Had visited the show on Saturday........ visited benq projector demo, but they were showing demo file which is stored, they were not having proper 4K Movie for demo, these companies are spending so much on this show, why they can't buy 4K Movie disk? ... Mainly, looking for projector screen, In elite screen demo, again the problem is same, they don't have proper 4k Movie disc for demo..... how sad?
WHAT Hi-Fi SHOW 2019 MUMBAI 1st - 3rd March 2019 St Regis
- Thread starter efernand1
- Start date
anuragn
Active Member
Nice coverage & reviews by all FMs who visited!
I decided it give it a miss this time and after reading through, I feel it was not bad decision.
I decided it give it a miss this time and after reading through, I feel it was not bad decision.
I too feel the same. Over the last few years, it has become more of a business meet rather than aimed at audio enthusiasts.
audiocrazy
Member
which Benq model they were playing .
Here is my extremely late contribution to the show notes.
I was in Mumbai last weekend and I visited the show on Saturday.
Best Sound of the Show was the Kii Audio Room by far.
Perhaps the only room at the show with true high end sound - kudos to Jignesh for an excellent setup.
Lots has already been mentioned on this room but I will add that for those interested in digital this was a tremendous display with a full stack of SOtM boxes most important of what I believe was the Clock - which was added for the first time. Jignesh has had the Kii Threes in previous shows but this time he really nailed the setup. Interestingly DSP was all but turned off and the acoustic panels placed at first reflection points as well on the front and back walls just did their thing. This was the only room I visited twice and was treated to some sublime music.
As I have been talking about in the Kii Audio Three discussion on here - there is so much upside to the active speaker approach and I was really happy to see some exhibits at the show featuring active designs.
The PMC Result6 room was in my opinion a very good room as well. For about Rs 2.5L one gets a very decent active setup that will do a very good job in a small room. This isn't a sound that pops and draws attention to the gear. Rather the speakers just go about their business and let the music through. During my visit the highlight was Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" which just wafted across the room space. You have to wonder what we have lost in all these years when you listen to that piece - just magical and to think that it was recorded a good 60 plus years ago. Being from PMCs pro range these actives may not be available in retail setups but deserve a look.
The other active setup that I spent a little time with was the Totem KIN Play room. Unfortunately this room was poorly setup in that the turntable was not setup properly and prone to playback problems. But even with these issues, there was a moment when. in the sweet spot, the sound stage just went about 4 feet behind the front wall. There was also a Bluesound Node providing digital as a source so others might have been luckier. Still it was another (relatively) pocket friendly active option.
There were two other rooms that may have not got the attention they deserved.
The first was the Klipsch room with the Forte III speakers. Apart from active setups the other thing that I've been keen to explore is horns. I was truly happy to see the Heritage speakers at the show with the Forte and the Heresy available for audition at the Klipsch room. I could not get a proper listening with this room as it was busy and a little noisy but for a brief moment the sweet effortless sound of the horn loaded mid range came through. My suspicion was that the amps may not have been the best match for the Fortes. The woofers seemed to loaf on some bits disrupting the coherence of the sound. But that mid range was something that would want me to come back to these speakers at some point.
The other was the McIntosh + Sonus Faber stateroom. As others have mentioned this room could have done with a lot more in terms of setup as this was a huge space and had a shiny marble flooring to make matters worse. On display was what I think was the MA8900 Integrated paired with Sonus Faber Olympica III floorstanders. Source was a laptop placed right on top of the integrated. Why did they bother taking a stateroom? Both McIntosh and Sonus Faber are products beyond reproach and missed an opportunity to make a statement at the show.
The sound from this setup changed drastically from song to song. Fortunately a Telarc demo piece by Johann Strauss' "Explosions Polka ..." got my attention not least because of the actual explosions that starts off the piece. The dynamics of that explosion was so clean and tight that I asked for it to be played again. The McIntosh integrated clearly has plenty of power to spare and was able to handle that at high volume. The Sonus Faber Olympica III speakers for their part were just beautifully made with a fit and finish not out of place in a bespoke setting. So once again another room with so much potential but lacking in execution. Still don't understand why a little more care was not taken to showcase them better.
General Observations on the Mumbai Show
I was surprised at the huge shuffling of distributors by several major brands. At this show seemingly there was a musical chairs of brands being moved from one distributor to another. Clearly the effects of the economy have devastated the industry. One can only hope that the people behind the large brands are invested in the long term. It is clear that the India market is still nascent and has a long way to go. The approach used in mass selling consumer goods cannot be the way to handle high end audio.
Which leads into the next point - the show clearly draws a lot of dealers and people from the industry. One could not help but notice that some of these were "box pushers" who play the numbers game. High end audio differs from the consumer product game.
The show itself is a bit of a hybrid show in that the large brands and their distributors are looking to establish dealers and market contacts in a more B2B fashion. It is only the smaller boutique high end D&Ds who are looking to interact with end users and audio enthusiasts. At the end of the day the show organizers will have to ask themselves what kind of show they want to have. Other industries organize shows in which certain days are set aside for industry professionals only with other days left open for the larger market audience.
One last observation in response to some of the other posts earlier. The show clearly reflected a move towards more budget gear. In some of the earlier shows there was the complaint of products being too high end. The complaint being that some could hardly relate to the products being offered. This time clearly a large number of products were closer to the affordable side than previous shows. As a result most of the rooms were filled with more approachable gear but sound quality varied all over the spectrum,
It's hard to keep everyone happy.
.
I was in Mumbai last weekend and I visited the show on Saturday.
Best Sound of the Show was the Kii Audio Room by far.
Perhaps the only room at the show with true high end sound - kudos to Jignesh for an excellent setup.
Lots has already been mentioned on this room but I will add that for those interested in digital this was a tremendous display with a full stack of SOtM boxes most important of what I believe was the Clock - which was added for the first time. Jignesh has had the Kii Threes in previous shows but this time he really nailed the setup. Interestingly DSP was all but turned off and the acoustic panels placed at first reflection points as well on the front and back walls just did their thing. This was the only room I visited twice and was treated to some sublime music.
As I have been talking about in the Kii Audio Three discussion on here - there is so much upside to the active speaker approach and I was really happy to see some exhibits at the show featuring active designs.
The PMC Result6 room was in my opinion a very good room as well. For about Rs 2.5L one gets a very decent active setup that will do a very good job in a small room. This isn't a sound that pops and draws attention to the gear. Rather the speakers just go about their business and let the music through. During my visit the highlight was Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" which just wafted across the room space. You have to wonder what we have lost in all these years when you listen to that piece - just magical and to think that it was recorded a good 60 plus years ago. Being from PMCs pro range these actives may not be available in retail setups but deserve a look.
The other active setup that I spent a little time with was the Totem KIN Play room. Unfortunately this room was poorly setup in that the turntable was not setup properly and prone to playback problems. But even with these issues, there was a moment when. in the sweet spot, the sound stage just went about 4 feet behind the front wall. There was also a Bluesound Node providing digital as a source so others might have been luckier. Still it was another (relatively) pocket friendly active option.
There were two other rooms that may have not got the attention they deserved.
The first was the Klipsch room with the Forte III speakers. Apart from active setups the other thing that I've been keen to explore is horns. I was truly happy to see the Heritage speakers at the show with the Forte and the Heresy available for audition at the Klipsch room. I could not get a proper listening with this room as it was busy and a little noisy but for a brief moment the sweet effortless sound of the horn loaded mid range came through. My suspicion was that the amps may not have been the best match for the Fortes. The woofers seemed to loaf on some bits disrupting the coherence of the sound. But that mid range was something that would want me to come back to these speakers at some point.
The other was the McIntosh + Sonus Faber stateroom. As others have mentioned this room could have done with a lot more in terms of setup as this was a huge space and had a shiny marble flooring to make matters worse. On display was what I think was the MA8900 Integrated paired with Sonus Faber Olympica III floorstanders. Source was a laptop placed right on top of the integrated. Why did they bother taking a stateroom? Both McIntosh and Sonus Faber are products beyond reproach and missed an opportunity to make a statement at the show.
The sound from this setup changed drastically from song to song. Fortunately a Telarc demo piece by Johann Strauss' "Explosions Polka ..." got my attention not least because of the actual explosions that starts off the piece. The dynamics of that explosion was so clean and tight that I asked for it to be played again. The McIntosh integrated clearly has plenty of power to spare and was able to handle that at high volume. The Sonus Faber Olympica III speakers for their part were just beautifully made with a fit and finish not out of place in a bespoke setting. So once again another room with so much potential but lacking in execution. Still don't understand why a little more care was not taken to showcase them better.
General Observations on the Mumbai Show
I was surprised at the huge shuffling of distributors by several major brands. At this show seemingly there was a musical chairs of brands being moved from one distributor to another. Clearly the effects of the economy have devastated the industry. One can only hope that the people behind the large brands are invested in the long term. It is clear that the India market is still nascent and has a long way to go. The approach used in mass selling consumer goods cannot be the way to handle high end audio.
Which leads into the next point - the show clearly draws a lot of dealers and people from the industry. One could not help but notice that some of these were "box pushers" who play the numbers game. High end audio differs from the consumer product game.
The show itself is a bit of a hybrid show in that the large brands and their distributors are looking to establish dealers and market contacts in a more B2B fashion. It is only the smaller boutique high end D&Ds who are looking to interact with end users and audio enthusiasts. At the end of the day the show organizers will have to ask themselves what kind of show they want to have. Other industries organize shows in which certain days are set aside for industry professionals only with other days left open for the larger market audience.
One last observation in response to some of the other posts earlier. The show clearly reflected a move towards more budget gear. In some of the earlier shows there was the complaint of products being too high end. The complaint being that some could hardly relate to the products being offered. This time clearly a large number of products were closer to the affordable side than previous shows. As a result most of the rooms were filled with more approachable gear but sound quality varied all over the spectrum,
It's hard to keep everyone happy.
.
ONEMANARMY
Active Member
Last year I had gone with a lot of enthusiasm but came away extremely disappointed.
I gave it a pass this year.
Can't believe they bring speakers just to display. C'mon, everybody knows what they look like
I gave it a pass this year.
Can't believe they bring speakers just to display. C'mon, everybody knows what they look like
rikhav
Well-Known Member
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My take is different
I respect opinion of others as well.
If you are a distributor carrying multiple brands makes sense for you to get a bigger room.
You cant play more then one setup in one room so even if they are setup to play , which they could have as space was not an issue, I don't think it made any sense
And having a room each for all setup was never going to be economical.
So made sense to show the public what all they carry and I am sure they would have taken request for arranging a demo in their demo room
I respect opinion of others as well.
If you are a distributor carrying multiple brands makes sense for you to get a bigger room.
You cant play more then one setup in one room so even if they are setup to play , which they could have as space was not an issue, I don't think it made any sense
And having a room each for all setup was never going to be economical.
So made sense to show the public what all they carry and I am sure they would have taken request for arranging a demo in their demo room
M
mpw
Guest
atleast - i got to see the high end speakers etc..
if a person is serious about auditioning and knows the price before hand - better visit the dealer showroom or ask for a home audition is my take..
Well.......if space seems to be a challenge for these dealers...then What Hi Fi should consider better venue options like BKC (Jio Gardens / Exhibition Grounds) where there will be ample space for multiple setups, better crowd control and movement.....avoid the cumbersome elevator wait to move between floors etc......
I think all of us individually should throw our feedback to them.....hopefully then dealers and perhaps more dealers can take part and showcase their stuff with spot deals and discounts,,,,,,,make it win win for all!
I think all of us individually should throw our feedback to them.....hopefully then dealers and perhaps more dealers can take part and showcase their stuff with spot deals and discounts,,,,,,,make it win win for all!
nice analysis
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