The Full Analogue Experience:
Some months back, I had written about my experience (review as is called in audio circles) of listening to Xavian Calliope speakers in AV Lounge, Chennai.
https://www.hifivision.com/ threads/experiencing-xavian- speakers-at-avlounge.67406/
At that time the source was digital from a very high end Metronome CD transport, but the rest of the chain was tube in both the pre and power stage.
Couple of months back Venkat told me that he is introducing TURNTABLES.
Two days back I called him and went for a demo of his latest setup with turntable as the source.
I by the way have zero knowledge of the technicalities of turntables, as I have never used one, nor ever researched its functionality. I have of course heard a few here and there.
The Equipment:
1) The Turntable:
Kuzma Stabi Ref-2 with 4Point tone-arm and CAR-20 cartridge
2) The Preamp
CAT SL1 Legend
3) Power Amp:
CAT Signature mono blocks
4) Speakers:
Rosso Fiorentino Siena speakers
These speakers are a 3-way infinite baffle design, with the 4th way taken by a ribbon diaphragm ultrasonic generator which as per specs goes up to 100 khz.
The main woofers are dual 8 inch aluminum cone design woofer in an isolated enclosure, the upper woofer is 6.5 paper diaphragm woofer from ScanSpeak and the (1.1 in) hand treated cloth soft dome tweeter. High grade network with full silver Van Del Hul wiring.
5) Allied Accessories:
High end analysis plus interconnects and speakers cables, isolators, cable rises and stuff that you find in any high end setup
The Setup:
I listened to five songs: Three Tamil (all Illayaraja compositions) and two Hindi from the movie “Ek Duje Keliye”
The Listening Experience:
The speakers as you see from the picture are drawn by about 3 feet from the side wall and about 4 feet from the rear walls. They were spaced out by about 10 feet and the listening distance was about the same.
The toe-in was about 20 degrees into the listening spot.
This was after a very long time, I was listening to some ultra high end analogue setup.
The songs he played
‘Enge en Jeevan’ from the movie Uyarntha Ullam;
‘Sola Pasungiliye’ from the movie Yen Rajavin Manasile
‘Nilavu Thoogum Neram’ from the movie Kunguma Chimizh
‘Hum Bane Tum Bane’ and ‘Tere Mere Beech Main’ (SPB one) from Ek Duje Keliya
I have heard the songs of Ek Duje Keliye umpteen times and Tere Mere Beech is one of my favorites of SPB.
The Experience:
‘Sola Pasungiliye’ and ‘Tere Mere Beech Main’ took my breath away. They sounded brilliant, very transparent and detailed.
Even at higher volumes there was almost no fatigue with a uniform increase in overall resolution which Venkat told me is the hall mark of pure analogue source like turntables combined with tubes.
I personally don’t agree that it is the hallmark of only tube gear and that having a digital medium anywhere in the chain can cause fatigue.
But ultimately what you hear are the speakers, and the Fiorentinos were brilliant.
The dual woofer cabinet is totally isolated from the main cabinet with the idea of minimizing cabinet resonance. Also the separated upper part containing the 6.5 inch driver can be used as a separate bookshelf.
It performs with ease at all volume levels without exaggerating any frequencies, accurate, dynamic presentation without being forward. These are truly engaging speakers.
I will not get too much into details like staging, imaging, focus etc, they were all there in good measure and will leave it to the listeners to audition and decide.
We tend to look at taut lows, midrange fluidity and smoothness in the highs. These speakers deliver all that with aplomb. They do sound multi dimensional and very airy, probably due to the impact of the untrasonic generator.
But the midrange sounded warm, ream warm to my ears, but were real lush. I though like it more open and lush at the same time and I did point this out to Venkat, probably that is the character of turntable/tube combo that many ears relish.
Since I do not have too much of knowledge with turntables, I could not give much detail on it in this review.
I know there are many members here who are hardcore turntable fans and those who are intending to move over to turntables.
They can catch up with Venkat to have a detailed audition to judge the sound and the technicalities of the turntable.
He is a pleasant, and of course a highly knowledgeable gentleman in this field.
As usual a big thanks to him for his patience and hospitality.
Some months back, I had written about my experience (review as is called in audio circles) of listening to Xavian Calliope speakers in AV Lounge, Chennai.
https://www.hifivision.com/ threads/experiencing-xavian- speakers-at-avlounge.67406/
At that time the source was digital from a very high end Metronome CD transport, but the rest of the chain was tube in both the pre and power stage.
Couple of months back Venkat told me that he is introducing TURNTABLES.
Two days back I called him and went for a demo of his latest setup with turntable as the source.
I by the way have zero knowledge of the technicalities of turntables, as I have never used one, nor ever researched its functionality. I have of course heard a few here and there.
The Equipment:
1) The Turntable:
Kuzma Stabi Ref-2 with 4Point tone-arm and CAR-20 cartridge
2) The Preamp
CAT SL1 Legend
3) Power Amp:
CAT Signature mono blocks
4) Speakers:
Rosso Fiorentino Siena speakers
These speakers are a 3-way infinite baffle design, with the 4th way taken by a ribbon diaphragm ultrasonic generator which as per specs goes up to 100 khz.
The main woofers are dual 8 inch aluminum cone design woofer in an isolated enclosure, the upper woofer is 6.5 paper diaphragm woofer from ScanSpeak and the (1.1 in) hand treated cloth soft dome tweeter. High grade network with full silver Van Del Hul wiring.
5) Allied Accessories:
High end analysis plus interconnects and speakers cables, isolators, cable rises and stuff that you find in any high end setup
The Setup:
I listened to five songs: Three Tamil (all Illayaraja compositions) and two Hindi from the movie “Ek Duje Keliye”
The Listening Experience:
The speakers as you see from the picture are drawn by about 3 feet from the side wall and about 4 feet from the rear walls. They were spaced out by about 10 feet and the listening distance was about the same.
The toe-in was about 20 degrees into the listening spot.
This was after a very long time, I was listening to some ultra high end analogue setup.
The songs he played
‘Enge en Jeevan’ from the movie Uyarntha Ullam;
‘Sola Pasungiliye’ from the movie Yen Rajavin Manasile
‘Nilavu Thoogum Neram’ from the movie Kunguma Chimizh
‘Hum Bane Tum Bane’ and ‘Tere Mere Beech Main’ (SPB one) from Ek Duje Keliya
I have heard the songs of Ek Duje Keliye umpteen times and Tere Mere Beech is one of my favorites of SPB.
The Experience:
‘Sola Pasungiliye’ and ‘Tere Mere Beech Main’ took my breath away. They sounded brilliant, very transparent and detailed.
Even at higher volumes there was almost no fatigue with a uniform increase in overall resolution which Venkat told me is the hall mark of pure analogue source like turntables combined with tubes.
I personally don’t agree that it is the hallmark of only tube gear and that having a digital medium anywhere in the chain can cause fatigue.
But ultimately what you hear are the speakers, and the Fiorentinos were brilliant.
The dual woofer cabinet is totally isolated from the main cabinet with the idea of minimizing cabinet resonance. Also the separated upper part containing the 6.5 inch driver can be used as a separate bookshelf.
It performs with ease at all volume levels without exaggerating any frequencies, accurate, dynamic presentation without being forward. These are truly engaging speakers.
I will not get too much into details like staging, imaging, focus etc, they were all there in good measure and will leave it to the listeners to audition and decide.
We tend to look at taut lows, midrange fluidity and smoothness in the highs. These speakers deliver all that with aplomb. They do sound multi dimensional and very airy, probably due to the impact of the untrasonic generator.
But the midrange sounded warm, ream warm to my ears, but were real lush. I though like it more open and lush at the same time and I did point this out to Venkat, probably that is the character of turntable/tube combo that many ears relish.
Since I do not have too much of knowledge with turntables, I could not give much detail on it in this review.
I know there are many members here who are hardcore turntable fans and those who are intending to move over to turntables.
They can catch up with Venkat to have a detailed audition to judge the sound and the technicalities of the turntable.
He is a pleasant, and of course a highly knowledgeable gentleman in this field.
As usual a big thanks to him for his patience and hospitality.
Last edited by a moderator:
. Nice to the point and precise writeup. Are there any videos of this setup in action?
. 
