Don Pearce wrote:
On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:49:54 +0530, Sharad wrote:

Hi,

I listen to acoustic and vocal music. I love intimate close miked vocals and a lot of detail in my
music.
After listing to a few speakers, I have narrowed down to KEF iQ9 floor standers.
Now I need to select a matching amplifier. Any suggestions?

I have read some good reviews for the new Rotel RA-05 in W-HiFi. Going by the specs, a combination
of RA-06 + RB-06 sound exiting, if I use them to bi-amp the KEF iQ9. I have read that Rotel matches
well with B&W, but I haven't auditioned the B&W yet.

The choice of speakers is not cast in stone yet, so suggestions are welcome on that front too.

Thanks,
Sharad

Choose the amplifier on the basis of features - does it have the
inputs you need? Does it have enough power for your speakers? Does it
look right in the room? The amplifier has advanced in design so far
today that you will be unable to tell them apart by sound.

As for the speakers, they need to match your room rather than the
music. Your room may be bright or dull - reverberant or absorptive,
and that is what will eventually determine which speakers work best.
Nobody here will be able to tell you which (they are fooling
themselves if they try). You need to get friendly with a good dealer
who will let you "try before you buy" a few different models so you
can make up your mind.

Finally one piece of advice I always give. If one particular speaker
makes you go "WOW, that's great", send it back to the dealer. You
won't be able to live with it in the long term, because good speakers
don't do that - they are invisible in the acoustic sense.

d


Thanks for you advice Don.
I will surely try to hear the speakers in my listening room before making the final decision.

I would like to mention that different speakers do sound totally different to me, based on the music
I am playing. For example, the ones that play good beats and dance music (Polk, JBL, Jamo X series,
etc.) turn out to be poor performers when reproducing voice, or timber of a violin. It was an
interesting discovery for me that EPOS M5 is better at reproducing voices like Nora Jones, and Diana
Krall, than EPOS 12.2 or EPOS 22; though the M5 sound starts distorting as soon as you insert a
dance CD. I wonder if amps too have similar characteristics.

Thanks,
Sharad