Budget approx 5-6 lakhs, need advice please..

[Newbie2009]

Hi all,
Great posts out here and looks like the best place for advice. I've finally managed to convince my better half to get a good audio setup at home mainly for stereo audio but will upgrade gradually to a full home theatre. I've got about 5-6 lakhs that i can invest and am looking at a pair of front speakers and seperate pre and power amp combo. Since this will graduallly get upgraded to a 5.1 system, i would prefer not having to junk the pre and power amp. Really need some advice on components that i should consider.
Thanks for all ur help in advance.
Newbie2009

 

[doors666]

Hi all,
Great posts out here and looks like the best place for advice. I've finally managed to convince my better half to get a good audio setup at home mainly for stereo audio but will upgrade gradually to a full home theatre. I've got about 5-6 lakhs that i can invest and am looking at a pair of front speakers and seperate pre and power amp combo. Since this will graduallly get upgraded to a 5.1 system, i would prefer not having to junk the pre and power amp. Really need some advice on components that i should consider.
Thanks for all ur help in advance.
Newbie2009

well, check out the B&W 8 series for the speakers.
You can keep 1L for pre-amp, 1-1.5L for power amp. Another 50k for accessories like cables, power stabilizers, racks, mounts etc. That still leaves around 3-3.5L to play with speakers.

 

[moserw]

Well at that budget the Rethm Saadhana would be a great option for the speakers. Also you can look at Lyrita too. Other options would be B&W but would be comparitively expensive.

RWA is a great option, but the gotcha here is it's a stereo amp. You are wanting a stereo now and plan to upgrade to a 5.1 later on. For this my recommendation would be to have two separate units for HT and music. You certainly have the budget for it. BTW which is your priority, music or movies?

If you can split among both HT and music then the options will change so better make up your mind.

 

[Newbie2009]

Well at that budget the Rethm Saadhana would be a great option for the speakers. Also you can look at Lyrita too. Other options would be B&W but would be comparitively expensive.

RWA is a great option, but the gotcha here is it's a stereo amp. You are wanting a stereo now and plan to upgrade to a 5.1 later on. For this my recommendation would be to have two separate units for HT and music. You certainly have the budget for it. BTW which is your priority, music or movies?

If you can split among both HT and music then the options will change so better make up your mind.

Not sure what you mean by split between 2? 2 different sets of pre and power amps?? my preference in 80% music, 10% regular television (Star Movies etc) and 10% DVD/BluRay Movies..

I was thinking of getting 1 Preamp (NAD M15?) and a stereo amp(NAD M3) for the front speakers (Legacy Focus) and then in a couple of months (economy improve fast please!) adding a pair of seperate power amps for the balance of sub and surround speakers..

The current investment of NAD Pre and Power and 2 fronts is about 6.5 lakhs which seems kinda in budget by my own arguments with myself

 

[odyssey]

Hi
Could you give us an idea of the room size? Do you have any distance/placement limitations? Is this a dedicated room or would this be in the living/common room?, etc

thanks

 

[ashishkesarwani]

For Avr try Arcam 600 series and for Speakers Try B&W 600 or 700 series, you can also try Rotel's Pre and Power combo from their 15 series because they blend well with B&W speakers.

 

[keith_correa]

Try the Cyrus Pre VS2 + Cyrus8 Power amps and team them up with the PSB Synchrony One floorstander.

BTW, what's going to be upstream CDP/Phono/???

 

[arj]

At this budget both Brands and Suggestions will be Numerous

Advantage is that you can start from Scratch without any historical components you have to use.

One fact in audio is that there are many combinations possible and it is extrmely rare to get the best possible combination. but it is relatively easy to get a very good combination to meet any budget.

Try to listen to a lot of equipment and at this price point please do not forget the source ! without a good CD player the rest of the chains resolution will all go waste !

my suggested allocation would be (these can change)
CDP 1-2 L.
Pre/Power/Int 1-1.5 L: Many many options. these days Good Int amos are as good as equivalnet Pre Power combos.
Cables+good rack- 50-75K
Speakers..as much as you can spend : but get those which do have a matching center/surround speakers. B&W 8 series is an excelent brand to start with for this.

Sridhar (Odysseys) questions are very pertinent as the most important (and expensive ) component which can make or break the sound quality is the Room
Regarding extending this to a 5.1..it is possible to do so by using a separate HT receiver to run the center and surround. only constraint is that it sould have a pre out so that you could run the front speaker via your stero amp.

 

[Abhishek]

hi newbie!

since you want a pre power combo and want to upgrade to a full 5.1 setup later, you may go for a 5 channel pre-power amp with a pair of speakers now and add the rest of the speakers later.

audition the 5 channel pre-power combo from Cary Audio - Cary Audio Design - Cinema Series

In mumbai you can audition these at Thump at the atria mall.

regards,
abhishek.

Hi all,
Great posts out here and looks like the best place for advice. I've finally managed to convince my better half to get a good audio setup at home mainly for stereo audio but will upgrade gradually to a full home theatre. I've got about 5-6 lakhs that i can invest and am looking at a pair of front speakers and seperate pre and power amp combo. Since this will graduallly get upgraded to a 5.1 system, i would prefer not having to junk the pre and power amp. Really need some advice on components that i should consider.
Thanks for all ur help in advance.
Newbie2009

 

[neo]

Mr Newbie 2009,
The question odyssey's & cranky's asking are very relavant before you can be given any serious recco or else you are bound get the members excited for nothing
All the best
Cheers

 

[raj]

Not sure what you mean by split between 2? 2 different sets of pre and power amps?? my preference in 80% music, 10% regular television (Star Movies etc) and 10% DVD/BluRay Movies..

I was thinking of getting 1 Preamp (NAD M15?) and a stereo amp(NAD M3) for the front speakers (Legacy Focus) and then in a couple of months (economy improve fast please!) adding a pair of seperate power amps for the balance of sub and surround speakers..

The current investment of NAD Pre and Power and 2 fronts is about 6.5 lakhs which seems kinda in budget by my own arguments with myself

I suggest that you decide on a speaker first. Then try to find the matching amp to drive the speaker. Some speakers offer difficult load on the amp. I have heard that Legacy speakers are difficult to drive though I have no personal experience.
For example, I have heard B&W N804 driven by Rotel power amp (lower end of Rotel) and Pass Labs X150. There is a huge difference in the sound while using these two amps

 

[anm]

before I faint, just let me know what do you do for a living?
If I had that kind of budget I would travel to US/ S'pore/ Dubai and buy the best stuff.

regards

 

[Rem]

let me add the

Tannoy Revolution DC4 T FS for front LR

or

Monitor Audio GS60 for front LR

But as cranky and others have said putting dwn your room dimensions would help the other experts here narrow down your choices coz there are so many choices at this budget I just added the above two to the mix coz they have the center,surrounds & sub to compliment them from the same series in case you want to add them later on.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi
U will be spoilt for choices and there are just too many options.

Cranky has suggested The PSB and the Nad M3. The speaker is good for sure but i thought the amplifier was very average. Great specs and some hot reviews but a let down in my A/B/C/D shoot out when i was looking for amps.

Lots of guys suggest the B&W 800 series. Ya thats a good choice. I have the 805s (a SM) and the 804 (FS). The 803 (D or S) is the speaker to have if one can afford it and adequately power it. The 802 is the best IMO but thats a different beast altogether. All B&W are expensive here so i dont know what will fit in the budget. I know B&W are paired with the Rotels etc etc but in my opinion that is disaster. U WILL NEED A TOP NOTCH AMP for any 800 series speaker otherwise its better to look at other options. The dali Helis are good too but a bit sugar coated and i did not like the MA golds when i last heard them. Other options are JM labs, Dyna, Totems, spendor ............. and the list goes on and on.

Please give a bit more info on the type of sound u are after and u will get tons of opinions.

I suggest u go audition a few speakers. Ascertain the sound that appeals to u, then power it the best u can and finally scout for a good source. I agree with ARJ when he suggests u keep a large chunk of the budget for your speakers.
Rgds

 

[arj]

... spendor

:clapping:


a very good suggestion. highly underrated these days.

 

[Rem]

Is spendor & Totem available in India

 

[anm]

What is your current system, and may be you can tell what upgrade you are looking at from the current sound?

 

[arj]

If i remember right Spendor has been taken over by Cadence..maybe you can get in touch with Cadence for this

 

[Rem]

If i remember right Spendor has been taken over by Cadence..maybe you can get in touch with Cadence for this

You are partly right arj I just checked the site Cadence deals with Spendor in India dont think they have taken over Spendor. In the spendor sight Cadence is given as the official dealer/distributor for Spendor products in India.

Thanks for the info not that I am going to get it from them too expensive for me at the moment; just was curious coz I have heard a lot about them in reviews but I have not seen it anywhere in Blr nor have I heard anybody in this forum having one.

 

[dinyaar]

Just to correct you, dinyaar, I don't recommend them, actually. I think they're good products but at the current asking price, terrible value. The M3 was the TS's original choice, I was pointing out that there are better amps for the money, but still await his feedback on my questions.

Aah sorry my mistake cranky.
I was quoted an MRP of 1.8 L on the M3 about a year and a half ago. I felt they would have given it at about 1.6L or so. At the time too the price in USD was 2799 and i thought the Indian price was fair. Current pricing of most of the stuff is steep and there is too much disparity between Local and Int prices. Anyway i didnt like it so it ended there.

Spendor was available in bbay thru a guy called Huzefa but now can only be had thru cadence. Totem has been available for quite a while now and Marbin colah in bbay is the importer. Some of the totem FS are pretty good to my ears and spendor has always been a sound i like.
Rgds