Help - newbie on a budget wanting everything!

Hi

Am on the verge of buying a system for home (2 kids aged 7+ and 2+) on a budget of 15K. I dont wish to spend more as I am really not sure of handling and thus wish to not repent!
As we have many audio cassettes, I was looking for something that plays that as well.
The Sony DCH-AZ1D mini hi-fi system seems to make sense to me with regard to my requirements. It will be installed in the living room, which is a compact 15' x 15' but opens into the rest of the house and dining area (large hall has been partitioned).
Sony India : DHC-AZ1D (DHCAZ1D) : Details
seems

It will go onto the 21" TV. Theres a fair bit of TV watching, which will continue. Hope to introduce DVD watching and some audio listening as well.

The options that came into mind were similar systems from Philips.
Component systems seemd much costlier and I dont wish to try that out without knowing how much time we will be spending on serious movies/music.

Does anyone have/tested the AZ1D? No reviews on the net.

All suggestions/comments welcome.
Thanks!

Sridhar

Budget is always a constrain(15k), but if you can stretch it to 19k, I believe you can have a proper Onkyo HTIB, entry level but still anyday far better than the Sony you checked out.

IMHO, apart from that glossy look and eastman color display, all you will find in that model will be meaningless boomy bass.

Hello Sridhar

If you cant stretch ur Budget wait for sometime and buy separate components , these are much better then Sony ,Philips , Samsung etc etc in terms of reliability and sound quality and there is always an option to upgrade.

regards

thanks guys...

so how does one go about it? I mean, what do I get first? I need a DVD player, and the cassette player is unreliable too.
~ 3.5K will get me a DVD player which is DVix compatible as well.

Any suggested roadmap?

Any users of the AZ1D around?

thanks again in advance.

You can check out-

a) ONKYO SIGHT & SOUND - INDIA

b) DVD-HD870 hyper vision - DVD players SAMSUNG

OR

DVP5986K/98 - DVD Player with HDMI and USB - Players and recorders - Recorders, DVD and home theater - Philips

You shoud find these players in your price range, if you look around.

Best regards.

thanks for the suggestions.

anyone around who has heard the AZ1D?

hi

am now more in favour of the Sony AZ33D, which has a USB port as well.
Sony India : DHC-AZ33D (DHCAZ33D) : Details

Funny thing is that the AZ series are very tall systems. The speaker being tall is not a problem, as it will be on top of a stand or bookshelf. Not sure how/where to place the main unit (190 x 381 x 317 mm).
All the TV/Entertainment stands I have seen locally have smaller areas to fit a music system (eg Damro, Godrej etc.).

Anyone seen appropriate furniture for such a tall system?
Any comments on choice of AZ33D?

Thanks!

Thanks Unleashme and Soundofmusic for the inputs.

It certainly makes sense to up the budget by not too much and get better quality like the Onkyo Gladiator.

After reading many posts here, I also could consider an AVR with 2 front speakers to start with (+ DVD player) and add the other speakers later on. However, most threads here in this direction seem to be of budgets ~ 35K and above. Or would I still be able to do that in my budget (AVR + 2 speakers). I can make the purchase either in Chennai or Bangalore (I am in a town midway between).

As mentioned, this would be for TV viewing + DVDs.

And yes, I will need help as to how to get my audio cassettes also integrated into this.

Thanks.
Sridhar

Sridhar,

That would be a welcome idea. Unfortunately, to set up a seperates or components based system; you will need a lot of time and patience with the current budget you have allocated. Under 20k, you might have to settle for a really sad entry level amp from Onkyo, Yamaha etc. Then you will have to fund for a set of speakers, again a huge compromise on quality. Please don’t think that I'm trying to make you feel bad or disappointed. Hi-fi in India is still very expensive. This could probably be the reason why you started looking at the likes of Sony and Phillips.

I would still like to suggest you a decent HTIB from Onkyo. If you can pick it from Bangalore, then you might want to make use of the ongoing Ugadi sale. The Onkyo MasterBlaster is going on for 19K only. This is the higher version of the Gladiator.

Check it out here - ONKYO SIGHT & SOUND - INDIA

All the best.

Thanks again.

any suggestions re how to get my audio cassettes to play into such a system??

regards,