Favourite speakers under INR 20k

[suprateep]

wouldn't the CA + MS combination be very bright?

actually transparent would be a good word for it. MS does gel with CA but that dynamics and 'it' factor is lacking. .

I prefer the NAD sort of sound though.

 

[psychotropic]

Any views on the Paradigm Atom? Retailing at 15k in Chennai, and raved about on Stereophile, as comparable to the PSB Alpha B1, with the B1 having better bass, but the Atom having better highs.

 

[adder]

wouldn't the CA + MS combination be very bright?

nope for me its was a perfect combination,better still is CA amp with CA sirrco s30 speaker,the MS902i does fair a tiny bit better in lows,but the CA s30 speakers deliver a bit more detail.
as anyone heard the sirrco Ultima CA SL30

 

[bhanja_trinanjan]

Imo, Diamond 9.1 is on the warmer side of things!

To my ears, the diamond 9.1 is on the warmer side of things, not bright. Cranky, you will not be able to tolerate my akg k701, if you think that the diamond 9.1 is bright. The akg is brighter overall.

 

[sandeepmohan]

Whats the word on Norge TWR125?

 

[jaudere]

AFAIK, Norge has stopped building tower speakers.

 

[psychotropic]

As it seems to happen a lot on these forums, what started a couple of days ago as idle musings and "what ifs" has very rapidly transformed itself into a plan of action. Like I had mentioned in the amp thread, first i am going to hunt for a good amp at a good price, and I am going to give it time till August to get hold of one. I am looking at the sub 10k INR category, and considering getting one bought in the UK (including a "graded" CA 540A V2 from Richer Sounds for 119 pounds).

I have already made a shortlist of speakers. While waiting for the amp to materialise I am going to audition the following speakers once I locate dealers stocking demo pieces of them in Chennai or Bangalore

1) Usher S520 (ARN Systems, Bangalore) - approx 20k
2) Dali Lektor 1 (ARN Systems, Bangalore) - approx 20k
3) PSB Alpha B1 (Decibel, Chennai) - 14k
3) Q Acoustics 1020i (Decibel, Chennai) - 14k
4) Epos ELS8 (Decibel, Chennai) - 20k
5) Polk RTI A3 (ProFX, Chennai or Bangalore) - 18-19k
6) Energy C100 (Grand Cinema, Chennai) - 18k
7) Paradigm Atom (Grand Cinema, Chennai) - 15k
8) Monitor Audio BR2 (The Audio People, Chennai) - 20k

I might also demo the Diamond 9.1 and 9.2 for a lark. The Audio People guys also have the Klipsch B2 and B3 as well....anyone heard these? any ideas?

And once the amp comes in, i'll audition them again with the amp and see, and then i'll buy. Please feel free to add speakers to my list.

 

[SAMUEL]

All the best for your endeavour Psychotropic.

I never knew Paradigm (spelled Paradime) had a speaker for around 15k.
I also have never heard a Paradigm before but they have an Incredible rep abroad. I know many will be keen after knowing the price.If any friends have heard it please share your views.
Psycho, so 10+2 speaker review is pending from youhyeah:.

Also try to audition Cambridge Audio S-30 and Mordaunt Short Avant-902i

Best Regards,
Sam

 

[Rem]

Psycho Dali is available with ARN Bangalore. saw the Ikon 2 or 1 there last time i was there.

Needless to say they got all the Ushers

 

[psychotropic]

Thanks for that, I've edited my list accordingly. This is going to be fun and of course, i'll report back in detail when i do each of these auditions. The CDs i am planning to take on the auditions are:

1) Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat
2) Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
3) Joe Satriani - Extremist
4) Sheffield Labs - Test Disc

Psycho Dali is available with ARN Bangalore. saw the Ikon 2 or 1 there last time i was there.

Needless to say they got all the Ushers

 

[unleash_me]

You might want to take a few female artists as well like Patricia Barber, Claire Martin, Diana Krall, Sarah McLachlan etc.

Happy auditions!

 

[psychotropic]

he he, i have a thing against female vocal music, i am somehow not a fan, but ya, i've been planning to pick up Love Scenes by Diana Krall just so I can check it out and for the recording quality. Has anyone seen the "hi fi shop" scene from the movie Infernal Affairs? it's lovely, and i got hold of an MP3 of that song, which is lovely as well, i'd love a lossless version of that song to test systems for female vocals.

You might want to take a few female artists as well like Patricia Barber, Claire Martin, Diana Krall, Sarah McLachlan etc.

Happy auditions!

 

[unleash_me]

That's fine. You should always take the ones you like and familiar with. I usually take October Road by James Taylor along.

Here is something to read on.
How to Judge Speaker Sound and Accuracy

Cheers.

 

[psychotropic]

hey thanks for that, I've also got hold of a Stereophile Test Disc in FLAC, need to make it an Audio CD. Lots of spoken words, some jazz and some classical.

 

[psychotropic]

PSB Alpha B1, Epos ELS8

Okay, so the first auditions took place today. The candidates were the PSB Alpha B1 and the Epos ELS8.

The speakers were fed by a Primare CD player through a NAD C325BEE amplifier. First up were the PSBs. They were placed on some stands that Raghu has. Oh I must mention how it was fun to meet Raghu, and how surprised I was that he was not older! Helpful and obliging as well.

Anyways, like an idiot, I left my test CDs behind, because of a mix-up with my wife about who was keeping the car today, so I hurriedly burnt some FLAC stuff I have on my laptop, including stuff from the Sheffield Lab test CD, the Stereophile test disc and some recordings by by Peter Gabriel and B&W's "Society of Sound." (check it out, free trial membership gives you access to some well recorded and interesting music)

Of these I am most familiar with the Sheffield stuff, and right off the bat the PSBs were impressive. Detailed and smooth with very convincing reproduction across the audio spectrum. The treble was detailed and smooth, without sounding harsh, the mids were involving and the bass was lean, tight and convincing. Nothing bombastic here, but more than enough for by 10' by 10' room. Through some jazz, classical and assorted spoken word and other material that I had cobbled together the PSBs were exceptional and the imaging was also impressive. The speakers seemed to 'disappear' quite well. Then I popped in Raghu's CD of Journey, and again the sound was as described above, with the lower quality of the journey recording being evident but not overpoweringly so. The enclosure is small, but the sound belies its size and good imaging really seemed to compensate for the size. The sound is involving and vibrant without being bright. Like a nice glass of lemon ice tea with a sprig of mint in it. I must mention the impressive dynamics of the speaker while listening to a couple of the classical pieces from the Stereophile disc (Chopin and Bach).

Then we swapped out the PSBs and put the Epos ELS8 on the stands. From the first notes of the Sheffield Lab disc it was evident that this was one very different speaker from the PSB. The bass was fuller and more impactful, the mids were nice and warm, but the treble was not really a match for the PSBs. While being very pleasant to listen to and with a nice mid-range it didn't pull out the level of detail that the PSBs did. The "vibrance" that I enjoyed with the PSBs was missing here, and what's more, the imaging was not as good either, the sound seemed distinctly to be coming from the boxes and the speakers didn't quite manage to disappear. The little plinks and clicks and hi-hats in the upper registers sounded a touch muffled and this is perhaps also because it was paired with an NAD, but overall the treble seemed rolled off. Dynamics on the classical recordings was pretty impressive on these as well.

The journey disc again sounded good, with the extra bass adding a bit to the fun. Then I tried one more song, the Judas Priest track "nightcrawler" from their Painkiller album, decades old british heavy metal with poor recording. The Epos handled it with aplomb. The trigger recorded kick drums had body and bite and it sounded "broootal" ...in a word....i loved what it did with Judas Priest.

Since I hadn't played Priest with the PSBs, we swapped the speakers out again (thanks Raghu!), and played the track again, and the PSB, being the detailed and analytical speaker that it is, laid bare the crappy recording of the Priest song, and it was a less than pleasant experience. The kick drums were convincing and the bass went deep enough, but not as good as the Epos, and the whole song sounded bright. It's definitely the fault of the recording, but the Epos's weakness in handling the plinks, and the clicks and hi-hats in the quality recordings transformed itself into finesse and composure while dealing with the harsh recording of the Priest song, and therefore made it overall an enjoyable presentation.

Of course, I'll be making speaker decisions only once I get hold of my amp and then listen to these speakers paired with them, but as of now it's a bit of a dilemma, about which speakers I preferred. If I kept the Judas Priest apart the PSB was the clear overall winner, with its superior detail and superior imaging. However, the good thing about the Epos is its composure and it'll probably make all of the poor 70s and 80s British metal recordings (which I enjoy) sound better than the more detailed PSBs. At the same time I would imagine that a well recorded Dire Straits would sound distinctly superior on the PSB.

I am not qualified or experienced enough to give "ratings" to these speakers, but I've described my observations above, and would love to hear what comments others have on their experiences with these speakers. Both are different types, and while one does superbly with good recordings (which makes it a 'superior' product from an audiophile perspective I guess), the other has a polite approach to recordings that makes it a good fit for all kinds of music and recordings, while being slightly less beautiful with the better recordings. I can't for the life of me figure out which I prefer.

 

[gobble]

My advice would be - don't let bad musical recordings determine your choice of speaker . Your listening tastes may change after a few years (doesn't cost anything), but it will cost you moolah to change your speakers. Unless you want to remain a die hard Priest fan until the days when ones hair and teeth fall off ... :lol:

Cheers

 

[reignofchaos]

If you are looking at Epos, a friend here in bangalore is planning to sell his Epos M12.2. If you are interested, I can put you through to him.

The PSBs are nice vfm speakers too.

 

[Asit]

Hi Psychotropic,

Your report on the PSB and the Epos is a very well compiled one. It was a pleasure to read it through.

While the PSBs are good, you should very seriously consider the used Epos M12.2 that ROC's friend is selling. This is a speaker from a different price bracket and I like them for the price (new around 42K, their current version is M12i going around 45-50K). I have heard it quite extensively. This was used in my Quad 909 power and 99 pre audition and has been described in my amp thread. What I liked about them is they were very willing speakers, whatever you can make out of that statement. They are not perfect, but hardly anything is. Midrange was very good. Compared them in the same set-up directly with a Quad 11L2 pair and the Quads were unlistenable in comparison to the M12.2. Sorry, if the above statement is too strong, but that was the truth to me and I immediately asked for the speakers to be swapped back after a few minutes.

My point is: if these are available within the price bracket you want to consider, and have been well taken care of, it probably is way better than anything you have considered so far.

 

[psychotropic]

@cranky - thanks for that tip, i think somewhere deep inside me there is a preference for the Epos, because when that priest track played there was that "gotcha" moment, something clicked inside me...i loved it! and even with all of the other material, it was still very enjoyabe, just that in comparison with the PSB it doesn't sound as detailed. I think that "rocker's standmount" name could apply to the ELS8 easily, of course on a smaller scale

@gobble - i seriously hope i'll still be listening to Priest however old I get. I love that stuff but ya, it's quite a dilemma, but what ever-so-slightly tilts things in the Epos's favour is that good recordings do sound great on it, very involving and the midrange is very nice (it just sounds a touch less detailed and vibrant when compared to the PSB), with the Priest it just rocks, whereas with the PSB, i just won't be able to listen to the Priest for more than 10-15 minutes...even Raghu would support my statement that it was harsh and bright, and imagine if it sounds bright with a NAD, what it'll sound like with another amp. So the Epos will be more all-purpose than the PSB. But I also appreciate your point that it's going to be an expensive proposition to upgrade speakers somewhere down the line. Gah!

@reignofchaos - I've PM-ed you. I'd love to get in touch with your friend, but my hopes of these speakers being within my budget are a bit faint i suppose

@Asit - thank you for your kind words, like i was mentioning, if the speakers that RoC's friend is selling come within my budget, then I'd love to give them a listen. There is a comparison test in some magazine where the Usher S520 is rated above the 11L2 as well as the 685...maybe my grail lies there

I had one more question for the experts, would it make sense for me to pick something like the PSB, and then rely on the tone controls to temper the harshness when required. I realise that tone controls are anathema for the audiophile, but how bad an option would that be? I could use the bypass function for listening to good recordings....what say?

 

[reignofchaos]

@cranky - thanks for that tip, i think somewhere deep inside me there is a preference for the Epos, because when that priest track played there was that "gotcha" moment, something clicked inside me...i loved it! and even with all of the other material, it was still very enjoyabe, just that in comparison with the PSB it doesn't sound as detailed. I think that "rocker's standmount" name could apply to the ELS8 easily, of course on a smaller scale

@gobble - i seriously hope i'll still be listening to Priest however old I get. I love that stuff but ya, it's quite a dilemma, but what ever-so-slightly tilts things in the Epos's favour is that good recordings do sound great on it, very involving and the midrange is very nice (it just sounds a touch less detailed and vibrant when compared to the PSB), with the Priest it just rocks, whereas with the PSB, i just won't be able to listen to the Priest for more than 10-15 minutes...even Raghu would support my statement that it was harsh and bright, and imagine if it sounds bright with a NAD, what it'll sound like with another amp. So the Epos will be more all-purpose than the PSB. But I also appreciate your point that it's going to be an expensive proposition to upgrade speakers somewhere down the line. Gah!

@reignofchaos - I've PM-ed you. I'd love to get in touch with your friend, but my hopes of these speakers being within my budget are a bit faint i suppose

@Asit - thank you for your kind words, like i was mentioning, if the speakers that RoC's friend is selling come within my budget, then I'd love to give them a listen. There is a comparison test in some magazine where the Usher S520 is rated above the 11L2 as well as the 685...maybe my grail lies there

I had one more question for the experts, would it make sense for me to pick something like the PSB, and then rely on the tone controls to temper the harshness when required. I realise that tone controls are anathema for the audiophile, but how bad an option would that be? I could use the bypass function for listening to good recordings....what say?

I've pm'ed you the details. These are beautiful speakers for the price no doubt. He even has a Marantz PM 17 that he may let go along with it if he's not sold it already. Both make a very very nice combo. I've heard the S520 and the Epos M12.2 and the latter is in a different class in performance/looks and also price. Also this is coming from an Usher owner .

Cheers!