av revolution show report in hifi news from uk

AV Revolution 2004: Mumbai, India

In time for the buying season of Diwali, an audio and AV show, Indian style. Andrew Harrison reports from Mumbai

In November 2004, Hi-Fi News was honoured to be the audio media partner for a massive hi-fi show in India, held at the Hotel Grand Hyatt in Bombay. Called AV Revolution, and now in its second year, the event is held in conjunction with the country's biggest-selling newspaper, The Times of India, and its regional supplement, The Bombay Times.

With a population of around one billion souls and an established middle-class, one could be forgiven for thinking there would be a thriving interest in enjoying recorded music and cinema at home; and this is partly true. But the question of disposable income, not to mention living space, means that this is a comparatively new interest for many people. Consequently, the theme of the show was more ‘AV’ than straight audio, with an emphasis on mass market brands.
The Grand Hyatt Hotel is a new complex, built in palatial marble with foyers resembling a modern art museum. The lower ground level was host to silent displays of AV hardware and accessories, while hotel rooms on the sixth floor were used for active sound and video demonstrations. Well-known names such as Sony, Panasonic, Jamo, JBL, Yamaha and JVC were the bread and butter of the show but specialist audio was also in evidence for the connoisseur.
The Soundsmiths is the name of one such source of quality audio, importing Dynaudio and Dali loudspeakers, Rega electronics, as well as German-based valve brand Cayin. Here I met the well-spoken Mazher Jaffar, an audio consultant of the old-school whose enthusiasm for the hi-fi market really ought to help spread the word.

Best sound of the show award went to AudioVision India, with its impressive portfolio of products from B&W Loudspeakers, Wilson Audio, Jeff Rowland, MartinLogan, Magnepan and Theta Digital. In fact, with three rooms to show off the collection – two stereo rooms and one mammoth AV set-up – this distributor put on some great demonstrations and duly received the title of best two-channel and best home cinema systems.

The AudioVision India stereo room was based around Theta Digital Generation VIII, DAC Jeff Rowland M501 ‘ICEPOWER’ monoblock power amps, with Magnepan 3.6 speakers and Kimber Select wiring. The AV room used B&W N801 at front, N803 for rears, Theta DVD transport and processor, a bevy of Rowland M501 amps, and four B&W ASW subs! Naturally, the high speaker count was not a symptom of bass freakery, more a successful attempt to get smooth, well-blended bass to all parts of what was a very long room.

An altogether different, but still quite exceptional, sound was found in the room of Indian-made speaker brand Rethm. The company’s business offices may be sited in Los Angeles, USA, but manufacture takes place in India. The speakers are simple but elegant full-range single-driver designs, using Lowther units in slightly more modern cabinets than is typical for the evergreen driver. Also on dem from Rethm-man Jacob George was a new prototype amplifier, a monoblock hybrid using minimalist principles and providing around 10W from its MOSFET output stage. Another room of note featured AvantGarde horns, Nagra power amps, and Esoteric disc player; the latter a representive of TEAC’s high-end brand, not often seen in the UK.

Sadly absent was Cadence, the well-known Indian maker of hybrid cone/electrostatic speakers. There were more mass-market Indian brands, such as Sanen Acoustics with a selection of floorstanders and sub-sat systems; Sonodyne speakers; and Space Audio (an Indian ‘lifestyle’ speaker brand). Talking of lifestyle, Bose from the US was represented but provided, to this listener’s ears, one of the worst sounds of the show.

India’s importer of Wharfedale, Quad and Audio Analogue is also making a name in cables, with the aptly titled Designer Audio Cable. Mr Dilip Shah uses stock from an ISO-rated company in Shenzhen, China, and even includes PC-OCC wire in the range. In the Wharfedale demo room, the diminutive new Diamond 9 range was spotted in one of its first outings in public.

At the AV Revolution 2004, HFN ran a stand to distribute copies of the magazine, and it was an unmissable experience for me to see so many people curious about audio and AV attending, not just by the hundred or thousand as we see in the UK, but by the tens of thousands. Hi-Fi News itself has limited availability in India, sold unofficially by Media Star at the usurers’ rate of over 620 rupees an issue – enough to take a family of six to a decent cinema!

There’s one audio and AV consumer magazine in India, AV Max, and I had the good fortune to meet two of its senior writers, Nishant Padhiar and Mehul Mepani. From them I learned more of the recent history of consumer electronics in the country. Television is still a popular way to access film and music, although since broadcasts are in mono there is little point at the moment to get excited about 5.1 channel surround-sound, as matrix decoders like DTS Neo:6 and DPL II need at least a two-channel stream to derive further pseudo-surround effects. DVD films are available, of course, but many people prefer VCD for its lower cost media. Picture quality may be poorer, but since MPEG Layer II stereo audio is arguably superior to Dolby Digital, VCD users shouldn’t feel too left out!

Thanks to its professional organisation and superb publicity, the AV Revolution 2004 show, with a registered attendance figure of 38,560 people, was an obvious success for both exhibitors and public alike.
Here’s looking forward to next year’s event.