HFV Pune meet

[rajadeep]

Thanks for the 1st set of updates guys... Seriously w8ing for the full set of reviews with pics...
A small suggestion though... Along the review if ppl would also post relevant data like is it a DIY, how much is the approx cost etc etc that would really help us readers ...
PS having attended the last 3 mumbai meets(Vashi , cinebels & avenue sound) I am feeling a bit out of the loop for not attending this time around ...

PSS for other novices like myself could someone pls explain what is this Pass B1... I am assuming it is a dac but want to be sure...
Edit :- found out from another thread... Pass B1 is a DIY preamp...

 

[Vagabond]

Simply awesome...!!

Really don`t have better words to express my thanking towards all attendees... Special thanks to Viki for generosity, Sono / Denom for coordinating the event and the "stuff" handling guys.. Also the "Guest of Honour" guys who made the even more "Sound"...

I was disappointed as I have to leave early but I guess wasn`t a bad start for a newbie like me...

Kudos to all...

I forgot to mention - during my period I really liked Om`s DIY setup. Om for your coming projects if you need a assistant just give me a call I will be glad to be there. (And yes no payroll required)

Cheers !

 

[mbhangui]

It was a great meet and I personally enjoyed the meet. The surprise was the 100$ Pioneer speakers. Great for someone who wants to start on a budget and get a good sound.

Special thanks to Viki for hosting the meet, sono, denom for steering the meet, Ravi for taking the spirit to a high :beer:.

Om your pass b1 rocked. You are a big encouragement to the DIYers in this forum.

 

[jbgude]

A very sincere "Thank you " to Viki and his family for being such gracious and generous hosts.

Thanks also to Sonosphere, Denom and all the volunteers whom I cannot not name individually.

It was a wonderful day listening to the varied equipment and for me, the the Pass B1 and Norge was a real eyeopener, and among the speakers The Pioneer (at that price:$80!) and the Cambridge S30, again with its size and price ( 9K) were amazing.

Hari's Kevlar proto also sounded absolutely clean and superb.

Someone talked about organising a group buy for the Pioneer and if it can be got for near about that price it would be a fantastic opportunity.

Thank you all and it was so nice to finally put faces to names!

 

[corElement]

What amp was the ca s30 connected to. I've always recommended the s30 to people. I'm glad the meet supports my thoughts right on them.

 

[denom]

Hi all,

Really tired, but putting efforts of uploading the first round of pics, deadly ones @ that taken lovingly by FM's Cyclops1234 & Mr.Zed :clapping:

 

[denom]

 

[Hari Iyer]

A big thank you for all the organizers of the meet and the host Viki for his hospitality and generosity for providing the venue for the meet. A big thumps up for the volunteers for taking care of the demo as per schedule and the organizers of food, drinks and photographs. Also a good collection of music played in the demo for getting the correct perspective with different gears.

Definitely helped me in understanding other branded products and pairing of our speakers with them. Have taken valuable inputs / feedback from many FM for the final tweaks and will be applying and releasing the product with these fine tunes within a month for all.

Cheers

 

[corElement]

Whats..a sony GR-8 mini hifi bookshelf speaker from 1998 doing there! :O Who's is that?!

I have a pair of those too lol. They suck compared to other proper bookshelves but compared to present day mini hi-fi sony's they're 10 times better. Still though, surprised to see them!

Looking forward to the review of the components present!

 

[nirav123]

All the pics are very nice and I am sure it has been wonderful experience for
members , it will also help us to know about different products great work guys :clapping:

and please someone post review about Asus Xonar Essence One USB DAC
eager to know about it.

 

[omishra]

Before joining the meet I felt I am the only crazy guy. But reaching there and looking at the participant I realized there are more like me. I am part of big community and not alone in quest of good gear and good music.

Thanks also to Sonosphere, Denom and all the volunteers for all effort. Big thank to our host Viki and his family members as well as neighbors. Santy did not mind if it was 1 or 2.. may be left or right. It was playing in stereo.

All participants, thank you too! You were kind enough to listen and encourage. This was fruitful event for me.

Edit: This is my 1000th post.

 

[rohitmusic]

Thanks to all organizers for hosting a wonderful meet and it was a day well spent with fellow music lovers!
Nice meeting all of you!

Cheers!

 

[Jams4znik03]

Wow! What an event!

First of all a big thanks to Viki for playing such a wonderful host to a near complete band of strangers. Specical thanks to the organisers Denom & Sono for all the hardwork in putting this together and making this event a reality. Thanks to all the volunteers in contributing and pulling this off so well. It was indeed a great experience meeting all of you folks and understanding your various perspectives. I specially liked Om's DIY setup of the Pre-amp played with the Norge & Focals. There were quite some other eye openers - looking at the fab performance of Pioneer BS41.. , the CA Amps-speakers synergy.. In all a great event & look forward to many more..Kudos !

 

[darshanjoshi]

What a time we had !!!!! :yahoo:

First of all let me thank Viki for being an over-whelming host. :clapping::clapping::clapping:

Congratulations to Denom and Sonos for making this meet go an extra mile. Thanks to all the FMs for bringing their various gears and volunteers for making F&B arrangements, making necessary connections & playing various setups.

Most of them who had to leave missed the extended Music session which went till 10.00pm with all the liqour :licklips: flowing from Vikis collection then the HT session which went on till 1.00 am and then the Movie session (Pirates 4) till 2.00am.

For me the Winners in various categories were :

Budget Speakers
CA S30 (Amazing speakers for moderate volume listening)
Pioneer BS41-LR

Budget Int Amp
CA AM5 (With CA S30)

Hifi Bookshelf Speaker
ProAc 100 (With Emotiva Pre Amp + Rotel Mono blocks, Pre could have been Pass B1 but it was not available at 9.30pm )
Focal 706V (With Pass B1 + Norge) :clapping::clapping:

Hifi Amplication with good Budget
Pass B1 + Norge 1000 :clapping::clapping:

Hifi Tower Speakers
ProAc Towers

Hifi Amplication
Electromagnet hyeah: Oopps.... Electrocompaniet AW120

Source
Marantz 7003

DAC
Audio-GD

Home Theatre
Marantz Pre Amp + Power Amp :clapping::clapping:

 

[rohitmusic]

The highlights of the meet for me were:
1. Putting faces to hifivision "handles"
2. Hearing to various equipment. Especially the Audio GD DAC and marantz comparison was interesting! Could not tell if there was a switch made while doing A/B. The Pro Acs paired with "Electromagnet" (pun intended) was good.
3. Hearing DIY efforts - amps and speakers by Hari.

The APs were sounding very uncharacteristic of their nature and how I am used to hearing them, don't know why. Makes me feel good that they work well in my existing system

Thanks again to all the host's and organizers for a wonderful day!

Cheers!

 

[theredcommando]

It was a wonderful experience of music, gears, friends, host, venue etc etc. Everything was perfectly planned and executed.
Thanks denom, sono, santy, ruenigma, cyclops, zed and of course viki(and many others) for organizing and executing such an event.
It was a great learning and inspiration too(because of DIYer Om and Hari).
Thanks guys!

 

[Flash]

Kick Ass meet.
The HFV pune chapter gets better every year.

Equipment that appealed to ""my"" ears :

1.Pioneer $100 BS. Rocked for the price -
2.PASS B1 Pre - Mishraji (you deserve a round of Applause) :clapping::clapping::clapping:
3.Norge Power Amp - At 16k it does not get any better
4.Emotiva Preamp (Pass B1 vs Emo Pre - I guess it was a close contest and pretty inconclusive - I would pick Emo for the Phono stage, Remote and Ht Bypass and pick Pass B1 for the $$$)
5.Arcam + Klipsch synergy
6.Focal 706V (not too sure of the model)
7. Pass B1 + Norge Power ( I would have personally liked to hear the Norge Pre)
However Pass B1 + Norge Power can take on Equipment 2-4 times the price
8 . Rotel Pre + emotiva power combo. (( I was personally happy to hear them with Proacs and Focals. It was definitely more appealing than NAD / Acoustic Portrait ))
9. Cambridge Audio S30 (very good for the price but distorts at higher volumes - Perfect though for Desktop setups or smaller rooms - I did however prefer Pioneer)
10. ElectroCompaniet ( Need I say more )
11. Proac Studio 110 - Extreme SPL without distorting in a 420 sq feet room.
12. Proac 140 vs 110 - I still prefer the 140 irrespective what Denom says hyeah:
13. Onkyo NR809 (Power) and Marantz Pre+ Power Finesse
14. Velodyne EQ Max 15 - Brute Force

Major let downs - My personal unbiased Opinion

1. Acoustic Portrait Pre + Power (I have no idea what the hullabaloo is all about)
2. PSB T6 + NAD 356/376
3. Krypton Audio - From what i heard Mr Iyer had made some changes recently to the crossover - Please revert back to the original design which Denom auditioned.


These are my personal views and in no way reflects the general view of the meet

I guess Denon / Sonosphere would chip in with the general consensus

 

[omishra]

The APs were sounding very uncharacteristic of their nature and how I am used to hearing them, don't know why. Makes me feel good that they work well in my existing system

Rohit, AP are tailor made for specific synergy. Also they are tube pre based. So sound signatures are different. It could not be compared as its different gear. I like warmness of your pre-power combo which will be good for analog gears. For digital and high speed music tubes generally soften it down. So you need matching speakers for this. Think from this point of view, its good for live classical music without being harsh.
AP are good and Pass B1 is generic gear - could be fitted anywhere.

 

[omishra]

Kick Ass meet.
The HFV pune chapter gets better every year.

Equipment that appealed to ""my"" ears :

1.Pioneer $100 BS. Rocked for the price -
2.PASS B1 Pre - Mishraji (you deserve a round of Applause) :clapping::clapping::clapping:
3.Norge Power Amp - At 16k it does not get any better
4.Emotiva Preamp (Pass B1 vs Emo Pre - I guess it was a close contest and pretty inconclusive - I would pick Emo for the Phono stage, Remote and Ht Bypass and pick Pass B1 for the $$$)
5.Arcam + Klipsch synergy
6.Focal 706V (not too sure of the model)
7. Pass B1 + Norge Power ( I would have personally liked to hear the Norge Pre)
However Pass B1 + Norge Power can take on Equipment 2-4 times the price
8 . Rotel Pre + emotiva power combo. (( I was personally happy to hear them with Proacs and Focals. It was definitely more appealing than NAD / Acoustic Portrait ))
9. Cambridge Audio S30 (very good for the price but distorts at higher volumes - Perfect though for Desktop setups or smaller rooms - I did however prefer Pioneer)
10. ElectroCompaniet ( Need I say more )
11. Proac Studio 110 - Extreme SPL without distorting in a 420 sq feet room.
12. Proac 140 vs 110 - I still prefer the 140 irrespective what Denom says hyeah:
13. Onkyo NR809 (Power) and Marantz Pre+ Power Finesse
14. Velodyne EQ Max 15 - Brute Force

Major let downs - My personal unbiased Opinion

1. Acoustic Portrait Pre + Power (I have no idea what the hullabaloo is all about)
2. PSB T6 + NAD 356/376
3. Krypton Audio - From what i heard Mr Iyer had made some changes recently to the crossover - Please revert back to the original design which Denom auditioned.


These are my personal views and in no way reflects the general view of the meet

I guess Denon / Sonosphere would chip in with the general consensus

Thanks Flash.
BTW My Pass B1 is equipped with MM phono stage too. I missed to tell that.

 

[just4kix]

Thank you guys, especially Viki, Denom, Sonosphere, Santy, etc. who made this possible.