Cadence

Mr Ajay Shirke of Cadence with AES members

After the lunch, it was the time for “CADENCE”- the high end audio company. Situated in the suburb of Pune city, this company has created a name for itself in a short span. It was formed in 1990, as a result of a meeting between three people who are extremely passionate about their music. Walter Hermann, electronics research engineer( Philips – Holland ), Ajay Shirke, director of a multi disciplinary engineering group and Mahendra Dave, a leading music aficionado from Pune. They collectively put together India’s first and world’s critically acclaimed HYBRID ELECTROSTATIC loudspeaker. Cadence also excels in designing “Tube amplifiers”- CANASYA & VA10  

Cadence has set up one of the world’s finest, most sophisticated manufacturing unit, complete with a generously funded R & D program, manned by experts in the field of acoustics. Both Mr. Shirke and Mr. Dave, were present to attend to the AES members. They explained the vision of forming the company, the philosophy followed and meticulous process methods to deliver a world standard product in entertainment audio.

The AES members were first taken to R&D department. It has got a dedicated anechoic chamber, one of the few available with the audio companies in India. The world standard loudspeaker measurement software “MLSSA” is used along with B&K microphones and other test instruments. Mr. Shirke informed about how CADENCE is the only company to solve “sparking” problem in electrostats occurring due to high humidity factor and “charge-up” time of the same.(CADENCE electrostat is the only quick start electrostatic speaker – plug-n-play)

The next stop was the production unit. Mr. Shirke explained how each and every component (cabinet parts, die-cast panel parts, electronic components for crossover & amplifier) was precision tested for fit-n-finish quality. The next was a sizable production floor (basically a “cellular assembly), where products like speakers and amplifiers were put together in a “individual start-to-end” pattern. The finished products are again tested for high level of consistency. The woodworking & electrostatic driver components are indigenously made at a separate unit. Special seasoned wood procured from UK is machine carved, while the electrostatic panel is assembled in a complete dust-free condition, with maximum permitted dust particles being less than 0.3 Microns.

"The Listening Room"

The final stop was the “listening room” where members were treated to audition the outcome of the above seen endeavor of audio engineering. The setup has “ARCA”-the flagship of CADENCE hybrid loudspeaker series, powered by “CANASYA”,the latest Triode based, push-pull tube amplifier-200 watts RMS(up to 50 watts in pure class A). The CD player was FORSELL Reference and the cabling “Van-den-Hull” (incidentally CADENCE speakers are internally wired with exclusive Van-den-Hull cables). The music was retro classic jazz and classic rock (Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, Count Bassie), from well preserved LP’s played on high end turntable. The system sounded stunning, and the experience quite mesmerizing. It was best in revealing musical subtleties, resolution of every layer of music & naturalness of the timbre. Everyone felt that his day was made with this experience.

In the evening the members descended on the “Shanivarwada” fort, centrally located in the city of Pune. This five hundred year old fort has an impressive Son-e-Lumiere show. Of special interest was the fact that the multi-channel Sound track was designed and executed by one of the AES member Mr. Uday Chitre, and many a songs in the soundtrack were sung by Mr. Ravindra Sathe, also member, AES. And both were present on the tour.

The members attended the show and later visited the control room. Mr. Atul Varshney, in charge of operations, explained the system. The Six track audio and the SMPTE code are played back on a TASCAM- DA-78HR, HI-8 recorder. The software then controls the lighting and a 8 X 8 audio matrix. There are 160, one Kw lights employed throughout the presentation area. A special feature being the 12 strategically located fountains, used at specific times in the presentation. They are 3 Hp and 5Hp rating. They are also operated through the same software program. Audio system comprises of 8 locally made loudspeakers powered by 4 X two channel INTER-M 250 Watt / cha amplifiers. The members were impressed with the overall presentation and it’s set up. It was 8 pm and the bus took the members back to Mumbai, by midnight.

Milind Raorane

                                                                             Avinash Oak