Hi folks,
Recently moved into our new house and decided to give the music and movies a facelift too. For past 4 months, auditioned and listened to various options. My usage and preference is much more towards music (60-70%). Movies and tv viewing make up for the rest. Since space for speakers is always an issue, I started to look at various compact surround packages. I demoed QAcoustics 2020i, Sonos, NAD Viso Twenty, Boston Acoustics Soundware XS, Tannoy HTS201 & Polk TL1600 surround packages. Somehow, music never came alive in these tiny boxes and I decided to go for floorstanders as the front.
Looking to budget (approx. 1 lakh for 5.1 speakers), I started with lower price options Sonodyne and Pioneer. Listened to Sonodyne Sonus 2605V3 one afternoon and liked it much better than the surround packages I had heard so far. The positives were big sound, good clarity and separation of mid and high frequencies, competitive pricing. Took the dealer some time to turn around with pricing. Due to budget constraints he suggested me to go for Marantz NR 1605 which I was not sure would have enough power for these FS. The dealer started the hardsell and mentioned wrong specs (which I verified later) of speakers trying to convince me. Hence put these speakers on hold and decided to demo other options as well.
I called various dealers in Pune and Mumbai but none had Pioneer Andrew Jones package available for demo. It seems most dealers are not keeping it in stock now.
Next I listened to Mission MX4. They were definitely much better than Sonodyne in sound quality. However, they seemed to lack bass. There was also issue at dealers end since they did not have it rigged properly for demo and could not even play my songs on it. After this, auditioned Focal Chorus 714. These were paired with Yamaha AVR and sounded much brighter than I wanted.
There was a gap of about a month since some other priorities took over, after which I started the process again. Started with ELAC Debut F5. When I listened to these the sound really came alive. These speakers could really sing. I did not find any major issues (that is till I heard Tannoys). B5 bookshelves were not available for demo. Hence tested 5.1 surround with Monitor Audio satellites (dont know model). These undoubtedly were the best speakers so far.
Same dealer also had Tannoy Mercury V4i. So switched to these and listened to the same songs. There was a noticeable difference in clarity and definition at the low end of frequency spectrum. Opening drums in Seven Nation Army sounded much cleaner and I could hear more layers of instruments than on ELACs. Tannoys definitely had that marginal improvement over F5. For 5.1 set up, we had to use same Monitor audio satellites and ELAC C5 as center and ELAC S10 sub since the dealer didnt have other Tannoy speakers. Once again, Mad Max Fury Road sounded somewhat better with Tannoys.
Next stop was AVExcellence where I auditioned Paradigm Monitor 7. I listened to the same set of songs that I had auditioned on ELAC and Tannoy. The soundstage was much grander than both ELAC and Tannoy. I am not sure if it was the speakers or the demo room. Also, guitars in Hotel California sounded cleaner and louder. After listening to these speakers I realized that guitars were getting bit subdued on ELAC and Tannoy. However, these speakers lacked the bass in comparison to ELAC and Tannoy.
As of now, I am leaning more towards Tannoy Mercury, which is incidentally also the cheapest amongst ELAC, Tannoy and Paradigm. However, may need to look at a better sub since dealer has offered 8 inch TS 2.8.
I also want to audition Dali Zenor 5 and QAcoustics 2050 also before taking a final decision. Going by threads in the forum it seems that Dalis will turn out to be much costlier than both ELAC and Tannoy and for that reason I may have to drop them. I have been quoted 90k for Sonodyne, 101k for Missions, 125k for ELAC, 120k for Tannoy and 169k for Paradigm (all for 5.1 set up).
Would be grateful if FMs can offer advice on following:
1. Any feedback on Tannoy Mercury V4i. Have not seen many reviews online. Tech specs mention frequency response from 32 Hz to 53kHz which seems fantastic. However, Tannoy VCi caters to 67 Hz to 53kHz as compared to ELAC C5 which is 48 Hz to 20kHz. Since I have not demoed Tannoy VCi, not sure if it is going to sound better or worse. But to match the tonality of speakers, it may be better to opt for VCi if I go for Tannoy FS. Any thoughts, advice on this will be appreciated.
2. Tannoy sub seems to be below par. One option I am considering is to take 5.0 since Tannoy FS have a good bass and a good sub later. Other option is to take ELAC S10 which seemed to combine well with Tannoys. FMs may kindly advise on any other sub (around Rs 30k).
3. My next query is on AVR. All the FS require around 100W RMS. Will a 50W Marantz NR1605 be adequate for them, if I am not looking for very loud sound. Or is it better to opt for more power. My other option is Yamaha RX V579 which has 80W per channel and is in same price range as Marantz NR1605. Marantzs higher power SR series is much more costlier and I dont want to spend that much right now. Though, Marantz is said to be better for music (than Yamaha), I have not been able to audition same speakers with the two AVRs. I am also considering adding a stereo amp in future. If I do that, then will NR1605 be adequate for movies to drive the speakers.
Will update once I am able to audition QAcoustics and Dali also. In the meantime, any help / advice is most welcome.
Recently moved into our new house and decided to give the music and movies a facelift too. For past 4 months, auditioned and listened to various options. My usage and preference is much more towards music (60-70%). Movies and tv viewing make up for the rest. Since space for speakers is always an issue, I started to look at various compact surround packages. I demoed QAcoustics 2020i, Sonos, NAD Viso Twenty, Boston Acoustics Soundware XS, Tannoy HTS201 & Polk TL1600 surround packages. Somehow, music never came alive in these tiny boxes and I decided to go for floorstanders as the front.
Looking to budget (approx. 1 lakh for 5.1 speakers), I started with lower price options Sonodyne and Pioneer. Listened to Sonodyne Sonus 2605V3 one afternoon and liked it much better than the surround packages I had heard so far. The positives were big sound, good clarity and separation of mid and high frequencies, competitive pricing. Took the dealer some time to turn around with pricing. Due to budget constraints he suggested me to go for Marantz NR 1605 which I was not sure would have enough power for these FS. The dealer started the hardsell and mentioned wrong specs (which I verified later) of speakers trying to convince me. Hence put these speakers on hold and decided to demo other options as well.
I called various dealers in Pune and Mumbai but none had Pioneer Andrew Jones package available for demo. It seems most dealers are not keeping it in stock now.
Next I listened to Mission MX4. They were definitely much better than Sonodyne in sound quality. However, they seemed to lack bass. There was also issue at dealers end since they did not have it rigged properly for demo and could not even play my songs on it. After this, auditioned Focal Chorus 714. These were paired with Yamaha AVR and sounded much brighter than I wanted.
There was a gap of about a month since some other priorities took over, after which I started the process again. Started with ELAC Debut F5. When I listened to these the sound really came alive. These speakers could really sing. I did not find any major issues (that is till I heard Tannoys). B5 bookshelves were not available for demo. Hence tested 5.1 surround with Monitor Audio satellites (dont know model). These undoubtedly were the best speakers so far.
Same dealer also had Tannoy Mercury V4i. So switched to these and listened to the same songs. There was a noticeable difference in clarity and definition at the low end of frequency spectrum. Opening drums in Seven Nation Army sounded much cleaner and I could hear more layers of instruments than on ELACs. Tannoys definitely had that marginal improvement over F5. For 5.1 set up, we had to use same Monitor audio satellites and ELAC C5 as center and ELAC S10 sub since the dealer didnt have other Tannoy speakers. Once again, Mad Max Fury Road sounded somewhat better with Tannoys.
Next stop was AVExcellence where I auditioned Paradigm Monitor 7. I listened to the same set of songs that I had auditioned on ELAC and Tannoy. The soundstage was much grander than both ELAC and Tannoy. I am not sure if it was the speakers or the demo room. Also, guitars in Hotel California sounded cleaner and louder. After listening to these speakers I realized that guitars were getting bit subdued on ELAC and Tannoy. However, these speakers lacked the bass in comparison to ELAC and Tannoy.
As of now, I am leaning more towards Tannoy Mercury, which is incidentally also the cheapest amongst ELAC, Tannoy and Paradigm. However, may need to look at a better sub since dealer has offered 8 inch TS 2.8.
I also want to audition Dali Zenor 5 and QAcoustics 2050 also before taking a final decision. Going by threads in the forum it seems that Dalis will turn out to be much costlier than both ELAC and Tannoy and for that reason I may have to drop them. I have been quoted 90k for Sonodyne, 101k for Missions, 125k for ELAC, 120k for Tannoy and 169k for Paradigm (all for 5.1 set up).
Would be grateful if FMs can offer advice on following:
1. Any feedback on Tannoy Mercury V4i. Have not seen many reviews online. Tech specs mention frequency response from 32 Hz to 53kHz which seems fantastic. However, Tannoy VCi caters to 67 Hz to 53kHz as compared to ELAC C5 which is 48 Hz to 20kHz. Since I have not demoed Tannoy VCi, not sure if it is going to sound better or worse. But to match the tonality of speakers, it may be better to opt for VCi if I go for Tannoy FS. Any thoughts, advice on this will be appreciated.
2. Tannoy sub seems to be below par. One option I am considering is to take 5.0 since Tannoy FS have a good bass and a good sub later. Other option is to take ELAC S10 which seemed to combine well with Tannoys. FMs may kindly advise on any other sub (around Rs 30k).
3. My next query is on AVR. All the FS require around 100W RMS. Will a 50W Marantz NR1605 be adequate for them, if I am not looking for very loud sound. Or is it better to opt for more power. My other option is Yamaha RX V579 which has 80W per channel and is in same price range as Marantz NR1605. Marantzs higher power SR series is much more costlier and I dont want to spend that much right now. Though, Marantz is said to be better for music (than Yamaha), I have not been able to audition same speakers with the two AVRs. I am also considering adding a stereo amp in future. If I do that, then will NR1605 be adequate for movies to drive the speakers.
Will update once I am able to audition QAcoustics and Dali also. In the meantime, any help / advice is most welcome.