Thanks to GeorgeO who came to Chennai for some work, I was able to catch up with FMs Rajiv, Rajagopal, Mdnaseer and Srinisundar after a long time.
We met up at FM Balagopalan's place whom I'm meeting for the first time and was pleased at that. He has a warm and pleasing personality and was very hospitable. During our interaction, he had confessed (rather sheepishly) that he is more of a movie buff than a stereophile and it shows.
His HT setup which had reportedly evolved after quite a few upgrades, comprising of PCH 310, Anthem Processor & ATI Power amp, B&W 685, B&W Centre and Surrounds put up an impressive demonstration of their capabilities. There was not even an iota of boominess in spite of acoustically suboptimal room that they are in.
We had also quickly listened to his Stereo setup comprising of PCH 410, Electrocompaniet preamp, Bryston Power Amp and B&W Surrounds. It was immediately apparent that music on this Stereo setup sounded much better than on the HT set up. He also had a Symphonic Line amp which Rajiv wanted to listen and we all did very briefly. Compared to the Electrocompaniet-Bryston combo, the music was more detailed but body in the vocals were somewhat thinner. All in all, it was an afternoon well spent.
Disclaimer: Since we did not have detailed listening session, I'm not writing a review but just expressing my thoughts and hence to be read in that perspective.
