nirvanaaaah
New Member
Though not exactly new to the world of hi-fi, I was not an audiophile by any means. My earlier setup which I had carried along with me from USA way back 2009 was Marantz SR4002 receiver and an orb audio peoples choice 5.1 speaker setup. This served me good till Jan 2023 when I decided to take a plunge again and this time albeit a little more seriously and with a lot of help from this forum. The orbs have been repurposed to rear surrounds and front dolby speakers. The upgraded setup looks like
1. Focal chora 826 fronts
2. Focal chora center
3. Marantz SR5015 AVR which I use both as a pre-processor (for music) and it powers my 4 speakers (rear surrounds and dolby fronts) for movies.
4. O&B SS3150 which is a 3 channel power amplifier which I use to power the LCR using the pre-outs on my AVR.
5. 2 AC infinity 120MM USB fans for cooling.
Focal Chora 826 :
Got a very good deal on these, probably because these are retired (or on the verge of retiring) by Focal. It took me more than 3 months to finalise these, and multiple trips to dealers in Pune and Mumbai, but enjoyed every minute of it.
O&B SS3150:
I was confused on whether to pull the plug on O&B or Emotiva. Thanks to Aniket - @adas , I was able to audition a 2 channel version (SS2150) power amplifier at my home, and I had no doubts after that. Ordered SS3150 from Aniket (100W PC, 8 ohm, 3 channel driven) right there. Took around 45 days for delivery, but it was worth the wait. It's built like a tank, with very high quality connectors, switches etc. The packing was top notch, took me quite some time (and patience) to unbox. Connected the LCR pre-outs from my AVR to this, did quick speaker setup, and started "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation", and I could clearly make out the difference. Vocals - specially the muffled ones spoken in the wireless phone in the opening scene - had never been so clear. The rumble of the plane, the explosions, the opening theme, all of it was suddenly more alive.
On the music front the power amp didn't add any color to the famous Marantz sound wrt to bass, treble or midrange. The best difference that I could make out was wrt listening at low volumes, I could hear the nuances and the clarity that I could not hear earlier at low volumes when my speakers were connected to SR5015 directly. I had to raise the volumes at moderate levels earlier I could listen to those details.
Also, the customer service has been excellent, Aniket is always available to answer the queries. He also called me up a few times in last couple of months to check if the amplifier is running fine, or if there are any issues.
2 AC infinity 120MM USB fans
This are top notch, the quality of these fans is amazing and the fan noise levels are next to none. My AVR used to heat up a lot, and now it is barely warm.
I like these more than the cooling unit by infinity because these can be moved around easily (and are much more cheaper - if you buy them from USA
). Also these can be daisy chained, so you can add more fans. Also these are powered by 5w mobile charging adapter. Highly recommend these if you are able to get it from USA, they are tad expensive on amazon.in.
1. Focal chora 826 fronts
2. Focal chora center
3. Marantz SR5015 AVR which I use both as a pre-processor (for music) and it powers my 4 speakers (rear surrounds and dolby fronts) for movies.
4. O&B SS3150 which is a 3 channel power amplifier which I use to power the LCR using the pre-outs on my AVR.
5. 2 AC infinity 120MM USB fans for cooling.
Focal Chora 826 :
Got a very good deal on these, probably because these are retired (or on the verge of retiring) by Focal. It took me more than 3 months to finalise these, and multiple trips to dealers in Pune and Mumbai, but enjoyed every minute of it.
O&B SS3150:
I was confused on whether to pull the plug on O&B or Emotiva. Thanks to Aniket - @adas , I was able to audition a 2 channel version (SS2150) power amplifier at my home, and I had no doubts after that. Ordered SS3150 from Aniket (100W PC, 8 ohm, 3 channel driven) right there. Took around 45 days for delivery, but it was worth the wait. It's built like a tank, with very high quality connectors, switches etc. The packing was top notch, took me quite some time (and patience) to unbox. Connected the LCR pre-outs from my AVR to this, did quick speaker setup, and started "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation", and I could clearly make out the difference. Vocals - specially the muffled ones spoken in the wireless phone in the opening scene - had never been so clear. The rumble of the plane, the explosions, the opening theme, all of it was suddenly more alive.
On the music front the power amp didn't add any color to the famous Marantz sound wrt to bass, treble or midrange. The best difference that I could make out was wrt listening at low volumes, I could hear the nuances and the clarity that I could not hear earlier at low volumes when my speakers were connected to SR5015 directly. I had to raise the volumes at moderate levels earlier I could listen to those details.
Also, the customer service has been excellent, Aniket is always available to answer the queries. He also called me up a few times in last couple of months to check if the amplifier is running fine, or if there are any issues.
2 AC infinity 120MM USB fans
This are top notch, the quality of these fans is amazing and the fan noise levels are next to none. My AVR used to heat up a lot, and now it is barely warm.
I like these more than the cooling unit by infinity because these can be moved around easily (and are much more cheaper - if you buy them from USA
). Also these can be daisy chained, so you can add more fans. Also these are powered by 5w mobile charging adapter. Highly recommend these if you are able to get it from USA, they are tad expensive on amazon.in.
