Last minute suggestions on a Stereo setup for around 4L

[john_k_antony]

Dear Friends,

After a lots of research I am now ready to spend money on the purchase of stereo speakers, amplification and cables. I have already got the following sources

1. CDP and Digital Network Player - Oppo 105
2. Turn Table - Restored Dual 1019 with AT 120 E cart (This table was restored for me by Sir Kuruvila Jacob :yahoo: )

Now I need to finalize on the speakers and amplification. I was thinking about the following options earlier. I am keeping a budget of 4-4.5L MAX for this.

I have finalized on Lyrita Phono Pre for my turn table.

1. Lyrita DHT Pre + Lyrita GM70 Power Amp + Zu Omen Def I-B + Lyrita Cables
2. AP Swara Pre + Power + Blumenhofer Fun 17 + AP cables
3. Lyrita DHT Pre + Lyrita GM70 Power Amp + Rethm Maarga + Lyrita Cables

I just spoke to Viren Ji and he recommended the following option to consider

4. Lyrita DHT Pre + Lyrita GM70 Power Amp + Lyrita Horn Petite + Lyrita Cables.

I would like to know some last minute suggestions from you guys on the above choices. I am asking the suggestions as I have not listened to the Lyrita horn speakers yet.

Here are my requirements and music taste

1. Room size - 24'x16'x9' - around 400 sqft
2. Room will be acoustically treated.
3. My primary sources will be
a. Oppo 105 as CDP and network digital audio player.
b. Restored Dual 1019 with AT 120E MM Cart (Output: 5.0 mV) Turn Table.
4. Music Preference - Rock, Hard Rock, Pop, R&B, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop, Country, Indian Instrumental Classical, Indian Movie Songs (old and new) and little bit of Jazz. As you can see, my genre of music is bass heavy and I would like to get a setup that is capable of reproducing right bass and dynamic range from the above genre of music. I listen to moderate to loud volumes. I would like the system to sound full in the room size (around 400 sqft) I mentioned above.

Thanks,
John.

 

[Her Master's Voice]

With your music preference I would not go for tube power amps. Even when you decide to go for horn speakers. When I bought my turntable in Bangalore I heard Trigon amps driving the Blumenhofer Fun 17 speakers with absolute ease, yet powerful and almost tube-like smoothness. This was a real eye opener, better say ear opener for me.

 

[arj]

You have a big room..and no matter which setup you go you will need powerful amplification.
They are all really good setups and i would feel you should listen and decide rather than let Forum members decide here since you will be living with them.

All 3 are quality setups you can easily live with.
If going for the Rethm setup you should go for Saadhnas for your room size. the combo of Lyrita and Saadhana at FM Prems place is to be heard to be believed.

BTW another amp speaker combo you can consider is the LebenCx300+Tannoy Turnberry. more than welcome to come over to my place to listen to the tannoy

 

[hydra]

...
If going for the Rethm setup you should go for Saadhnas for your room size. the combo of Lyrita and Saadhana at FM Prems place is to be heard to be believed.
...

I think the Maargas could manage this room well enough. The Maargas are closer to the Saadhanas than the Trishnas are close to the Maargas. I regularly listen to the Maargas at a friend's place in a completely untreated room of similar dimensions (wider but less longer) and the Maargas sing very well, with quite a bit of headroom to spare.

But yes, the Saadhanas would definitely be a step above in every way, and sound better. I had a session with the new Saadhanas last week at Suresh's studio and boy were they something else!

John, if you're ok with a preowned pair of Saadhanas (the last generation), I might be able to point to towards one that has just recently come on the market: Someone who's looking to sell his previous gen Saadhanas and get the new Saadhanas. If you are interested, do PM me.

 

[bhagwan]

I have a Accuphase Int Amp for sale;
E-550 is the model.
Would you be interested ?
It is a great Amp.
Used less than 200 hours.
Suggested Retail is 720/- K in India.
My Price is Rs. 360/- K
This is the Best Int Amp as per the German Press.
Let me know if you would be interested.
All the Best :

 

[Rajiv]

Hi,

John,as Arjun has stated you should listen and decide for yourself. Trust your ears .

If it sounds good to you it is good,and that is all that matters.

Regards
Rajiv

 

[john_k_antony]

Dear All,

Thank you very much for all the great suggestions. I will not spend my money without proper audition for sure.

I just wanted to start this thread to get an opinion on my options I have listed are worth an audition or I can straight away skip some options .

Hydra -> I am not really interested in the previous gen Saadhana with Lowther drivers. Thanks for the offer though.

BTW, Srajan Ebaen from 6moons recommended that Rethm Maarga will be sufficient for my room size. I will definitely give Maarga a try before I plunge my money on the stereo setup.

So far I have only seriously listened to Zu Omens with a custom build 300B tube amps and they were really good. The bass was slightly less to my liking though.

I do feel that a tube Pre + SS Power will be a deadly combination for my music liking. I had an email conversation with Shiva from AP and he said he will recommend tube Pre + SS Power and use that with a lower efficiency speaker. I am yet to have a detailed conversation with him on this.

I still have 1-1.5 months to decide and will spend some serious auditioning in the coming weeks.

Thanks,
John.

 

[arj]

john, i personally would rate the Zu lower among your choices
The Blumenhofer Fun is also a great speaker and would be a great combo with AP..they do better with SS.

 

[hifipal4all]

John, I suggest you start your journey from the speakers. So, buy the speakers first and then audition it with the amplifiers that are available from high-end showrooms in Bangalore. Most of them oblige for a home demo. Once you finalize the amplifier then start your experiment on the cables. Finally, remember that giving a clean & stable AC power to the entire system also contributes to the sound quality.

You can try this combo from ARN systems, Bangalore .....

Odyssey Stratos Stereo Extreme Power block - 1700 USD
Odyssey Audio: Stratos Stereo amplifiers. Call us (317) 299 5578. IN, USA.
&
Candela vacuum tube line preamplifier - 1500 USD
Odyssey Audio: Candela vacuum tube line preamplifier. Call us (317) 299 5578. IN, USA.

Regarding the phono pre, the PEARL DIY phono pre which is discussed in this forum is very good. Approx 12.5K for the finished product. You can hook the phono out of this pre to one of the line input in the Candela pre.

Cheers ... Ramesh @ Bangalore

 

[john_k_antony]

Thanks Ramesh. Really appreciate your suggestions. Do you think a setup with the amp choices you mentioned fit with in 4L ?

Regarding the power conditioning, I am planning to get a 3KV Vertex stabilizer with audio grade filters from Chennai.

-John.

 

[john_k_antony]

I have a Accuphase Int Amp for sale;
E-550 is the model.
Would you be interested ?
It is a great Amp.
Used less than 200 hours.
Suggested Retail is 720/- K in India.
My Price is Rs. 360/- K
This is the Best Int Amp as per the German Press.
Let me know if you would be interested.
All the Best :

Bhagwan,

Thanks for the offer. I have seen your ad before. I will have to pass this offer as I have a tight budget of 4L for the entire setup and I don't want to change that now.

Thanks,
John.

 

[prem]

Hi John

I am fairly familiar with both the Rethm and Zu sound. They are very different sounding speakers. It boils down to how you like your sound. Zu is visceral. Tannoys also to some extent will fall in that category. The Rethms are very different. The music from Rethm envelopes you. It kind of floats. Its not a very flesh and blood feel speaker. Bass is not visceral. All subtle cues in the recording shows up. If thats the kind of sound you like, there is unlikely anything in this world is going to beat it. But pl remember its highly resolving, unforgiving and will show up a bad link in the chain, be it the source, cables or the amp. If you want to hear what the Rethm is capable of, i suggest hear it only at Jacobs place in Cochin.

 

[john_k_antony]

Hi John

I am fairly familiar with both the Rethm and Zu sound. They are very different sounding speakers. It boils down to how you like your sound. Zu is visceral. Tannoys also to some extent will fall in that category. The Rethms are very different. The music from Rethm envelopes you. It kind of floats. Its not a very flesh and blood feel speaker. Bass is not visceral. All subtle cues in the recording shows up. If thats the kind of sound you like, there is unlikely anything in this world is going to beat it. But pl remember its highly resolving, unforgiving and will show up a bad link in the chain, be it the source, cables or the amp. If you want to hear what the Rethm is capable of, i suggest hear it only at Jacobs place in Cochin.

Prem,

Thanks for the great comparison. I did have a long email conversation with Jacob and wanted to visit him last time I was in Kerala. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it because he was re-building his studio. I will definitely make a visit to his place after he is done with his re-work.

My current budget allows me to get the Maarga only and I think Maarga will be sufficient for my room and music preference. What kind of amplification do you recommend for Rethm Maarga? Tube/Tube-SS Hybrid/SS ?

Thanks,
John.

 

[prem]

Tube for Rethm Maarga. Go with the Gaanam amplifier. The Lyrita in the stock form does not sound nice with the Rethms. Also for cabling go with the Rethm cables. Not Lyrita. However if you are going with the Lyrita horns, then Lyrita amp and cables should be fine.

 

[prem]

Alternatively you can look at the First Watt amps from Nelson Pass to pair with the Rethm Maarga. You will definitely get more bass as compared to the Gaanam but you will be giving up a little on the liquidity and organic feel. But here you need to be careful since the combo might reveal shortcomings in your source.

 

[prem]

I cannot comment on the Acoustic Portrait amp since i do not know its damping factor. For a SS amp to mate with the Rethms, the damping factor of the amp has to be very low. Preferably below 10.

 

[john_k_antony]

Prem,

Do you recommend if I look at the option of getting Rethm Saadhana now and get a low price amp and upgrade the amp later or get Rethm Maarga and high price amp like Rethm Gaanam for similar price?

BTW, I heard the following amp in one of the audio meets and it sounded fine. They produce 9w/ch and I think thats good enough for 102db sensitive Saadhanas.

VP-300B | Valve Tube Amplifiers | VP-300B from Analog Audio Labs India | Cochin-Kerala

Thanks,
John.

 

[captrajesh]

After a lots of research I am now ready to spend money on the purchase of stereo speakers, amplification and cables. I have already got the following sources

1. CDP and Digital Network Player - Oppo 105
2. Turn Table - Restored Dual 1019 with AT 120 E cart

Oppo, a BDP, can't hold a candle to even an entry level CDP like Maantz CD6003. We had once played it in one of the meets in Chennai (held at Gandhinagar Club) and CD63 Mark III which I had briefly, beat it pants down.

I was thinking about the following options earlier.

1. Lyrita DHT Pre + Lyrita GM70 Power Amp + Zu Omen Def I-B + Lyrita Cables
2. AP Swara Pre + Power + Blumenhofer Fun 17 + AP cables
3. Lyrita DHT Pre + Lyrita GM70 Power Amp + Rethm Maarga + Lyrita Cables

I just spoke to Viren Ji and he recommended the following option to consider

4. Lyrita DHT Pre + Lyrita GM70 Power Amp + Lyrita Horn Petite + Lyrita Cables.

They all are good systems and it would finally boil down to your personal preferences. I'm yet to find an amp that throws up such a magical 3 dimensional sound stage as AP Pre which I had owned. Lyrita combo, which I heard at Viren's place has midrange to die for.

I would like to know some last minute suggestions from you guys on the above choices.

Music Preference - Rock, Hard Rock, Pop, R&B, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop, Country, Indian Instrumental Classical, Indian Movie Songs (old and new) and little bit of Jazz. As you can see, my genre of music is bass heavy and I would like to get a setup that is capable of reproducing right bass and dynamic range from the above genre of music. I listen to moderate to loud volumes. I would like the system to sound full in the room size (around 400 sqft) I mentioned above.

I have taste similar to yours.
Why don't you check out the Dared VP845 with Cadence Aristas. You are welcome to check them out at my place. I think they have a dealer in Bangalore.

With your music preference I would not go for tube power amps.

I'm not sure what your experiences are but I have different experiences with tubes. I had owned Cayin TA30 Tube Integrated with 4 x EL34s in Push-Pull configuration and paired it with a variety of speakers like my Cadence Aristas, Theil 1.6 and 3 way speakers which had 12" Bolton drivers.It drove them with such aplomb that it would put many a SS amp to shame.

PEARL DIY phono pre which is discussed in this forum is very good. Approx 12.5K for the finished product.

It cost me more than that. The PCBs were Rs. 2160/- and parts 12k.

 

[arj]

Prem,

Do you recommend if I look at the option of getting Rethm Saadhana now and get a low price amp and upgrade the amp later or get Rethm Maarga and high price amp like Rethm Gaanam for similar price?

BTW, I heard the following amp in one of the audio meets and it sounded fine. They produce 9w/ch and I think thats good enough for 102db sensitive Saadhanas.

VP-300B | Valve Tube Amplifiers | VP-300B from Analog Audio Labs India | Cochin-Kerala

Thanks,
John.

the key component in any system is the Amp-Speaker Synergy and that comes only when they match each other, else you live with a substandard system,..maximise your budget with components that synergise. i would never recommend a lower resolution amp with a high res speaker . and in the long run this works out MOre expensive as you need to get rid of the old amp to upgrade..
Regarding the source, it is the Most critical but I have never heard an Oppo so cannot comment

 

[prem]

Hi John

I would go with a Marga and a better amp like the Gaanam over the Saadhanas with a low priced amp.

I have heard the Dared 300 amp recently. That amp will not work with the Rethms. It simply does not have the resolution or the transparency. I much prefer the Lyritas over that amp

I suggest you hear the Rethms first and see if it floats the boat.