My Hi-fi experience in Bangalore

Folks, I've been a member of this forum for about 2-3 months now...stumbled across it through Google while searching for HT dealers in Bangalore. I purchased my system(Marantz, Acoustic Energy) about a month or so back, after much research(don't we all?) so thought I'd just post my experiences in the hope that some member can use bits/pieces from my experience to aid his/her own search.

<b>Phase 1: Surround Sound</b>

Lets face it...most people who decide to go in for a "good" music system, after years of wishing they had the money to do so, want to begin with a surround sound setup. The reasons may be many, ranging from advertising(how many high-end pure stereo ads have we seen?) to peer pressure(my friend just picked up a 7.1 surround setup!) to the Indian predisposition for VFM(for 25K if I can get 7 pieces of equipment then why the hell should I settle for only 3 pieces?). Suffice it to say that I started searching for surround in the usual places - Onkyo(above Casa Piccola on Cunnigham Road) followed by Jamo(close to Cunnigham Road) and Harman-Kardon(off Vittal Mallya Road) and ProFX(Barton Centre, MG Road).

Onkyo - the salesperson was courteous but all he did was tell me about the prices of the various equipment he had on display. No info on the differences b/w each or the pros/cons of surround vis-a-vis stereo or amplified ratings etc. Needless to say I didn't stick on for too long. FYI the sound from the floorstanders was just average...nowhere close to hi-fi.

Jamo - the salesperson(Nabeel) was pretty courteous, also knew the technical details of the stuff he had...but pretty clueless about other aspects of hi-fi. When I first went to Jamo I had no clue about audiophile terms like impedance ratings, sensitivity, crossovers etc...but like most self-respecting geeks/audiophiles I read up like crazy over the Internet. Thats when I realized that most Jamo floorstanders are rated at 4 ohms...and not many budget amps can drive that load at peaks. So I went back to Nabeel and asked him how come most of the Jamo speakers were rated at 4 ohms and what does he tell me, "Oh...thats not a problem. Because its *easier* for an amp to drive a 4 ohm speaker as compared to an 8 ohm one." Needless to say I was shocked, and disappointed with the knowledge of the salesperson at Jamo and effectively struck Jamo off my list. To be fair there were a few floorstanders in my range that sounded pretty decent...but nothing really out of the world.

Harman-Kardon - the person at HK was downright rude. A slightly bulky, dark guy who looked at me as though I was in the wrong place(and this when I was dressed in formals and a tie and all...God alone knows how he treats people in tees and sandals!). We listened to a couple of systems which were ridiculously overpriced and sounded horrible(the worst of the lot I'd heard till then). The salesperson claimed that HK systems were better because of their "high current" design and when I asked him to explain that he was lost...started giving me some mumbo-jumbo about how only HK has high-current etc. without going into the specifics. The rude attitude combined with the horrible systems quickly made me strike off HK from my list too.

ProFX - the salesperson was pretty courteous(forget his name...but he was a Tam/Christian I think) and explained his range to me. I saw Denon receivers and Polk/KEF speakers. Polk had some new speaker for around 30K which had something like 5-6 drivers...the sound was crap! Absolutely pathetic fidelity...a representation of the average American design...size over substance! The KEF Q series were nice...though priced outside my budget.

Phase II: Stereo

After my disappointing forays into HT I stumbled across HiFi forums and chanced upon a few dealers who were not so mainstream. I decided to visit dealers for Tannoy(some dudes in Jayanagar), Wharfedale(Gem Plaza, Infantry Rd.), Dali/AE(Absolute Phase, off Infantry Rd.) and B&W(Gem Plaza, Infantry Rd.)

Tannoy - crap. Period. I and my wife listened to a Cold Play track with heavy instrument background and everything just collapsed into a mess. The receiver was a Yamaha 7.1(forget the model being driven in pure-direct mode). Another friend who took the Tannoy demo also had the same opinion and when he asked the dealer why the sound was so bad guess what reply he got? "True audion enthusiasts understand and appreciate the sound quality of a Tannoy." What a load of BS...thats like saying only Michael Schumaker can enjoy driving a Ferrari! Anyway Tannoy/Yamaha was off too.

Wharfedale - we sat for 15 minutes in the guys shop while he was playing some Godawful Kannada film music on an HT setup to some prospective buyers. The sound was pathetic...bright, screechy. We just walked out quietly without even bothering to explain.

B&W - was priced over our budget...so didn't even listen. Not that the salespeople were of any help(guess they haven't heard of the concept of up selling a product!).

Absolute Phase - when Prithvi insisted on an appointment I initially thought it was a gimmick...but when I landed up at his place one evening I realized how different he was from the others I'd met. He sat down with me, asked what kind of music I listened to, how often I watched movies, how big my room was and so on. He told me that stereo was a better bet for me since my audio:video ratio was something like 90:10. I of course, in all my smartness, insisted on HT so Prithvi suggested that I listen to both HT and stereo and then make up my mind. He also asked me about the kind of music I listened to...and over a week or two understood the fact that both me and my wife were people who wanted warm, natural sounding under-stated speakers, ones which would provide hours of easy listening to regardless of genre.

Over the next 2-3 weeks I picked up different sets of equipment from him. First a Marantz 7.1 receiver(SR-4500) with Acoustic Energy Evo 3 floorstanders...and then a Marantz PM 7200 stereo amp with the same speakrs. By this time my wife was also a convert to stereo so both Prithvi and my wife were gently prodding me to give up HT. But nothing prepared me for the difference in sound b/w the Marantz a/v receiver and its stereo one.

Put simply, the PM 7200 simply blows away the 7.1 receiver, even in its pure direct mode. There is simply no comparison for the quality of sound. I was a convert to stereo within one day of having the trial PM7200!

I kept the trial pair for a week or so before telling Prithvi that I would keep them. He bundled in a pair of Finesse interconnects and Monster speaker cables in the bargain. We also bi-wired my AE floorstanders and spiked them later on for a better response. Has it made a difference? I'd say each person needs to judge by themselves.

In the process I've also become friends with Prithvi and he's giving me some fundaes on jazz(an interest area), car accessories and audio do's and don't's.

Phase III: Advanced Audiophilia...

Like all audiophiles I'm now figuring out ways to continually improve the sound from my system day-by-day. Picked up a pair of Finesse component cables for my movies(a *world* of difference compared to my earlier composites). Next in line is a Vertex audiophile servo stabilizer which I hope to follow with a Finesse audiophile power conditioner. I also want to invest in a better CD/DVD player to remove my current Philips one from the audio equation(sub-optimal source). Of course I'm in no rush to do all of this but would prefer to research/learn more and then purchase stuff.

I do realize that I've been pretty personal in this post...sometimes in the negative sense and sometimes in the positive. But thats the only way I could convey my hi-fi journey without making it sound dull and dry. My final advice to people who want a "good" system: find a serious dealer who's willing to understand your tastes/preferences/constraints and will be willing to let you sample equipment for a few days before buying it(in India its not too common though many dealers abroad offer the same)...because the one things that most people ignore in their search for hi-fi equipment is their own ears! Don't be taken in by jargon, marketing literature, peer reviews, dealer recommedations, Internet reviews etc. alone...your own ears should be the final port of call!

Amen !!!