deafbong_kolkata
Member
Such flex , much wow …
2024 summary and plans for 2025
- Thread starter Yelamanchili manohar
- Start date
frend2001
Well-Known Member
2024 started with much promise and......
it delivered....
Acquired
A pair of mint Tannoy HPD 15" Royal Monitors ( it's HPD 385 with blue magnet covers specially made for Canadian markets )
A Luxman A3550 Tube Power Amp
A Luxman A3300 Tube Pre Amp
A Garrard 401
A Denon DP 3000 with SME 3009 Improved
A Denon AU-320 SUT
An unused Sansui Alpha 607 amplfier
and Few mono MC carts.
All I need and pray for in 2025 is loads n loads of understanding from wifey when she learns about the cost of these things and my plans of encroaching into the drawing room and converting it in to a Man cave with seal-able vault type steel doors.
it delivered....
Acquired
A pair of mint Tannoy HPD 15" Royal Monitors ( it's HPD 385 with blue magnet covers specially made for Canadian markets )
A Luxman A3550 Tube Power Amp
A Luxman A3300 Tube Pre Amp
A Garrard 401
A Denon DP 3000 with SME 3009 Improved
A Denon AU-320 SUT
An unused Sansui Alpha 607 amplfier
and Few mono MC carts.
All I need and pray for in 2025 is loads n loads of understanding from wifey when she learns about the cost of these things and my plans of encroaching into the drawing room and converting it in to a Man cave with seal-able vault type steel doors.
rwnano
Well-Known Member
Focals over polk?
Still not demoed the Focals, probably tomorrow. Polks are more towards overall quality in both sound as well as value wise. Getting a very good price for the Polks and paring the centre with the Legend L400C (3 way) is superb.
Whats your opinion?
rwnano
Well-Known Member
Do share your thoughts
after the demo....compare the sound signatures and write your thoughts hereFinally took out some good time and visited a few places for demoing quite a few speakers.Do share your thoughts
I demoed the following speakers with a specific set of songs both Hindi and English and couple of clips with Dolby Atmos.
Polk Reserve series - I had very high hopes for the Polk R700 as I had decided to upgrade my RTiA7 to these along with the others in the series. After doing a detailed listening and spending a good amount of time at ProFx with R700 connected to Denon 4800h, I had a bitter experience and decided not to go with these. The sales person at ProFx started the demo with my music on spotify premium and at first and it sounded very flat and dead just like there is no fizz in coke and after asking him what's the issue, he replied all is good. Later I discovered that the speakers were not bi-amped and thus sounded like this. They were having some issues to bi-amp the speakers but finally they did (confused to set the correct settings in amp assingment), and it was better but again it was not something different with what I already have at home. It sounded very bright at higher volumes and was mudded (not able to differentiate musical instruments), though the bass was good. It had a similar soundstage like the RTi series, nothing very different and what I was looking for.
Wharfedale Evo series - Next stop was at Qubix, where there were few setups including Wharfedale bookshelves and floorstanders. Again these were a tad bit bright for my current liking. The soundstage was good but I personally did not like it much.
B&W Reference in-walls series - Qubix had also the B&W speakers and there were a couple of setups. This was a totally different kind of experience and I really loved the sound and the soundstage it created. Though it did not make it in my list cause I wanted floorstanders.
Focal Kanta No.2 - Last stop was at the Focal showroom. Best among the all. I just loved them, everything about them was awesome. When it started playing it was so open, breathing and effortless like nothing is stopping it from going. I'm happy that I listened to them, but they were way out of my budget.
Focal Aria Evo No.2 & No. 3 - Similar soundstage to the Kanta's (I guess the same family) at a much lower price point. Especially the No.3's were superb compared to No.2. All connected with Marantz Cinema 50. Musically the No.3's were very good and had very good bass due to its larger dual woofers and front ports. Even in the movies the vocals from the Evo X center speakers were very engaging. I just loved the sound of Focals, warm and effortless, even at higher volumes they were sounding just right and not mudding. You could easily identify each instrument. Decoit Duel by AR Rehman and tracks were such a bliss to listen, just loved them.
Focal Theva No.2 - Good but I liked the Arias more.
The Polks were a big let down, but good I went and gave a listen before finalizing. Now I have decided Focal Aria Evo No.3 in Moss Green and its X for center and 300 series 6" in-wall angled speakers for surrounds (I have a open living-room) along with 300 series in-wall 6" straight throw for atmos. Pairing these with Marantz Cinema 40. Probably would get a 2 channel amp (Rotel or something) for the fronts as the No.3's can go as low as 2.8 ohms.
Proud focal aria owner here. I have also auditioned many speakers and finalised the B&W 700 series. And while buying, I have auditioned the focal aria side by side with B&W. Then I chose focal. I felt Focal has an analytical sound which I like a lot.
rwnano
Well-Known Member
I have Focals too. Excellent balanced sound
I'm very happy to know that I'm not alone who liked the sound of Focals and that my listening abilities were correct as well as my decision to choose one over the other, which is a very difficult task.
No wonder in an avforums review they have compared the Focal Arias No.3 to B&W 703 S3 Signature series as well as Acoustic Energy Corinium speakers and have mentioned that these speakers can deliver a similar sound at half the cost of them.
May I know which Focals are you driving and what powers them? Are they easy to run, it will make my selections easier on the amp etc. I also plan on taking the (sealed sub) SVS SB2000 pro (may go dual sub if I'm left something in my overall budget)
rwnano
Well-Known Member
Focal Chorus 706 V2. Harman Kardon AVR 3550 from 2002.
Had a Focal Aria 926, sounds wonderful overall. Also, don't doubt your listening abilities as everyone hears and looks for different things in a system & some may find your choices excellent & someone may be equivocal in criticising the choice.
Regarding amp choices the Aria present a difficult load in the bass region else are easily driven. So you will need an amp which will be 2 ohm stable ( it dips to 2.8 ohm) unless the no.3 drivers no longer dip to 2.8 ohms. I personally used couple of DIY amps , Marantz 8006, couple of tube amps with the Focal & all of them worked fine with them with the SS amps ( 150 w @ 8 ohm) providing the best drive.
Nice to know about the Aria 926 you have, which I believe is known as No.2 presently.
Even No. 3 dips as low as 2.8 ohms as per the specs and I thought of pairing them with a Rotel 1552 MKII which delivers 130w@8ohms per channel and 185w@4ohms per channel. I guess this should be more than enough for driving them without any heating or shutting down issues and clears the marantz cinema 40 of the fronts and be available for the rest of the channels.
Let me know if this is fine or shall I go for another amp.
reignofchaos
Well-Known Member
Look for an amp that doubles it's output at 4 ohm and quadruples at 2 ohm. Those are the best.
I have heard this rotel - it's not the most transparent amp out there.
I am using Focal Aria 906. They are easy-to-drive speakers. I have used a couple of amps before; I'm currently using an O&B amp which produces 180 W @ 4 ohms. rotal and focal is very good matching . I have auditioned in the Rotal Amp, and I have also used it for some time. So for no. 3, the Rotel 1552 MKII is perfect, but those speakers can handle more powerful amps if you want also.
Rotel roughly gives 185watts at 4ohms, so I think this should be fine comparing the price I'm getting this at.
That gives a relief... the next model of Rotel is 1582 which delivers 200watts at 8ohms & 323watts at 4ohms, but comes at a steap cost compared to the 1552. No doubt it will be a big step-up from 1552 and will give massive power to the speakers. Well, now I will need to re-calibrate by budget
rwnano
Well-Known Member
I will likely acquire a good subwoofer for my system this year. Also planning to try dual monoblocks experiment ( see my posts)
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reignofchaos
Well-Known Member
The power number doesn't matter much. What matters is how much is the power increase from 8 ohm to 4 ohm. The fact that it is only a small bit different suggests the amp is not high current.
rwnano
Well-Known Member
Go for the diy indian made amplifiers. More power per rupee paid you'll get and better sound
sachinchavan 15865
Well-Known Member
Couldn’t resist jumping onto the bandwagon of wireless personal audio and went for the first purchase of the year, the Sennheiser Momentum MTW4 earbuds. As audiophile/musical as BT buds get, it’s a joy to be free of wires while listening to music at the desk or on the move.
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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