Hello From South Africa

[Guruguha]

Hello,

I am from South Africa.

I love Indian music. Especially Classical music, with a particular soft spot for carnatic.... but I also love hindustani classical as well as some film and contemporary music from all over. also a bit of jazz.

I like 2 channel systems (I even use them for movies). I like Tube amplifiers with High efficiency full range speaker setups the most.

I am curious about high end HiFi Gear that was designed and produced in India (or at least designed). There is not a lot available (from india) in South Africa. I have only come across the Rethm speakers.

I hope to learn more about the Indian brands and what is available in the 2 channel audiophile sector.

I look forward to some educational discussions

 

[Nikhil]

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for joining.

I'm sure you will be able to get all the info you are looking for on the Indian audio scene on here.
It may need someone to stir the pot a little ...

Regards



.

 

[bloredude]

Hello Guruguha,

Which Indian artists have you been listening to? By the way here are some links for you to help your discovery process

http://www.peerlessaudio.com/ Component manufacturer
https://cadenceaudio.com/ Truly high end
http://sonodyne.com/ World class
http://www.rethm.com/ World class
http://www.norgeaudio.com/
http://www.lithosindia.com/
http://www.lyrita-audio.in/

Home - hi-end audio & home theatre

Stereo System Rediscover your favorite music with our products with our world class products Swara True high end performance that is also a stunning value Read more Thiyaga v2 our reference product range Read more Headphone Amplifier Discrete amplifier is both powerful and subtle in reproducing...

acousticportrait.com

https://www.eightaudio.in/
http://www.ahujapaworld.com/ PA products
http://www.ahujaradios.com/ Pro audio

 

[Naturelover]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Orez]

Will just modify post above based on latest info

https://cadenceaudio.com/ Spoke to them few weeks back, they have stopped making their own speakers
http://sonodyne.com/ It seems so difficult to get an audition for these. They are easily available but getting a demo is a different game
http://www.rethm.com/ Have not heard it but pricing is beyond regular Indian buyers
http://www.norgeaudio.com/ Can be auditioned in Mumbai at their office.
http://www.lithosindia.com/ Does not exist anymore. The current owner is based out of Gurgaon and the company is called Clove Audio. Can be auditioned there
https://www.eightaudio.in/ This is a new one for me

Allo as a company making DACs, Transport etc. is Bangalore based. Good thing is they have got distribution by reaching out to reviewers internationally.

 

[sanjivnayak]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Guruguha]

Hello everyone, thanks for the warm welcoming responses and all the suggestions. sorry this is late, I've been a bit busy at work.

@bloredude : Thanks for all those links, they will surely be helpful. On the day I registered on this forum, I discovered Acoustic Portrait. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that they can ship to SA so I'm very curious about their products now.
VERY hard to just pick out a few artists, but some ever present figures on my daily playlists are Lalgudi Jayaraman, MD Ramanathan, GN balasubramaniam, Voleti Venkataswarlu, amjad ali khan and MS Subbulakshmi. Some newer generation artists I'm getting into are ganesh&kumaresh (although not new), subbulakshmi akkari(also not really new), and now very impressed with Abhishek Raghuram.

@yogibear : My current setup is a pair of Audionirvana super12's from commonsense audio (ferrite), i use a primaluna prologue 5 tube power amp and use a vintage accuphase E204 integrated as a preamp. (i really like vintage gear too) my source is an emotiva XDA2 dac with an intel NUC as a source (the dac is my next upgrade)
in terms of full range drivers ive played around with wharfedale super12, (not as good as audionirvanas), vintage pioneers, SEAS, goodmans, and currently playing around with a pair of mark audio ch-70s (4 inch) for system b. the audio nirvanas are in a 400L straight box enclosure, very similar to whats prescribed by commonsense audio themselves but not exactly the same... I had the box from the vintage pioneers and just tried it as soon as i got the AN drivers... it was so good i havent gotten around to building the prescribed enclosure for the AN's yet. hehe... cant remember how i wound up with the markaudio drivers (theyre much smaller than i would normally bother with), but for fun, i fitted them in the wharfedale cabinets (about 300L) and i was blown away.... sure they have their limitations, but for carnatic music and jazz music they are divine. i use it with a vintage marantz 1060 in my bedroom. i left them in those 300 L boxes and when i have friends over and they hear how "big" it sounds, i have a good laugh and show them the driver.
regarding collected gear, most of the hoarding happened in my younger days, i went nuts for the vintage 70's gear. got lots of marantz units, they aren't tube based though. I went through lots of speakers too.. KEFS, B&W's, Infinity's.... ultimately my dream speakers were sonus fabers (i had the concerto grand pianos)... they eventually got replaced with the audio nirvanas. in my limited experienced, i noticed that the better my speakers got, the less difference my amplifier made. (i feel preamps however do still make or break the system)

@Orez : thanks for those updates. I have only seen a pair Rethm speakers in south africa once, and they too were beyond reason. (and they were a demo trade in) I came across norge a few years ago but they would not reply to any of my emails regarding shipping to South Africa.

 

[kamui]

hello there

 

[Nikhil]

hello there

Hello kamul,

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for joining.

Regards


.

 

[Guruguha]

@Guruguha Great to know. Mark Audio FR drivers are still evading my collection. And I was wondering how good Wharfedale super 8 are. Also Stephens Trusonic 8”. My adventures are mostly confined to Open Baffle. I have some vintage, rare drivers, mostly Alnico, driven by SE EL34, 6L6, 6V6, Tube 45, PP EL84. The FR are fun to play with and the experiments are un-ending.

sounds like a lot of fun.

I have tried open baffle, but for audio nirvana, sealed boxes perform a bit better. I had my eye on a hawthorne audio kit (OB) once upon a time. but sadly they no longer exist.

 

[Guruguha]

this is true. i have seen some designs online with the ANs augmented with a 15 inch eminence woofer. they look terrific. id like to try that some day.

 

[Ashish_Lithos]

Hello Guruguha,

Which Indian artists have you been listening to? By the way here are some links for you to help your discovery process

http://www.peerlessaudio.com/ Component manufacturer
https://cadenceaudio.com/ Truly high end
http://sonodyne.com/ World class
http://www.rethm.com/ World class
http://www.norgeaudio.com/
http://www.lithosindia.com/
http://www.lyrita-audio.in/

Home - hi-end audio & home theatre

Stereo System Rediscover your favorite music with our products with our world class products Swara True high end performance that is also a stunning value Read more Thiyaga v2 our reference product range Read more Headphone Amplifier Discrete amplifier is both powerful and subtle in reproducing...

acousticportrait.com

https://www.eightaudio.in/
http://www.ahujapaworld.com/ PA products
http://www.ahujaradios.com/ Pro audio

Hi, Happen to read this post. Are you still active. Working on reviving Lithos Acoustics of India.