Arrival of my power house - 2

bhavin.patel

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May 23, 2013
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Hi Friend,

Finally completed setting up my system today. Below is the review of my setup with couple of questions:

AVR: Denon X3100w
Front & Centre speakers: PSB Image T6 & C5
Surround speakers: Sony Satellites (From my older AVR)
Subwoofer: Need to add in course of time (Only if I feel requirement)
TV: LG42 LED
Cable: HD Connection
Media Player/HTPC: Need to add if required (Need suggestions from you Gurus)
Online UPS: Ordered (APC 1.5KVA)
Internet: 50Mbps/Unlimited

I bought my AVR from amazon.de and was delivered to me within 6 days. Once I had my AVR I started my hunt for speakers. Had auditioned many brands and did like couple of them. Finally I bought PSB T6 (older version) and C5 center.

Initially I just hooked bought front FS with AVR and played couple of downloaded FLACs. To my surprise the speaker sounded horrible and much bommy. I was disappointed and thought that this what one can have at home without any acoustics or professional support. I thought that playing high res tracks might help but even though that did not help. There was no sound stage and it sounded me like only left speaker was working potentially and right was mum. I could point out which speaker was throwing music at me. I made my mind that now I have to make my ears used to this type of sound so that I can like what I am hearing.

Finally I thought of setting up whole 5.0 setup and give a try. Once I completed all wirings and connection, I used the Audyssey XT Gold suites to calibrate whole setup. I took 15 mins to complete this operation. Once done, I feeded my AVR with movie tracks via airplay. AAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDDDD here it goes It just did the required magic. I could feel great sound stage. I was not able to point out which speaker was place which part of instrument. It appeared that whole sound was coming from center whereas I was just playing it in pure direct mode with only 2.0. All tracks started sounding fantastic and I had great relief that I was able to enjoy this purchase.

All mid-high-lows are sound fantastic. T6 is capable of providing enough bass for my taste. I dont think that I will be having any immediate requirement of subwoofer now. Even my wife is enjoying Ghazal tracks where wide sound stage is not required. (Please note that we guys dont have audiophile ears, but are enjoying the results that we are getting from our system). T6 pairs very well with Denon though general understanding is that it give best results when paired with NAD.

I had never got such lovely sound stage with any other FS except POLK RTiA7. These FS handle sound/music very well. Highs are not very harsh to ears; mids are excellent which gives fantastic vocal quality and low are quite enough to give required amount of bass to me. At high volumes it give chest-thumping bass. Though nothing can be compared with good quality subwoofer.

As of now I have neither increased or decreased gain of front speakers. Need to experiment on them once I have free time. I had experimented with speaker positioning and current position of my speakers give me good sound stage (But few gurus told me that one need to place their speakers straight and not pointing towards listener). I am able to achieve 2-3 sweet spots in my room as of now and will try couple of more spots with calibration software.

After doing audition for couple of months here are my personal opinion:

1. PSB Good for music
2. MA Good for music
3. Tannoy Good for music
4. Polk Best for movies
5. Dali Good for music
6. B&W Good for music
7. Focals Good for music
8. Klipsch Good for movies
9. Denon Good for movies
10. Onkyo Not auditioned till date
11. Marantz Forgot how it sounded during audition
12. Pioneer VFM

Now it is time for me to throw couple of question to you Gurus:

1. What is basic difference between HTPC and Media Player ?
2. Is it advisable to use HTPC compared to Blu-ray player?
3. I want a solution, which can play movies (all formats), songs (all formats), blu-rays, downloaded torrents and can also work as NAS.
4. Which is the best site to download Bollywood & Ghazals FLAC (of course for free)

Hope to get advice from HFV Gurus.

BR//
B Patel
 

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Congrats on your setup.. PSB T6 look lovely :eek:hyeah:

The advantage of having a FS like T6 is that you can live without a sub for sometime.. I had Sonodyne 2605 which i used them in 5.0/7.0/9.0 set-up and it really did a great job of handling the lows...

btw how did you play your FLAC on your AVR? Front USB port ?

Use your Denon AVR in Pure Direct (2.0) when using stereo & Audyssey settings for Movie...
 
Congrats on your setup.. PSB T6 look lovely :eek:hyeah:

The advantage of having a FS like T6 is that you can live without a sub for sometime.. I had Sonodyne 2605 which i used them in 5.0/7.0/9.0 set-up and it really did a great job of handling the lows...

btw how did you play your FLAC on your AVR? Front USB port ?

Use your Denon AVR in Pure Direct (2.0) when using stereo & Audyssey settings for Movie...

Hi,

You are right at the point, I don't require subwoofer as of now as I am enjoying my music currently.

Yes one can play FLAC via front USB/iphone/ipad or via apple mobile through airplay.

Yes we use Pure Direct and stereo mode while listening to music.

Need to explore more with my current AVR. Also reading about bi-amping.

I am confused with HTPC/Bluray/Media player. Don't want to overspend and want maximum out from given solutions.

BR//
B Patel
 
Hi,

You are right at the point, I don't require subwoofer as of now as I am enjoying my music currently.

Yes one can play FLAC via front USB/iphone/ipad or via apple mobile through airplay.

Yes we use Pure Direct and stereo mode while listening to music.

Need to explore more with my current AVR. Also reading about bi-amping.

I am confused with HTPC/Bluray/Media player. Don't want to overspend and want maximum out from given solutions.

BR//
B Patel

You can bi-amp your FS if you don't intend to use the surround back (or) front heights....

If you have more of BR Rips, HTPC/Media player can do the Job.... If you have more BR Discs, then BR player is better...

I have moved from WD Media player to HTPC for more than 2 yrs time & i love it...
 
You can bi-amp your FS if you don't intend to use the surround back (or) front heights....

If you have more of BR Rips, HTPC/Media player can do the Job.... If you have more BR Discs, then BR player is better...

I have moved from WD Media player to HTPC for more than 2 yrs time & i love it...

Hi,

Planning to build one HTPC. Had PM you for your valuable advice.

BR//
Bhavin
 
The Marantz PM7000N offers big, spacious and insightful sound, class-leading clarity and a solid streaming platform in a award winning package.
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