Finally Part of a Home Theatre group in India

[amrutmhatre90]

HT Journey has been a very fast one for me, lot of upgrades and new stuff. But I have been spending lot of time Home since Jan, fractured my leg in February so was on rest for 3-4 months and this covid situation not changing enjoying everything at home makes sense to me.

Few weeks back got FX Audio Tube Pre Amp, quoting from other thread:

Coming to the Pre Amp, used Jio Fiber power adapter as the one comes has small wire and Jio one is powerful and heft.
Connected Pre Amp to Activo CT10 then directly to LINE INs of Denon and tried Direct mode, too much of noise and it sounded crap. Tried Stereo too but still bad, tweaking tone controls gave noise and weird sound. Was wondering if this is what to expect from this Chinese device.

Then as suggested by everyone here connected directly to the crown XLS and holy shit, holy shit..... This little thing and Crowns pair so well, haven't heard anything like it... And I am still on stock tubes!!!! Sound has weight, tweaked the tone controls to my liking and with the floor standing Tagas they Sound crazy, absolutely in love with this. My search for perfect stereo has ended here. The best thing is I can stop using AvR for music now. Just use phone to control Activo CT10.

Got a switch box to switch between AVR and Tube Pre Amp using same power amp and the same speakers. A gentleman from our forum gave me GE, Bel and Siemens Vaccum tubes at unbelievable prices. Thanks a lot.
You can read in detail on the following thread.

NFJ&FX Audio Tube-03 - Tube Pre Amplifier

I came across this super cheap Tube Amplifier on Amazon, always wanted to listen how these tube amps sound. Bit the bullet and ordered this...

www.hifivision.com

I had eyed Q acoustics 3050i package for a while, but was hesitant as selling current speakers was a task as I had no boxes. Fast forward this gem of a dealer met through our forum decided to buy back the current set and give me Q acoustics at a reasonable price. The condition of my speakers was top notch so he was ready for this. If you are from Mumbai would advice you to get touch with him.
Opted for 3050i, 3090ci and 3010i. Lot of thinking went between QB12 vs BIC PL300 and ended up going for BIC.

Some pictures comparing Tagas and Q Accoustics, the Q acoustics are heavier and have more depth in them. Build quality is superb, only gripe I have is the speaker grill is a dust magnet. Even slightest dust marks show up.







Heard the Q acoustics for few hours, they sound amazing, no tone control changes on the pre amp, keeping everything neutral. Bass in just right, it dives deep when needed to with right punch. Highs are soft and centre imaging is spot on. Just keeping them at old positions without any tweaking made them sound perfect. Doesn't get boomy at all for me. Room treatment is working maybe.

For now my search for perfect HT and Stereo setup is complete. Nothing more needed at all, that said took these upgrade steps as I might get married this year, before miss comes wanted to get things done and enjoy them. Later all I might do is utensils

 

[prateekatasniya]

I have been an avid movie lover and gaming person. When bought a new house in 2018, I had bought a 55'' 4K HDR tv and a Blaunkpaunt Soundbar with sub for my gaming and movie needs.
Time moved on, I rarely visited cinema halls for movies. I used to watch it on my TV most of the time. Then I read something about called as AV receivers. After reading and learning a lot of things finally thought of upgrading something similar to this.
The initial thought was to upgrade to 5.1 setup within 40K budget. But then reading online about future-proofing decided to go for a 7.2 av receiver.
Here is what I got:
Pioneer VSX 834
Yamaha NSP41 5.1 speakers
Micca covo S for heights

View attachment 50031


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After setting up everything was good, but the way my TV and Seating area is positioned, when I sat in the center there was a loss of bass. It felt like a deadzone. After trying to change the sub position and playing around for few days still I could not figure out a proper solution. Bass was perfect on the side couch area's.
Got a good deal on Taga Harmoney Tav606v3, having tower speakers would add a bit of bass.

so current setup is:
Pioneer VSX 834
Taga Harmoney Tav606v3
Yamaha SW050 as sub
Micca covo S for heights

View attachment 50034

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Following things connected with the setup:
Xbox One X
PS4 Slim
Jio 4K Setup Box
Amazon Echo
Mi TV 4 55""
Acer NitroLaptop

Things planned for the future:
If I get a good offer on Pioneer VSX 834 will sell it and get an AVR with preout and more HDMI inputs.
BIC or Taga sub in range of 30-40K.
A decent 2 or 5 channel amp to go with the pre out AVR.

Yamaha NSP41 5.1 speakers are for sale if anyone wants only speakers without sub that too works with me.

Hope you like my setup and suggestions are welcomed.

Try a sofa type seat for that tactile feel.

 

[ssf]

@amrutmhatre90

Lovely speakers. Congratulations. Have fun.

Probably time for another YouTube video of the new speakers playing.

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Try a sofa type seat for that tactile feel.

I use a office chair just opposite to the centre speaker.

@amrutmhatre90

Lovely speakers. Congratulations. Have fun.

Probably time for another YouTube video of the new speakers playing.

Yes surely, waiting for the BIC America PL300

 

[prateekatasniya]

I use a office chair just opposite to the centre speaker.


Yes surely, waiting for the BIC America PL300

Yeah.. I saw that .. that's why you ain't getting any bass..
Office chairs aren't the right seat for audio..

 

[fLUX]

HT Journey has been a very fast one for me, lot of upgrades and new stuff. But I have been spending lot of time Home since Jan, fractured my leg in February so was on rest for 3-4 months and this covid situation not changing enjoying everything at home makes sense to me.

Few weeks back got FX Audio Tube Pre Amp, quoting from other thread:


View attachment 60283

View attachment 60284

View attachment 60285

Got a switch box to switch between AVR and Tube Pre Amp using same power amp and the same speakers. A gentleman from our forum gave me GE, Bel and Siemens Vaccum tubes at unbelievable prices. Thanks a lot.
You can read in detail on the following thread.

NFJ&FX Audio Tube-03 - Tube Pre Amplifier

I came across this super cheap Tube Amplifier on Amazon, always wanted to listen how these tube amps sound. Bit the bullet and ordered this...

www.hifivision.com

I had eyed Q acoustics 3050i package for a while, but was hesitant as selling current speakers was a task as I had no boxes. Fast forward this gem of a dealer met through our forum decided to buy back the current set and give me Q acoustics at a reasonable price. The condition of my speakers was top notch so he was ready for this. If you are from Mumbai would advice you to get touch with him.
Opted for 3050i, 3090ci and 3010i. Lot of thinking went between QB12 vs BIC PL300 and ended up going for BIC.

Some pictures comparing Tagas and Q Accoustics, the Q acoustics are heavier and have more depth in them. Build quality is superb, only gripe I have is the speaker grill is a dust magnet. Even slightest dust marks show up.

View attachment 60286

View attachment 60287

View attachment 60289View attachment 60290View attachment 60291View attachment 60292View attachment 60293View attachment 60294View attachment 60295View attachment 60296View attachment 60297View attachment 60298

Heard the Q acoustics for few hours, they sound amazing, no tone control changes on the pre amp, keeping everything neutral. Bass in just right, it dives deep when needed to with right punch. Highs are soft and centre imaging is spot on. Just keeping them at old positions without any tweaking made them sound perfect. Doesn't get boomy at all for me. Room treatment is working maybe.

Congrats on the purchase Amrut, had their bookshelf set for HT and they were amazing (C20, 3020i and 3090c).


"For now my search for perfect HT and Stereo setup is complete. Nothing more needed at all, that said took these upgrade steps as I might get married this year, before miss comes wanted to get things done and enjoy them. Later all I might do is utensils "

All of us have said this before marriage and say same thing after marriage to our better half atleast one time a year

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Back with a small updates which have made my music listening experience much better.

1) Nad 320BEE Integrated Amplifier: Had got this from my friend, cleaned and started using it.
Was connected through Pre-Outs to my crown XLS. Was liking the way it sounded untill I made the Raspberry Pi based Streamer.

2) Lineage OS (Android 11) based Raspberry Pi Hi Fi Streamer: This project specially started of due to introduction of Lossless and Hi Res Apple Music service. All streaming options available did not do Apple Music, don't own any Apple device anymore so airplay was out of equation.
Got a Raspberry Pi, a IQaudio DAC and a Touch screen. Edited few root files to avoid upsampling music to 48khz. This is the end result.





This is super compact and small, if anyone wants to try this in their chain would be glad to carry it and test if you are based in Mumbai.

When I built the Raspberry Pi I was short of RCA cables. I removed the NAD and Crown combo, directly connected the NAD to Q Acoustics 3050i. I was over joyed when I heard the setup first time, the way DAC sounded was astonishing. Blown away completely, the heft in mid and low range was detailed at even low volumes and the highs were just right, not too bright.

I made some DIY RCA interconnects and connected the NAD to crowns again, but within a span of 10-15mins I did not like what I was hearing. The standalone NAD sounded much much better even though it has 50WPC.
Crowns did have midrange but the lows were not as detailed or have that heft at low volume as the NAD.

Prior to this I was using the Activo C10 to play music, it was slightly bright the details I got from Raspberry Pi were missing on Activo CT10. Now the Activo CT10 is completely out of the chain and for Sale.

Raspberry Pi is connected to both Tube Pre Amp and NAD via 3.5mm for Tube and RCA input for NAD. I don't need to remove the connections, can keep them just plugged in.



Thought the NAD will be just moved to my farm house initially, but is now part of my main system.

Bottom Line: DACs make a huge difference in how your setup sounds!!!

So now the following is my Chain:
1) x3700 > Crown XLS > 3050i
2) Raspberry Pi via 3.5mm > Tube Pre Amp > Crown XLS > 3050i
3) Raspberry Pi via RCA> NAD 320BEE > 3050i

Switching between x3700 and Tube Pre Amp is done by the switch Box. But for NAD I am running separate speakers cables have to manually change them.

This is a short video on the upgrades done so far:

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Its been a while I posted upgrades over here. And I have lot of them

In Sept I got the QB12, this subwoofer blends so well with the QA speakers, oh boy. For music this is a very very good subwoofer. Being sealed this doesn't go down and demands more power and volume to get it right.
Loved it for music but did not deliver the way I like for movies, also to note I don't listen to music with Subs.



I needed a good pre amplifier, ordered Yamaha WXC 50 but to my surprise this sounded so bad, within 5-15 mins I was disappointed.
My friend who doesn't know much about these things immediately said this doesn't sound good and FX Audio Tube-03 sounded better.
Had got it from Amazon, so returned it.

The LG v30 with 4 DACs sounded better than this!!!



My beloved Crown XLS had to go, as I did not use it much after moving to Class A/B. This made way to a new Class A/B Amplifier. More on that later.



My Childhood friend just bought house and wanted to setup a Hometheatre, approached me with a budget of 1.4-1.5 lakhs. He liked the QA setup which I had over the Polk and others he auditioned. We got a super deal on the following.

Denon x1600 - 42k
QA3020i - 24k
JBL 6C Ceiling -9k
BIC PL300 - 41K



As the whole setup is still at my house, I decided to try out the QA3020i too, these sound good for the value friend even liked the shape and form factor add the sound it produces.

After hearing both QB12 and BIC PL300 with QA3020i, he found BIC to be very big and liked the QB12 more as he will do the music listening with a sub too. The QA3020i transitioned superbly to QB12.

I feel BIC PL300 strictly is for movies only. Decided to exchange the BIC PL300 with QB12. So I will be keeping the BIC PL300.



The PL300s top with gloss finish looks very good but is a dust and fingerprint magnet. I waxed it just to avoid deep scratches. Coming to the performance this thumps and thunders, goes very low. Had neighbor come over telling me her house is rattling due to something, then I said it was my music. Loving the performance of this beast. Yet to complete break in and calibrate properly.





Got a super deal on a used NAD 165BEE Pre Amplifier for 15k, this costs over 1lakh on some sites. Comes with 2 pre outs and a subwoofer input too.
I don't know if the owner knew its value or no. This is a neutral Pre Amp coming from NAD but the smooth sound, good soundstage is a joy to listen for long hours.
First thing I did after getting this was open and check, as the owner had 3-4 Persian Cats I was right. Too many hair strands, got a vacuum cleaner and cleaned it.
There is a small crackle which comes from right channel, without inputs too and on headphone section too. Will be taking it to NAD service center which is 10-15 mins away from my place and I need a remote for this too so will get from them.





The cash from Crown XLS was moved here to O&B Class A/B power amplifier. This coming from a Indian guy is superbly built and very neat, this heavier than my Denon x3700!! But compact too, not huge as conventional power amps.
@adas is a gentleman, from the start he answered all my questions and doubts. Never forced me to buy this, as I was waiting for the Crown to go. He even took all the suggestions I had.
I would any day buy this over Crown XLS, as these cost nearly the same and add the 3yrs warranty he provides.

This sounds beautiful, fuller and meatier with great details.
Tested with following pre amps:
FX Audio Tube 03
NAD 165BEE
NAD320BEE (Pre amp mode)
Denon x3700
LG V30 plus

This sounds too good even if it is connected directly to the LG V30 Plus which has 4 DACs.

 

[imagineer]

Its been a while I posted upgrades over here. And I have lot of them

In Sept I got the QB12, this subwoofer blends so well with the QA speakers, oh boy. For music this is a very very good subwoofer. Being sealed this doesn't go down and demands more power and volume to get it right.
Loved it for music but did not deliver the way I like for movies, also to note I don't listen to music with Subs.

View attachment 63980

I needed a good pre amplifier, ordered Yamaha WXC 50 but to my surprise this sounded so bad, within 5-15 mins I was disappointed.
My friend who doesn't know much about these things immediately said this doesn't sound good and FX Audio Tube-03 sounded better.
Had got it from Amazon, so returned it.

The LG v30 with 4 DACs sounded better than this!!!

View attachment 63982

My beloved Crown XLS had to go, as I did not use it much after moving to Class A/B. This made way to a new Class A/B Amplifier. More on that later.

View attachment 63983

My Childhood friend just bought house and wanted to setup a Hometheatre, approached me with a budget of 1.4-1.5 lakhs. He liked the QA setup which I had over the Polk and others he auditioned. We got a super deal on the following.

Denon x1600 - 42k
QA3020i - 24k
JBL 6C Ceiling -9k
BIC PL300 - 41K

View attachment 63985

As the whole setup is still at my house, I decided to try out the QA3020i too, these sound good for the value friend even liked the shape and form factor add the sound it produces.

View attachment 63984

After hearing both QB12 and BIC PL300 with QA3020i, he found BIC to be very big and liked the QB12 more as he will do the music listening with a sub too. The QA3020i transitioned superbly to QB12.

I feel BIC PL300 strictly is for movies only. Decided to exchange the BIC PL300 with QB12. So I will be keeping the BIC PL300.

View attachment 63987

The PL300s top with gloss finish looks very good but is a dust and fingerprint magnet. I waxed it just to avoid deep scratches. Coming to the performance this thumps and thunders, goes very low. Had neighbor come over telling me her house is rattling due to something, then I said it was my music. Loving the performance of this beast. Yet to complete break in and calibrate properly.

View attachment 63988

View attachment 63989

Got a super deal on a used NAD 165BEE Pre Amplifier for 15k, this costs over 1lakh on some sites. Comes with 2 pre outs and a subwoofer input too.
I don't know if the owner knew its value or no. This is a neutral Pre Amp coming from NAD but the smooth sound, good soundstage is a joy to listen for long hours.
First thing I did after getting this was open and check, as the owner had 3-4 Persian Cats I was right. Too many hair strands, got a vacuum cleaner and cleaned it.
There is a small crackle which comes from right channel, without inputs too and on headphone section too. Will be taking it to NAD service center which is 10-15 mins away from my place and I need a remote for this too so will get from them.

View attachment 63990

View attachment 63991

The cash from Crown XLS was moved here to O&B Class A/B power amplifier. This coming from a Indian guy is superbly built and very neat, this heavier than my Denon x3700!! But compact too, not huge as conventional power amps.
@adas is a gentleman, from the start he answered all my questions and doubts. Never forced me to buy this, as I was waiting for the Crown to go. He even took all the suggestions I had.
I would any day buy this over Crown XLS, as these cost nearly the same and add the 3yrs warranty he provides.

This sounds beautiful, fuller and meatier with great details.
Tested with following pre amps:
FX Audio Tube 03
NAD 165BEE
NAD320BEE (Pre amp mode)
Denon x3700
LG V30 plus

This sounds too good even if it is connected directly to the LG V30 Plus which has 4 DACs.
View attachment 63992

Awesome! BTW, did you need to add any cooling for the amp?
Have watched most of your videos, didn't know you are on hifivision!
How much did the amp cost and from where did you get the PL300 for 41k?

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Awesome! BTW, did you need to add any cooling for the amp?
Have watched most of your videos, didn't know you are on hifivision!
How much did the amp cost and from where did you get the PL300 for 41k?

Glad you have been watching videos.

No, no cooling to the amplifier. Doesn't get too hot. Only AVR is cooled with a laptop fan.
O&B amp costed around 22k

Got from a dealer in Gujarat, friend wanted it too. But prices have sky rocketed, same dealer is quoting 55 now, he said we sold you at a loss. Was lucky to get that deal.

 

[vbutani]

Thanks a lot Amrut!
Lot of my HT related queries and doubts got solved by going through this thread!
Keep it up!!

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Hello everyone, few updates after a long time.

1. As most of you all might know I had taken Akai SW-350S redone them and changed the drivers. These babies along with the NAD 320BEE have found a happy user, a dear friend of mine has collected them and enjoying it.
It was hard to let them go, I loved the sound of them so much that before handing them over they were my goto speakers and I enjoyed. The highs were delicious. The day I handed them over, I was thinking is it a mistake? But I would not able to use them, the main goal was to shift them to my farmhouse but it might be getting redone and take few years. Happy that someone is able to enjoy them now.

Here are some parting pictures:





Full process and details can be found here:

Akai SW-350S 3 Way design

Hi guys, I know an old uncle who liked vintage hifi systems, and frequently contacts me to sell his stuff and he has lot, but most are in beat up condition. This AKAI speaker caught my eye, Akai SW-350S a 3 way speaker design and I always wanted to own such vintage speakers. Sucker for such...

www.hifivision.com

2. I was in search for a DAC since long time, SMSL SU 8S interested me, HPZ showed it had all connections and even wireless connection with Bluetooth upto LDAC. Bought it and started to hear it out with RPI connection via USB.
I loved the way this sounded the midrange was tempting fuller and meatier, enjoyble highs and lows. But it had a problem, when I connected through Bluetooth it did not show LDAC, I contacted the support and then stumbled upton SMSL website to horror that it doesn't support LDAC, only SU9 supports. I had bought specifically for LDAC support.
HPZ support was helpful, they asked me to replace or return the unit, even asked if I wanted credits or transfer amount in bank.



Hunt for DAC continues, but I have been away from home for sometime, on a bike trip to South India and Vacations. Hopefully by the time I am back I get few more new DACs to choose from.

3. Black Friday is a day were we get nice deals, ROON had such a deal. 1$ for three months, signed up and installed RopieeXL on RPI with IQAUDIO DAC.
Roon does the first unfold for Tidal, dunno if it was this or what but roon sounds definitely better than anything I heard before. I let go the Apple music subscription, subscribed to Spotify for Bollywood.
Using RPi with RopieeXL streaming Tidal or Spotify, couldn't be happier. I might even use roon post the subscription ends.

4. Changed the wiring and gave HiFi a separate line from the main board. With multiple switches with variations of input points.

Few upcoming plans and thoughts:
1) Talks with my dad going on building a new farmhouse, and work from home being a new norm, I might be spending most of the time there. I am thinking of making a room specially for audio. Now it will be a HT or Stereo room is not decided yet.

2) New farmhouse will take lot of time, till then my work desk or room needs a setup. I have the unused kaput Akai drivers, thinking of reconing them and making a speaker set out of them.

3) Build a compact amplifier, a Class A or a Class D with external power supply. Reading about Nelson Pass class A amps but open to ideas.