Lithos Noa 1 - My Experience

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the long post...
It has been more than two weeks since I bought these speakers and I wanted to share the experience with everyone here.

It all started about two months back after I bought my RX-V450 avr. Since I was on a tight budget, my plan was to go for good bookshelves in the 10-15k price range. After about a month of research and listening sessions with both desi and int'l brand speakers, I was planning to settle down for either Boston CR-65s or the Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 bookshelves. But due to some additional budget constraints I was forced to postpone my purchase by another month resulting in more research on desi speakers. I saw a few mentions of Lithos, and also read some reviews about it. Eventually I got in touch with Mr Rajiv to get more information about the products available, their prices etc. I was interested in the Studio 1 bookshelves but Lithos had discontinued that model. Rajiv suggested the Noa 1 sub sat combo instead. Since Lithos doesn't have distributors in Bangalore, he got me in touch with his most recent clients for a feedback on Noa 1. Meanwhile I got in touch with kspv, who owns a pair of Lithos Studio 1 speakers, through this forum. He was generous enough to let me audition his setup. I finally decided on the purchase of Noa 1 system (though it was a little out of budget) after a number of Q&A sessions with Rajiv varying from specifics of Noa 1 to general HiFi. Since this was a blind purchase Rajiv offered me a one week money back guarantee with nominal charges. They were able to dispatch the Noa 1s within a reasonable timeframe given the fact that when I made the purchase they were still recovering from the impact of the heavy rains in Mumbai. The speakers finally arrived...

Here, I would like to point out the fact that Rajiv has never been pushy about the sale and has always tried to provide satisfactory answers to my questions.

Now, coming back to the speakers...
After several experiments and trials I finally hooked the speakers to the front L/R channels of my avr. The initial effects were not that great and I had to do a bit of experimentation to get the subwoofer placement proper.

Once I got the setup right, the speakers started showing their magic. My initial criteria for purchase was 60-40 ratio of movies to music which has now changed to 80-20 ratio of music to movies! They are an excellent buy when it comes to music and sound very clean with adequate emphasis on vocals and low frequencies. The passive sub produces reasonable low freq response with movies as well. Another noticeable aspect of these speakers is Q-Balance that reduces ear fatigue. It really works!! I would definitely recommend them to someone who is looking for vfm speakers for a small to medium size room. On the home theatre front, I need little more time for an objective evaluation because I have hardly watched any movies after getting these speakers :). Though, one of the possible problems in case of HT could be trying to match them with other brands. My plan is to go for a Wharfedale centre channel to start with :D.

For those interested, specs are available at http://www.lithosindia.com/Home.htm.

Cheers
-ashutosh

Yes, Lithos Noa1 are good speakers. I almost bought them but my mother objected to the subwoofer. The Noa has a clean and balanced sound without any artificiality.

Thankfully, my mom didn't object to the price (I feared she would)

Highly recommended for mid-end system. Why are you considering a center from another brand? How will you obtain timbre-matching?

I wanted to go with Lithos for centre channel as well, but they don't make magnetically shielded speakers. They recommend placing the Noa 1 6" away from the TV which is not possible in my case due to space constraints. So trying out a different centre channel is an experiment which will go on until I have enuf cash to burn (again!) and enuf space to place the speakers properly. I have been adjusting all the possible settings with different movies, hoping to arrive at an optimum configuration. Would appreciate any ideas on this front.