Amateur looking for great sound

[Nichrome73]

Hey,

Looking to set up a entertainment room (15 X 15 feet) for my own personal listening & watching, 70% music & 30% movies
Need the following:

1. Amp: Should be able to effortlessly switch over from 2ch stereo sound to 5.1 surround sound, must have inputs from my laptop, PC, Tata Sky, DVD player & I-pod.
2. Speakers: 2 front tower speakers (have listened to the cubes from Bose and am not impressed with their stereo output for pure music listening) and 2 surround plus center & sub-woofer.

Budget: Below Rs. 2 Lakhs, believe around 60,000 for the amp and 75,000 for the 2 towers speakers and finally another 30-35,000 for the rest of the speakers.

Largely listen to music from the 60-70's.

Please reccomend the best configuration and the things i should be looking out for.

Listened to HK Amp & Revel Concerta speakers, absolutely awesome, however, really too expensive.

Thanks

 

[afj]

hi and welcome to the forum

will give you a list of amps and speakers that you can look at - after that you'll need to do a little homework and listen to them

in no particular order....
amps - denon, marantz, onkyo
speakers - wharfedale diamonds, kef iq series, monitor audio bronze series

have fun

 

[rallynut]

welcome.am sure others will chime in,but to add to afj's list,
amps-nad,cambrige audio
speakers-mission,psb

cheers

 

[afj]

hi nichrome
i misread your post. thought you said 70% movies and 30% music. since its the other way around i suggest a pure stereo setup. a good pair of floorstanders and a stereo amp

amps to consider are nad, cambridge and marantz

speakers definitely look at the monitor audio silver series rx6.

what sort of music do you listen to

 

[friendshpbells]

hi chrome
you are in a serious state of affair i must say
you dont know the nittys of the trade and need a gud setup

REMEMBER THIS SETUP IS URS NOT OURS SO BUILD IT LIKE YU NEED IT
WE R ALL HERE TO HELP U SAIL THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE OF AUDIOPHILE QUALITY
ITS LIKE A BLACKHOLE NO AMOUNT IS ADEQUATE.

AS YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS GOING TO USE IT ITS MUST BE FOR YOUR EARS AND NOT OURS WE CAN JUST LEND YOU WITH DATA TO WORK ON TO GET THE RIGHT STUFF AT THE LEAST POSSIBLE TIME.

still i would like to add its a humble beginning 2lakhs would help yu have a setup that u would long cherish

i am in the same train and same compartment
though put up the purchase for early next year due to some other financial issues that errupted from the blue


i have a few suggestion
you are investing a gud amount so it will take also a good amount of time to get a gud setup ready that will in phase of your fondness of sq

quoted prices vary immensly from purchasing prices.

even though yu like the products never openly advertise it to the seller keep him guessing and outsmarting tell bout other products there specifics and positive negative of one that you are on the demo this helps to get better bargain

if you want to take a dive into the hifi world at one go look for packages that will save gud money in the long run if u want to build one by one then audition the products individually.

now coming to the speakers and amps


remember chose speakers then the amp



as your budget says i have 3-4 sets that pass my mind

0. wharfedale 10.7+ warf 10csm+ warf 10surrounds + polk sub .... 115k
1. modurant short aviano 8 package 115k for a set of 5.1
2.elac 127 series about 120k
3. paradigm 9 series bout 150k

now to the avrs
well as per tech to bucks ratio as on this date onkyo sr 608 outsmarts the bandwagon by a mile
as per pure performance
yu can go with onkyo if you are a movie buff or a denon if ur a mixed bag and a marantz if ur a musical fellow
as per models at your price point and as per the speakers i recomended
onkyo 608 is 48k negotiable
denon 2311 about 55k when it hits the market (can connect a preamp later)
marantz prices i dont know

others like cambridge audio azur 6065 comes a close 85k

now i am open to discussion on this
hope you find my research worthy.


bbye


N.B: TO THE DATE I HAVE SHORTLISTED ONKYO 608 PLUS A WHAFT DIAMOND 10.2 BASED 5.0 SETUP WITH 350 WATT POLK AUDIO SUB AT IT WOULD COST ME A 100K I PLLAN TO ADD 10.7 IN AN YEARS TIME TO MAKE IT A 7.1 SETUP.I WILL RE AUDITION THE MS AVIANO AND THE CA AMP BEFORE MAKING THIS PURCHASE.

 

[Srinivas29]

Between Morduant Short Aviano 8 pkg and Wharfedale 10.7 pkg, which do you think is better? Any reasons

 

[friendshpbells]

for my liking i liked the wharf as it sounded 2 me a shade better,more over it has dipoles custom build for suround.........

 

[mridulgoel]

Buddy

In a Home Theater Apart from Amplifiers and Speakers, there are few more components to give serious look :
1). Speaker Cables
2). Interconnects
3). Source (DVD / CD / BluRay / Media Server)

As you are in Delhi, and will be out on Audition Spree, just try the following setup as well :

-------------------------------

Option - 1

Amp - Denon-1910 / Cambridge 650R

Speakers - Q Acoustics :
2050 Floorstanders - 2 x 6.5" Drivers - 125w RMS @ 6 Ohms
2020 Bookshelves - 1 x 5.5" Driver - 75w RMS @ 6Ohms
2000c Center Speaker - 2 x 4.5" Driver - 100w @ 6Ohms
2070s DSP Subwoofer - 2 x 6.75" Driver - 140w RMS
Speaker Mounts

Cables & Accessories :
QED 42/2 or 79/2 - Speaker Cable
QED / Alphason - HDMI Cable
QED - Optical / Digi Coax Cable

Source :
Sony BluRay Player
Xtreamer Media Server

MRP - Approx. - Rs.1,80,000

----------------------------

Option - 2

Amp - Denon - 2310 / NAD

Speakers - Dali -
Ikon - 6 - FloorStanders - 2 x 6.5" Driver - 150w RMS @ 6Ohms
IKon - 2 - Bookshelves - 1 x 6.5" Driver - 120w RMS @ 6Ohms
Ikon Vocal 2 - Center - 2 x 5" Driver - 150w RMS @ 6Ohms
Ikon Sub - Subwoofer - 1 x 12" Driver - 250w RMS

Cables & Accessories :
QED Original / Silver Ani - Speaker Cable
QED Performance - HDMI Cable
QED - Optical / Digi Coax Cable

Source :
Panasonic BluRay Player
Xtreamer Pro Media Server

MRP Approx. - Rs.3,00,000

-------------------------

For Option 1, visit Gemini Traders - Mr. Bharat Gupta - +91 9311155528.
For Option 2, visit Sight & Sound - Mr. Tanuj Kumar - +91 9310339238.

Your Final Cost will depend on how good you can bargain...
If you are taking the complete setup, you can expect 10% discount easily...

 

[friendshpbells]

yes i have auditioned the q aquo 2050 as a package the speaker package they quoted was about a lakh
but i was not satisfied with the highs the mids were gud and the bass flat and u need a sub for gud bass with those my impression was validated when i went thru an old edition of hifichoice mag later

and dropped the idea of buying those
its a pity fact though that i cudnt audition the paradigm range from the same dealer that day

ofcoure as for looks q aquo are there and really a few miles ahead of the compitition,,,
yes mridul cud yu suggest me a 5.1 setup on a 1.5 k budget (i may consider a bs based setup instead of a fs based one if the matching fs are bout 50k more and offer about 6-8 months later)

 

[Nichrome73]

Hey, thanks for all the replies . . . this is the feeling i am beginning to get, (though will crystallize it over the next couple of weeks) . . .
1. For the amp - Marantz & Onkyo 608 seem to be popular, though i heard the Onkyo a few days back and somehow i was not completely impressed, the set up done by the dealer was not ideal, so i guess i will need to give it another honest try. Heard the Marantz at a freinds place with B&W speakers, pretty nice, but then he switched on his Rotel amp and it was in a different league . . . sky is the limit, so i am gonna stick to my budget and try out Marantz, Denon & Onkyo over the weekend and write back as to what my untrained amateur ears tell me ! I also tried out Yamaha 4360 last week, personally i was not too impressed however any thoughts ??? Also, where can i audition Cambridge amps ??
2. Speakers - For floorstanding tower speakers, as i said earlier, was blown away by Revel Concerta . . . Have not heard much about Quad earlier, please advise . . . am planning to audition Wharfedale at South Extension (Rhythm Corner) this weekend, any other place i can audition them
3. Lastly, please tell me more about how important is it buy "expensive" surround speakers or can i scrounge on them and yet achieve a great movie experience . . . any suggestions on how can i optimise my budget ?

Thaanks

 

[mridulgoel]

yes i have auditioned the q aquo 2050 as a package the speaker package they quoted was about a lakh
but i was not satisfied with the highs the mids were gud and the bass flat and u need a sub for gud bass with those my impression was validated when i went thru an old edition of hifichoice mag later

and dropped the idea of buying those
its a pity fact though that i cudnt audition the paradigm range from the same dealer that day

ofcoure as for looks q aquo are there and really a few miles ahead of the compitition,,,
yes mridul cud yu suggest me a 5.1 setup on a 1.5 k budget (i may consider a bs based setup instead of a fs based one if the matching fs are bout 50k more and offer about 6-8 months later)

Bro

What amplifier you had a demo.?

As for what i remember, Mr. Gupta, plays the same with Yamaha good old 863 for movies, and it sounds nice.. But, yes, did he played the 2050s on Cambridge 840A what he got...because if you heard music tracks on Yamaha, the sound sucks... no doubt about it...

Yes you can go in for Q Acoustics 2000 Cinema Package with Cambridge 550/650R, and include the balance package as suggested above, it will be under Rs.1.5L...

You can try the same with Trinity Sound n Vision also, he got some good amps for Music...

 

[friendshpbells]

yes the demo was with a yamaha amp i was surprised when i heard the sound from the system they were spoked so high off then i came across a reiew in avmax some 2009 issue dont remember.they had same impressions that i had after the audition i was also thinking of the amp (reaudition with a denon or a ca)till then but after the article thought to give it a passe.


thanks mridul...