Help required for setting up my first home theatre !

[shrajan673]

Hi guys !

I am from chennai. Till today, I was just a follower of this wonderful forum and followed quite a bit of discussions. Iam too very eager to set up a home theatre in my home and searched for some decent setups on the internet. I feel this forum will surely help me in setting up my HT as you guys have a lot of knowledge in AV set ups.

My situation:

1. I wish to set a HT in my living room - 16' x 14'

2. I have 40inch Samsung 3d LED TV

3.I have a budget constraint - can't spend anything more than 30k (actually looking around 25k)

4. I have a SD STB (which will be HD STB by this month), Xbox 360 and DVD player

5. I will use the entire set up for TV (which is like through out), movies, music and decent amount of gaming


I had a look at a few HTIB's out of which I am very much impressed with Yamaha YHT-196 (falls within my budget too), Onkyo AVX 390 and Pioneer HT-072.

And also can anyone give suggestions so that I would build a better system for my home ?


Thanks in Advance !

Will all three be suitable for my living room ? Will there be any change in sound quality and volume just because the dimensions of the room is not small?

 

[efernand1]

Hi

The key is to audition as many systems as you can. Some of us may have high expectations from an AVR in terms of features and connectivity, Some like it boomy bassy and loud...it all depends on what appeals to you in looks, appearance and budget...my advise is to go out since the festive season is round the corner, there would be ample offers around...see what fits your budget and sounds the best....

 

[htfan17]

Let me first say You have chosen the best three beginner systems given your budget. I am so glad u did not commit the most common mistake of shortlisting those dumb HTIBs from Sony/samsung/LG/Philips.

Any of these systems will be sufficient for your needs. however having said that. I wud say go for pioneer or onkyo only for their True Dolby HD/ DTS HD support - makes your system future proof for any HD audio source u might play in future. If you are budget tight, still Yamaha 196 is an awesome system and blindly go for it. this is not to undermine its greatness.

 

[yashoshah]

Hi-

Will be building my new HT soon. My budget is around 35-40K.

Preferring to buy HTiB but open to separate AV receiver and speakers as well.

Can anyone give the idea of newly launched ONKYO HTiB HT-S 3700 and S 5700 in Mumbai along with cheapest/ reliable availability with addresses. I Will be visiting Mumbai soon.

As I am from Kota (Rajasthan), enquired the same from Onkyo Dealer at Jaipur -- but these newly launched models are not available there-- Only S4505 which he quoting exorbitantly at 40K.

 

[shrajan673]

Guys ! Thanks for ur replies ! I have narrowed down my choices to the three which I have mentioned. I was about to get Yamaha for around 23.9k which is great (but I couldn't as the stock went off soon and Now its 25k)

My biggest doubt is as my room is somewhat large (at least not small !), I might have to run wires to all four corners of my room. So is it going to affect my sound quality ? or at least volume ?

 

[elangoas]

Understand your limitations.. If you can spend later, meaning adding budget components one by one, it will be better than HTIB systems.....

As other FM have pointed out, Yamaha YHT 196 doesn't handle Dolby True HD & DTS HD Master Audio which is standard format in blu ray movies...

Onkyo AVX 390 has a passive subwoofer system which will hinder your upgrade path after few years....

Again Pionner HTP-072 lao has passive subwoofer....

So think abt it & choose...

I would suggest you increase your budget by 5K and consider Yamaha YHT 299..Worth it in my opinion...

 

[shrajan673]

Thanks Bro for the input ! But I think I can set up one during this festival time (longing for HTS for a very long time). I personally listened to Yamaha YHT 196 and Onkyo AVX 390 and to be very frank I could not find the difference in quality between the two. But in Onkyo, it took a bit higher level of volume to hear the same amount of sound when compared Yamaha YHT (connectivity- Onkyo is better but I guess it will be less useful as I don't have too many devices to hook up).

My biggest doubt is how the volume will be ? My living room is somewhat larger (16' * 14'). Will my sound level get reduced because of of a larger room ?

 

[sash]

The Onkyo 5700 is the successor to the terrific 5400. The Onkyo 5400 was a terrific surround system which did not compromise in any way. Unlike other systems, these feature large speakers and hit really hard. The 5700 must be better than those. So i'd urge you to consider 5700

 

[yashoshah]

@ sash -- Thanks for the reply.

I was wondering, how much will the S5700 cost in India (if available), especially in Mumbai-- which i plan to visit shortly.

 

[elangoas]

Thanks Bro for the input ! But I think I can set up one during this festival time (longing for HTS for a very long time). I personally listened to Yamaha YHT 196 and Onkyo AVX 390 and to be very frank I could not find the difference in quality between the two. But in Onkyo, it took a bit higher level of volume to hear the same amount of sound when compared Yamaha YHT (connectivity- Onkyo is better but I guess it will be less useful as I don't have too many devices to hook up).

My biggest doubt is how the volume will be ? My living room is somewhat larger (16' * 14'). Will my sound level get reduced because of of a larger room ?

Your room dimension are decent enough.... These should be able to fill your room....I hope you will sit close (Approx 10 feet) to the TV....

 

[shrajan673]

Thanks for suggestions bro ! I had a small doubt but now I believe that the setup will be fine. Now, in the list I got one more suggestion- Onkyo 5400 which I didn't have a chance to see in retail shops (I will try to see this weekend).

@elangoas- Thanks bro for the input!I am not very keen on getting an active sub woofer as long as my passive one works fine in my room (once again budget constraint).

But now when it comes to short listing, do I need to have much care about the no of connections I can have in my HTIB ? i mean the more the better even though I will not be using them at least in near future ? As I said earlier, I will HD STB,Xbox 360, DVD player and a Blu ray player if possible. And my tv is Samsung 40EH6030R which is having no 'audio out' . I have 2 HDMI, 3 normal inputs (YRW cables) and a headphone jack !

 

[yashoshah]

Seen a package on HiFimart--

Pioneer VSX 523 + Boston Acoustic xs 5.1 at 44,440/- -- though presently Sold out.

What is the performance of the above set up as compared to Onkyo's HTiBs -4505/3700 ?

Is it really VFM ?

Might stretch the budget from 40K to 45K, if the performance/ features are good !