My new HT setup with Rs.2.5 Lakhs

[subhash]

periyar , if u have found all the characteristics and liked the ushers then i wud advise u to go for it

comparing the ushers to the wharfadales (dont remember the wharf models u auditioned) theres a huge differece the usher model is far superior to the wharfs entry level models, so as the price

about 2-3 yrs back when i wanted to upgrade i too went nuts auditioning all the available spkrs in bangalore
the fact was of all spkrs i extensively listened to ,my pick was the ushers (dont remember the exact model , it was a flrs/ dark red in color/ i think it had a single driver) and the jamo concert 809

sonodynes--are not bad for the pricing, no doubt u will be happy with it , but not for long, u will soon realise a lot lacking, its definetly a good start off
say 10 yrs back they definetly were worth the price as other hi end brands were not affordable , but now theres choice and variety
they definetly are good for start offs but u cud get something better

i definetly agree with you that the guy sitting in the sonodyne room in forum is least bit interested and lacks total knowledge, i had gone there recently to listen to thier powered BS spkrs the poor guy dint even know how to connect them

 

[periyar]

periyar , if u have found all the characteristics and liked the ushers then i wud advise u to go for it

I felt the BE-718 bass was lacking (its purely my perception) a bit compared with Usher Dancer Mini 1(it may not fit into my living room).

From my brief audition with both of them, I felt that the depth, sound image (Clear) was better with BE-718 but the bass was comparitively good with Dancer Mini-1 which couldn't reproduce the sound image as BE-718. So, I couldn't simply select either one.

Also, the prices for both of them at higher side. Moreover, if I go for Ushers, it seems that I should go for other (high end) components used in that Usher setup. Without that, I don't think the same SQ can be replicated. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I suppose that will surely exceed my initial budget(which is anyway going to exceed hyeah: it seems) in a great extent.

Meanwhile, as everyone suggested I would like to try couple of other options before decide.

comparing the ushers to the wharfadales (dont remember the wharf models u auditioned) theres a huge differece the usher model is far superior to the wharfs entry level models, so as the price

I understand that

about 2-3 yrs back when i wanted to upgrade i too went nuts auditioning all the available spkrs in bangalore
the fact was of all spkrs i extensively listened to ,my pick was the ushers (dont remember the exact model , it was a flrs/ dark red in color/ i think it had a single driver) and the jamo concert 809

It must be the same Dancer Mini-1(FS - single driver with BE tweeter) which I auditioned along with BE-718.

sonodynes--are not bad for the pricing, no doubt u will be happy with it , but not for long, u will soon realise a lot lacking, its definetly a good start off
say 10 yrs back they definetly were worth the price as other hi end brands were not affordable , but now theres choice and variety
they definetly are good for start offs but u cud get something better

I agree and definitely not going for Sonus after all these auditions and analysis :lol:

 

[odyssey]

I felt the BE-718 bass was lacking (its purely my perception) a bit compared with Usher Dancer Mini 1(it may not fit into my living room).

From my brief audition with both of them, I felt that the depth, sound image (Clear) was better with BE-718 but the bass was comparitively good with Dancer Mini-1 which couldn't reproduce the sound image as BE-718. So, I couldn't simply select either one.

Also, the prices for both of them at higher side. Moreover, if I go for Ushers, it seems that I should go for other (high end) components used in that Usher setup. Without that, I don't think the same SQ can be replicated. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I suppose that will surely exceed my initial budget(which is anyway going to exceed hyeah: it seems) in a great extent.

Meanwhile, as everyone suggested I would like to try couple of other options before decide.


I understand that


It must be the same Dancer Mini-1(FS - single driver with BE tweeter) which I auditioned along with BE-718.


I agree and definitely not going for Sonus after all these auditions and analysis :lol:

Hi Periyar
A few things -
the Mini-dancer 1 gives you better, imaging than the Be-718s. The soundstage, depth, imaging is more a function of the room and your setup. It really isnt practical to look for this in your setup simply since you plan to put these about 1 ft to 2 ft away from the backwall. As much as everyone wants to get speakers into nice big dedicated rooms placing the speakers 5 to 6 ft away from the backwall, this is not really practical for the majority of us. We live in the real world where space is at a premium, we share it with kids/spouse/parents, etc In addition, the above characteristics cannot be evaluated to an absolute in showrooms unless you plan to spend many hours with one or two pairs and experience them in properly setup environments to understand capability, even then, they are likely to sound very different in your room. It is true that some designs enable them to do better in certain areas, however these are big generalizations.
The mini-dancer 1 similar to any speaker at this price will need good equipment to partner with to bring out the best in them. Ofcourse you can use a receiver to drive them or a budget amp like a NAD, they will still do well within limits, however that setup will have a handicap. Please do not think that an expensive speaker requires expensive upstream components to function, this is no more true than saying that an inexpensive speaker will work well only when partnered with inexpensive upstream components. You can obviously get better performance out of budget speakers when partnered with better equipment. You need to look at it in the context of a complete system - its a bit like buying a sports car and putting really cheap tires - will it work? sure, it will get you from point A to point B, however to bring out the best it will need better tires (lets not get to where to find a good road ) and this is where you need to decide - the first question to ask is

Am I the type of person who will continuously seek better/upgrade?
OR
Am I the type of person who will be happy with what I have and will live with it for the next 5, 7 or 10 years.

If you belong to the first (90% of the folks do irrespective of whatever they may think), buy one or two components that will more or less remain with you for a long period of time around which you will build the rest of your system around - it can be speakers for some, a pre for others, etc
if you are part of the second category, then buy a system where everything is proportionally of similar quality/price and dont look back.

cheers

 

[sidvee]

IMHO - All things being equal, the component the makes the biggest difference in an audio chain - is the loudspeaker. So getting that right is half the battle won.
Cheers
Sid

 

[rikhav]

Glad to have guys like Odyssey and wish more think of the customer like him.

 

[periyar]

the Mini-dancer 1 gives you better, imaging than the Be-718s.

I definitely not tried to assess the capabilities of these two wonderful speakers and I'm not an expert or an audiophile. I just mentioned what I felt at that moment and it may not be accurate.

The soundstage, depth, imaging is more a function of the room and your setup. It really isnt practical to look for this in your setup simply since you plan to put these about 1 ft to 2 ft away from the backwall. As much as everyone wants to get speakers into nice big dedicated rooms placing the speakers 5 to 6 ft away from the backwall, this is not really practical for the majority of us. We live in the real world where space is at a premium, we share it with kids/spouse/parents, etc

I started realizing the importance of these factors - room acoustics, setup etc from my two weeks exploration. I certainly don't have that luxury of having such ideal (or close to ideal) setup/environment (nice big dedicated room) though I can buy a very good equipment.

In addition, the above characteristics cannot be evaluated to an absolute in showrooms unless you plan to spend many hours with one or two pairs and experience them in properly setup environments to understand capability, even then, they are likely to sound very different in your room.

I certainly agree with this and even experienced it recently when I auditioned the Wharfedale 10.7 at Audio Planet setup, it sounded lifeless and kinda cheap. But when I auditioned the same Wharfedale 10.7 at Vector Systems setup, it sounded very different and better.

The mini-dancer 1 similar to any speaker at this price will need good equipment to partner with to bring out the best in them.

You need to look at it in the context of a complete system - its a bit like buying a sports car and putting really cheap tires - will it work? sure, it will get you from point A to point B, however to bring out the best it will need better tires (lets not get to where to find a good road )

Good example :lol:

this is where you need to decide - the first question to ask is

Am I the type of person who will continuously seek better/upgrade?
OR
Am I the type of person who will be happy with what I have and will live with it for the next 5, 7 or 10 years.

If you belong to the first (90% of the folks do irrespective of whatever they may think), buy one or two components that will more or less remain with you for a long period of time around which you will build the rest of your system around - it can be speakers for some, a pre for others, etc
if you are part of the second category, then buy a system where everything is proportionally of similar quality/price and dont look back.

I guess that I will mostly fit into the first category

I'm sure it will be very difficult to get a 100% best (satisfying) setup in the first iteration. But I'm trying my best to avoid (at least the obvious) mistakes.

When I started my search towards setting up my HT, I don't even know the exact difference between an AVR, Integrated Amp, Pre/Power and their purpose. Now, I learned a little bit about sound/music and other technical terms. I'm sure this exercise will certainly equip myself to look for or find out what I really want and what will best suit my needs and especially my environment. Most of all, this gave me an opportunity to meet (or get to know) wonderful people like you, Mr Palani (Audio Planet) and other people (Subhash, Sajith, Nandakumar) I'm going to meet.

I need little more time and I wouldn't want to regret after making a decision since its my first step. Once again thanks a lot for all your informative inputs.

 

[sam9s]

----Post Deleted----

 

[periyar]

My quest for HT/Stereo Music setup continues as searching for the right floorstanders to suit both the needs (as best as I can within budget).

This week I visited Vector Systems and Audio Planet again. Also visited our Subhash house to check out his HT/Stereo setup (Amazing !!).

Had detailed audition with Pacific Evo 30 at Vector Systems. Though it wasn't an ideal setup/environment (just 4 -5 ft listening distance) it performed fine. Bass was good. I played these CDs,

• Timeless Bhajans Vol-1 (the same one, I first auditioned with Ushers at ARN Systems),
• Drums on Fire (Sivamani)
• few fast numbers
• Demo CDs (downloaded from the NET - in lossless format) : Chesky Records - Ultimate Demo & Sheffield Demo

Quoted Price - (may get 10% discount or more)

• Pacific Evo 30 (Floorstander pair) - Rs.72000
• Pacific Evo Center - Rs 26000
• Denon 2310 - Rs.55700

Had detailed audition with Mordaunt-Short Aviano & Mezzo series and technical/class room(!) session with Mr Palani. It was very informative. Thanks to him for his patience and detailed technical explanations. Tried the above CDs and was not impressed with Aviano 8. Then I spent good amount of time with Mezzo 6 and tried couple of Amps and different CD players. At last, I tried the Mezzo 8 with the finalized Amp(Cambridge CA-840A) and CD player (Cambridge CA-550C). Obviously, the bass signature was better in Mezzo 8. Somehow, I felt all the Mordaunt-short speakers lacks the punch (except the Mezzo 8) but gives very detailed representation in the mid-range. Also, I felt that the Wharf Evo 30 gave better punch than the Mezzo 8 comparatively.

Quoted Price : (may get 5% discount but it seems not more than that)

• Mezzo 8 (Floorstander pair)- Rs.108000
• Mezzo 6 (Floorstander pair) - Rs.72000
• Mezzo 5 (Center) - Rs.25000
• Cambridge Audio Amplifier (CA-840 A), 130W RMS - Rs.72000

Subhash house visit
He has got a proper HT setup (an acoustically enhanced/corrected dedicated room) at home along with wonderful speakers along with matching components. I played the above CDs and couldn't play it with the Sub on. The bass was too much for me and even after cut-off the Sub, it was very tight with no distortion(even with high volumes - I hope a few of our forum members already experience how loud Subhash plays ) with that powerful Jamo C809 - that's one hell of a speaker. We played a couple of fast numbers and a few scenes of Terminator Salvation BD. He has got very good collection of CDs and I will certainly visit him later. Thanks Subhash.

I have been invited for another audition at ProFX to audition Denon 2310 + PMA 1500AE setup along with KEF iQ90, Polk RTi series and Focal Chorus 826V if available. I'm planning to visit them this weekend.

BTW, I wanted to check out the Quad 22L2 speakers since there's very good reviews about them. I have been invited by our forum member, Nandakumar to check out his new Quad Amp with Quad 22L2 speakers in the coming week. Please let me know if anybody has got/any experience with Quad 22L2 apart from Nandakumar.

I'm planning to finalize the Floorstanders first (along with matching center in the same model/series) as I mentioned before. I have almost decided on the AVR as Denon 2310 and I'll think about the sub once the floorstanders are finalized.

I would like to go slow on the amp side and thinking about going for a used one. Please let me know if there's any good amp(used) for sale.

Thanks to all who are following/replying to this thread patiently

Regards,

 

[subhash]

good to know you are making progress and going slow too , to have so much patience is something great

let me know when u will be visiting nanda kumar
hes got very good ears and a great lover of hindustani clasical music
hes visited me a couple of times and his suggestions have helped me a lot

 

[periyar]

good to know you are making progress and going slow too , to have so much patience is something great

let me know when u will be visiting nanda kumar
hes got very good ears and a great lover of hindustani clasical music
hes visited me a couple of times and his suggestions have helped me a lot

Thanks.

Sure I will. Let me confirm the date/time with Nandakumar and we can coordinate.

Regards,

 

[cmsajith]

Thanks Subhash for your demo of your HT. Need to take a detailed demo. It reminded me an old advertisement about the stereo / audio casseste, a man being blown away in front of a stereo system (Hope you all got the ad), i think sometime back somebody had posted that pic in our forum also.

@Periyar, I am also planning to join you guys for the Quad demo.

 

[unleash_me]

 

[periyar]

:lol: It surely fits Subhash setup :lol:

 

[subhash]

:lol: It surely fits Subhash setup :lol:

its definetly posible to have a good set up , but then a dedicted room is necessary , equipments cud always be added on

u guys shud also visit and chk out santosh/ santhols room , its really class apart

 

[periyar]

its definetly posible to have a good set up , but then a dedicted room is necessary , equipments cud always be added on

u guys shud also visit and chk out santosh/ santhols room , its really class apart

Sure I'd love to. Let's plan to visit them sometime.

 

[periyar]

Thanks Subhash for your demo of your HT. Need to take a detailed demo. It reminded me an old advertisement about the stereo / audio casseste, a man being blown away in front of a stereo system (Hope you all got the ad), i think sometime back somebody had posted that pic in our forum also.

@Periyar, I am also planning to join you guys for the Quad demo.

Sure Sajith. Let me confirm with Nandakumar and coordinate with you guys.

 

[hifiashok]

slightly off topic, the blaupunkt ad also comes to mind, where the guy in his car is in the middle of a suspension bridge, and the music (or the ferocity of it) causes harmonics into the bridge.

 

[periyar]

This Sunday, I visited our forum member, Mr Nandakumar's house along with Sajith (He's already recorded his version in another thread - MA RX6 Vs Quad 22L2) to check out his Quad setup (Marantz 7003 CDP, Quad 22L2, Quad Pre/Power. Nanda - plz correct me if I'm wrong).

It was very warm welcome by Nandakumar and made us feel very comfortable at his place. He has got enviable listening area (could be around - 22' x 30' x 10') and very lucky to have that big. He has got only Stereo setup to listen music, mainly hindustani classicals. One of the striking thing apart from those Quad 22L2 was the center console/stand, for the CDP, Pre/Power amps. Wonderful setup Nanda.

We started with couple of Nandakumar's favourites (Hindustani classicals) and most of them emphasized the Quads' strength to handle the mid very well. Then, we played my usual reference numbers - Timeless Bhajans Gundecha Brothers' 'Jeeni Jeeni', Sivamani - Drums on fire and a few fast numbers.

I had a little apprehension about Quad's handling of lows before I visit Nandakumar's place. But it was really good and upto my satisfaction. Only concern were due to the big listening area without much furnitures/stuff to fill in, we felt that there was little boomy in the lows. I suppose little acoustic treatment will take care of that. Quads really need bigger space and good placement to perform well. Its very sensitive indeed.

I don't want to comment about Quads' ability to handle mids as its well known fact that it is main strength of them. Yes, it was very good, detailed and controlled. I am not a great audiophile to give a detailed commentry with proper music number to explain its handling of mids. We were very really impressed with its output.

We had spent almost 3.5 hours at his place listening to various numbers with Sajith's Nakamichi and side by side comparison with Quad Pre/Power combo.

Finally, Nandakumar - Thanks a lot for accommodating our request to audition Quads and thanks for your time. Also, I'm grateful for your valuable inputs/suggestions.

Another contender in my list is MA RX6. Its been regarded/reviewed as easy to drive and can have more options in the stereo setup chain unlike Quads require a very good/powerful amp to drive it. I am planning to audition the new MA RX6 as soon as its available.

Regards,

 

[reignofchaos]

Never heard the 22L2 but the 22L has a very loose bottom end especially when paired with the Quad99/909 combo. That power amp doesn't have enough grunt to control the speakers.

 

[sam9s]

After reading the entire thread, there is just one small query....
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So what finally did you buy ..............

Just Kidding.....carry on, very informative thread, and love to read different audition experience much like what I am doing all these days.......Though I have not yet auditioned USHERS (which I will) but for me among the ones I auditioned,.......Warfadale 10.5 with Marantz amp and player sounded the most ballanced speakers in the sub 50K catagory.