What HiFi Show Bangalore

[sash]

Hi folks,
I drove from Mysore to visit the show today and spent more than 4 hours at the venue. Here are the highlights (i'm no critical listener of music so this is as much detail that i can go):
1. I went mainly to see from HT perspective as that is my interest mostly
2. What i found was that the show was relatively well organized. People manning the stalls were very courteous and went out of their way to demonstrate their wares. This is a welcome change as we heard complaints from fellow FMs last year on this aspect (maybe because it was the first day )
3. The stalls that i loved were Cinebels (Klipsch), Babbler group (Q Acoustics), Epson, Dynox (Elac)
4. A new wireless, active speaker system by Klipsch was demoed. MRP 6L for 5.1 including the electronics. This system was terrific in my opinion - the dynamics were awesome and i could see a noticeable difference from my system. Also on demo was the Klipsch R-15PM - the versatile all purpose active bookshelfs with great connectivity that i have been eyeing. MRP 60+ thousand. Mr Balaji was a great host and spent a lot of time answering my questions.
6. Babbler group stall: First time i got to listen to Q Acoustics 3050. What a fine pair of speakers!! Mated to Marantz pre-power, the speakers produced prolific bass in pure stereo. Awesome speakers, thoroughly impressed. Also played 5.2.2 atmos configuration of Q-Acoustics. I felt the center channel was weak but everything else was great including the two subwoofers and height speakers. Mr Dinesh, again, a great host, allowed me to spend nearly half hour listening to their systems
7. Epson had the legendary laser illuminated LS 10000 on display. I got only a few mins with it in complete darkness and it was a revelation. Great contrast and blacks. The projector is the size of a large trunk though and is MRPed at 6L or so.
8. Dynox stall (Elac): Finally got to listen to the Elac Debut floorstanders. Awesome speakers, tight deep bass when a demo CD was played with a lot of drums in it. But what impressed me most was the S12EQ subwoofer. This is one of the best subs that i have heard ever. The bass was so tight, so subtle and enriching - it never overpowered the music. I might get one of these soon. Great staff in the stall - do not hesitate to get them to play this combination, they obliged willingly today.
9. Sonodyne had a lot of stuff on display. A dedicated theater with active speakers and sonodyne electronics was on demo. Somehow i felt they were not configured and tuned properly. I was not blown away.
10. There was a dali dealer too but he pretty much only had the higher models (Opticon etc). I listened briefly but the music was not to my taste and i quickly exited.
11. Surprisingly Axiom audio was on display too. Hansa pics bangalore is the dealer. There was a pair of huge omni directional speakers (drivers on front and rear!!) was set up that sounded pretty good but wasn't as phenomenal as the guy made them out to be. But the smaller HT speakers were amazing for their size - scale dynamics etc was pretty awesome.
12. Polk signature series was on display at Profx. Not sure why, but they didn't sound good to me
i saw few of our FM types (modest, unassuming, deep in thought with a wise man's silence ) but looks like i was wrong - most of you did not visit today.
I met FM Bhagwan briefly - i recognized him from his pictures on this forum in the past

 

[soundbuff]

My two bits,
Went to the show yesterday, loitered around with a few friends for much of the day. enjoyed myself hugely.
Rooms I came back remembering
1. A powered stand mount called Kii if I remember correctly. Dealer from surat. simply superb speaker, coherent, fast, uncluttered, very little congestion on climaxes and quite natural too. Limited low frequency extension for sure. My favorite at the show. Would I sell up my entire set up to get this, not sure!
2. While the MBL set up was awesome, I wish they had some music to play. They had sound effects on display. The demonstartor shut me up by saying that real audiophile should not ask stupid technical questions (like speaker sensitivity or power requiremets!), but without meaning to be rude. Honestly the entire set up including amps fall in the dream system category for which I would need to sell my house! Pretty sure its not worth that.
3. Heard Graham speakers for the first time. More like my kind of taste and territory.
4. Axiom was there and the top model was not bad at all. I thought they were a home theatre company, but its a very good speaker for music too. open clean, not heavy but not lacking in weight either. Came away quite impressed.
5.Heard Devialet. If you like Bose then this is Bose ka baap. Seriously, for a little round box, it was fantastic.
6.Focal room had HT so I ran away.
7. Popped in and out of the other rooms, mostly they had awful to to ordinary music, the one exception was the Supra cable room which had lovely jazz playing

Had a great time. Met the great men like Prithvi and Khusrau in the flesh and quite a few 'hail fellow well met' audiophiles.

 

[pkhammu2005]

dear members who visited the show,any update on the KRIX speakers demo?
they seem to be for dedicated rooms behind the screen.

 

[keith_correa]

i saw few of our FM types (modest, unassuming, deep in thought with a wise man's silence ) but looks like i was wrong - most of you did not visit today.

Made my day!

 

[Vivek Rao]

FMs at the show pl make it a point to listen to the Zu Audio speakers demo. I really liked the transparency they displayed. Very impressive.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

 

[reignofchaos]

Went in the morning today when there was not much crowd and let me say it was worth it for a few exhibits. The standouts for me were the following:

Invention Audio Room: The best room overall IMHO. Invention audio is a made in Hyderabad brand that build end to end systems.
- The speakers on display were a large TL floor-stander with a pair of 10W Class-A monos, their own dac and power conditioner.
- The system though very large disappeared completely - sound-stage had depth and width.
- It sounded almost tonally pure, incredibly dynamic and produced deep, room filling bass without much overhang.
- I minor issues with the mid range purity but others may not find it much of an issue.
- There was also a bit of hiss and the background was not completely black probably because an ordinary desktop was repurposed to play music.
- Overall a stellar system that unfortunately night not have a lot of Wife Acceptance factor. I wish they improved their looks and fit/finish.

Nexus Audio Room: This room is where I spent a lot of time as the hosts were really very warm.
- They had a small Graham Audio (BBC Monitor) bookshelf on their own lossy stands, an AVM DAC/CD Player and a 70W Octave PP Tube amp.
- This speaker while lacking the realism, raw resolution and the bass impact of the previous system felt purer in terms of tone.
- It sang really well for its size and there was some good work done on placement and tweaking of the system.
- This speaker worked really well with acoustic music and really shone when I played some Jennifer Warnes and Eva Cassidy.
- This probably would be a very easy system to live with long term and considering the cost was a spectacular deal.

Absolute Sound Room: Fantastic active system
- Kii Audio actives powered by a mac book and a bel canto dac - this system was really nice sounding.
- It was extremely resolving and was also setup very very well.
- Though I preferred the Graham over this one, to be honest its neck and neck and maybe in certain constrained rooms this would work better as it can be DSP tuned to the room.
- For me the sound was not as pure as the Graham and for less money, I would pick up the Graham+Octave combo.

Couple of others I visited:
Bass/Treble Room - Zu Audio Omen + Rogue Audio PP Amp + Arye QB9 + Macbook + Thorens TD309 (not connected)
- The sound was a bit fatiguing to me. Though the hosts were really welcoming and were glad to play what I requested, the sound was not up my alley
- The placement when I entered was just so wrong. I unfortunately didn't enjoy the sound.

MBL Room - Terrible sound. Less said the better.

 

[meppa]

I visited the event with a friend. Went with the intention of finding a good 2 channel amp and speaker system with a budget of 1L. Most rooms were busy.
Most were attempting to show off big ticket items ( probably the venue is the reason ) .
No superlatives phrases in my experience.

 

[reignofchaos]

Just to mention, the Kii audio actives might sound better with a better source. I am not a huge fan of Belcanto sound and that could be one of the reasons why I preferred the passive Graham.

 

[john_k_antony]

I was at the show today and spend few hours. These are the rooms that really made my day

1. Invention Audio Room:

Have to say, this is probably the best "musical" room. The whole system's synergy was exemplary to my ears. I am not sure if they sounded "technically accurate", but it was very soothing and very musical. I felt I could spend hours listening to the system. The system sounded very well with different genre of music. The sweet and airy highs were divine. This system is definitely in the top of my shot list for my next upgrade!

The experience was more like savoring a well aged wine on a lazy Saturday evening .

2. Absolute Sound Room:

I think the Kii active setup was the most "realistic" and "live" sounding of the lot. The imaging and realism portrayed were just too good to be true.

3. Bass/Treble Room - Zu Audio:

I am a little biased towards Zu Audio as I have already heard couple of Zu speaker setups at my friends place and I was also very lucky to get an opportunity to spend a lot of time with the founder, SEAN CASEY, when he came personally to my ex-boss's house to upgrade the caps of his Zu Definition speakers. I totally concur with the honest review from reignofchaos where he mentioned that they sounded pretty harsh. Even I felt the same and I think its because they were playing the entry level Omens and there were some system mismatch. The ones that I have heard are Soul SuperFly and Definition (their second best model), both driven by a DIY tube amps and they sounded heavenly and had the airy and hefty sound signature that I love. Zu Omen Def MK II is another pair of speakers on my shortlist, that I really hoped they would bring to the show.

Most of the other rooms were dedicated to HT. To be frank, none of them impressed me. I think it mainly due to the poor setup / room dimensions. I did like the McInthosh room though.

 

[square_wave]

MBL Room - Terrible sound. Less said the better.

I managed to play some of my music through the Mbls. The music the dealer was playing was absolutely terrible.

If you lower the volume and play your music, you start hearing the potential of those wonderful mid/ tweeter driver.That room is extremely small for those speakers so the bass is completely muddying the rest of the spectrum.

 

[reignofchaos]

I managed to play some of my music through the Mbls. The music the dealer was playing was absolutely terrible.

If you lower the volume and play your music, you start hearing the potential of those wonderful mid/ tweeter driver.That room is extremely small for those speakers so the bass is completely muddying the rest of the spectrum.

Actually I tried playing some of my CDs which they obliged. However the speakers were just too large and the overhang was unbearable. Also constant talking and people walking in and out just completely pissed me off.

Might go check out the speakers sometime in their experience center. However I do not think I can afford them in this lifetime

 

[s_sachin]

Anyone clicked pictures .. Please post

 

[mahaaprasaad]

Visited yesterday,

Good experience and very nice exhibition. Lot to see and listen.

FMs were already briefed their experience.

For me, awesome experience at Modi Digital Stall(605)

I could able to audition the high end stereo set up comprising of:

Source: Laptop/Tab
DAC: MERGING NADAC - NETWORK DAC 2 Ch(Approx Rs. 8 Lakh)
Amp: NAD M22
speaker: PSB Imagine T3 FS

Very simple setup with straightforward line of equipment, which stereo guys will probably appreciate. Clear, detailed and Musical.
Must to visit place for stereophiles particularly NAD+PSB lovers

Surprising and memorable moment is to meet and discuss with the Mr. Vijay Modi and Mr. Aditya Modi, (Father and son), eminent sound engineers of Indian movie industry, and associates of AR Rehman since long time. Discussed more about music reproduction rather than electronics.

 

[sachin.shiva]

Visited today show from 11 am to 2 pm.around 20 rooms.KII audio was excellent.meditative experience while listening to it.but two bookshelf speakers cost was 6.9 lakh.too expensive.
Heard psb Imagine 3 excellent demo with nad.

First time heard Klipsch HD REFERENCE wireless speakers for 6.9 lakh.actually it doesn't require any av receivers .Speakers are having inbuilt amplifiers & drivers.Experience was good compared to wired speakers & receiver.Thanks to cinebels,Bangalore.

Pro FX Bangalore ,atmos demo ,excellent.

Invention audio ,superb experience.

No dts x ,no AURO 3D SET UPS

Seen Elite screen at 1 lakh & 2 lakh ,impressed with living room experience of screen with ambient lightening on benq projector.

What Hi-Fi Show was organised very well as compared to last year .Thanks to Whathifi,ProFX & forum members.

 

[arj]

Was there for some time today
Kii - the speakers have a dac and class d modules built in powering a tweeter and 4 bass units facing 4 different directions and built in DSP. Very detailed sound, very coherent and able to reveal everything in the music. It is beautifully setup as well. My only issue , lacks emotion as you miss the rawness of instruments which makes music real.

MBL- the system is really good but not well setup and when I gave a flac they played it via VLC [emoji40]. As ROC said above you know those speakers are something since the macrodynamics are amazing and even at low volumes you can hear every detail.

Zu audio with Rogue Audio setup. I really loved these. I felt they provided a realism to music more than any other system I heard today vocals had the palpabilty and realism .the vinyl setup was not as detailed as I would like perhaps because of the cart or phono. This might have been one of the lower cost systems but sounded really good . When I first went in they requested for 20 mins since they were doing a reset on the placement and that might explain why my experience is different to ROCs

Graham with AVM - surprisingly quite underwhelming. It did most things right other than drawing one into the music. The kind of system you will want to play in a lobby or lounge so music is in the background ..i was rather disappointed and did not even ask for my music to be played as I felt it completely lacked macrodynamics . Might be good for playing in soft intimate kind of music.

Nandac /psb - not bad ..did most things right except for excessive base. Did not have much time so did not hang around much.

If I were to recommend any system I would actually do the Zu and rogue audio. Pretty good synergy and got the music right and I think they are priced very nice in the US ..not sure of india prices.


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[MaSh]

Mini HiFi meet of 5 members going on at Jimi's opposite the venue. Anyone at the show, come join.

Mash

 

[philipreji]

Had been there from 11 am to 3 pm. Good show and well organized. My choices (limited to 2.0 and 2.1 systems only) were as follows:

(1) Invention Audio: This seemingly unknown brand (from Hyderabad) was amazing.
(2) KII audio: Was excellent. Setup had power conditioners, cable lifters etc.
(3) NAD + PSB speakers: Very good performance.

Entered the Graham Speakers stall with great expectation. The setup had AVM and Ovtave (tube) units - amp and preamp I think. However the performance was not up to the mark - don't know why.

cheers
Reji

 

[Audio_Freek]

Visited Show Previous day.It was well organized than last year Bit Disappointment Since Dynaudio, Sonus Faber,PMC ,Harbeth ,Genelac Were Missing.More were into HT and Focal Stall, Q acoustic,Krix, Sonodyne ,Kef were promising.

On Stereo Prescriptive I was impressed with Axiom Audio-Marantz (Spent More than 20 Mins in the Room) and Focal-Accuphase. French Company Devialet Speakers were Small and Smashing.

Now waiting for next Year's Show

 

[Nikhil]

I visited the show on Saturday afternoon. Took in most of the rooms.
Kudos to the organizers for bringing a quality show to Bangalore once again.
And it was quite well attended from the numbers present during my visit.

Some observations to add to what has already been mentioned;

Invention Audio was a new name for me last year so this time I looked forward to the room. The sound was quite nice when they played their demo tracks. However, when another visitor asked for his CD to be played there was a bass problem. The other issue I had was his reluctance to let us take pictures or take a closer look at the gear. To my eyes, the finish was poor and I expect a lot more for the Rs 14-16 lakh ticket price.

Having said that this guy "gets" audio. Class A sound with good quality components will not go wrong. He has tremendous potential and I hope that he does well. I also appreciate that as a small company he displayed at the show. This is something that a few well known dealers did not do.

One dealer was at the show and shuttling people to his premises for auditions. Another, who happens to be a genuine nice guy, held a parallel open house during the show. I don't know the cost economics of the show but it would have been nice to have more Bangalore dealers support the show. I think both sides should come to the table and discuss matters before the next show. In the absence of quality brands the show gets reduced to a consumer electronics HT show.

The other dismaying aspect was that MBL and Devialet are being handled by "pappu" dealers. These guys are pure number pushers who have no idea what they are doing. One could hear them talking loudly all afternoon in the hallway - reminded me of the days when I used to buy car stereos from the grey markets.

I was disappointed that it was a small show this time with many brands absent. It took a lot of effort for me to work this show into my schedule and I didn't feel it was worth the time. There were some good rooms however and I will post my observations at another time.

 

[music4mhell]

I visited on saturday afternoon, this was my 1st show. I was having very high expectations, but ...

Other fellow members have already pointed out all points.
I just want to ask one query about "Invention Audio". When i asked the guy which DAC you are using, he said it's discrete DAC chip, it's not any conventional wolfson/Ess/Cirrus.

Can any1 please help me out understanding his in-house discrete DAC chip ?
This thing is eating my head from Saturday, thank you in advance.

But thanks to this show i was able to listen to Devialet Phantom. Not impressed at all