First Post - Budget amplifier nedeed- Please help

Me angry? No way. I was just worried. I also understand the excitement. Nothing gives me more pleausre than visiting an audio shop. Even Diwali shopping is less exciting.

I would strongly advise against buying any equipment that you do not listen to. Unfortunately Norge is in Mumbai, and you are in Hyderabad. So I am not sure how this gap can be bridged. If you can visit Chennai for a day or two, you can listen to apmlifiers from Audiocraft. He will be able to give you the whole works including sub woofer for around 10K. Muthu of this forum has been using his system for some time and really enjoys himself. Mark of Audiocraft showed me a 2.1 channel amplifier with 40 watts per channel at less than 3K !!!!! He has 100 watts amplifiers at less than 10K..

I am not sure about Hyderabad. I have met with Uday of Sound&Vision, and he is a very nice guy. Here is a quick comparison of the two products you saw there.

NAD 315BEE
Power at 8 ohms 40 x 2
Frequency responsE 20Hz to 20KHz
THD <0.02%
Understand SACD/DVD-A No
Subwoofer out No

Yamaha RX-497B
Power at 8 ohms 75 x 2
Frequency responsE 10Hz to 100KHz
THD <0.02%
Understand SACD/DVD-A Yes
Subwoofer out Yes

Though the NAD is a good machine, given your taste and budget, the Yamaha may be a better bet. If you think you can afford it, you should choose the Yamaha. It will give you good sound for movies and music, connect to a sub for serious lows, and let you enjoy your movies.

So let us now see what you have using your existing Tannoy speakers.

Choice 1: Buy a Norge or a Audio craft amplifier for about 8 odd K. Buy a sub for about 10K. Another 2 K on cables and connectors. Total budget 20K.

Choice 2: Buy a Yamaha 497 for 19K. Sub for 10K. Connectors for 2K. Total budget 31K.

You will certainly get better sound from Choice 2. And your options of disposing off after six months will be better with the Yamaha.

For speaker cables and connectors ask Uday to show you the specs and prices for DAC cables. They are good and not very expensive. For more details on these products visit Designer Audio - Products.

Cheers

Hi venkat,

Thx man, I've read most threads of this forum and some others. Your opinions/suggestions are right to the point and shows your knowhow in this field.

I too read A/V max and What Hi-Fi but just read it. Too much technical is a big no. I mean I would not able to understand more than say 60% of what I read. So the help I get here is my only source (nobody near my home or work)
and I know is completely reliable.Based on the comments/sugetions only is my purchase going to ne. I will/shall not trust the dealer I guess though nice people.

I have been looking around the net and stumbled upon some digital receivers(of yamaha) that cost very less in foreign countries 249$ to 349$, which are 5.1 and the usual atributes - dolby dts.

These do not have HDMI & 7.1. I do not need that now at all.I will have to buy many others to complement & utilise them.

What if I go for these, I assume I will be able to get for less than or close to 20K. I will just have to wait for another month for the subwoofer. Come Feb08, I can go for a full-fledged setup.

The names are:

Yamaha HTR-6030, HTR-6040, HTR-6130, HTR-6140, HTR-6150

HTR Series, Digital Home Theater Receivers by Yamaha Electronics

Yamaha RX series - RX-V361,RX-V461,RX-V463,RX-V363

RX-V / RX-Z / RX-N Series, AV Receivers from Yamaha Electronics

What do you suggest and if yes recommend.

Once I buy the new setup next year, this set shall go to the living room and the logitech z 5500 sold for less or use just for games(if space permits).

You may ask, why 5.1 reciever(that is if the above ones are in my budget and good for now than 2.1), maybe I can add cheaper floorstanders or bookshelves witha centre for the living room, since in my home everyone sees movies a lot(including english movies ok for family viewing)
If the above is acceptable and better to go than a 5.1, which one would be it and do you think price shall be within my tiny budget.

PS: I could come to Chennai and look look to audiocraft, Infact we have sonodyne here and had no chance that day to visit them but I am afraid I cannot now. Its so near but not possible now Venkat.

Infact I had been to Egmore for an interview but had no chance to see/visit any where. Just visited landmark for computer books and I got them all with a 15% discount and good amount of stuff from Burma bazar.

Sound & Vision house Telome too. No Telome too venkat. Only Yamaha, that's decided. Even Uday was saying, if you wan to have the best sound buy the best electrical components but yes if budget permits.

About Norge I wanted your opinion and I have dropped it after your post.

Thius is apretty long post but eagerly waitinf for your response. I want to buy something tommorrow Venkat because you never know something useless crops up and spoils this chance. It happenened many times.

Thx so much for your time.

added now: Hey Venkat my lining room is 280sqft and my room is 250 sqft. Just thought should add this.

Man, you are changing your mind very quickly. I suppose it is the excitement of buying your first audio / video system.

Regarding the system you have referred to, the HTR systems are made for the US.

The equivalent systems for the rest of the world are the RX-V series. If you are buying these in India, I would use a US$ to 60INR as the conversion rate to take care of customs, dealer margins etc. So the prices for the Yamaha AVRs will be as follows in India.

RX-V363 - Rs. 13,800
RX-V463 - Rs. 21,000
RX-V563 - Rs. 27,000
RX-V663 - Rs. 33,000

These are the minimal prices I can think of.

In terms of features, the 363, 463, and 563 are very simple systems that provide decoding and support for Dolby Digital, DTS, and Yamaha's own DSP. They also provide DAC conversion. The 363 and 463 are 5.1 systems while the 563 is a 7.1 system. They do not have too much processing for video.

These systems, in my opinion, for serious utility must be paired with a high end DVD player that will handle the video part.

The 663 is the first system that provides serious video up-scaling and support for up to 1080P.

Cheers

Hi venkat,

Thanks for the prices and comments,

I shall go to Sound & vision and come back to the thread man.

Have a great day dude.

Quickly, if you do want to check out Norge, you can visit Vector systems at nagarjuna circle, panjagutta(Designer Audio - Dealers). I found them to be complete idiots with an attitude on top of it but hey, it can't be helped if they are the only dealers in town...

Hi guys,

I am back and a proud owner of Yamaha RX v663 as of today.

Thank you Sunil, Venkat, Gopi & Kindofblue etc and all others who helped me in this forum.

Now I think real test begins and I shall ask you again wrt speakers selection in the other thread I started

http://www.hifivision.com/speakers/1...lar-tower.html

I need complete help guys. not now but i will come back after auditioning these again and purchase 2.1 only for now.

Gopi, if your deal with Sound & Vision still stands, I shall come to you again but only when I have some raw cash in hand and hope that happens soon enough.

Till that time its only 2channel stereo with Tannoy MX1m's.

Thank you guys really. I read other forums but their tastes and preferences are so different and this forum is the right one to my sensibilities and for what I will look for from Indian perspective.

Congratulations Anooj!! Have a whale of a time with your system. Start enjoying your movies and your music. And, please what you likes and what you did not.

Cheers

Hi Venkat,

Thank you. To tell you the truth 663 was bought in a hurry, even after reading many useful posts by you and so many here. I am very unhappy about that but that's a sorry story. Bought 363 and then upgraded to 663. I could have hastened to you guys directions and wait for Denon 1909, which I see as of now is the best deal packaged for getting almost all things right under a good price.

Easwar, went for that, good choice man. I will visit your home anyways once you set it all right(Hey I have the invitation right). 663 has many issues but like I said in previous posts I am not looking more than 5.1 and no hdmi.

Venkat, I will not make that mistake again w.r.t speakers, in fact Gopi needed some help which I could not honour. He could have helped me sort the issue.

Guys, if anybody reading this, please, please consult guys here before ven auditioning, the time spent here is really worth the money. At the ed of the day it is your ears and yes you need to have it registered in your mind that 'Yes i got a good deal' - which is very important else it keeps checking your patience and you go on a unnecessary buying spree.

Thank you Venkat, sunil, Kindofblue and others who helped and that really mattered. For speakers (only 2.1), I shall come back after auditioning. Thanks

Anooj

PS: Venkat I have genuine doubt. You said whardale 9.6 is ur FS but is it justifying the monstrous Onky 875? I saw it 2 days back and man, isn't it a mean machine.
Are u fully utilising its capabilities? Just curious.

I have Diamond 9.5 not 9.6. Is it a mismatch with the 875? I don't know. I find it quite nice and I like what I hear. I had explained elsewhere how I ended up with the Diamonds.

Cheers