Rethm introduces a cheaper, new model Bhava
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square_wave
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A boston acoustics wide bander !! Planning to be in cochin December end. Hoping to swing by the Rethm studio for a listen to some of these beauties !
Wow, I've been really out of touch on Rethm pricing!
I met Jacob this Oct and heard about his new pricing...and he said that you were the last person to whom we sold the Saadhana's at Indian pricing ... Lucky me.
The first time I got Kudos from my wife for my timing!!! :-} because she always thought I should have waited a little longer to spend so much !!!!
The first time I got Kudos from my wife for my timing!!! :-} because she always thought I should have waited a little longer to spend so much !!!!
Now, that's something rare in our community
Curious to know why he has stopped having a lower priceline for India. Rather disappointing move.
Now, that's something rare in our community
Curious to know why he has stopped having a lower priceline for India. Rather disappointing move.
There are other better options in India to consider too in full range drivers if you are serious enough to look out for imo at much more economical pricings.
Kindly elaborate if possible
I paid a visit to Kochi @ Mr Jacob's place to get a first hand experience of Rethm series. I have been looking for a good pair of FS dedicated for stereo listening only, I've listened to most of the easily available FS in last 6 months between 1 - 1.5L range. Mr Jacob is a true gentleman and guided me to his place which can get bit tricky to reach for outsider. He was very courteous enough to explain the technical intricacies for a layman. No need to say but its one of the most memorable auditions I've done recently.
I checked Bhava and latest Saadhana speakers only as I was quite curious to check the price difference and sonic increment. We played Dilse (ARR has always been a favorite), Bryan Adams & Celine dion tracks going back and forth between the drivers. Bhava - >Saadhana - >Bhava again!!
Bhava is one of the entry level in the Rethm range with locally sourced full range driver and 2 bass drivers instead of 3 in saadhana range. It gains a lot from 4 subwoofer driver setup where in the bass is very precise and not boomy. Jacob mentioned that the bass driver set up is same as their high end siblings. The midrange is satisfactory (not great), the vocals are much better than others. The audio resolution in high frequency range isn't one of its strengths. It's not very bad either though but not very detailed. Much similar to Kef Q900 and RTI A9s. Good thing is its not harsh & still very much enjoyable.
I played the same songs with Saadhana now, the audio resolution across the audible frequency range it can deliver is impeccable. Within 10 seconds of playing a track (which I'd have heard say 1000 of times earlier ) made me realize how much superior they are, and so many intricacies which I couldn't have made out in spite of listening them in high end headphones. They are superior in every sense and truly deserve the price they're being offered for.
We again came back to the same songs in Bhavas ( after I insisted, I admire Jacob's patience here) the difference was obvious. He immediately got up to raise the volume so as to improve the audio resolution, but we both agreed that it'd be of no much use.
Bhavas truly deserve the price they're being offered at, and a notch higher than the speakers in the same price range. The very strong bass response with adequate details will make you pick up over others. If you are a bass head, this should be on top of your list. The experience is much better than adding a dedicated subwoofer to the any tower speakers for stereo listening. This is the main USp of Bhavas and though the high frequency resolution is similar to Kef and Polks but the low frequency range will leave the competition biting the dust. For small home parties, jazz or relaxed late night listening they're more than enough. Since everything was done via the tube amps and fantastic demo ambience the real world results (especially in my room where I'd prefer more brighter speakers) and with SS amps I'll need some more time before concluding. Probably I'd buy Bhavas as they are good speakers for the price range, will audition others before pulling the trigger. One more point in favour of Bhavas is they're more placement friendly & more forgiving if your other gear is not up to the mark.
Finally, any "review" by anyone (including myself) is a opinion & any "fact" comes with a expiry date ; so take it with a pinch of salt...
I checked Bhava and latest Saadhana speakers only as I was quite curious to check the price difference and sonic increment. We played Dilse (ARR has always been a favorite), Bryan Adams & Celine dion tracks going back and forth between the drivers. Bhava - >Saadhana - >Bhava again!!
Bhava is one of the entry level in the Rethm range with locally sourced full range driver and 2 bass drivers instead of 3 in saadhana range. It gains a lot from 4 subwoofer driver setup where in the bass is very precise and not boomy. Jacob mentioned that the bass driver set up is same as their high end siblings. The midrange is satisfactory (not great), the vocals are much better than others. The audio resolution in high frequency range isn't one of its strengths. It's not very bad either though but not very detailed. Much similar to Kef Q900 and RTI A9s. Good thing is its not harsh & still very much enjoyable.
I played the same songs with Saadhana now, the audio resolution across the audible frequency range it can deliver is impeccable. Within 10 seconds of playing a track (which I'd have heard say 1000 of times earlier ) made me realize how much superior they are, and so many intricacies which I couldn't have made out in spite of listening them in high end headphones. They are superior in every sense and truly deserve the price they're being offered for.
We again came back to the same songs in Bhavas ( after I insisted, I admire Jacob's patience here) the difference was obvious. He immediately got up to raise the volume so as to improve the audio resolution, but we both agreed that it'd be of no much use.
Bhavas truly deserve the price they're being offered at, and a notch higher than the speakers in the same price range. The very strong bass response with adequate details will make you pick up over others. If you are a bass head, this should be on top of your list. The experience is much better than adding a dedicated subwoofer to the any tower speakers for stereo listening. This is the main USp of Bhavas and though the high frequency resolution is similar to Kef and Polks but the low frequency range will leave the competition biting the dust. For small home parties, jazz or relaxed late night listening they're more than enough. Since everything was done via the tube amps and fantastic demo ambience the real world results (especially in my room where I'd prefer more brighter speakers) and with SS amps I'll need some more time before concluding. Probably I'd buy Bhavas as they are good speakers for the price range, will audition others before pulling the trigger. One more point in favour of Bhavas is they're more placement friendly & more forgiving if your other gear is not up to the mark.
Finally, any "review" by anyone (including myself) is a opinion & any "fact" comes with a expiry date ; so take it with a pinch of salt...
What other speakers to look in this price range?
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One thing , I have realized is , after hearing Rethm at Jacob's place recently...the Saadhanas deserve a better amp (specially in terms of resolution) than the Gaanams.
My sugden plays at a superior level. I would probably give some points to Gaanam in soundstage reproduction , but they lack some sparkles in the highs which is so much clean with the sugdens. So Bhava + better amp than the Gaanam is surely going to be a different sounding /// Srajan also found the same when he used Bakoon over the FirstWatts
My sugden plays at a superior level. I would probably give some points to Gaanam in soundstage reproduction , but they lack some sparkles in the highs which is so much clean with the sugdens. So Bhava + better amp than the Gaanam is surely going to be a different sounding /// Srajan also found the same when he used Bakoon over the FirstWatts
Excluding shipping costs I believe..
For others (Trishna, Saadhana etc) shipping is included in the price ; should we negotiate a group buy? Anybody else...
drkrack, in case you are going for any of the Rethm speakers, minimise the room treatment. Rethms like minimal treatment. In the past with my previous system I used Real Traps but with the Rethms use of Real Traps sounded horrible.
Kushnava, Jacob uses thicker solid core cables for his power. My gut feel is that it rolls of the top end. I use a much thinner power cord of his. I do not think his amp is rolled off. I have owned his amp but I always used liveline cables with them. They sounded excellent to me. I have also heard the Gaanam with the Livelines at Naturelover. They sounded great again
IME thick solid core cables always roll of the top end. With stranded thick cables this does not happen
Kushnava, Jacob uses thicker solid core cables for his power. My gut feel is that it rolls of the top end. I use a much thinner power cord of his. I do not think his amp is rolled off. I have owned his amp but I always used liveline cables with them. They sounded excellent to me. I have also heard the Gaanam with the Livelines at Naturelover. They sounded great again
IME thick solid core cables always roll of the top end. With stranded thick cables this does not happen
@Prem .. It depends on your listening area I guess. I have parallel walls .I started with an untreated room , but the sound lost focus unless I added a carpet ,some rockwool traps in the corners and some of them in the first reflection points.I have recently created a racks with books at 2 feet from the floor surrounding the left/front and right walls. This really brought huge improvements with the bass.I still think I need some absorption between the speakers. Will have to experiment with the same. If you have parallel walls , it really affects the sound stage specially for complex music. I certainly realized that Sugden + rethm has still got a long life to live after these treatments.
I guess so Kushnava but given a choice I would always prefer no room treatment.
Absolutely !! Jacobs room doesn't have parallel walls , so echo is not a problem.
Reflected sound never sounds good and messes with the timing , but on the contrary live music does have some reverb.Its the right balance that's required.
I think its the most difficult art for an audiophile ...
Yes that is one of my concerns, I've already done some more than minimalist room treatment. Also shifting to tube amp to achieve a good performance if required will be a additional cost. Preferably SS amp should be 30 - 40wpc for Bhavas as suggested by Jacob ; that also means parting with my beloved onkyo amp (115wpc), so will take some more time before finalizing. What other speakers to be considered in this price range?
After months of meaning to and not being able to, I visited the Rethm Studio this last saturday for an audition of the Bhaavas.
After having listened to quite a few conventional multi-driver speakers, I am firmly in the single driver team. My exposure to speakers may not be as much as many here in the forum, but I personally don't think a conventional multi-driver setup can sound as natural as a single driver speaker. To me, listening to a single driver speaker gives the sense there is no complication, no fuss, and it feels like there's nothing between my mind and the music.
I have a pair of Trishnas (with a Gaanam amp) at home that I love to bits, and I've listened extensively to two generations of Maargas at a friend's place, and I'm quite familiar with how the Saadhanas sound like at the Rethm Studio, after many visits.
(Bhavas in front, with Saadhanas to the back and to the side, and Maargas in the far back. Sorry for the not so ideal mobile phone snap).
I listened to the Bhaavas first. This was important to me, as I wanted to listen to them without any immediate reference point.
We played Norah Jones, Simon & Garfunkel, Pink Floyd, AR Rahman, and some Western Classical: First on the Bhaavas and then on the Saadhanas.
I must say the Bhaavas mostly retain the Rethm approach to reproducing sound/music, with the only difference being that the Bhaavas are more laid back in their presentation. They are as fast, natural sounding and nearly as incredibly expressive as the other Rethms. But the Bhaavas have a slightly different approach to the higher frequencies, in the sense that the higher frequencies are quite present, with as much shimmer but lesser sparkle, if you can get what I mean: As delicate, but with less sharper edges and peaks.
I found this approach quite pleasant. Music (played on the Bhaavas) that has a lot of information in the higher frequencies might sound less energetic to someone used to a speaker that tends to emphasize the higher frequencies. But someone who likes their music a bit laid back and relaxing would love these speakers. One could listen to music on these at higher than normal volumes for hours and not feel beaten up. And I would even venture to say that the Bhaavas might give a better emotional connect than the Trishnas: The kind of connect that makes you forget the equipment and listen to just the music.
The switch to the Saadhanas was exactly as expected. Everything scaled up, and the degree of resolution was significantly more. I still can't get over the texture and nimbleness of the bass from the Saadhana. Listening to the Saadhana is like falling in love all over again, heh heh.
But the thing is, the Bhaavas are 1.25L, and the Saadhanas are nearly 10L. Do the Saadhanas sound 8 times better? As a regular joe who's bankrupting himself every few years for the sake of music, I don't think so. If I were to choose between the Bhaava and the Saadhana (Apples to oranges? Maybe not so much!), I would never be able to justify forking over 8+ lakhs extra over the Bhaava for the Saadhana.
I might be able to live with myself if I were to choose the Trishnas (at 4L) over the Bhaavas, but here again, based on my intimate familiarity with Trishnas, I'm not so sure: A Trishna vs. Bhaava fight would be a close, close thing. And if both were masked fighters, we probably would not be able to identify who actually won.
Jacob George mentioned that one of the big advantages of the Bhaavas is that they are far less finicky about the amplification than the other Rethms. This is another aspect where the Bhaavas will have an advantage over the other Rethms: The overall bill for the Speaker + Amp combo will be significantly less.
I'd written this review down yesterday, and today I went through the 6 Moons review of the Bhaava. With all respect to Srajan Ebaen, going through the review took me a while and perhaps it didn't have to be so verbose. But I was happy to read about his opinion about the speakers, and to reach the end and see that he'd written: "Finally, having in the review queue followed a 20'000 contenderyes, six times costlier!Ivette and I both categorically preferred the Indian." I do think this is an important point, and I think this is the context we should see the Bhaava in. I find the Bhaavas incredible value for money, especially in the context of the rest of the Rethm lineup, and for someone who prefers their music to sound natural, untouched and relaxed, the Bhaavas should be on the top of their buy list.
After having listened to quite a few conventional multi-driver speakers, I am firmly in the single driver team. My exposure to speakers may not be as much as many here in the forum, but I personally don't think a conventional multi-driver setup can sound as natural as a single driver speaker. To me, listening to a single driver speaker gives the sense there is no complication, no fuss, and it feels like there's nothing between my mind and the music.
I have a pair of Trishnas (with a Gaanam amp) at home that I love to bits, and I've listened extensively to two generations of Maargas at a friend's place, and I'm quite familiar with how the Saadhanas sound like at the Rethm Studio, after many visits.
(Bhavas in front, with Saadhanas to the back and to the side, and Maargas in the far back. Sorry for the not so ideal mobile phone snap).
I listened to the Bhaavas first. This was important to me, as I wanted to listen to them without any immediate reference point.
We played Norah Jones, Simon & Garfunkel, Pink Floyd, AR Rahman, and some Western Classical: First on the Bhaavas and then on the Saadhanas.
I must say the Bhaavas mostly retain the Rethm approach to reproducing sound/music, with the only difference being that the Bhaavas are more laid back in their presentation. They are as fast, natural sounding and nearly as incredibly expressive as the other Rethms. But the Bhaavas have a slightly different approach to the higher frequencies, in the sense that the higher frequencies are quite present, with as much shimmer but lesser sparkle, if you can get what I mean: As delicate, but with less sharper edges and peaks.
I found this approach quite pleasant. Music (played on the Bhaavas) that has a lot of information in the higher frequencies might sound less energetic to someone used to a speaker that tends to emphasize the higher frequencies. But someone who likes their music a bit laid back and relaxing would love these speakers. One could listen to music on these at higher than normal volumes for hours and not feel beaten up. And I would even venture to say that the Bhaavas might give a better emotional connect than the Trishnas: The kind of connect that makes you forget the equipment and listen to just the music.
The switch to the Saadhanas was exactly as expected. Everything scaled up, and the degree of resolution was significantly more. I still can't get over the texture and nimbleness of the bass from the Saadhana. Listening to the Saadhana is like falling in love all over again, heh heh.
But the thing is, the Bhaavas are 1.25L, and the Saadhanas are nearly 10L. Do the Saadhanas sound 8 times better? As a regular joe who's bankrupting himself every few years for the sake of music, I don't think so. If I were to choose between the Bhaava and the Saadhana (Apples to oranges? Maybe not so much!), I would never be able to justify forking over 8+ lakhs extra over the Bhaava for the Saadhana.
I might be able to live with myself if I were to choose the Trishnas (at 4L) over the Bhaavas, but here again, based on my intimate familiarity with Trishnas, I'm not so sure: A Trishna vs. Bhaava fight would be a close, close thing. And if both were masked fighters, we probably would not be able to identify who actually won.
Jacob George mentioned that one of the big advantages of the Bhaavas is that they are far less finicky about the amplification than the other Rethms. This is another aspect where the Bhaavas will have an advantage over the other Rethms: The overall bill for the Speaker + Amp combo will be significantly less.
I'd written this review down yesterday, and today I went through the 6 Moons review of the Bhaava. With all respect to Srajan Ebaen, going through the review took me a while and perhaps it didn't have to be so verbose. But I was happy to read about his opinion about the speakers, and to reach the end and see that he'd written: "Finally, having in the review queue followed a 20'000 contenderyes, six times costlier!Ivette and I both categorically preferred the Indian." I do think this is an important point, and I think this is the context we should see the Bhaava in. I find the Bhaavas incredible value for money, especially in the context of the rest of the Rethm lineup, and for someone who prefers their music to sound natural, untouched and relaxed, the Bhaavas should be on the top of their buy list.
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