Lyritas budget HiFi

I think it was a CD written in PCM format converted from a FLAC file. That's how it could play on normal CDP.

Ah-ha ! THAT makes sense !

Thanks for the feedback, doc.

Kamal schrieb:

to visit my inlaws ...

Now I understand the urgency to hear good music

!

Hello Kamal and Sanjay,

Thanks again.

The valve monoblock amps do give you more control over the speakers, due to their higher power reserves. You get tighter bass, with a feeling of greater extension. May be required if you have a very large listening room.

However, for most Indian listening rooms, the integrated Integre has enough omph to fill your room with music. A single chassis amp, fewer cables - simplicity has its virtues!

Viren.

what do i say! great review once again kamal! thanks a ton for the detailed rock review. really helpful. now i just cant stop day dreaming and drooling by the way i've ordered the integre. ought to be getting it in 2-3 weeks. will have to wait another month or so for the harmony one's though. will only be able to order them next month round 15th or so. will live vicariously through your reviews till then. my leanings are now going towards high sensitivity speakers, lower watt amps. upgrade (downgrade for many i'm sure ) will be to a 2-5 watt SET

i heard cadence over the weekend (more on that in another thread) and one point viren had made about low sensitivity speakers needing to be driven to high volumes to sound good proved true with the aritas (86db). the arcas on the other hand (91db) were going great guns with an average of 7-10 watts and a max of around 20-25 watts at peaks!

Okay abhi, went over yesterday to Virens after he had arranged for his Mini integrated valve amp(10 W RMS)& heard it paired with the Harmony One's,using the kind of music you had mentioned in your post dtd 25/10(single driver vs conventional spkrs).
I heard Boney M- *Rivers of Babylon,Rasputin*,Michael Jackson -*Billie Jean, Beat it*,Celine Dion-*Power of Love,I'm Alive*,Cat Stevens-*My Lady D'Arbanville*,Jagjit-*Aah ko Chahiye*,Swades-*Yuhin chala chal*,Lakshya-*Agar main kahoon*Kal ho na ho-*Har ghari badal*HumTum-*Sanson ko sanson*....
I have written plenty about the sonic quality of Lyritas'Valve Amp+Single driverHarmony speakers so I wont go into a repetition.
You had asked me specifically to check out the LF extn , the room filling ability of the Mini 10 watters;
I can confidently say that there was no problem at all with Virens listening room size of 10'x12'.We hit an SPL of approx 85db with the vol control around halfway and had to turn it down bec it became too uncomfortably loud-Harmony Ones have a 92db efficiency and it tells.
Similarly, the LF in the music was well reproduced-I did not feel that the body was missing from the music.
Hearing your brothers choice of music was FUN because the musicality of the rig is there inspite of the lesser muscle in the amp .
In sum, I would say that you can go ahead with this set up for your brother,I'm sure he'll appreciate the joys of HiFi sound.
Viren will be PMing you re the maintenance aspect.
Regards
Kamal

Hi,

As far as the care of a valve amp is concerned, a similar level of attention is required as with anything else you own. The fragility of a glass envelope valve is of the same order as that of a piece of crystal you may have. If you like it, you look after it!

Technically, the simplicity of valve designs ensures long life, as there is less to go wrong. Valves do give up sometimes; power valves do have to be replaced after extensive use - it's a simple matter of pulling one out, and putting a new one in. Absolutely user friendly - try thinking of doing that with a transistor amp!

The primary cause of failures in amps that I have seen have been due to the poor mains supply in this country. Too many brownouts, blackouts, switching - plenty of opportunity for voltage spikes to come through. For transistor amps that spells doom - by the time a protective fuse burns out, the output transistors are far gone. For a valve amp, operating at high voltages anyway, it's a mere burp in their life!

I have a pair of QUAD II valve amps, with their original valves, still making good music!

The bottom line is - if you have something that gives you so much pleasure in enjoying music, the value of it is in the now. The future will take care of itself!

Viren.

Thanks Kamal,
It was really amazing, the kind of intrest you took for answering a query of mine. It is really rare to find a person like you who has taken all this pain so that some one else can listen to a hifi....thanks for everything buddy.
Now I canconfidently reccommend the setup to my bro..

viren schrieb:

I have a pair of QUAD II valve amps, with their original valves, still making good music!

Exactly! My pair of QUADII still has the original line up of valve. The output pair of KT66 still test strong in my AVO. Almost 90% even after almost 45 yrs on the job when I acquired them in 2000. I just put in NOS Gz32 rectifier and the EF86 small tubes only cause I had several extra ones with me at the time.

I get really flustered when folks ask me "oh you must be putting in new valves every year" . To the best of my memory I am yet to replace a valve due to aging.

Tubes that Lyrita uses are very sturdy buggers. Most were made for battlefield conditions. Rest assured they should last more than a lifetime in a normal listening room. So go ahead and enjoy them now !!

So go ahead and enjoy them now !!

i will be soon!

Valves is the way to go man……….
After adding Siva’s valve pre amp to my setup, I can’t wait to go home everyday to listen to music

try an all valve set up you wont leave home

A nice precaution to take is Not to feed in the audio signal, until the Valve filaments get going ( approx 15 seconds after switch on ).

Valve amps also sound their best, when warmed up .... times vary but 5 minutes to 30 minutes is typical for Valve amps to reach their audiophile best....

So wait a while ... atleast 15 to 30 seconds before you hit play on yr CD player.

The valves will last longer.

Maybe other tube gurus on the forum can confirm this of add some tips ?

Every equipment sounds its best after a warm up period of a few HOURS and not just a few MINUTES. It is true even for SS.

SDhawan schrieb:

Every equipment sounds its best after a warm up period of a few HOURS and not just a few MINUTES. It is true even for SS.

not quite true dr. the reason for warm up being that the tem of components is a factor of performance ie optimum temperature for reching thier performance

for class A and high biased class AB this temêrature is usually reached in just munutes as most power gets converted to heat while for some others it takes less.

those which take hours ususally have it mentioed that they need not be switcehd off and will consume only the few watts required to keep "warm"

BTW the crossovers in the speaker need warm up too and they get warmed up only after a few minutes of playing

if it were hours then a few minutes of listening would require hours of playing for warming up !

Wow,look at all those posts,this thread has come alive again!
Seriously guys, AND WITH ALL DUE RESPECT,let us all do our bit to promote Indian audio gear which meets HiFi standards;God knows there are'nt that many!
For example, in Vpriyan's thread(plz help my friend choose...),some started recommending eqpt they themselves own(understable,sinse they are well acquainted with their capabilities),and others spouted foreign names-it began to look like ads in an audio magazine!
Several forum members have had the opportunity to listen to Lyritas setup and appreciate the Quality vs Price combo it offers - surely it deserves our encouragement & support.
Regards,
Kamal
P.S-You're welcome abhi;I'm glad I was able to help out.Any help I can render to any Forum member, plz do ask.
BTW, when I was at Viren's, an old pal of his and one of his earliest customers,Sanjiv Sehgal, was also there.He had come to get hi 5 watter ( ! )valve amp,. Roger Electronics, UK 1963 vintage modified to get a valve rectified power supply.He also has Virens earlier SS amp/speaker but keeps this one in his bedroom for the ultimate pleasure!(yes, he's also married!).He's a Jazz/classic rock afficionado ,so I guess lots of muscle in the amp does'nt matter so much to him.
After we had got over auditionong the Lyrita Mini valve amp,we settled in for some self serving music experience-a pleasantly warm Delhi winter afternoon & Vinyls thru a Lin Sondek turntable/Valve Pre Amp/valve monoblocks/Harmony Ones !( drool, boys!).the only things in the room w/o valves were the three of us (or, come to think of it ,we did have a valve apiece, only ours require a much longer warm up now!).
And the result-Audiophile nirvana!
We plan to do it again sometime soon, with beer thrown in ....

Kamal schrieb:

(or, come to think of it ,we did have a valve apiece, only ours require a much longer warm up now!). ....

oh and that would be the male thinking organ viz the .. ahem ..Brain

oh and that would be the male thinking organ viz the .. ahem ..Brain

Remove the "thinking"and you've got it!
Long live our valves!
Kamal

Kamal schrieb:

oh and that would be the male thinking organ viz the .. ahem ..Brain Remove the "thinking"and you've got it! Long live our valves! Kamal

But they still require bias adjustment every now and then

There are definitely situations where "Solid-States" are preferred for the low end punch. And with instant warmup

guys now you are cracking me up

but interestingly tubes have rubbers available for safe playing


in case anyone thinks i have a dirty mind..please read below
http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/

Arj schrieb:

guys now you are cracking me up but interestingly tubes have rubbers available for safe playing in case anyone thinks i have a dirty mind..please read below http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/

We know you are a responsible citizen

Guys……You are too much…….Lol.

Morale of the story;

Keep your tubes warm, up and fit. Use them every day but gently

Wait for some warm up before any serious session. Dont go hammer and tongs right away

Ask Amp_Nut-ji. He is quick . He only needs 15 to 20 seconds. But on the other hand doctor sahib is a true pro. He knows his tubes. FEW HOURS !!!

Morale of the story; Keep your tubes warm, up and fit. Use them every day but gently Wait for some warm up before any serious session. Dont go hammer and tongs right away Ask Amp_Nut-ji. He is quick . He only needs 15 to 20 seconds. But on the other hand doctor sahib is a true pro. He knows his tubes. FEW HOURS !!!

VERY Nicely put...

What is this going on...............

abhi.pani schrieb:

What is this going on............... :D

It's only after the last few posts that the thread has been tagged "HOT"

good "pointers" from everyone.

Please do not forget the importance of the tube sockets as well. the tubes need to be placed well in it and the join between them very firm.

well maintained and cleaned tube sockets which can firmly hold the tubes in place are very important for nirvana for the audiophile indulging in this hobby.

warming them up together, quite understandably, is the way to come..er..go

That's hitting bird's eye - like Arjun always does

This is where I prefer the hybrids...

Tubes with solid-state

perhaps we have taken the topic too far from where it was intended

viren, jusr went through you website in detail..

http://www.lyrita-audio.in/audiosys.htm

the all wood finish to your electronics really mkes it rather yummy looking !

would you be able to provide some more info on payment for online buying of Audio CDs.. especially on the shipping costs . are they COD ?

Hi Arj,

All the CDs I have are a flat Rs.400 each. I normally ship within India through one of the courier companies - On Dot, First Flight. Typical courier charges for 2 CDs are Rs.60.

You can select from the listing on the website, email your selection to me. (Some of the CDs listed may have been sold out). You can send payment by cheque, or draft, on receiving the CDs (CD cost plus shipping charges).

Viren.

Hi guys,went across to Viren’s the other day to listen to his first pair of the shorter versions of Harmony One’s in comparison with the tall version( both pairs were set up side by side and the tracks mentioned below were played first on the tall version & then on the shorties & some times back & forth to validate what we had heard)
This speaker uses the same 6.5” Fostek drivers as the Harmony One but is almost half in height-H=890mm, W=240mm,&D=500mm. Fits in very nicely in the room décor & can be considered more “ wife friendly” ! Viren should be putting up a snap on his website very soon.
Another friend of his, Sanjeev Sehgal had been also invited for the audition, and while waiting for the power to come back( we Delhiites are being cursed with power outages even in winter!), we had the customary fresh brewed coffee and a bowl of cheeselings.
When the power returned, we settled in for a listening session-thru the Marantz CDP, valve pre amp & valve monoblocks. The follg were played;
1. Jackson Browne -*Fountain of sorrow*
2. Timeless Blues - *Italian Blues *
3. Dire Straits - *Money for Nothing*
4. Peter Weniger- *Legal Paradise*
5. Avishai Cohen- *Adama*
6. Angelique Kidjo -*Malaika*
7. Digital Test Cd-Pierce Veramy-*Blue Grass*.
8. Down Home Blues- * Down Home Blues*.
9.Ladysmith BlackMjambo-*Wawushu Kubani?*
10. Mukesh & Lata- * Sawan Ka Mahina*
Quite a wide ranging selection, I’m sure you’ll agree.
I’ve written earlier about the sonic qualities of Harmony One’s earlier in this thread so I wont go into a repetition.
How does the Short Version sound in comparison with the Regular, tall One’s?
•It measures up more than well, I’d say-the driver being the same, it had all the sonic features of the tall Harmony’s &
•A strengthened Mid Bass,
•Extended lower bass-on the Peter Weniger track, a real bass test track, each strum of the double bass was resoundingly clear, each pluck separate-I swear the bass response went down to 30 Hz !
•Because of the better Mid Bass serving to make the mids & highs sound more “ mellow” without loss of detail , I felt that these baby’s would enable long, ear fatigue free listening sessions.
•The tall ones sounded more airy, around the 5-6K Hz area- Viren would be tweaking up the Shorties to bring them up to the “ Tallies” in this respect.
All in all, the price being the same, I personally would prefer the Shorties, for the reasons given above; if someone prefers the aesthetics of the regular Harmony’s, they would also be in production.
Mr Sanjeev Sehgal was also in agreement with the views expressed above.
Regards,
Kamal

hi kamal,

were these placed on stands considering the driver at ear level factor?

regards

Hi Stevie, welcome back.
The height at which the driver is mounted is the same in both the versions, viz, at ear height if you are sitting on a sofa/easychair; the diff is that the portion of the "tube" in the tall ones above the driver is folded back, so to say, in the short ones.So the shorties have more depth, so the cabinet volume remains the same.
Like I said in my review, they sound good!
Regards,
Kamal

Reviving this thread…

Hi Viren. I’ll be in Delhi from tomorrow till Saturday. I’ll try to squeeze in some time on Thursday to visit your place to get a chance to listen what looks like a pretty impressive set of audio gear.

I “googled” your site…is your place still at L-458 Sarita Vihar, New Delhi 110076?

Please do expect a call from my end on Thursday morning to finalize the appointment. Is your phone number still - 91-11-4140-1143?

Thanks.

CR

Hi paj4x4,

You have all the details right!

You're most welcome - look forward to seeing you.

Viren.

Thanks Viren.

I'll drop you a call first thing Thursday morning.

Looking forward to meeting you and listening to your audio gear.

CR

Viren, thanks for taking time out to let me listen to your wonderful creations and more importantly for being patient in answering several queries I had regarding tube amps. Had a grand time.

For folks who are interested we listened to a number of soul, jazz, and classical music delivered by Viren’s creations – a pair of monoblocks and a pair of Harmony One speakers. Source was a Marantz CDP.

It was my first time to listen to tube amps. From a newbie’s perspective all I could say is that the gear delivered the tracks in a very clear manner. I could actually hear a number of instruments come on line in the track.

I was amazed that a single driver can deliver this kind of clarity. I always thought that having separate drivers were better – a dedicated driver each for the highs, mids, and lows. The speakers also handled the low frequency requirements of a couple of “bass heavy” tracks we listened to.

Viren thanks once again. Kindly send my regards to Sanjeev. Please do let me know if ever you’ll be in Mumbai soon. I’ll gladly host you here in the city.

Regards.

CR

Hi paj4x4,

You're most welcome, and do stop by again whenever you're here.

As you heard, there are alternate ways of music reproduction that do sound better. Sometimes you have to buck convention, and go back to the roots!

Viren.

Hi Guys,
dropped in at Virens' yesterday after quite some time.
He had been developing India's first SET amp & I wanted to hear for myself the diff from his regular push-pull amps.
Found out that he had also developedanother version of the Harmony speakers using the 6.5"Fostex driver-this baby has a front baffle of almost 18" & is abt 4' tall(approx, did'nt take measurements,so Viren will correct me if I'm wrong).
The idea was to reinforce the mid bass & make the sound smoother, overall.
Abhi to he was in the process of voicing the speaker so I won't be able to give a full reprt-but the bass did sound fuller with a couple of jazz albums we played.
The SET amp, all of 3 watts p.c. sounded very coherent & natural, but again, since he did'nt have a pair of the regular Harmonys' to pair them up with, I wont be able to give a full impression of its capabilities, but it appeared pretty promising;so the SET fans amongst yu will have somethin to look forward to.
I also picked up a pair of his interconnects(Rs 1000 a pair) to use with my Oppo.
I compared them to a Nexxtech interconnects & to apair of Audio Quest IC's belonging to a friend-impressions, reinforced by my sons' young ears-Virens'ICs were way ahead of nexxtech & a bit better than the AQ Copperheads, costing 4 times as much in US$ price.Virens ICs I found were very balaced overall, able to pull out a lot of low level info which made the music appear more textured, richer-My son & me were listening to old Favourites till 4 AM !.
I shall be listening to them over the next few days ; lets see what they sound like when they're properly broken in.
So far, to anyone looking for a better pair of ICs ,I say- give Virens' a listen.
More later, once he finalises his SET & new speaker.

Wow,
That set-amp sounds interesting. Must get to hear it. How is it different from other amps. Are there ways to describe the musical difference? Could some of our techies explain in simple terms what is the physical difference.
Purnendu

SET,as Viren explained to me, stands for Single Ended Triode;these babies amplify the source signal without splitting it up, hece preserving the signals, hence the musics'integrity, thus yielding a purity of output which is unmatched.
The downside is that the output is pretty low( 3 W P.C. in the case of Virens newborn!).Hence they have to be paired with high efficiency speakers, like Virens' single drivers.
For more tech details,come in Viren/AmpNut/Sreamgigi/Bombaywalla.
Will do a fuller audition once the SET & the new speakers are ready,poss with Sanjay if he obliges.Come to think of it, it would be fun if more Delhi members could get together for the audition-What say,Guys?

Kamal,

I am game. Tell me where & when !!!!

Let's meet up, it's been really a long time.

Over to you Viren; tell us when you are ready..

Hi,

I will need some more time. The SET amps are going through another iteration of output transformers. Will let you know when they're ready.

The Lyrita SET amp uses single 2A3 output triodes, which limits power output to 3 watts. However, it's surprising what 3 watts of power can do with a high-efficiency speaker!

Technically, the claim to fame of these 1930's designed directly heated triodes is their low intrinsic distortion. Amongst the cleanest of all valves. A SET circuit uses this to advantage, in running the output triode in high class A operation, with one valve handling the entire music signal - no phase splitting involved. The purity of the music signal is maintained. The music delivered is clear, dynamic, more immediate. And more enjoyable!

Viren.

Since we are on the subject of Viren's equipment, I too own viren's 6sn7 based transformer coupled linestage with a headphone out.

I was used to listening to my senn's straight out of my dvd player. They matched very well indeed.

Then came in viren's equipment(always wanted to own a 6sn7 based tube head amp) in between my source and headphones. I am glad for it. Had to wait a while for the amp to burn in and sound its best but it was worth the wait. Before burn in my EH tubes sounded the best of the 3 namely, sylvania, kenrad and EH. After the amp burn in of 100 hours approx, the kenrads easily out perform the other two. Quite a change and am still surprised. I had heard a lot about kenrad's and was a bit disappointed by their performance in the begining but now....its a different story.

Good show viren. I am really enjoying your amp especially on weekends when I have really extended sessions of 4+ hours without any ear fatigue at all.

So now I am a "proud" owner of one more "Indian Made" piece of equipment.

Manek.

Hi Manek,

Thanks. Hope you continue to enjoy your music!

Viren.

OK Guys, I've now had Lyritas' intrerconnects & speaker cables in mystem for a few days; have done a lot of listening to give the cables an early burn-in.
What i've experienced solidly underlines the importance of seeking proper audio cables as early as possible i/o relying on the ones that came with the component/ were thrown in by the dealer.
The diff proper cables have made to my system is amazing,with the rest of the rig remaining the same;
there is such clarity in the music now-every word in the vocals is clear, every shimmer of the cymbals, evry riff...
I was amazed at the textural change in the old familiar music even-you begin to realise what richness has been put in by the musicians-this is because of the fact that a lot of low level info that was fuzzed up earlier now comes up distinctly;all this makes the midrange & the highs much more purer & detailed.
Bass has benefited in becoming much more tight & detailed.
Overall, the sound is much more balanced & detailed and has enhanced the listening pleasure manifold-old favs sound so much more better & trcks which one used to skip over earlier(there were 2-3 even in Fleetwood Macs Rumours) now sound so nice!
A comparison of Lyritas interconnects was done with Audioquests Alpha snake & copperhead,Nexxtech, Kimber PBJ,& Van den Hul The First carbonfibre; results, Lyritas Interconnects very favourably with these famous brands costing many times as much in putting out a very detailed, balanced & open sound.
Lyrtas' speaker cables were compared with Monster cable multi strand, Philips Magnavox multistrand,& mogami cables-again, Lyritas hi purity solid core copper speaker cables comfortably outperformed them & exhibited the same balanced, detailed & open sound.
To all of you who do not still have interconnects & speaker cables specialy formulated for audio purposes & are still with the cables that came with the equipment, I say- here is a chance to upgrade your sound in an inexpensive way-your existing eqipment will put out sound that will amaze you!
Any technicaldetails will be added by Viren.