A Mix of brands

Krish82

New Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
59
Points
0
Location
Providence, RI, USA
Hi ALL Audio-fanatics,

After a long time, i found some time to showcase my HT. I have upgraded my HT time to time, may be each year i have put into 40 to 50 K in it. Always had a dream to build a dedicated room for HT, But with sky rocketing Real estate prices its still a dream. SO i am showcasing my humble HT, which may not be to the expectations of some forum members Audiophile levels, but it achieves the purpose and is better than so called 5.1 that some brands sell in the market naming it as Home theatre.

Flashback:
After I hit my first job and stabilized a bit I wanted to buy an HT. Though financially it was a stretch at that time, I decided that I would like to get at least a basic setup of Onkyo. So I purchased the Onkyo HTS -590 in year 2006 and with a 32 Samsung LCD TV. The TV cost a bomb that time, almost 70K with A Samsung Upscale DVD player free.

Well frankly speaking I was very much upset with the music quality in the HTIB from the beginning; it was Samuel another honorable member in this forum, who was able to set it up to basic level for crispness. Soon I learnt that I was missing a lot of frequencies, the sub was doing may be from 70 to 120hz with variable quality and the Onkyo Satellites managed and saved the day in movies with their attacking sound. But there was a big frequency gap in between, mid range was thinner and bass lacking during music.

Year 2008:
So this year, I was in a hunt for good speakers, unsure whether the modestly powered Onkyo304 Receiver will do the job or not. I learnt a lesson here, Speakers/Audio equipments are not sold by the brand name itself, but it also depends on the Quality of Demo, their services, interaction, response, knowledge and how greeting the people are.

I visited one of the major shops around Chennai known for expensive equipments, I wanted to Demo a THX certified floorstanders, and the person said he can carry the speakers to the room and show me a demo only if I promise to buy it. What the heck, I said I dont want your courtesy thank you and left. Meanwhile I had a demo of many brands like Jamo, Klipsch but I am sure that all the demos did not appeal me because the people lacked knowledge about fine tuning the HT rather than the quality of brands itself.

Polk Audio Profx: I remember there was a sales manager named Prasanna, I met him a day before and he said, that you can audition the speakers for whole day, bring your receiver, till you are satisfied and then buy it. So I along with Sam headed to profx for a whole day of audition. My plan was to buy a basic Polk Monitor 50 with a basic Polk Sub. To summarize we auditioned Monitor 50, 60 and then Polk Rti A5. The day was over otherwise I would have had to shed out more for higher model. So happily packed the RTi -A5 speaker which was neatly powered by my Onkyo HT340 Receiver.

Onkyo HTIB with Polk RTi A5:
This was definitely a giant leap in terms of audio quality, the bass was awesome and so was the imaging. I was almost sold to these speakers when I heard Linkin Park What I have done song in the profx showroom in amazing volume level. Its been nearly 5 years and I can say onkyo makes good quality equipment, and this HTIB is still going strong.

hthall001jpg.jpg


Year 2009:
32 was not enough anymore, as basic lcd started to ship in 40and above. I was sure I did not want to change my tv for 6 or 10 more. The way these LCD prices have depreciated it hurts, atleast CRTs were stable for long years. So here came a need for projector until I had a demo of one. I really was sold to the large screen format when I had a demo. Really this is where the real home theatre begins.

BenQ MP 512 ST Projector:
Well this is not an HD projector; its native resolution is only 800 X 600. It has a HDMI input, it plays HD videos with good quality. The main point for this projector is its short throw, so it can throw a huge screen of 80 to 120 just from 1 meter distance. So this helps me to use the Home theatre in my bedroom or in Hall as and when required. I havent yet gone for a screen as I feel it may spoil the interior look of my house as long as it is not custom made.
Most of the Onkyo supplied Satellites and sub are not used any more, for the rear surrounds my old sony bookshelf speakers are doing a good job. I have a plan of buying a matching center for my polks.

hthall003jpg.jpg


The Star of the show Year 2010
Well an absence of a subwoofer was getting over me. I started suffering from Bassomania a disease caused by lack of Bass. So started the hunt for it, I was keenly eying on the Polk DSW Pro500/600 series to match my existing package. I had a demo of these subs 3 to 4 time at different times, but each and every time it failed to impress me, even at full volume levels it did not shake up the Demo room, I seriously felt that the polk audio people were concentrating on corporate customers, they did not properly tune up their Demo room. So Polk subs were out of question. Then I had a demo of mighty monster named Klipsch Sub-10 in Ezone. That demo really ate all the other contenders in the showroom. I have heard supercube subs before, but considering price to performance factor nothing came as close to Sub 10.
When I went to buy one, it was out of stock. Finally made a call to Decibels and had a look at the Klipsch SW 450 10 sub which is a newer model and replacement for Sub 10. I liked the demo and the sub so I packed it.
No matter how powerful or big your mains are but a subwoofer is really a SUBWOOFER. This sub not only pressurizes my hall, but my whole house with just 40% of the volume.

HT SET UP:
Receiver: Onkyo HTR-340(HTS 590) - Rs 28K
Mains: Polk Audio Rti A5 - Rs 32K
Center Onkyo HTIB package
Surround- Sony bookshelves/Onkyo HTIB
Subwoofer: Klipsch SW 450 10 Rs 28K
Projector: Benq MP 512 ST short throw. Rs 45K
Still to come
1. H D Projector
2. Center channel
3. Receiver Denon/Onkyo


Well I have bored you with all the talking and now the pics:
HT_HALL 006JPG.jpg

Seating Poistion:
HT_HALL 005JPG.jpg

HT_HALL 010JPG.jpg

The Bass:
HT_HALL 013JPG.jpg

HT_HALL 030JPG.jpg

I am having a pretty hard time upoading the pics:) many more to come..
 
Last edited:
good goin buddy... THANKS FOR THE NAMING I AM SUFFERING FROM TOO.

BASSOMANIA.. i was still hunting for the name of the disease and u named it... welcome..
 
nice set up and room!...bassomania!!!?my gawwwwwwwwd......how bad!!!recent studies confirm that bassomania left un treated for a long time also leads to insomnia,cacodemomania and catapedamania !o-o!????...go consult an bassiatrist soon!!!!
 
Nice setup krish.
I also bought same combination , samsung 32"LCD and onkyo 590 with a philips upscaling DVD player in early 2007.It did cost a fortune.
I have shifted to 2 channel music now.

Enjoy your setup :)
 
Awesome setup krish....

One thing I would like to ask is that : is the Projector more prefferable for movies than the Tv or other way round , given the cost to size and cost to picture quality ratio.
 
Awesome setup krish....

One thing I would like to ask is that : is the Projector more prefferable for movies than the Tv or other way round , given the cost to size and cost to picture quality ratio.

Hey sorry for late reply, Projecter is Damm good for movie experience, But it cannot replace a TV. A LED TV will give you a bright crisp and sharp image quality which my projector doesnt give at that size. Althiough when i get huge size i forget everything. There are some HD projecters 1 lakh + onwards which will be full HD and mindblowing. Using a projector needs you to consider many aspects
1. May be a dedicated room
2. or atleast a dedicated plain wall preferrably painted in off white, although the prj has wall color select correction
3. Capability to fully darken the room or hall
4. and Big sound, bug picture should syync with big sound

where as TV needs none of the above. My setup is not very audiophile one, but bang for money, people keep mouth open when they see and listen.
Projecter is defenetly supeeerrb for action movies for its size.
 
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Red Mahogany finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.
Back
Top