Manger Test CD ?

Maybe you can contact the Manger distributor in India!

What a CD !

D.M. Should stick to making CD's in place of 'coffins'

You can finish an audition of any music set up with this 1 CD alone. No need to carry anything else, well the Burmester # 3 too is really nice.
You may just need 1 more CD of Indian Classical [ECM - Madar] to complete the demo / audition.

I got mine from Germany [4 years back], but Singapore sure sells it. Besides Mr. Koka Kola will surely have them in stock, so you could ask him. The contact details are :-

Company: Innovative Information Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Address: 1507, Maker Chamber V
Nariman Point
BOMBAY 21
INDIA 400 021
Telephone: + 91 22 5 632 5010
Fax: + 91 22 5 630 1209
E-mail: innovative@pacific.net.in, sales@innovativeaudiotech.com
Internet: www.innovative-info.com

All the Best !!!
If you manage to get it, please do let me know, I too want 1 [spare]. Thanks..............

http://www.manger-msw.com/en/dm/index_vertriebe.html

Please do accept my apology.
Mr. K.K. is no longer doing Manger.

I just checked. The Distributor has changed.

Nexus Audio Video
Sea-Lord-'A', No. 171, Cuffe Parade
Mumbai, 400 005

Phone: 022.30203533
Int. Phone: +91.22.30203533
email: kjaudio@yahoo.com

This is what the web site says.

None the less, you could still try with Mr. M.C. he may have 'old stock' that he may ant to get rid of & may offer special price to you. No harm in giving it a try.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

D.M. Should stick to making CD's in place of 'coffins'

As per manger, currently the distributor in india is

Nexus Audio Video
Sea-Lord-'A', No. 171, Cuffe Parade
Mumbai, 400 005

Phone: 022.30203533
Int. Phone: +91.22.30203533
email: kjaudio@yahoo.com

have sent them a mail on this..will post the results on this forum

Arj schrieb:

As per manger, currently the distributor in india is Nexus Audio Video Sea-Lord-'A', No. 171, Cuffe Parade Mumbai, 400 005 Phone: 022.30203533 Int. Phone: +91.22.30203533 email: kjaudio@yahoo.com have sent them a mail on this..will post the results on this forum

Arj,

The Indian Distributor is none other than our pal Deaf! I was also looking out for one of these CDs. Apparently, he's ordered a good 25 pcs or so and they should be in within some time. Spk to him if you can!

COOL !

Deaf Ji in case you do check this mark me in for 1 !!!

Don't think he frequents the forum too much these days! Sent u a PM!

Deaf Ji, I'd like one too, seeing that its so highly recommended.

Kamal schrieb:

Deaf Ji, I'd like one too, seeing that its so highly recommended.

Kamal, get a CDR first, listen to it, if you like it only then may I recommend a purchase. The CD will cost Rs. 1.5 K + if not more.

I love it, but I do not know how the other guys on the forum take to it. Just a suggestion. It has a list price @ Audio Shows @ Euro 20 or 25 if I am not mistaken.

Swith It On - may have an idea, since he just got his copy a short while back, I think.

Just a suggestion.......

Hello,

Well... let me put it this way... Its much easier to own the CD if you have purchased a "Manger" product. . I had owned the Manger Xerobox 109 stand-mounts and had my copy sent to me by Daniela Manger herself. As Bhagwan has said.. Its a glorious CD but the contents have to appeal to the listener. Otherwise, it will just be pricy purchase.

Cheers.

Read about it here - http://www.tnt-audio.com/topics/mangertest_e.html

Not my cup of tea. As they suggest, Prodigy is much better for me

Product: Manger CD test
Manufacturer: Manger - Germany
Approx. price: 15 $/Euro + shipping
Reviewer: Lucio Cadeddu
Reviewed: July, 2001

This was Euro 15/- 6 years back. Freight Extra.......
Currently it is @ 20 + Euro's.

P.S. Can any forum member recommend a Trance / Hip Hop / Heavy Metal CD that is 'well recorded' ? I am asking this on a serious note.

I like all Madonna + Michael Jackson CD's.
But Trance & other geners I have not found till date.

Suggestions are requested.

You could check here - http://www.tnt-audio.com/topics/music.html

P.S. Can any forum member recommend a Trance / Hip Hop / Heavy Metal CD that is 'well recorded' ? I am asking this on a serious note.

Dear Bhagwan,

I feel it will be very difficult to do this for one simple reason - the genres that you mention use mostly synthesized tunes. They also use a lot of "samples" from earlier recordings(???).

So 1) No real instruments (or organic sounds) to base our judgement on.
2) The samples they use are re-recorded onto their new tracks - so I perceive a lot of added "colour"!

Make sense?? Just my 2 paise!

Bhagwan,

You could try the following albums -

Dream Theater - Metropolis II: Scenes from a memory
Dream Theater - Train of Thought
Riverside - Second Life Syndrome
Tool - Lateralus
Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a blank planet
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Opeth - Blackwater Park

All these bands fall into the progressive metal/progressive rock category. Opeth is the only real heavy black-metalish band in my list.

I would recommend them both for their musical brilliance and their arrangement/recording quality.

I would like to have Manger CD, too ! Deaf did you hear that?

Dear Bhagwan,

What is trance? Do you mean some sort of meditational or relaxing stuff - then I may have some suggestions?

SDhawan schrieb:

What is trance? Do you mean some sort of meditational or relaxing stuff

Er... yes and no!

Meditational and relaxing - Yes!!

Anup Jalota: No!



P.S.: Tiesto: Yes! Yes! Oh yesssss!!

Arj schrieb:

COOL ! Deaf Ji in case you do check this mark me in for 1 !!!

Add 1 for me.

OK then Bhagwan:

1. Tibetan Incatations manufactured by New Age CD, Nepal
2. Nawang Khechog - Universal Love

Disclaimer - You might get addicted to the first one and awe-inspired by the second. Don't hold me reponsible for any lost time or other damges

SDhawan schrieb:

1. Tibetan Incatations manufactured by New Age CD, Nepal 2. Nawang Khechog - Universal Love :Y

Great DOC !

I shall hear these @ your place next month, when I may pass through ND on my way to the Golden Temple. I hope you welcome me !!!

Thanks.

Shahrukh schrieb:

P.S. Can any forum member recommend a Trance / Hip Hop / Heavy Metal CD that is 'well recorded' ? I am asking this on a serious note. Dear Bhagwan, I feel it will be very difficult to do this for one simple reason - the genres that you mention use mostly synthesized tunes. They also use a lot of "samples" from earlier recordings(???). So 1) No real instruments (or organic sounds) to base our judgement on. 2) The samples they use are re-recorded onto their new tracks - so I perceive a lot of added "colour"! Make sense?? Just my 2 paise!

Agree here for trance and other electronic music. However I think there is no real test cd for trance due to the same reason. You could pick up any album from DJ Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, Armin van Buren or Paul van Dyk to get true trance.
For heavy metal, you could look at Judas Priest - Painkiller as a good reference album. Very hard and loud - true death metal style. Besides, Voodoo child has a good selection of cds you can look especially Dream theatre

Hmmm... should have clarified that I was referring mailnly to electronic music. Thanks bharathrathna!

Yes all the artists you mention are true blue trance guys! Any CD available locally should belt out some good trance! IMO, even mp3s are good for trance at a disc. I have mixed trance mp3s myself on a very basic Pentium II processor laptop (it was the fastest in those days) through a club system and it was good enough!

"Higher State of consciousness" was a huge trance track in those days!!

Shahrukh schrieb:

SDhawan schrieb: What is trance? Do you mean some sort of meditational or relaxing stuff Er... yes and no! Meditational and relaxing - Yes!! Anup Jalota: No! P.S.: Tiesto: Yes! Yes! Oh yesssss!! :prost

Yes ..Trance is a state of mind
Psychedelic trance is the next level...best when elevated with use of some add-ons...substances

bhagwan69 schrieb:

SDhawan schrieb: 1. Tibetan Incatations manufactured by New Age CD, Nepal 2. Nawang Khechog - Universal Love :Y Great DOC ! I shall hear these @ your place next month, when I may pass through ND on my way to the Golden Temple. I hope you welcome me !!! Thanks.

You are most welcome anytime. Let me know and we can arrange a group session with Viren, Kamal, Rahul, and others.

bharathana schrieb:

Agree here for trance and other electronic music. However I think there is no real test cd for trance due to the same reason. You could pick up any album from DJ Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, Armin van Buren or Paul van Dyk to get true trance. For heavy metal, you could look at Judas Priest - Painkiller as a good reference album. Very hard and loud - true death metal style. Besides, Voodoo child has a good selection of cds you can look especially Dream theatre

Mike Oldfield and Kitaro can be added to this.

Where would you place Karunesh ? his recordings are better than average

Nitin Sawhney also comes in somewhere in between trance and new age

bhagwan69 schrieb:

P.S. Can any forum member recommend a Trance / Hip Hop / Heavy Metal CD that is 'well recorded' ? I am asking this on a serious note.

1. Culture Beat - Serenity, Culture Beat - Inside Out
Two albums, awesome mix of Trance and Techno.

2. Real Things - 2Unlimited
A superb album for Techno - HipHop Rap.

3. Captain Hollywood Project - Love is not sex
Another Techno - Trance Marvel

They all are decent recordings, provided you find them .

bharathana schrieb:

Shahrukh schrieb: Dear Bhagwan, Agree here for trance and other electronic music. However I think there is no real test cd for trance due to the same reason. You could pick up any album from DJ Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, Armin van Buren or Paul van Dyk to get true trance.For heavy metal, you could look at Judas Priest - Painkiller as a good reference album. Very hard and loud - true death metal style. Besides, Voodoo child has a good selection of cds you can look especially Dream theatre

Sir, I have many CD's for the kinds that you mentioned, 100 + CD's if not more. I listen to this in my car. Sure. However, the recording in nothing to write home about. I am interested in music of thiskind that is 'recorded well' so that I can play it on my 'main' set up. This is very very difficult. I cannot bear to listen to it even for 1 minute !!!!
J.P. is great, I love him, but I cannot even try to put the CD into the CD Player.

Arj schrieb:

bharathana schrieb: Mike Oldfield and Kitaro can be added to this. Where would you place Karunesh ? his recordings are better than average Nitin Sawhney also comes in somewhere in between trance and new age

Dear Arj,
Hello ! I have a DSD of Karunesh. It is so 'cooked' it will but Patricia Barber to shame. One cannot play it on a High Fadelity set up, it just cuts the recording through and through.

I like the music of Nitin Sawney. Again the same problem; Very poor recording & the mastering engineer must have smoked so many 'doobies' he never knew where to start !!! It is a criminal to put these CD's in a average to good set up. The music is great, but the performance cannot be appreciated !! Sorry !!

bhagwan69 schrieb:

Arj schrieb: bharathana schrieb: Mike Oldfield and Kitaro can be added to this. Where would you place Karunesh ? his recordings are better than average Nitin Sawhney also comes in somewhere in between trance and new age Dear Arj, Hello ! I have a DSD of Karunesh. It is so 'cooked' it will but Patricia Barber to shame. One cannot play it on a High Fadelity set up, it just cuts the recording through and through. I like the music of Nitin Sawney. Again the same problem; Very poor recording & the mastering engineer must have smoked so many 'doobies' he never knew where to start !!! It is a criminal to put these CD's in a average to good set up. The music is great, but the performance cannot be appreciated !! Sorry !! :cut

Have you heard the album Human by Nitin Sawhney ? It's a brilliant recording.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

Dear Arj, Hello ! I have a DSD of Karunesh. It is so 'cooked' it will but Patricia Barber to shame. One cannot play it on a High Fadelity set up, it just cuts the recording through and through. I like the music of Nitin Sawney. Again the same problem; Very poor recording & the mastering engineer must have smoked so many 'doobies' he never knew where to start !!! It is a criminal to put these CD's in a average to good set up. The music is great, but the performance cannot be appreciated !! Sorry !! :cut

You may be very right there

This is the only reason that i prefer a forgiving combination of Amp/Speaker. the moment they start getting resolving and accurate more than 70% of my colection will sound bad

wish someone comes up with a magic converter of improving the recodrding ...as with the format wars going around I doubt even if the somewhat decent redbooks available are going to get released as good recordings.

Krish schrieb:

Have you heard the album Human by Nitin Sawhney ? It's a brilliant recording.

yessir Philtre is not too bad either as an album.

human and philtre are great albums musically but their recording quality leaves a lot to be desired...

soulforged schrieb:

human and philtre are great albums musically but their recording quality leaves a lot to be desired...

Perfect Sir. You took the words right out of my mount !!!

What ARJ said is so correct.
I am not able to enjoy even 1 % to 2 % of my CD's on my set up. The recording gets so badly thrashed. Each time I want to do some 'criticle' listening' I have to go back to my same old set of 20 - 30 CD's. Others just cannot be used. Very sad indeed.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

soulforged schrieb: human and philtre are great albums musically but their recording quality leaves a lot to be desired... Perfect Sir. You took the words right out of my mount !!! What ARJ said is so correct. I am not able to enjoy even 1 % to 2 % of my CD's on my set up. The recording gets so badly thrashed. Each time I want to do some 'criticle' listening' I have to go back to my same old set of 20 - 30 CD's. Others just cannot be used. Very sad indeed.

Sorry, i meant Beyond Skin and not Human .I agree Philtre is not up to the mark.

K

bhagwan69 schrieb:

soulforged schrieb: human and philtre are great albums musically but their recording quality leaves a lot to be desired... Perfect Sir. You took the words right out of my mount !!! What ARJ said is so correct. I am not able to enjoy even 1 % to 2 % of my CD's on my set up. The recording gets so badly thrashed. Each time I want to do some 'criticle' listening' I have to go back to my same old set of 20 - 30 CD's. Others just cannot be used. Very sad indeed.

Having read your comment I am wondering,is it really worth having a real high end system. I believe the higher you go the more prominent the weakest part of the chain becomes. And lastly the recording quality kills the whole chain.

Where you spent 99 % of your heart & money - you listen 1 % of your CDs. And 99 % of you CDs are heard in the system where you spend a small fraction.

Difficult to accept this paradox.

Shouldn't your music decide the system you buy, instead of the other way round?

I'm enjoying even mp3s on my setup

Doc and Zhop,

You both have very valid points. Your choice of music is one of the most important factors that decide which system you go for. At the same time, there are some genres of music where the recording and mastering is emphasized above all, like in Classical, jazz, progressive and vox oriented music. In genres like electronica, lounge, trance etc. the variables that go into making the music increase and so does the chances of the quality dropping a couple of notches. Also these type of music are not really meant for critical listening, rather their purpose is a little different. When they are played in a club, you might notice the acoustical arrangement of the place but not so much the quality of the recording.

Having said that, Doc's question still remains. Is it worth spending so much money on buying hardware? I'd say yes coz the music would still sound better than in a normal system. The hardware you buy would stay with you for a long time, and the quality of the software can only improve.

My Rs.0.02

bhagwan69 schrieb:

soulforged schrieb: human and philtre are great albums musically but their recording quality leaves a lot to be desired... Perfect Sir. You took the words right out of my mount !!! What ARJ said is so correct. I am not able to enjoy even 1 % to 2 % of my CD's on my set up. The recording gets so badly thrashed. Each time I want to do some 'criticle' listening' I have to go back to my same old set of 20 - 30 CD's. Others just cannot be used. Very sad indeed.

Would love to listen to your system, Bhagwan. Got to experience this for myself! The system I listen to in Chennai doesn't have a tweeter - just the bass and mids. And the oldies and classical I listen to sound real nice. I rarely care about the recording quality.

If this suggestion isn't too silly , do use the 'B' speaker connection on your amp to attach a basic pair of speakers. After all, it's all about the music

Neutral schrieb:

The system I listen to in Chennai doesn't have a tweeter - just the bass and mids. And the oldies and classical I listen to sound real nice. I rarely care about the recording quality.

Is this the way the speaker is designed? Or is the tweeter malfunctioning? Do elaborate!

Hi Neutral,

Hayley Westenra.. the Newzealand singing wonder.. she has a wonderful voice and sings well too.

Nice to see another fan of her
Ani

Neutral schrieb:

bhagwan69 schrieb: soulforged schrieb: ... Would love to listen to your system, Bhagwan. Got to experience this for myself! The system I listen to in Chennai doesn't have a tweeter - just the bass and mids. And the oldies and classical I listen to sound real nice. I rarely care about the recording quality. If this suggestion isn't too silly , do use the 'B' speaker connection on your amp to attach a basic pair of speakers. After all, it's all about the music :prost

Sir,

You are most welcome to my place for a listen, i.e. if you stay in Mumbai. Please do p.M. me & we can fix this up.

Unfortunately my amplifier does not have a 'b' connection. However, if you can get any speaker to my place, I shall be more thank happy to connect it. I too will get a chance to learn !!! Thanks, I look forward to your pm.
P.S. You should get your music along. That is a must. No CRD's but... sorry !!

SDhawan schrieb:

bhagwan69 schrieb: soulforged schrieb: Having read your comment I am wondering,is it really worth having a real high end system. I believe the higher you go the more prominent the weakest part of the chain becomes. And lastly the recording quality kills the whole chain. Where you spent 99 % of your heart & money - you listen 1 % of your CDs. And 99 % of you CDs are heard in the system where you spend a small fraction. Difficult to accept this paradox.

Hello Doc !
Your comments are perfect.
The most expensive part of the chain is the 'software'
I have spent more money on CD's than anything else in my chain. That is the part [CD's] that performs the worst. Really very very sad !!!
I really wonder, why is it that recording / mastering engineers & album producers have to 'mix-down' the album to such a level that the recording goes for a full toss !!! I could never understand this.

If one is a 'music lover' then the best he can do is to have a 'mid-fi' set up. One that is forgiving; cause that way his music [thing that he loves] can be played and 'apreciated' in the best possible manner.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

I really wonder, why is it that recording / mastering engineers & album producers have to 'mix-down' the album to such a level that the recording goes for a full toss !!! I could never understand this.

I fully share your exhasperation, irritation and consternation on this.

although i can think of a source asanything else but true to the media in the most engineering way possible, the amp-speaker combination is all where one can strive to a forgiving system. it appears to be the listeners plea for forgiveness for the mistakes of that recording engineer

bhagwan69 schrieb:

If one is a 'music lover' then the best he can do is to have a 'mid-fi' set up.

thats perhaps the reason why many of the more well heeled audiophiles have, inspite of their Uber setups, a second "Musical" setup in their living rooms/bedrooms

Maybe we should coin a separate term for this. Like "hi-fi" is for the system that puts out the best sound, there ought to be some word for a system that gives the most enjoyment from most recordings.

Aah..try coining a new term and we will start up a debate and end up exactly where we are right now

But if you really look at it, in the end we are all after perfection in our systems..poorly recorded cds are only constraints which dont allow us to have a perfect system. hence Hifi is still our end point with the constraint of our software which induces some amount of compromise.

the key words being perfection, constraints and compromise..hence we are more or less willingly accepting systems which are compromised from what Hi Fi should be

in case tomorrow there is another media other than a cd which somehow lets us have all original redbooks with no amount of erors..we will all have to change our systems !! ( I believe some folks are already trying to work with music companies in converting redbooks to Lossless digital formats.

Arj wrote

I believe some folks are already trying to work with music companies in converting redbooks to Lossless digital formats.

Ya, I believe so...
Bhagwan gave a link to a digital music player by a co. called Nova Physics in the thread"25 yrs of the CD".
Then ,one reads abt a device called the Squeeze Box by Slim Devices.
Lets see how they turn out.
Meantime, one can only hope that the Music publishers/Recording Engrs do not take too many "Pungas" with the music mastering.

the punga's will be taken :-)....every re-issue sounds a bit different...then someone decides to re-issue on a different meduim and then screws it up even more....

Like sharukh was saying the other day..."Take 5" he has heard two versions of the same recording....one with the drum set towards the back-right and one towards back-left.

Arj schrieb:

But if you really look at it, in the end we are all after perfection in our systems..poorly recorded cds are only constraints which dont allow us to have a perfect system. hence Hifi is still our end point with the constraint of our software which induces some amount of compromise.

Well, the CD is the only thing which is not in our hands. All other components, we can choose or tweak according to our needs.

Bhagwan, I felt saying "Most CDs need only a mid-fi setup" was probably unfair to such systems. (Hey, don't take this personally ok? I never take anything on the internet too seriously)

I thought it was like saying a humvee doesn't perform well on the autobahn, compared to a ferrari. But we don't have the autobahn here. We only have off-road conditions(i.e. mumbai roads during the rains :D) And a ferrari would be utterly useless there.
And if I were to shift to germany, I can't just keep driving up and down the autobahn whole day, can I? There are so many other roads to explore!

(Hey, I'm not saying that if anyone wants to gift me a ferrari, I would refuse )