Hello members...request some gyaan - HTIB or component-wise set-up?

[melody_lover]

Hello members,

I'd never realised buying a HT could be as involved an exercise as its turned out to be, till I started doing some net search and discovered this site. Found some very useful stuff here, thanks to all for that.

I just moved to a new house, and am on the look-out for setting up a HT. Hall is 18'*12'; use is likely mainly towards TV viewing and music, with occassional movie watching. Budget is Rs. 50000 max. Have read through various posts clearly saying that HTIB typically wouldn't match up to a combination. Unfortunately, there's hardly anything possible with my budget. I'm a bit confused about a few things, will really appreciate some help on those.

1. I'm keen on having an AVR that has USB port, is that the right thing to insist, or does having teh USB port on the DVD player serve the same purpose?

2. Ideally how many minimum HDMI ports should one look for in the AVR? In my case, there will be very little or no gaming at all.

3. I'm not clear what 'audio over HMDI' means? And HD audio? How critical is that?

4. Have read some AVRs don't support video upscaling? What's that? How critical?

Overall, now debating between 2 very different options - 1. To go ahead with either Denon 1312 HTIB or Onkyo 5405 HTIB right now, and later think of upgrading the speakers, for better quality output.

2. To go with only AVR (Onkyo AVR 308 or Marantz SR 3053 or Denon 162 most likely) and front speakers (Wharfedale or Polk Audio 705 most likely) right now, and build up the rest of the HT later.

Request your thoughts, observations, comments, suggestions please. Most appreciated.

Thanks a ton.

rgds,
Kalpesh

 

[melody_lover]

Hey, just curious. How come not even a single reply yet!! :sad:

Wrong questions is it? or too many questions? or stupid questions?

Music gurus, pls share some gyaan.

 

[baijuxavior]

1. I'm keen on having an AVR that has USB port, is that the right thing to insist, or does having teh USB port on the DVD player serve the same purpose?

2. Ideally how many minimum HDMI ports should one look for in the AVR? In my case, there will be very little or no gaming at all.

3. I'm not clear what 'audio over HMDI' means? And HD audio? How critical is that?

4. Have read some AVRs don't support video upscaling? What's that? How critical?

Overall, now debating between 2 very different options - 1. To go ahead with either Denon 1312 HTIB or Onkyo 5405 HTIB right now, and later think of upgrading the speakers, for better quality output.

2. To go with only AVR (Onkyo AVR 308 or Marantz SR 3053 or Denon 162 most likely) and front speakers (Wharfedale or Polk Audio 705 most likely) right now, and build up the rest of the HT later.

1. The usb port of avr is used only for music. It can't play video. Do not give importance to it. I have avr with usb, but I have never used the usb port for music listening.

2. All current AVRs have a minimum of 4 HDMI inputs which is enough for most setups. Again, what are the devices you have?

3. HDMI can carry both audio and video over the same cable. But some older AVRs support only video which is a great drawback as you need to use optical or coaxial out in addition to get sound. All latest AVrs support 'Audio over HDMI'.

4. Video upscaling is not necessary if all your devices have HDMI out. Video upscaling is used to upscale SD AV inputs from dvd player, sd dth boxes etc. to HDMI so that a single hdmi cable is what you only need to connect from AVR to TV. Again this is not a required feature.

My suggestion is to go for a component setup as you have a budget of 50K. Get a good AVR and a good 5.1 speaker system instead of HTiB. For AVRs you can look for Denon 1612 or Yamaha 471. Both have USB port for audio playback.

 

[corElement]

My suggestion is get an onkyo s3500 for 25k and be done with it.

 

[melody_lover]

Thanks for your inputs. Appreciate it.

I auditioned Onkyo SR313 AVR paired with both Onkyo 648 speakers as well as Jamo A101 HCS 6 speakers. I quite liked the combo with Jamo - expected to work out to ~Rs. 50,000, just within my budget, leaving out the Blu-ray player though.

Now, I'm confused between the following receivers -

1. Denon 1612
2. Onkyo 313
3. Yamaha 471.

Any suggestions pls?

Thanks a lot.

 

[svenkateshsmart]

Thanks for your inputs. Appreciate it.

I auditioned Onkyo SR313 AVR paired with both Onkyo 648 speakers as well as Jamo A101 HCS 6 speakers. I quite liked the combo with Jamo - expected to work out to ~Rs. 50,000, just within my budget, leaving out the Blu-ray player though.

Now, I'm confused between the following receivers -

1. Denon 1612
2. Onkyo 313
3. Yamaha 471.

Any suggestions pls?

Thanks a lot.

Have you auditioned Denon 1612? I did and quite not liked it, lacks power. Not quite sure about Yamaha 471 though.

 

[melody_lover]

No, haven't auditioned Denon 1612 or Yamaha 471 yet, but read good reviews for both.