Here is report of my Bangalore visit. This tour was mainly for listening new Thoren TTs and also to meet and listen to some Forum members' set-up specially TTs.
The tour was for 2 days. On Friday I planned to first visit Audio Dynamics (Thorens Distributor) near Forum Mall at Koramangala and then to visit Steve's place at JP Nagar (Near Nandini Hotel).
Audition at Audio Dynamics
As scheduled, I reached Audio Dynamics at around 5 pm. Abhisek Biswas (the owner) also reached around the same time. His showroom is in the 2nd floor. My knees are not so healthy to climb long stairs, but the curiosity to listen Thorens has driven me to climb without any problem.
We have chatted first for about 10 minutes when the gears were put on warming. Abhisek was sharing that TTs are also getting the attention of young generations now-a-days and he has already sold about 6 pieces of TD309. Out of the different models of Thoren TTs, the highest end available there was TD309.
TD 309 is a award winning turntable form Thoren with TP92 tonearm and stock At-95 cart. Abhisek replaced the stock cart with Ortofon 2M Red cart. The phonostage used was Thoren MM005 (it can take both MM and MC cart). The other gears in the chain were Exposure Amplifier and HECO Celan XT 701 floor stander speakers. The cables used were from Atlas. The HECO speakers are a German brand. Although I prefer bookshelf over floor stander but Abhisek didn't have bookshelves connected.
The TD 309 has a unique shaped plinth with glass platter. It has three legs with superb suspension. The TP92 arm is well made, practical and good looking.
It has a counterwight placed on the plinth in the opposite side of the tonearm assembly for weight balancing. The TD 309 is belt driven with a silent DC motor. Also, it has en elctronic speed selector (45 and 33 rpm), placed hidden beneath the plinth. The plinth comes in three colours - Red, black and white.
The LPs available there for audition were all English LPs. I was interested to hear one or two old Hindi music LPs, which I had told in advance to Abhisek, but he couldn't arrange the same. Anyway, we first started with Dianna Krall Lp, then played Norah Jones. The voices came ok but due to Heco speakers overpowering bass, the representation could not be much enjoyable. Also, the set up of the Speaker + amp had scope for improvement. the soundstage was not that big. The Norah Jones voice, which I heard in my Ayon CDp+Leben Amp was more enjoyable that this set up.
Then we played Mantrovani. Although I am yet to develop the taste for Western Classical, TD 309 did a decent job with pleasant consistency through out the frequency range. But the sound could have been more energetic and forceful, which I had found in Goldenote Valore and Scheu Cello. Last we played John Denvar 'Leaving on a Jet plane' and 'Follow me where I go'. In these tracks, the set up performed much better. Actually this Lp's recording was better. The male voice came very nicely. One thing I want to point out here is the cart used was entry level 2M red, the sound and detailing will definitely improve with better cart like 2M Bronze or so. But all in all TD309 could not float my boat.
Audition at Steve's Place
After audition of Thoren at Audio Dynamics I started for JP Nagar. It was about 45 mins journey. Steve has given me such a detailed direction that without any problem I reached his place. His flat is also in the second floor. As soon as I entered his room, I could see the tall Lyrita Harmony speakers and Lyrita Amp and phonostage. These items are not new to me, I have listened to them no of occasions before at Viren's place except the phonostage.
Although Steve has recently acquired a Garrad 301 TT, The TT connected was Project RP-9 with carbon fibre tonearm. Design-wise, it is absolutely close to Scheu Premier. The motor is totally separate and has no connection with the plinth. The platter is of Acrylic. The cart used was Ortofon OM-5E, which is an entry level cart. Actually RP-9 is in use till the Garrad 301 gets ready with SME tonearm. The cart, as planned by Steve is Denon DL-103 modded by Zu Audio. The cart weight after modding, which includes change of the housing also, would be around 14 g, which is high and require heavy arm. Although, Steve is confident to manage the above heavy cart with his SME arm.
Steve played no. of LPs of Jazz, Blue, Ventures. The sound was absolutely analogue. He changed the tubes to Telefunken and then to Mullard plate type in his phonostage. The sound with Telefunken tube was more neutral than the warm and musical sound of Mullard.
All the LPs played by Steve are beautifully cleaned and played without any noise. Steve shown me a stylus cleaner Onzow Zerodust. It can be used for life long period and comparatively easy to use and can be cleaned with warm water. Also, he suggested double brush with velvet record cleaner (replica of Hunt brush), available at Sleevetown.com (Sleeve City). I didn't note down the name of various LPs played and their sounds, as Project TT is not in my radar. However, the session was enjoyable even with the entry level cart. Specially, the change of sound with rolling of tubes were clearly demonstrated by him. During the discussion, he mentioned about the arm+cart combo of Hadcock HG-228 10" arm (700 GBP) with Music Maker-III (500 GBP) cart. I have to read more in net about them. After about 2 hours session, when I left steves home then the clock hits 10'o clock in night. It was a very informative and fruitful session.
Audition at Arjun's home
Next day (i.e saturday) my first appointment was with Arjun. His home near Agara Jn is about an hour journey from my guest house near Golf course. I reached there at around 8-45 am. Arjun's set up is one of the very well thought and balanced set up with Leben 600 amp, Merlin bookshelf speaker, Lenco 75 TT with Linn Akito arm and Nagoka MM cart. He also uses a pair of REL subwoofers with remote to capture the low level bass and control the bass level. The IC and speaker wire used were from Solitone and Nagamura respectively. The phonostage he uses is from Lyrita. As he is planning to upgrade his tonearm to Thomas Schick and cart to MC cart, he is looking for upgradation of his phonostage also. Jochen has given the Trigon Vanguard phono and the battery to him for few days for trial. As the Trigon phono was there available, we have compared briefly between Trigon and Lyrita. Trign sound is also slightly warmish, but it produced better frequency extension than Lyrita. Also, its usability for both MM and MC cart brings value at its price point.
Regarding Lenco TT, it is no doubt a solid TT. With better arm and cart and proper alignment, it would be a very good TT. Arjun is avid Hindi music lover. We have played diferent hindi LPs. First we have played Kinara. The voice of Bhupinder Singh came very well. But the cart alignment was not very proper. Arjun was trying to adjust it during the session. Because of this alignment issue and lack of my experience and calibration gadgets etc. I would like to start with a new and comparatively simple TT rather than an used one.
We then played Jodha Akbar Sonu Nigam song. The performance, I found, was a bit flat. Sonu's voice is definetely livelier than what we have heard. Few more LPs were played and the sound were enjoyable even with not so precisely aligned cart.
I took leave at around 10-15 Am, as Arjun was to attend the Parent Teachers meet at his daughter's school.
Audition at Soumyajit's (ROC) home
After taking lucnh at our Guest House, I started for Soumyajit's home at around 1-30 pm. Soumyajit's home is at Whitefield Road, which is at the outskirt of Bangalore. It took about an hour to reach his home. He greeted me very cordially and introduced to his wife and brother, who came from Kolkata on tour. We then straight headed for his music room. Among his gears, the speaker (Usher BE-718) and CD player (Ayon CD 1s) are same as mine. the amp is Macormack DNA-125 and Lyrita Pre amp. The Lyrita preamp has inbuild phonostage. The TT is Technics SL-B2 purchased from used market. The interconnect as well as speaker wires are from Einstein. Macormack DNA-125 power amp is a good musical warm amp and produces good bass from BE-718. The bass became more, as he told, after putting Ayon Cd1s in the chain. Ayon CD1s beats his Technics TT hands down. Of course, price-wise they are no match..
We have listened few LPs e.g. Dire Strait, Fleetwood Mac etc.. Soumyajit maintains his records well and the sound was decent. But Ayon CD1s, even when used as DAC with Laptop as source and M2 Tech HiFace USB to SPDIF converter and Rich Street Audio SPDIF cable sounds much better than Technics TT.
Our session continued upto 5-30 pm with lot of Adda in very homely atmosphere. Then I left for Airport.
After this tour, I more or less heard and taken audition of all the brands of TTs available in India except Clearaudio.
Now, I have to finally decide.
