During AXPONA 2023, I had many people come up to me and ask if I’d heard the Rethm room yet. I didn’t drop by until first thing Sunday morning, when all was relatively quiet and still in the corridors. Jacob George of Rethm was playing one of my favorite classical pieces, Thais: Meditation, and I sat down and faced his new loudspeakers, the Rethm Maarga ($12,900/pr USD).
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
Rethm, which is the only high-end audio manufacturer I know from India, has been on a roll lately. The company has been around for a while, but its newest line of loudspeakers is a major jump forward. I first heard the Rethm Aarkas at last year’s AXPONA and was impressed at both the sound and the technology behind these loudspeakers. Then Grover Neville reviewed the Rethm Trishna just a few weeks ago, and he really enjoyed them and focused on how “fun” they were. And now, I have spent a glorious Sunday morning with the Rethm Maarga loudspeakers, and now I’m thinking about them more than any other loudspeaker I heard at AXPONA.
First of all, the Rethm Maarga sounds like a crazy design when you just blurt out its features–high efficiency, full range single-driver mated to a pair of isobaric woofers (that means four per side) and a powered sub, all in one relatively compact enclosure. (That’s when I started to think that $13K per pair isn’t nearly enough.) Plus, these Rethm speakers are simply gorgeous and possess a one-of-a-kind style.
With Audio Research and Phasemation amplification and an Aurender digital source, the Rethm Maarga was so big and open and easy (like Sunday morning), and I continually marveled at the size of the soundstage and how boundless it seemed. It was also smooth and tangible through the midrange, just like your average single-driver design, but with all that low frequency firepower. In other words, the Rethm Maarga produced tight, natural and impressive bass.
You’ll probably hear more about the Rethm Maarga, as well as Jacob George’s other new designs, in the coming months and even years. In this case, believe the hype. This is a gorgeous loudspeaker in so many different ways.
If you would like to hear even more coverage from AXPONA 2023, you can listen our recap report and highlights from our audiophile-oriented show The Occasional Podcast. You can stream the episode direct from the embed below, or from your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, Android, Google, Deezer, Spotify, iHeartRadio and more.
Also don’t forget to check out our collaboration to commemorate the event with our solid bronze record weight available only for a limited run. This 800 grams of solid bronze features the PTA roundel on the top with also acts as a 45 adapter. You can purchase direct from the PTA Approved Store here on the site.
I stopped by the room being an owner of the previous Rethm Maarga. The room was perhaps the greatest challenge to the presentation. I felt the bass could have been dialed up. But, there is a similar presentation which I do love. When the Maargas were purchased, they were compared to the high end Avant Garde horns. That last 5-10% is a lot of money. Rethm gets me most of the way there in a reasonable budget, if a the price of a decent used car is reasonable for speakers. 😉