Advice needed for HT seup 25-30k

[dawg55555]

Hi guys,
first of all, I really thank all of you who are helpin out each other and making this such a great forum.

I am breaking my head over deciding in buying a HTsystem. First, I had decided to go with the Onkyo HTS3100 which is superb VFM for movies. Unfortunately, through various other posts in this forum,I read and have been advised ( thanks to people like moserw who is doing a great job here being so helpful ) that the HTS3100 is not good with music. But what I want to know how bad is bad. Because I have auditioned other commercial HTIBs like Sony,Samsung,LG,Panasonic and they seemed so-so with music. If the 3100 can perform any better than these, i will be more than glad to pick up the 3100 blindly. So I really want to know what is lacking with 3100 when it comes to music?

If its not the 3100, please suggest some VFM AVR+5.1 speaker package combos - 25 to 30k which are really good for music. I know most of them are good for movies. but for me music is really really important.Thanks all in advance for your suggestions.

 

[Sujit]

Nothing impressed me more than the Philips system did. It costs only around 22k and does everything much better than ANY of the others. A lot of my friends have chosen this over full fledged HT setups four times the value!

I sincerely recommend you audition it before you make up your mind. (and it does all the processing -- DD, DTS 5.1 etc etc...It will even upscale and give you an HDMI output!

 

[spirovious]

I will advice you in different way.
All knows Onkyo AVR are designed for movies,so dont do well with music.
I will suggest you Onkyo HT-S 5100
The reason is It has larger speakers as fronts.So sound can be better than
3100.The new receivers has music optimisers,so better music with mp3.
This is really all in one.(music40%, movies60%)You can improve sound
further by adding CDplayer or Dac.

If your priority is music then go step by step.
1st go for receiver & bookshelfs.
AVR-CA340 azur for 18000? + wharfedale 9.1 for 12500/mordaunt short 11k
AVR-Denon 1509 for 25000 + wharfedale 9.1 for 12500/mordaunt short 11k
wharfedale 9

The abve combi can be musical & slowly upgrade to 5.1

 

[moserw]

Hi guys,
first of all, I really thank all of you who are helpin out each other and making this such a great forum.

I am breaking my head over deciding in buying a HTsystem. First, I had decided to go with the Onkyo HTS3100 which is superb VFM for movies. Unfortunately, through various other posts in this forum,I read and have been advised ( thanks to people like moserw who is doing a great job here being so helpful ) that the HTS3100 is not good with music. But what I want to know how bad is bad. Because I have auditioned other commercial HTIBs like Sony,Samsung,LG,Panasonic and they seemed so-so with music. If the 3100 can perform any better than these, i will be more than glad to pick up the 3100 blindly. So I really want to know what is lacking with 3100 when it comes to music?

If its not the 3100, please suggest some VFM AVR+5.1 speaker package combos - 25 to 30k which are really good for music. I know most of them are good for movies. but for me music is really really important.Thanks all in advance for your suggestions.

Dawg,

I would second spirovious here. Coming to the 3100 I would not say music on it is bad. Just not audiophile quality that's all. In fact on the Dolby Prologic II Music Mode my mp3s do sound fine to good depending on the bitrate. I do however get better output on my PC with a high end Creative card and Creative speakers combo. You would still be the best judge of all so try to audition for yourself...

 

[dawg55555]

Nothing impressed me more than the Philips system did. It costs only around 22k and does everything much better than ANY of the others. A lot of my friends have chosen this over full fledged HT setups four times the value!

I sincerely recommend you audition it before you make up your mind. (and it does all the processing -- DD, DTS 5.1 etc etc...It will even upscale and give you an HDMI output!

Thank you all for your response.
Sujit, whats the model of the philips HTIB?Kindly advise.

 

[Sujit]

Thank you all for your response.
Sujit, whats the model of the philips HTIB?Kindly advise.

You can pick and choose - they have three models. The one I am talking about is the middle one - the HTS4750.

Philips - Home theatre - Sound and vision

 

[dawg55555]

Thanks so much, I shall check it out.

 

[Sujit]

You are welcome! - Please do post your views after the audition.

 

[madbullram]

IN that price range, I would suggest HTS 4750

Philips - DVD home theater system DivX Ultra - HTS4750/98 - 5.1 Home theater systems - Home theatre - Sound and vision

It has better features and very stylish with active subwoofer which is tight.

 

[VSG12777]

My view on the Philips HTS 4750

Dawg5555

Please read my review on the Philips HTS 4750 using this link before you come to a decision too:

http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-box/2782-best-htib-philips-4750-a-3.html#post25734

I had a pretty detailed demo on this system here in Chennai on Saturday (day before) and was pretty impressed, though I was put off by one big flaw as described in my review - adjustment of bass level possible only thru the system menu using remote, and worst of all, only after the disc is ejected. Rest explained in the review.

Ram / Sujit, I seriously wonder how you put up with this big inconvenience guys. It's a pain to say the least. The main benefit of having a powered active subwoofer is lost, since there is no bass knob on the subwoofer like other HTiBs where there is a powered active subwoofer. For example, my Sony HT-DDW840 5.1 system which I purchased in 2003.

While watching a movie, if that particular disc has a low bass level, I can turn up the bass by adjusting the knob on my subwoofer while the movie is still playing. Takes a few seconds hardly and instant results. However this is a pain in the Philips HTS 4750. You HAVE to eject the disc to adjust the speaker volume levels and subwoofer bass level. If you try going into the sound setup menu while the movie is playing, the volume level options are just greyed out !! These get enabled only after ejecting the disc.

Overall the system is very good, excellent features, HDMI upscaling to 1080i (not 1080p), and price of 22k but for this one flaw.

Ram / Sujit, I would really like to hear from you guys regarding this feature.

Warm regards,
Venkat

 

[madbullram]

Have posted my views in the original thread Venky.

 

[psychotropic]

there are several good options in your budget range. Something I would recommend very highly is a setup that my good friend dejavu007 picked up recently for Rs. 33,000 including all cables.

This includes an Onkyo 506 receiver (75 w/ch, 3-1 HDMI switching, Audyssey auto-calibration, Zone 2 facility, an Onkyo's VFM amplification), an Onkyo SW 204 sub (which not only has individual volume control, but has continuously variable crossover setting), and a 5 speaker Dream Nano package from Pure Acoustics. This speaker package is actually pretty solid considering their size and easily outperform similar speakers from Onkyo (not to mention the consumer brands like philips, sony, samsung)

He got this deal from the Onkyo dealer, and as far as I understand he is very happy with hit.

If space is not a constraint, another good deal is a the Onkyo 304 AVR + Jamo 406 speakers package.....it is going for under 30k...possibly 27-28k.....this is another VFM package worth considering.