Need Help- Good Music system

Hello Friends,

Very new to this forum and very limited music knowledge.
Few days back decided to have a new music system and visited Bose and sonodyne showrooms. Tried Bose Companion 3 and 5 and really amazed by the quality of sound it produced.But confused about the value for money proposition. So want to check other options.

What I want?
I want a system(2.1/5.1) purely for music and which can be expandable(add speakers) in near future.

My budget would be 22k-28k approx.

Any help in this regard will be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Suvi

Tell us your

1. room size
2. movie:music ratio
3. types of music listened to

For 28k you can put together a pretty decent setup. From your post I am assuming you are mainly interested in music.

You could maybe get a used CDP (a Marantz or NAD or something) for below 10k, and spend 18k on speakers and amp. If your room is not too big my latest favourite is a tripath amplifier....costs 4k total, shipped from hong kong. Pair it with sensitive bookshelves like the cambridge Audio S30 (about 9 - 9.5k) and you'd have a very good stereo setup well within your budget.

There are tons of options. Give us your requirements and the forum can help you better.

I've hooked a Bose AM 3 [100W RMS] with LG DVD 447 [built-in amplifier] - its great for music and ok for movies. Total cost was 14K + 4K

A lot of people on the forum would not recommend bose products. Definitely they're not vfm.

But the AM3 price and performance seem reasonable if you're looking for a space saving system and don't want to leave out the sub.

Many thanks for your quick reply!

My room is around 300sq. ft. with TV, furniture set and lots of free space.
As of ratio may be around 20%(Movies)/80% music.
Types of music: it would me more of classical, lots of instrumental(mainly fusion, guitar, piano,violin...), bollywood songs(old & New).

I don't have joice in music but prefer the above ones.

Pls let me know if you need more info.

Thanks.

For 300 s. ft you might be pushing things with the Tripath amp (Topping TP20, costs 90 USD shipped on ebay, with a power supply), although it may be at least worth a shot if you can get hold of speakers of decent sensitivity like the Paradigm Atom (<14k) or the Cambridge Audio S30 (<10k), both rated at 90db. Depends on how loud you want it to go. If you don't need your music to go loud, this tripath + Cambridge S30 might be a steal of a combo.

Otherwise you can consider these speakers or others including the Wharfedale 10.1 (<14k), PSB Alpha B1 (<14k) and pair it with something like a used NAD or Marantz amp for <10k, and a used CDP for under 10k.

With both the CDP and amp used and under 10k each and the cambridge S30, it would still be a pretty kickass setup, and nearabouts the top range of your budget.

Of course you could also try options from our desi company Norge, but I haven't heard any of their stuff, but there are enough happy Norge owners on these forums.

What will be audio input options in the Tripath amp and are they expandable in future. I can have those from HK as few of friend are living in HK and they may help me in getting those.

the tripath that i am referring to has only one audio input, stereo RCAs, and no remote control! this needs to be kept in mind if you're considering it.

to the OP
first be sure of your movies to music ratio
ive seen many ppl suggesting a 80 20 music movies ratio and then finding the other way around

Also how serious are you with an upgrade plan
if you have a plan in mind and will expand later to 5.1 for sure then look at good bookshlfves now
for 30k look at PSB Alpha B1 and a marantz PM 4001 (beware this is only a 2 channel amp and you will not have the choice of going 5.1 later)
or used nad or marantz Amp

if you think 30k is more of a less one time investment then it wouldnt be wrong to consider Bose if you like it
or for 30k consider the onkyo sub sat receiver HT deals

Thanks Magma & psychotropic for your help on this.

@Magma : I am pretty sure that the system will be used more for Music and as for movies, i like it better in theaters than in home.

@psychotropic : After reading lot of threads i think 28k system will be very difficult for future expansion. So i will push Myself to 50k. Please help me zeroing as it is pretty much confusing as more and more i read the more and more i get confused.

It will be very helpful if someone help me finding the shops in kolkata

Many Thanks!

Suvi
If you will be using it mainly for music and you enjoy movies better at the theatres, then why do you need this 5.1 upgradability?
For music, you are well off with Stereo/2 channel. I have a multi channel AVr which I use mostly in Pure Stereo mode to listen to music. Its not as satisfying as a stereo int amp. But again you learn from mistakes
For 50k,
Marantz Cd6003 - 17k(grey it seems)
Used Nad/ New norge 1000- 10k
Usher s520( bookshelves)-21k or QA 1030(floorstanders)-27k

Best thing would be take your favourite cd, go to your nearest store and listen to the music with the same cdp and speakers connected to an AVR and then an stereo integrated amp.