devilwearsprada
Active Member
It was 2008 when I first picked up an acoustic guitar.
The feel, the sound, the rhythm, the way your fingers hurt and the way you curse yourself for the first few months. Its like one of those moments when you think guitars hate you and music isn't your thing. But giving up wasn't an option so I played and played for hours and eventually learned it well.
Being a school kid, the guitar becomes a chic-magnet so I picked up an electric three years later in my 11th grade and hooked up to music. For my dad, the phases were annoying from outright distortion to clean notes loud enough to bring the Earth down. My father has always been the Old Hindi music blend into a George Michael fan. Like his classic Glenlivet 14, he is a mixture of outright emotions and sheer beautiful music that my age couldn't comprehend.
So December 2015, I earned my first fat paycheck through my startup. Now as a college kid, choices hover between buying a new iPhone or maybe the PS4. But being a carnut, it also meant new wheels were in picture.
But there my dad was playing Ghulam Ali Sahaab's "Apni dhun mein rehta hun" on the 14 year old beautiful Aiwa 2.0 player. And I decided it was time to upgrade. Called up a few friends, they told me about Onkyo.
My first reaction was the obvious Gurgaon Snob kid saying "Bose is better you know right? Its the best out there. But I decided to give the Onkyo a try. Got the Onkyo HTS3400. The demo piece sold itself, like the older BMW E36 M3 its not the best looking one, but damn its smooth, fresh and beautiful.
A few months later, I connected with Sid Aryan on a business group where I read Sound By Design, Gurgaon as the opening post, and being a kid about aesthetics the name was convincing to give him a call and see if I can know more about sound, about music.
Me : Hi Sid! I read about you on RFC, my name's Utsav Batra and I was looking to know more about home theaters.
Sid : Sure Utsav, my studio is in Gurgaon, why don't you visit me and we can sit and talk.
And.. So I did. The bug bit me, real hard. Like the car bug, the iPhone bug, the guitar bug. AV was a new world, tough to comprehend but pretty convincing.
I visited the studio and I was shocked to my core. Not that I wasn't expecting this, but being a noob never felt so good. My ears were exploding with joy and suddenly everything sounded better, positive and better.
Enter Sound By Design. Its like that place which makes you want to sit there, put your favorite music on and just listen. Just escape and go into Soundception, levels and levels of aural pleasure.
Two Months passed by and I went back for the sound. Wanted something that could play AC/DC as good as it played Rahman Sir's "Taal".
I picked up the Boston Acoustics A26 along with the Marantz PM5004. It sold me completely, what the system could achieve at that cost. Nothing else came close. It played everything equally well. And if Morgan Freeman exists in the AV world, it is Sid Aryan. I setup my new room which looked something like this.
And the bug continued. In a couple more months, I picked up a YHT 196 for my dad. Then the Melodika Bookshelves.
And take my word, Melodika is one brand that you should not miss, its smooth enough to make Eric Clapton come to life.
I went back to the studio again, as I needed a bigger TV. A mini cinema, and the bug came back. I picked up the NEC V260W. My first projector and a good 95"~ screen. It blew my mind. I bought movies, haven't been to a theater in the last 4 months or so. And Sound By Design was right again, affordable setups do give quality. I set it up and this is what it looks like now.
I know my small journey are baby footsteps but for a 21 year old, I think I am doing fairly good. My dad's loving it, my sister has started listening to FLAC's and my mom's in the kitchen shouting at me to pick up my dinner plate. But pictures first.
This is not a marketing post, this is appreciation for somebody who is genuinely trying to bring some change to the Audio Visual scene in Delhi. Amidst the brainwashed Bose fans, my system is still loved by my friends.
And if there is somebody to thank for this it would be Sid. This is how his studio looks like, the efforts, the quality is something I haven't seen.
The feel, the sound, the rhythm, the way your fingers hurt and the way you curse yourself for the first few months. Its like one of those moments when you think guitars hate you and music isn't your thing. But giving up wasn't an option so I played and played for hours and eventually learned it well.
Being a school kid, the guitar becomes a chic-magnet so I picked up an electric three years later in my 11th grade and hooked up to music. For my dad, the phases were annoying from outright distortion to clean notes loud enough to bring the Earth down. My father has always been the Old Hindi music blend into a George Michael fan. Like his classic Glenlivet 14, he is a mixture of outright emotions and sheer beautiful music that my age couldn't comprehend.
So December 2015, I earned my first fat paycheck through my startup. Now as a college kid, choices hover between buying a new iPhone or maybe the PS4. But being a carnut, it also meant new wheels were in picture.
But there my dad was playing Ghulam Ali Sahaab's "Apni dhun mein rehta hun" on the 14 year old beautiful Aiwa 2.0 player. And I decided it was time to upgrade. Called up a few friends, they told me about Onkyo.
My first reaction was the obvious Gurgaon Snob kid saying "Bose is better you know right? Its the best out there. But I decided to give the Onkyo a try. Got the Onkyo HTS3400. The demo piece sold itself, like the older BMW E36 M3 its not the best looking one, but damn its smooth, fresh and beautiful.
A few months later, I connected with Sid Aryan on a business group where I read Sound By Design, Gurgaon as the opening post, and being a kid about aesthetics the name was convincing to give him a call and see if I can know more about sound, about music.
Me : Hi Sid! I read about you on RFC, my name's Utsav Batra and I was looking to know more about home theaters.
Sid : Sure Utsav, my studio is in Gurgaon, why don't you visit me and we can sit and talk.
And.. So I did. The bug bit me, real hard. Like the car bug, the iPhone bug, the guitar bug. AV was a new world, tough to comprehend but pretty convincing.
I visited the studio and I was shocked to my core. Not that I wasn't expecting this, but being a noob never felt so good. My ears were exploding with joy and suddenly everything sounded better, positive and better.
Enter Sound By Design. Its like that place which makes you want to sit there, put your favorite music on and just listen. Just escape and go into Soundception, levels and levels of aural pleasure.
Two Months passed by and I went back for the sound. Wanted something that could play AC/DC as good as it played Rahman Sir's "Taal".
I picked up the Boston Acoustics A26 along with the Marantz PM5004. It sold me completely, what the system could achieve at that cost. Nothing else came close. It played everything equally well. And if Morgan Freeman exists in the AV world, it is Sid Aryan. I setup my new room which looked something like this.
And the bug continued. In a couple more months, I picked up a YHT 196 for my dad. Then the Melodika Bookshelves.
And take my word, Melodika is one brand that you should not miss, its smooth enough to make Eric Clapton come to life.
I went back to the studio again, as I needed a bigger TV. A mini cinema, and the bug came back. I picked up the NEC V260W. My first projector and a good 95"~ screen. It blew my mind. I bought movies, haven't been to a theater in the last 4 months or so. And Sound By Design was right again, affordable setups do give quality. I set it up and this is what it looks like now.
I know my small journey are baby footsteps but for a 21 year old, I think I am doing fairly good. My dad's loving it, my sister has started listening to FLAC's and my mom's in the kitchen shouting at me to pick up my dinner plate. But pictures first.
This is not a marketing post, this is appreciation for somebody who is genuinely trying to bring some change to the Audio Visual scene in Delhi. Amidst the brainwashed Bose fans, my system is still loved by my friends.
And if there is somebody to thank for this it would be Sid. This is how his studio looks like, the efforts, the quality is something I haven't seen.
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