Speakers suitable for hindi old recordings and mix of others genres

[arj]

I get your point. Speakers like A1 may have some DSP where they boost the midbass/midrange to make the sound fuller and thats what you could be hearing,

 

[Bloom@83]

I get your point. Speakers like A1 may have some DSP where they boost the midbass/midrange to make the sound fuller and thats what you could be hearing,

I was exactly thinking about DSP and was about to comment.

 

[vkhandelwal]

I get your point. Speakers like A1 may have some DSP where they boost the midbass/midrange to make the sound fuller and thats what you could be hearing,

True it could be another factor. In the past i tried several music player on the desktop/tablet with custom equalisation. For example the boom app on ios lets one to store a custom eq setting and gain for each track. With variety of songs and uneven mastering it would let me play all songs with somewhat equal level.
What is amazing that for me, with this B&O A1 almost all old tracks are sounding good without any tweaking. There might be any magic factor dsp, compensating eq, speaker ,preamp, DAC, and what not..
Mystery

 

[DB1989]

True it could be another factor. In the past i tried several music player on the desktop/tablet with custom equalisation. For example the boom app on ios lets one to store a custom eq setting and gain for each track. With variety of songs and uneven mastering it would let me play all songs with somewhat equal level.
What is amazing that for me, with this B&O A1 almost all old tracks are sounding good without any tweaking. There might be any magic factor dsp, compensating eq, speaker ,preamp, DAC, and what not..
Mystery

Or your own subjective listening preferences . And in which case, only auditioning speakers can help you determine which speakers are best for you and no extent of recommendations would do justice to your expectations unless, at the very least, somebody has heard the Beoplay A1s and attests to the fact that their recommendation in speaker possesses the same sonic signature

 

[amitk777]

Hi,
I used to listen to old hindi songs on 3.5K worth of JBL desktop speakers. It still sounds nice.
I feel that it does so because of its low resolution.
For old hindi songs resolution hardly matters, to listen to them on a high resolution system exposes their shortcomings.
Also all recordings of Saregama are not poor. On Tidal etc. you can get non-Saregama albums as well of better quality.

 

[vkhandelwal]

Hi,
I used to listen to old hindi songs on 3.5K worth of JBL desktop speakers. It still sounds nice.
I feel that it does so because of its low resolution.
For old hindi songs resolution hardly matters, to listen to them on a high resolution system exposes their shortcomings.
Also all recordings of Saregama are not poor. On Tidal etc. you can get non-Saregama albums as well of better quality.

I do not think if we go downward and go for even cheaper speakers it would sound nice. I have used multiple speakers and variety of setup from cheaper to some nice one. The point is to go for a speaker or setup which does not pronounce or highlights the frequencies which are actually the shortcomings or weaker point in the recordings. It is like selecting a setup which is optimised for a particular genre of music. If that was not the case all high resolution music 96 khz 24 bit files will sound nice on every high end equipment and there would be no difference whether you buy one or another .
Might be a setup using a dsp/eq and speaker optimized for voice and mid bass. Also as shared i will use it for variety of music and not just old songs but yes old songs will be played most of the times.

Or your own subjective listening preferences . And in which case, only auditioning speakers can help you determine which speakers are best for you and no extent of recommendations would do justice to your expectations unless, at the very least, somebody has heard the Beoplay A1s and attests to the fact that their recommendation in speaker possesses the same sonic signature

Quite right .. the idea was to take inputs from fellow forum members on what to use and if someone had used A1 and know what i was talking about. But i think i have a hard luck here.
Thanks for the inputs ..

 

[nosortf]

Devialet Reactor.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

the idea was to take inputs from fellow forum members on what to use and if someone had used A1 and know what i was talking about. But i think i have a hard luck here.

I haven’t. But I listened to some Youtube samples of the said speaker. My impression is that of a non-distorting, smooth but subdued sound (in line with its Scandinavian origins). Personally I like to listen to old Hindi songs on more expressive and open-sounding speakers. I’d prefer the A1 for more technical music like classical or Jazz. But I do understand that liking is subjective and also a matter of habit.

 

[irv]

@SachinChavan From what you say I get the impression that the Castle knight 2s are more expressive and open sounding..

...and if they have lush engaging mids too then they would be my pick

 

[arj]

Quite right .. the idea was to take inputs from fellow forum members on what to use and if someone had used A1 and know what i was talking about. But i think i have a hard luck here.
Thanks for the inputs ..

If you are really looking for a speaker then a forgiving speaker is what you.could look at. Most British speakers fall in to that category..go for the entry level of epos/castle/wharfedale etc and avoid studio monitors

 

[Bloom@83]

Can anyone explain how tiny BT speakers allegedly produce better sound than standmount speakers (and are priced over 200 $) ? How can basic physics be defied ?

 

[Lizard King]

Can anyone explain how tiny BT speakers allegedly produce better sound than standmount speakers (and are priced over 200 $) ? How can basic physics be defied ?

They don't. Give them a complex / fast passage with a great dynamic range and see how they crumble.
Though some of them are pretty good. And convenient. As long as you are operating within it's constraints.

 

[arj]

Exactly..a DSP to bump the midrange, its not really reproducing the lows but the harmonics are missing and so are the low notes but the bump gives the impression of bass and since old music is very simple it is able to do it well and the lack of resolution in the music does not hurt either.

Actually any bose setup will also do this pretty well.The Bose soundtouch also does a very good job with 128 mp3s

 

[Bloom@83]

Indeed I remember small Bose satellite speakers in the now legendary Kolkata Park Street Music World shop corner and ceiling and they sounded pretty decent with light instrumental (non complex ) music. This was back in early 2000s when the shop was in its heyday.

 

[vkhandelwal]

Exactly..a DSP to bump the midrange, its not really reproducing the lows but the harmonics are missing and so are the low notes but the bump gives the impression of bass and since old music is very simple it is able to do it well and the lack of resolution in the music does not hurt either.

Actually any bose setup will also do this pretty well.The Bose soundtouch also does a very good job with 128 mp3s

There is a fair amount of bass in A1 compared to the size . In many reviews it is accepted.
Here is the specification. And i feel by no means it is a cheaper designed speaker

Recommended Room Size
5-30 m²
50-300 ft²
Speaker Configuration
1 x 3.5" Woofer
1 x 3/5" Tweeter
Amplifier
2 x 30W Class D For Woofer And Tweeter
Sound Direction
360 degrees
Frequency Range
55-20.000 Hz
Maximum Loudness @1m (SPL)
92 dB SPL
Bass Capability
62 dB SPL
Wireless Codec
AAC, aptX Adaptive
Stereo Pairing
Available between two Beosound A1 2nd Gens
Multipoint
Available with up to two devices
Customizable Sound EQ
Presets available and fully customisable through Bang & Olufsen App

 

[vkhandelwal]

I haven’t. But I listened to some Youtube samples of the said speaker. My impression is that of a non-distorting, smooth but subdued sound (in line with its Scandinavian origins). Personally I like to listen to old Hindi songs on more expressive and open-sounding speakers. I’d prefer the A1 for more technical music like classical or Jazz. But I do understand that liking is subjective and also a matter of habit.

I am also planning to try more of b&o speakers and headphones to observe if it is something related to company signature sound. Every oem has its own signature sound , may be it is b&o signature ,what my ears like. I have tried multiple brands of speakers , till now from jbl , monitor audio, jamo, bose, wharfedale
I am enjoying all of my favourite genres on this one. New age piano, acoustic guitars, classic rock and pop like eagles, direstrait, eric clapton, mark knopfler, ghazals and hindi songs.
While the marantz amp and wharfedale combo i have works well for most of the genres specified above except hindi old songs.
As you enjoy your castle knight and also like the old songs from 60_80. (From your signature)
I have now two option to chose
Wharfedale evo 4.1 /12.1 or castle knight.

Thanks for the help so far

If you are really looking for a speaker then a forgiving speaker is what you.could look at. Most British speakers fall in to that category..go for the entry level of epos/castle/wharfedale etc and avoid studio monitors

Thanks , you are Right. I also feel that british speakers will do fine here. But not sure for entry level limit
Also you referred studio monitors ? I am a hobbyist home studio user and instrument player, I already have couple of studio monitors from maudio and jbl which i use for music mixing only. studio monitors strive mostly for color free and transparent sound for mixing and mastering. I was not talking about studio monitors here as i know that would not be enjoyable for standard listening

I am looking for a speaker which can do well for the the music i listed above.

Please note these are not just old songs. Some of them are well produced tracks .

I am also open to buy a new media player with good dsp and dac which could let me tune and store the music tracks individually to match the amp and speaker and to compensate the shortcomings of some of the tracks.
Searching for that as well

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

 

[vkhandelwal]

Can anyone explain how tiny BT speakers allegedly produce better sound than standmount speakers (and are priced over 200 $) ? How can basic physics be defied ?

If we take source music file as common item
For stand-mount speakers these are separate components like , individual amp, bt receiver, its preamp and dac And speakers ( and its positioning and room acoustics) with the feed from player app and its own dsp
While in a packaged bt speaker everything is integrated ,it is all tuned to meet the strength of components used and to target a specific sound signature. The only other component is the BT player app used

I think that if If I can get a sound of my liking from small BT speakers I should be able to get it from component setup also if those are selected well with the right components
I do not think b&o or bose designed their speakers to suit hindi old songs . Would not be able to sell many units around the world then

Thanks for the help!

 

[Bloom@83]

If we take source music file as common item
For stand-mount speakers these are separate components like , individual amp, bt receiver, its preamp and dac And speakers ( and its positioning and room acoustics) with the feed from player app and its own dsp
While in a packaged bt speaker everything is integrated ,it is all tuned to meet the strength of components used and to target a specific sound signature. The only other component is the BT player app used

I think that if If I can get a sound of my liking from small BT speakers I should be able to get it from component setup also if those are selected well with the right components
I do not think b&o or bose designed their speakers to suit hindi old songs . Would not be able to sell many units around the world then

Thanks for the help!

By all means, if you enjoy the sound signature from A1- pls go ahead and continue doing so.
But your ask of matching that signature with a amp , preamp , DAC chain is near impossible task unless you have lot of dough to spend on trial and error on various amp preamp speaker units.

spec matching will hardly help as no one can scientifically predict how discrete components in a stereo chain synergise and produce the overall sound signature with the added complexity of room acoustics.

That being said ,since the A1 uses class D , you may try a class D amp with your main chain and see if it’s to your liking.

 

[vkhandelwal]

By all means, if you enjoy the sound signature from A1- pls go ahead and continue doing so.
But your ask of matching that signature with a amp , preamp , DAC chain is near impossible task unless you have lot of dough to spend on trial and error on various amp preamp speaker units.

spec matching will hardly help as no one can scientifically predict how discrete components in a stereo chain synergise and produce the overall sound signature with the added complexity of room acoustics.

That being said ,since the A1 uses class D , you may try a class D amp with your main chain and see if it’s to your liking.

I have been using it for sure. and will continue to do so . What I wish is to have a more amplified version of it and have a setup which can be enjoyable for both new and old music. And my blown speaker has given me a chance to replace a part of signal chain
specs was shared to give an idea of its claimed capability and not for the components. It does not give the idea of component

I agree and shared the complexity in trying all the components and that is why I am here to take inputs from people who might have already gone through these paths. Being in indore does not help in evaluating/demo some components

As I spend 70% of the time on the old songs I am willing to experiment for the chain
1 music source - keep the current one as have no option. May try vinyl path but that could be inconvenient /hard to get all media
2. Music player/DAC/DSP -looking for it for direct connectivity
3- Amp -
4 - speakers - looking for a suitable set
5 - acoustics - as the setup is in my music studio already has some acoustical treatment, not perfect but not bad either.

 

[arj]

I have been using it for sure. and will continue to do so . What I wish is to have a more amplified version of it and have a setup which can be enjoyable for both new and old music. And my blown speaker has given me a chance to replace a part of signal chain
specs was shared to give an idea of its claimed capability and not for the components. It does not give the idea of component

I agree and shared the complexity in trying all the components and that is why I am here to take inputs from people who might have already gone through these paths. Being in indore does not help in evaluating/demo some components

As I spend 70% of the time on the old songs I am willing to experiment for the chain
1 music source - keep the current one as have no option. May try vinyl path but that could be inconvenient /hard to get all media
2. Music player/DAC/DSP -looking for it for direct connectivity
3- Amp -
4 - speakers - looking for a suitable set
5 - acoustics - as the setup is in my music studio already has some acoustical treatment, not perfect but not bad either.

whats your Budget ?