What happened to AV Max?

I stopped buying them an year back……….looks like Onkyo and b&w have bought over av-max. And the reviews are far away from the truth. Some of the gear which they praise are downright rubbish for my ears atleast.

square_wave schrieb:

And the reviews are far away from the truth. Some of the gear which they praise are downright rubbish for my ears atleast.

So very true. Although i receive a complimentary copy every
month cause i advertise in it every month, i dont really read
anything in there. Just glance through it.

Shahrukh schrieb:

Just went hunting for it (huff...puff..) They don't seem to have it. In fact, they didn't even know what I was talking about. Guess I'll just have to look around a bit more. What's the cover like? What stuff have they reviewed this month? What's it costing? Lemme know guys!

It has a cover price of Rs. 100/-

No Indian Review as yet !

All the reviews that it has are cut copy pasted

The Editor is ex-avmax [Sandeep Balagaji] - sorry for the spelling of his name. Nice person.

He was the 1st editor that AV Max had 3 to 4 years back.

The magazine is on the news stand.

Lots of Indian Dealers / Distributors have got their ads in it.

Just hunt around & you will find it.

I am not so sure if they are in any manner associated with the Times AV Show - I may be wrong here. But there is no mention of the Show in the magazine.

Regards,

BHAGWAN69

square_wave schrieb:

I stopped buying them an year back……….looks like Onkyo and b&w have bought over av-max. And the reviews are far away from the truth. Some of the gear which they praise are downright rubbish for my ears atleast.

Hi !

That was a bit blunt - but I like it, some one had to say it. I appreciate it !!!

However, it seems Onkyo & B&W have parted ways in India. Onkyo now imports & sells its own set of speakers - ELAC from Germany.

Hence @ times AV Show you might see the official launch of ELAC by Onkyo & B & W will come on its own. Even LG seems to have gone on its own. Any idea about this ?

BHAGWAN69

I got my copy with my friendly neighbourhood newspaperwalla....will sit to read it tonight.

LG, onkyo and B&W to my mind was an odd trio....LG, onkyo and B&W are just not in the same league(except for maybe the integra range from onkyo)....!

Anyways now since they are going their different ways, watch what happens.....

Manek.

Frankly, I take all reviews by anybody with a grain of salt due to personal - likes / dislikes /prejudices of the reviewer. It doesn’t matter which magazine…..all have their pros/cons. But av-max was taking it too far by being non-professional in their reviews.

Unfortunately, Avmax is inconsitent in its reviews. A specific example:
The Soomoku 12 inch subwoofer was rated as having poor sound - boomy and undefined in 2002.
This same subwoofer was rated as having good sound - best subwoofer available at 14,500 in 2004.

The reviewers were different and the opinions varied wildly. It becomes really terrible for a common middle class person (with limited means) who makes a buying decision based on these reviews. Most people are neither capable nor have the time to check things out for themselves. When they pay the princely sum of Rs 50 (compared to Rs 15 for a regular magazine) one does expect the reviews to be at least 90% accurate. But are they?

Unfortunately, I can't afford What Hifi. I could buy a CD at that price! I hope that they are honest and reliable. Will save me and a lot of audiophiles painful legwork Till then I will trust only my own ears

Finally got my hands on a copy last Wednesday. Must say I was impressed. Lots of gear. Loved the speaker group test. Even the Universal Player group test. Ok, they had Mini iPods (sigh) on the cover and that let me down a wee bit. Fortunately there was a lot more to read inside, so no complaints.

Er... hang on... there is one B I G complaint. The number of typos in the mag are ridiculous. Almost every page has a minimum of 2 typo errors. Maybe they haven't put their QC in place. But not what I'd expect from a Rs 100 magazine. No sir!

That said, I'm rather happy about What HiFi. Maybe AV Max will clean up their act in view of the competition. And then we'll have two quality mags in the country. And maybe stereophile and hifi news will follow.

Hey SNV, saw your ad in the What Hifi. No wonder you knew about it all along.

Sharukh....I also noticed a few typos....one of the columns has the first word of the sentences missing for about a paragraph....QC...it needs some strict copy checking !

Care to teach them a few tricks

Manek.

Yeah... maybe I could freelance for them!

Guys
The online Stereophile mag is available for just Rs.50/ per copy and the TONE online mag is free.
Things are getting better for 'freaks' like us!

Sharukh....make them an offer..I'm sure they wont refuse

Shahrukh schrieb:

Yeah... maybe I could freelance for them! ;)

Hi,

Who is the distributor for WHAT HIFI SOUND AND VISION India edition?
Saradindu Bose

It says - Printed by Hormuz Sorabjee. I guess it's the same guys who do Car & Bike India.

You'd think that AV MAx would pull up their socks, but no... it's the 9th of the month but no copy of the mag as yet. Sheesh!

Shahrukh schrieb:

It says - Printed by Hormuz Sorabjee. I guess it's the same guys who do Car & Bike India.

Thanks for your information. I got my copy of What hifi sound and vision. Its fantastic - atleast now I can afford to buy every issue!!

The November edition of AV Max is out. They've definitely upped their look quite a bit. Is this the What HiFi effect? I really don't know. - But they've featured floorstanders on the cover. Maybe they read this thread. Maybe they're trying to win us audio enthusiasts over again. Whatever it is, one can notice a change - but they still have a long way to go.

What hi-fi is a refreshing change from av-max which anyway used to come half way down the month. But like its international edition, What hi-fi is more of an informative guide rather than a critical reviewer. It has almost nothing bad to say about any of the innumerable stuff that it carries articles about. Reminds me of the famous Orwellian quote - "Some men are more equal than others". But atleast this carries enough equipment info than Avmax. Avmax was only 1 big article that carried a review of some line of equipment and a few more pages of news about launches and new products. The rest was just recycled month on month like buyer's guide, Glossary, lots of ads, etc.

AVmax is a great buy at Rs 10 or Rs 5. Not made the mistake of wasting Rs 50 for the last year

Guys, you know what? I think AV Max is gonna come back to being the magazine it once was. Sure it'll take time but from th elooks of the last issue one can tell that they're certainly attempting to pull up their socks!

Hi !

AV Max is having a Show in Hyderabad in Jan, 2006.

I do hope that they will make it as good as the Times AV Expo was !!!!! Well if they can manage even 75 % Of what happened @ HYATT it will be great !

I look forward to it.

Any Forum members from Hyderabad around ?

BHAGWAN69

The Magazine has improved, but I do hope that they can go on with it for a while.

Hey has anyone laid their hands on this month's What HiFi yet?

hi shahrukh,

Been checking the news-stand everyday... the moment i get it, i'll put up a post here...

rgds,
vikram

hey guys you all should not be complaining so much about the AV Max magazine!! I agree that it's not the best that it can be but it's pretty damn good CONSIDERING that in India hi-end audio is very much a luxury item that only a very few can afford.
The arrival of What Hi-Fi should help AV Max pull up its socks if it wants to survive. This'll be good for all of us.
I buy AV Max off and on from the news-stand & in nearly each edition I have there are some nice reviews of equipment (speakers, amps, CDP, etc) by this fellow the_audio_one. I also see some decent 1-page reviews by Nishant & Mehul (who I understand is no longer w/ AV Max). So, about 25% of the magazine is dedicated to 2-ch in this day & age of HT. That's reasonably good, no?
I subscribe to Stereophile & for it's country of origin (the USA, which is the leader in hi-end audio) I'd say that Stereophile is nearly pure sandaas! The amount of HT in there is ridiculous! I just got the Dec issue & one of the budget components of the year is, guess what?, the Apple Airport Express. This is what they cover in Stereophile - MP3 players & wi-Fi connectors???
I also read What Hi-Fi. Don't hold your breath on this magazine 'cuz it's deeeeeeep into HT! The better alternative is Hi-Fi News & Record, which has more proportion of 2-ch stuff.
IMHO, AV Max & What Hi-Fi have nearly the same emphasis - mostly HT dominated 'cuz that's what the public eats these days. 2-ch is diminishing & is becoming a niche market. I'm afraid that's just the fact of the matter.
Also read other e-magazines to get your fill of 2-ch gear (positive-feedback.com & enjoythemusic.com). Just BTW, guys I'm also a dedicated 2-ch enthusiast so don't get me wrong just 'cuz I took the contrarian view. OK?
FWIW.

Got your point bombaywalla - my original gripe about was this itself. Plus the quality of the reviews has dropped immensely. Atleast WHF/Sterophile are a good read. You know... less aricles, more reviews!

Less watzisname Ganjawalla and more Floorstanding Faceoff! you get the drift right?

Shahrukh schrieb:

Hey has anyone laid their hands on this month's What HiFi yet?

Dear Shahrukh,

Its a bi-monthly issue. The next one will be out in Jan.

Regards
Jay

bombaywalla schrieb:

I subscribe to Stereophile & for it's country of origin (the USA, which is the leader in hi-end audio) I'd say that Stereophile is nearly pure sandaas! The amount of HT in there is ridiculous! I just got the Dec issue & one of the budget components of the year is, guess what?, the Apple Airport Express. This is what they cover in Stereophile - MP3 players & wi-Fi connectors???

Bombaywalla,
your comments on stereophile i found particularly interesting, hence this post.

I hope you have read the review on AE Express ? if not you can read it here .
http://www.stereophile.com/accessoryreviews/505apple/ Its review is not as a wifi connector or an MP3 player.

BTW I do use it as a wireless lossless streaming transport into a Wadia DAC and can see how well it performs at a fraction of the price of its competitors ! (And i bought this after discussing this with some other "well seasoned" audiophiles who had have tried it as well)

Also, I have subscribed to stereophile for the past 3 years and I do not see any focus towards HT . could you give me the reference as to which part of the dec Issue covers HT ?? just searched it and found only 2 channel speaker/ preamplifier /amps etc.

In fact they do have another mag which covers just HT..FYI http://hometheatermag.com/

And finally on the part on it being "sandas", thats something i honestly did not really understand.

To me this is the only mag where I can really read about really high end and previously unknown equipment.(as a auto analogy, the ferraris and lamborghinis of Audio)
This is perhaps the only mag other than the goodsound network which actually publishes their own measurements of equipment

as mentioned by shahrukh, other than it only HFC, and i would like to add Hifi Plus and the UHF mag, have i found anything worth reading in print !

so i would not really criticise Sphile on those lines or even put it in the same paragraph as AVguide !

Arj,
Thanx for the AE review. I just started subscribing to S'phile so my 1st issue was Oct 2005. However, I have reading S'phile @ book-stores for the last 2 or more years. So, I'm not new to magazine. I just wanted to make it clear that my exposure to S'phile did *not* begin merely w/ my subscription.
You are correct, no part of the Dec issue relates to HT. That's not what I meant however. I meant to say that over the years that I've read S'hile I've noticed the trend towards more & more HT-related gear.

I think that S'phile is "sandaas" because 95-99% of the reviews that I've read of the gear they checked out is a good review! The reviewers never have anything bad to say about any gear. How is that? It's my emperical data that manuf that advertise heavily in S'phile (think Musical Fidelity, Wilson, Conrad-Johnson, Kimber Kable, Joseph Audio to name a few) always get stellar reviews. There are no short-comings in these gear. Really?
The other thing that I've noticed - most of these reviewers have small houses. Yet some of them have Wilson Maxx speakers in their room!! One reviewer even had a JM Lab Utopia for review in his house! Such large speakers are ill-fit to small rooms. one would need a room 40' long & 25' wide or bigger to accomodate such a huge speaker. None of the reviewers have houses that big. These reviewers are not monied people - they review for a living & not for the love of it. What credibility can I put into such a review?
3rdly, ever noticed how ga-ga Sam Tellig is about his trips to manuf in France & Italy? These were published earlier this year (June? July? August?). If you believed every word Sam wrote, Unico electronics, Opera loudspeakers, Audio Analogue electronics are some of the very best in the world!! One's audio realm should begin & end w/ these names. He was also gushing about his trip to JM Lab in France. Remember that? Have you ever heard the JM Lab Electra series? I have. Talk about the purity of "sandaas" in those speakers! Their Utopia line using Be drivers might be better but I've not heard those as yet. The joke on the street used to be that if you wanted Focal drivers in your speaker look at companies other than JM Lab! JM Lab used to be the worst off integrating their own drivers. Yet, Sam Tellig could never hear that?
S'phile highly recommends B&W N803 & N802 speakers. I 2 friends one w/ a N803 & other w/ a pair of N802. All I can say is that I'm glad that these friends own these B&W & not me! They sound terrible!
So, the reviews are heavily biased towards those that advertise. I can see why this is - nature of the beast I suppose. Aside from Mike Fremer & possibly Art Dudley, the other reviewers, IMHO, are very close to being tonally deaf!
I must also say that S'phile is not the only mag in this category. TAS also qualifies. So, does Hi-Fi News & Record. These magazines do provide one thing, like you wrote, which awareness of the existence of a product. I read the magazine mostly for that bit of news. The other thing I like in S'phile & TAS is the mention of which pieces of music are available in some new format or in re-mastered versions.

I've recently discovered another nice aspect in S'phile: some of the people reporting from overseas such as Paul Messinger's reports. I liked the one about the new driver from that UK company using flat drivers. Not all of them are enlightening tho'.
So, there are other nice aspects of the magazine but I cannot seem to forgive the reviewers the way they review the equipment.

Please do *not* read my post as being confrontational nor a personal attack. It's strictly not meant to be either. I'm merely providing you reasons for my earlier opinion. It might be a strong opinion but one with ample evidence to support it. Please read it as that. Thanks!

Best Regards

bombaywalla schrieb:

Arj, Please do *not* read my post as being confrontational nor a personal attack. It's strictly not meant to be either. I'm merely providing you reasons for my earlier opinion. It might be a strong opinion but one with ample evidence to support it. Please read it as that. Thanks! Best Regards

I dont own Sphile so its cool and your comments are quite understandable once the perspective has been put in

Yes TAS is good and Rogert E Green is a very practical audiophile and his reviews are good. although he and Robert Harley do seem to share a lot of good vibes with Stereophile and john atkinson.

Regarding Good review on all products.. yes, other than perhaps the erstwhile Listener mag, nobody gives -ves these days in reviews due to their survival on the advertisers money. but if you read betweeen the lines and look at the measurements it gives you a decent idea about the product and a hint on their negetives. and this is much more than most other mags give. (On hindsight, Perhaps Positive feedback is a bit more open with negative points)

The only negatives you get are in forums..and these have to be taken with a pinch of salt as the reveiewers have even lesser credibility and muchnhigher personal biases than the ones on print !

Even HFC with their expert panel have a good process, but their opinions also do not always match with ones own.

Regarding Sam tellig and his fixation with Europe especially Musical Fidelity, it is a joke at AA as well.. but still it gives you an idea about these products which would have been unheard of. thats how i came to know about Unico.. and yes it is very good ! ..and to be honest i actually felt the electra 906 was very good as well.. i had even tried it with my own amp, but felt it was a bit overpriced. (BTW Focal has stopped selling its drivers to others - the greatest hit is on Wilson audio)

Also regarding B&W, after their Matrix 800 they did go a wee bit downhill, but again with the right equpment they do sound good.. I mean there are people who love its sound as well and isnt that what matters? (They do sell and that too to audiophiles)

If everybody had the same taste in music , tonality and equipment, we would not have had so many dufferent types of equipment. so there do exist people who feel B&Ws make the best speakers or for that matter Audio Analogue or even Opera !.. and the magazine is meant for their tastes as well.

so what I was getting to was maybe an equipment or a review is not to your taste or experience, but that does not make it equally unacceptable to someone else ! hence it may be, as you call ir "Sandaas" to you, but that does not make it the same for someone else !

BTW Another reviewer whom i like is John Marks.. he does budget components and hence is more relevant to me !

Arj,
OK, point taken!
Often I notice people beguiled into thinking that S'phile reviewed gear is actually good! Most of the time, it's mediocre at best. I'd say 3-4 out of 10 are really good. However, the advice given by the reviewers to public on ALL their reviewed gear is mega positive. I'd even go as far as saying that is willful mis-leading! It's this aspect that got out my "sandaas" stamp for the magazine.
I wonder just how many people can correctly interpret the measured results like you can?
If one cannot, one is very likely to make a bad choice in gear following S'phile! IMHO.

Yes, I like John Marks too. He seems to be among the few even-handed critics.

This other e-magazine called Audio Perfectionist by Richard Hardestry (very over-priced subscription. Available only thru subscription, I'm afraid! I believe that the subscription only carries the e-mag) also seems to be very good 95% of the time.
In Nov he wrote a scathing review on Wilson speakers but it appears as tho he never listened to them! He wrote the review based on the technical make-up of the speaker.
On the one hand I support it 'cuz I have a lot of doubt on how a terribly expensive speaker with a 6.5" woofer disguised as a mid-range can do justice to the mid-range freq spectrum. I say this 'cuz my B&W DM604S2 also had a 6.5" Kelvar midrange that basically sucked! Fortunately my mistake was not as expensive as a Wilson speaker!
OTOH, I do not support such a scathing review based ONLY on the technical make-up of the speaker.
I've read several other reviews of his over time & on the whole I think that he's correct. He often gets into trouble for calling a spade, a spade.

Interesting point you have made.
I guess anyyhing which is too subjective in preference is bound to have a huge grey area and hence the same object having completely divergentlikes/dislikes.

But Anyone who does write a negeative about WA hzs guts.. it is certinly is overpriced and highly overrated. I did hear it once in a full goldmund setup (At a show) with a full Shunyata cabling.the whole room reeked of money.. nd thats about it. The music was all boom. I could blame it all on the room and the setup, but it was pitifuL and my mind was already shut out.

The very next room was playin a Sun audio Amp on Living voice speakers.. maybe 10% of the cost but still unaffordable to me. i cn still remember the sensation i got listening to it..

I am sure very few mags would ever write a poor review on the WA as they advertise in all considerably !

What i really want to mention is, I currently own a Sugden A21a. i first heard about it in a forum and then read the stereophile review before i could actually audition it myself..and by coincidence actually ended up with the younger brther of the speaker they (Incidentally john marks) actually ran with it on thereview ie the JMR twin.. And I reached this after around 3 month of auditioning at least 6 speakers!

Now Sugden never advertises..hence in between all this "marketing" campaigns if it does review genuine gems, then i would give them credit for it.Same wih the Harbeth, lavardin etc..

BTW Just read the downloadable files from Audio Perfectionist
It sure is expensive, bu the quality of the articles is good. I can understand why as well.. no manufacturer will lend them equipment, so they need to buy/borrow their own hence i guess the cost add up.

Just read this month's AV max. phhht...! Back to square one. Except for a piece on the Dynaudio/Primare/Nordost setup. There is absolutely nothing worth reading.

Sorry to be blunt, but the purge of staff from AV Max was good.

The staff had turned corrupt, and I know for a fact, demanded a sales commission for equipment that they informally suggested, when readers phoned them.

Dining out splurges and more were DEMANDED before equipment reviews, and the reviews reflected the courtesies extended.

This all sounds HORRIBLE, and it WAS. ( Ask the manufacturers who gave their equipment for review). The magazine itself and the Editorial board were, I must add, clean, its the reviewers in their individual capacity that turned rogue.

The new team has the chance to start fresh. There vocabulary, and command over English and audiophile terms too seem better.

Yes, the audio reviews are more sparse, and need to be ramped up.

Come on boys at AV Max, dont neglect your core audience.

Maneck, Please let this letter through.... It Good For Indian Hi Fi, and will also keep new reviewers on their toes...

SNV schrieb:

Shahrukh schrieb: Hey has anyone laid their hands on this month's What HiFi yet? Dear Shahrukh, Its a bi-monthly issue. The next one will be out in Jan. Regards Jay

It's Jan! The fourth, to be precise. Still haven't seen the new issue anywhere. Has anyone?

nope not yet...I was told it would be out today..will go home and check with my friendly neighbourhood newspaperwala.

3 days back I got my November copy of "What hi-fi" (the inaugural edition) and OOOOOPHHH!!!! so many things to read, so many reviews and so many news.....GOD what was I doing with AVMAX all these days ??

Ironically I also bought the December AVMAX on the same day
and there was an immediate comparision.....and my conclusion was THEY CANNOT BE COMPARED..


Anyway coming to "What hi-fi" as pointed out by many others there are quite a few spelling errors.

But one thing that poked my mind again and again is somehow I felt they are biased towards some brands e.g B&W and Denon to name a few(entirely my thoughts though).

Any one else felt the same or wanna clarify my itch...

Abhi, I agree with you. Very biased. Esp towards Denon. But hey, it's an entertaining read nonetheless. AV Max kinda bores.

Shahrukh schrieb:

SNV schrieb: Shahrukh schrieb: Hey has anyone laid their hands on this month's What HiFi yet? Dear Shahrukh, Its a bi-monthly issue. The next one will be out in Jan. Regards Jay It's Jan! The fourth, to be precise. Still haven't seen the new issue anywhere. Has anyone?

Dear Shahrukh,

It should be out pretty soon. Hold your horses.

Regards
Jay

abhi.pani schrieb:

3 days back I got my November copy of "What hi-fi" (the inaugural edition) and OOOOOPHHH!!!! so many things to read, so many reviews and so many news.....GOD what was I doing with AVMAX all these days ??

of course! the hi-fi industry in the UK is very old & it's not deemed as much of a luxury item as it is in India. There are far more buyers & enthusiasts in the UK than in India & so there are magazines that cater to them.

abhi.pani schrieb:

Ironically I also bought the December AVMAX on the same day and there was an immediate comparision.....and my conclusion was THEY CANNOT BE COMPARED..

using a simile, neither could post-war Japanese or German manufacturing vs. American. Look at both countries today! Same deal w/ Taiwan when they 1st started & look @ them today.
In India, the hi-fi industry is a fledgling & if guys like you keep saying & doing things like buying foreign magazines at the expense of Indian, YOU will kill your own industry! Buy the What Hi-fi but also support AV Max. Provide them feedback so that they can grow & serve you better. What Hi-fi does NOT service your market, correct? Where are you going to buy all those goodies you read in What Hi-fi?? So, it just audio masturb**** AFAIK! Good entertainment but like going to a nudey bar & not being able to touch.

abhi.pani schrieb:

But one thing that poked my mind again and again is somehow I felt they are biased towards some brands e.g B&W and Denon to name a few(entirely my thoughts though). Any one else felt the same or wanna clarify my itch... :D

yes, What Hi-fi, Hi-Fi News & Record & a few other Brit mags favour UK gear over most other countries esp. the USA. As far as USA gear is concerned, I found that Hi-Fi News & Record are big fans of C-J & Audio Research. There is not one piece of gear lately made by these 2 that they have not liked.
What Hi-fi is very heavily weighted to HT. They have reviews & lots of like priced gear compared but it's easy to see/read that their viewpoints are HT-centric. This might be liked by many HT buffs in India but if you are somewhat or very serious on 2-ch, that's not the magazine of choice. OTOH, if you have only 2 choices: AV Max & What Hi-fi then it's easy to see what the latter would get your jellies going.

bombaywalla schrieb:

In India, the hi-fi industry is a fledgling & if guys like you keep saying & doing things like buying foreign magazines at the expense of Indian, YOU will kill your own industry! Buy the What Hi-fi but also support AV Max. Provide them feedback so that they can grow & serve you better. What Hi-fi does NOT service your market, correct? Where are you going to buy all those goodies you read in What Hi-fi?? So, it just audio masturb**** AFAIK! Good entertainment but like going to a nudey bar & not being able to touch.

I'm not really in argument mode here but just a few pointers:

1. What HiFi is a British mag alright, but we're referring to the desi version. Hence I'd consider it an Indian mag now. (like Cosmo, Reader's Digest etc.)

2. There's a reason What HiFi decided to start an Indian edition. (Because they see potential) So, the question of "killing your own industry" doesn't arise. Change is progress. We're demanding quality for our money. Is that wrong?

3. AFAIK, What HiFi India will review gear available in India (pls correct me on this one). So the nudey bar analogy doesn't hold water either. (Ok maybe it holds true on the financial side of things... but that's another story.) Even AV Max does reviews of some super expensive gear. Isn't that Audio Masturb***** too?

4. They have been provided feedback. Tons of it. It's all over this thread. But...

That said bombaywalla, take a look at my original post on this thread. We all used to love AV Max. What we're loathing is what it's become. I take the liberty of speaking for all members on this forum when I say that we wish they'd pull up their socks. It would be fantastic to have two great reads every month.

Ditto..

I believe its just a matter of time...check out auto magazines. They are really good these days. You can go to a magazine store and get good choice. The same is with AV magazines. As we have more and more competition, quality is bound to improve...its a question of survival!!!!!!...
I would love to see AV-MAX back on its feet with good content...

stop reviewing Bunti aur Babli soundtrack...stop those 20 pages of loudspeaker prices....have unbiased reviews... and I will rush to magazine stores again...

Finally! The new What HiFi is on my lap as I write this. My comments on the content a little later. After I've read it. First glances? There's a lot about the KEF iQ5.

I love the Kef speakers....Q series onwards...wonder how the iQ series better the Q series.

hey guys..

bought this month's av max...seems they have improved a bit...still the unwanted list of prices and reviews on pop music take up a lotta pages...but the reviews are better...they've featured polk rti4, sonodyne avant, dali concept 1 etc...

and ofcourse attraction of this issue is the nominies for best stuff of the year...all have been reviewed in one or the other issues of avmax...not much explaining is done though....rest is the usual ads n stuff for basic survival...i guess the guys out there are not gettin enuf food-for-thought over audiophile gears...

need to have more n more brands and brains gettin into indian audiophile scene...what say...???

nindo

They've rated the Polks really highly. Is the RTi4 really that good? I didn't think so when I heard it. Opinions?

when i listened to them at profx mumbai they sounded pretty good to me...not very outstanding may be...may be it was becos just before them i had listened to bose 301s which seemed to lack the bass and the sound didnt seem to be as clear as in the polk rti4...
and for their price (rs.14.5k) they seem to be reasonable..(bose was 21k)...

but whats with the "real wood vineer"...does that really make any diff in the sound it can produce...in their website the rti section seems to shout it out all the time.. ???

nindo

but whats with the "real wood vineer"...does that really make any diff in the sound it can produce...in their website the rti section seems to shout it out all the time.. ???

nindo\


Many budget speakers use artificial veneer, and some use a paste on paper, pretty much like wall paper.

Real Wood veneer is more expensive, but will not make ANY difference to thge sound quality ( atleast if your eyes are closed

What the manufacturer is saying that even at this modest price point, they are providing genuine wood veneer, rather than sticky paper....