Ok here is the update. Last saturday I started at 10:30 and was auditioning until 4pm. My wife was also with me. I made a CD with 6 songs for the audition, I did the best I could to make a lossless CD (using EAC to rip and then burn at slow speed). Here is the list of the songs.
1. Dil Se - Dil Se(Indian movie soundtrack)
2. E Ajnabi - Dil Se(Indian movie soundtrack)
3. Money for Nothing - Dire Straits
4. Don't Tread On Me - Metallica
5. No Complaints - Beck
6. Motocade - Beck
and
7. Hotel California - Eagle DTS CD
I wanted to add few more songs but could not stay up late on Friday night.
Anyhow, here is my take of the 4 brands that I auditioned on saturday plus on PSB T65.
1. B&W 703 : Beautiful looking speaker. Last year I auditioned them and liked them a lot. It was the first time I listed to real speakers (when compared to my $30 desktop speakers). Well, this time they sounded very bright. I could not turn up the volume much. My wife was covering her ears with her hands. We were really surprised as we thought this time as well we will be equally impressed.
2. Monitor Audio GS20: Again nice looking speakers, not as bright as B&Ws. Top end was very clean and crisp and lots of bass. Although there was more than enough bass but it did not sound clean to me. While playing Beck - motorcade, i could not hear the bass clearly (muddled, mixed, dont know how to describe it) in the beginning of the song.
3. Paradigm Studio 100: Nice big speakers. I loved their looks. They sounded great as well. To me, midrange was much better than the others and I liked them a lot. They would be great for rock music and HT as well, thats what I feel. I liked every song on my CD on these speakers.
4. Dynaudio Focus 220: Much smaller than Studios but they sound amazing. Very neutral, very crisp, clear and lush sound from top to bottom. Bass was great and tight. I enjoyed every song I played and was highly impressed. I could hear them all day long. This is the sound I was looking for.
5. PSB Image T65: I auditioned them 2 weeks back. Same songs. They had a very nice sound but got a little muddy somewhere in between. I did not enjoy the first song (Dil Se) that much on these.
Okay, I tried to explain the best way I could and as you already know this is the feedback from my ears. In conclusion, so far Dynaudios and Paradigms sound the best to me and between the two I would prefer Dynaudios. Surprisingly, my wife had the same conclusion. She also loved Dynaudios.
Now here is the situation, dealer had a pair of focus 220 demos and offered me abt 15% discount on them. I need to ask him how much for the whole 5.0 package (with 200c & 110 pair). (Any advice on negotiting skills is highly appreciated since I lack the skills there) Only problem with dyns, and that is a big problem for me, is that they need a very good amp to drive them which obviously costs a lot. As you can see I have to stretch my budget already for the 5.0 set, stretching again for rec/amp is impossible at the moment. My current budget for receiver is 1500 and no budget for amp. I might be able to add abt 1k more in a years time (total max 2-2.5k).
I read the complete Dynaudio thread on avsforum (87 pages) and everybody over there is using very expensive amps (simaudio, parasound, musical fidelity, bryston etc etc), way out of my league. If somebody can suggest me a cheaper option to drive these speakers without compromising the sound, I am all for Dynaudios.
If Dyns dont work out, I would continue auditioning and see if I like anything else or will buy Paradigms which were pretty close. I know even with Paradigms, having more power is preferred but as some of the forum members have done, I can opt for less expensive amps like emotive/outlaw etc.
