan for the Listening section\Demo with the selected ones.

They haven't done the Best at same time they weren't worst though.It was good for one who gone without expectation and where we get a chance to see them at one shot

 

[Nikhil]

Continued from earlier post where I had briefly covered the ground floor "big rooms".

The second main part of the show was located in the 6th floor of the hotel. The exhibitors filled out the entire 6th floor space with most of the marque brands taking the West Wing of the floor. The East side was not much smaller and also had it's share of highlights. Heading out of the elevators I headed left to the East Rooms starting with the Genelecs.

The Genelecs are not my type of speaker so my visit to this room was brief. However the range on offer was very commendable with a lot of options for those in the pro or architectural area. Sound was pretty decent with the entire walls lined up with their speaker range. Someone else will have to fill in the details on this room.

Next room was the Triangle Audio speakers driven by Cambridge Audio gear. There was a Cary Audio tube integrated along with other CA gear on passive display on shelves on the right of the room. Not the best use of space but the room was relatively empty with a single listener taking in an audition of the Triangles. Did not spend much time in the room and this turned out to be one of the mistakes as I was told later that the Triangle speakers were one of the better sounding of the show.

I passed on some of the rooms that included Cerwin Vega and another brand I cannot recollect. However I was drawn in by the sound of the room at Invention Audio. Listening in from the back of the room, the sound was just right and had a lot of things just flowing musically. Walking into the room I saw what looked liked British style 2 way stand mounts arranged in what I thought was front 3 + rear 2 setup. Sound stage was dead center. I assumed the center channel was on and helping with the strong center channel. I was surprised to be told that it was only the two speakers on left and right playing (Rs 30k/each). Apart from the sound stage what impressed me was the tonality of the setup. Amplifier (Rs 80K) was a single Class A/B operating 80% in Class A. The real surprise for me was to know that the company was a local Hyderabad based outfit. I was even more impressed by his DAC (Rs 1.5L) which did not use a DAC chip opting instead for a R2R ladder design rolling the resistors himself. The man behind Invention Audio is Mr Jawalkar and I would recommend his gear to anyone open to trying out a local player. It would be interesting to see how things pan out for this gentleman and Invention Audio after this show.

The other notable room in this wing was the PMC Transparent Audio room handled by maverick dealer duo Jignesh and Khusrao Jilla. Easily one of the best rooms at the show.

Will pause my commentary here for now.
To be continued ...

 

[srinisundar]

However I am expecting our moderator sidvee review whom i believe is an keen observer of systems and his verdict will be out soon. Trust it will be unbiased.

Regards

 

[arj]

.. However I was drawn in by the sound of the room at Invention Audio. Listening in from the back of the room, the sound was just right and had a lot of things just flowing musically. Walking into the room I saw what looked liked British style 2 way stand mounts arranged in what I thought was front 3 + rear 2 setup. Sound stage was dead center. I assumed the center channel was on and helping with the strong center channel. I was surprised to be told that it was only the two speakers on left and right playing (Rs 30k/each). Apart from the sound stage what impressed me was the tonality of the setup. Amplifier (Rs 80K) was a single Class A/B operating 80% in Class A. The real surprise for me was to know that the company was a local Hyderabad based outfit. I was even more impressed by his DAC (Rs 1.5L) which did not use a DAC chip opting instead for a R2R ladder design rolling the resistors himself. The man behind Invention Audio is Mr Jawalkar and I would recommend his gear to anyone open to trying out a local player. It would be interesting to see how things pan out for this gentleman and Invention Audio after this show.

Great Relay review
It is really impressive that you spotted this. Would have loved to hear this..unfortunately I missed this.

 

[Naturelover]

This is indeed good news for the Indian audio scene. Hope some of Hyderabad FMs throw more light on Mr Jawalkar and his "inventions" sometime soon.
Is he familiar with HFV?

The real surprise for me was to know that the company was a local Hyderabad based outfit. I was even more impressed by his DAC (Rs 1.5L) which did not use a DAC chip opting instead for a R2R ladder design rolling the resistors himself. The man behind Invention Audio is Mr Jawalkar and I would recommend his gear to anyone open to trying out a local player.

Waiting....

Will pause my commentary here for now.
To be continued ...