Jamo-Roquai Dreams

Not more than seven households in the world have one. And if you want to join the select club, just express a desire and someone will fly down from Denmark to give you a live demo. But wait, what are we talking about here?

The name is Jamo's Digital Cinemaster, the world's first fully integrated digital entertainment system.

With 16 in-built power amplifiers capable of delivering almost two thousand watts RMS (Root Mean Square for the uninitiated) at less than one percent THD (Total Harmonic Distortion), the Cinemaster's surround sound will actually ensure shivers running down your spine. At the same time, the efficiency of these will ensure minimal power consumption. Compared to conventional speakers, the harmonic distortion of these speakers is 2.5 to five times less, depending on the volume level.

 

Moreover, the Cinemaster system can interface seamlessly with the home entertainment hardware or software that you already have or plan to buy. It's controller will accept all input media in all digital formats, and even select the highest quality format possible, unless you decide to intervene manually. You just need to set up the speakers, connect the system controller and your vision or sound source such as VCR, LD, DVD player.

But if there's so much going for the Cinemaster, how come only seven households in the world have it! No, Jamo is not selective about the people it sells to, neither is the production so slow that it takes months to create one masterpiece. It's just the price - a mindblowing Rs 30 lakh.

If that runs your aspirations amok, don't despair, there are cheaper options from the same family. There's System Two for Rs 2,11,000 with three speakers for left, right and centre, two surround speakers and a subwoofer. This writer experienced a demo of the same and came back amazed at the way the sound travels around the room with the system projecting scenes from Star Wars, Daylight and even Dil Se. Please fasten your seat belts.

Cinebels, the company which has brought in Jamo into the Indian consumer's entertainment options, offers more than just a shop to choose and pick speakers and amps. It offers complete home entertainment solutions integrating Jamo speakers, Denon amplifiers and audio-video systems and Barco projectors (from Belgium).

So if you are building a house or already have one and want to set up a home theatre system in one of the rooms, just give them a call. And their engineers will come over, look at the room, workout the acoustics and design a package best suited to your requirements and budget. If your house is not completely built yet, then they'll even take care of concealing the wiring needed for the system. They'll install the system and give you a quick rundown on how to get the best out of it.

The exceptional thing about Jamo speakers and systems is that when you turn up the volume, unlike conventional home theatre systems, the sound pressure level increases in a much more civilised way. There's no jarring or listening fatigue nor are there any distorting side effects.

Jamo's range of speakers starts at Rs 17,200 per pair for the Studio 180 series and goes as high as Rs 5,80,000 per pair for the Oriel series. 178 cm high, 90 kg each, these large and beautiful soundboxes have been described by the British magazine Audiophile as "...a loudspeaker in a class of its own". Then there is the X3M series (Rs 48,184 to Rs 67,424), especially made for party lovers and techno music freaks - tall blasters with funky yellow strips for additional ambience effects. Very easily missable is the discrete loudspeaker series, which mounted onto your drawing-room walls will look more like a work of art while big clear sound mysteriously emanates conjuring up more picturesque images. These start at Rs 40,800. The entire gamut of Jamo speakers available in a variety of colours have to be seen and heard to be felt.

Denon's range of amps and audio/video receivers starts at Rs 19,600 offering multiple options as you move up the price list.

But what could really break your back if you don't want to use these gizmos with your TV is the Barco projectors, which will make the silver-screen effect complete, they start at Rs 2.5 lakh without an upper limit, so to speak. You could get cheaper projectors at Rs 60-70,000, but those will have LCD screens, whereas Barco has CRT (Cathode Ray Tubes) screens, which is what all TV sets use, so you'll get that picture quality. You can even browse the Net on these.

The speakers come with a three-year warranty, while the rest of the home entertainment package components come with a one year warranty. Beyond that, you can sign an annual maintenance contract with Cinebels for keeping the system in good shape over the years. Finance is also available from Citibank and The Associates. All prices are exclusive of taxes.

As of now, available in five cities - New Delhi (6483696/6461305), Chandigarh (784712/3), Ahmedabad (6743230/6776213), Bangalore (3370220) and Calcutta (2411848/2417257).

So, if you have the bank balance and some space at home, forget Aiwa and Akai Home theatre sytems, get the best - and turn up the volume without grimacing!