Visited the show today afternoon. In order of visit, some impressions of the rooms.
The first port of call was the Nexus Audio room where a PMC twenty.26 floorstanding speaker was paired with the AVM Evolution CS 5.2 "all-in-one" box. This box is a CD player, a streaming receiver, boasting 330 watts, is a DAC with async USB, optical and coax interfaces, and supports practically all audio formats, and is also an MM/MC phono stage to boot! Cables were Soliton.
The speakers were set up quite wide, to fire along the shorter length of the room. The sound was very, very good. The AVM Evolution sure had a good grip on the speakers. This must be one of the best one-box solution in the market today. Of course one can't expect anything less when a room is set up by Khushrau Jilla of Nexus Audio
Next up was the Morel Sopran room. In the Morel speaker line-up, this beautifully curved speakers come in at one level below the top of the line Morel - namely the Fat Lady. The source was a top-of-the-line Marantz SACD player. A Marantz intergrated from the same line as the SACD player was used as a preamp, driving two Parasound power amplifiers. Unfortunately my photos are grainy due to the dark room and I can't make out the model numbers of the Marantz player and amp. Cables were Nordost Valhalla (1 or 2 - I am not sure). The window behind the equipment rack was covered by a huge mattress. The speakers need to be heard with the tweeters at ear level for it to sound right. For example, if one listens standing, the tweeters can get a bit too strident. To my ears this room sounded a bit too bright, percussions taking on a metallic tinge. The tonal balance was skewed and upturned. I could not place what caused it. May be wrong pairing of amp and speakers? I can't say for sure, but I learned today from experienced friends that Parasounds can be tough to get right. Close, but no cigar.
The next room had the full range of the Andrew Jones-designed Elac Debut speakers. The floorstanding F6 was playing. This is a three way bass reflex with 1 inch fabric tweeter, one 6.5" woven aramid fibre midrange, and two 6.5" woven aramid woofers. It is specced at 39-20000 Hz with a sensitivity of 87 dB at 2.83V at 1 meter, and 6 Ohms nominal impedance, going to a minimum of 5.4 Ohms. I guess that would qualify it as a fairly easy load for amplifiers, though one won't be expected to drive it with low-wattage amps. MRP Rs 76000. Also playing was an S10EQ powered subwoofer from the Debut line. This sub has all controls via a tablet or smartphone remote. The back panel is devoid of any controls. Electronics in this room consisted of a "norma Revo Digital Source" spinning CDs and a norma "Revo Amplifier". Cables were In-akustik from Germany. The electronics are many classes above the partnering speakers but served to raise the sound of these capable speakers. The sound of this room totally belied the budget nature of the speakers. I spent one of the longest time in this room. It was good. Period. Kudos to our forum member Bhagwan for setting up this room (one of the three rooms he'd set up for this show - this plus two Tannoy rooms). The subwoofer kicked in only when the program material required it and was unobstrusive otherwise. Just the way a subwoofer must be set up for two-channel :thumbsup: For those interested, the subwoofer is priced Rs 55000. The Debut B6 two-way bookshelves are priced at Rs 35000. The smaller Debut F6 floorstanders are priced Rs 70000.
Next up was the Tannoy Prestige room with the Turnberry (Rs 6.4 lakhs) and Kensington GR (Rs 12.8 lakhs). A Denon DCD 2000 was doing CD spinning duties. Hegel HD30 (Rs 4.49 lakhs) did amplification duty. The sound in this room was one of the very best in this edition of the What HiFi show. What we heard was the Tannoy Turnberry. Last year too the Tannoy Prestige room played very well. This time they've clearly bettered it. I don't recall the partnering electronics of last year, but the sound this year seems to have improved due to the total loving care shown in the placement of the speakers. These speakers are supposedly meant for placement near a wall, but I've always heard them at their best when given a wide space behind them. Prestige owners please take note. The room also had on static display a Hegel pre and power amp.
Up next was the huge JBL Everest (Rs 80 lakhs) room with Mark Levinson CDP, pre and power. I will state upfront that this room was the Sound of the Show for me. Where it edged past the Tannoy Prestige was the sheer purity of the music and the sheer blackness of the background; both had music dripping like honey. Neither has a modern hifi-ish sound, so some of us may not like them much, but one can't deny their musicality. This is not to say they have rolled-off highs and a spot-lighted midrange. Both sounded very balanced and resolved every little nuance in the music.
Up next was the Sonus Faber room where Rivera had on display the "budget" Venere (about 5.5 lakhs) floorstander and the Amati futura floorstander. Electronics was Macintosh throughout (MCD550 SACD player with built-in preamp, MB100 Media Bridge, and MA8000 Integrated amp). Cabling was Oyaide. This year, they've chosen to fire along the longer length of the room, with ample space behind the speakers. I heard a much more likable sound this year. We heard both speakers and they were both very good. The Amati futura obviously edged past the Venere but the Venere was no slouch. This room probably had the deepest soundstage this show. Some may term it laidback but personally I liked it. A lot.
The last room for the day was the Nexus Audio HT room where they had set up the
PodiumSound Podium 1 distributed driver panel speakers. Electronics is from Artora (CDP-cum-pre and amp). Very mesmerising sound from these panels. I only thought the sound could be a bit weightier, otherwise it lacked nothing. There's no real sweetspot as it gets spread over a wide area since this speakers are designed to radiate omnidirectionally.
I could not visit many other rooms due to paucity of time. Also, I didn't go to any of the HT rooms as I knew I just won't have the time. As Bhagwan had been advising, it's a good idea to try and cover over two days at least. And take your favourite CDs - it's not wise to audition with unfamiliar tracks.
All in all, a very good show and a marked improvement in sound over the 2015 edition.
I have lots of photos. I will try to upload them in the next couple of days.