Home Theater System mainly for music

skartik21

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I am looking to put together a home theater system for my living room. My requirements are 70-75% music and the remaining 25-30% movies. I am planning to purchase an Amp with 2 front floorstanding speakers for now and plan to add the centre, surrounds and the sub at a later stage. I visited the Reliance Digital outet and auditioned a few systems. I liked the sound of Harmon Kardon, though I did not catch the model no. It was a basic Amp with no video connectivity. It combined very well with Polk Audio Monitor speakers. I also liked the sound of Denon 1507 with Jamo floorstanders (200 W). I wanted to try the combination of Denon 1507 with Polk Audio monitor, but he could not connect them. I was told that Polk Audio monitor comes with built in passive subs, hence I need not go for a separate sub-woofer. I have decided to upscale my budget from the initial 25 k to about 35-45 k for the system (2.0 with AVR or 2.1 with AVR as the case may be). In this regard I have the following queries

1 How important is for the AVR to have upscaling facility along with Analog to digital conversion ? Does having an HDMI connectivity add a significant amount of value to the sound quality / video quality ?

2 I was suggested Denon 1509 by the dealer. He indicated it to be a 5.1 system with HDMi and an equally good sound quality as 1507, which I liked. The 1509 was offered at a price of Rs 24,000. If I go for Polk Audio monitor speakers for 19 k, it falls within my budget. Is that a good combination assuming I don't add a sub ? or should I look at polk audio Tsi series speakers ?

3 I have seen the Marantz AVR mentioned quite favourably and frequently on various posts on this site. Can someone suggest some location in Mumbai or Navi Mumbai, where I can audition the Marantz set.

4 Would like the people here to give their opinions on my shortlisted combinations and any additional suggestions. I also auditioned the Yamaha 363. I did not like the sound too much. R-digital did not have any Yamaha AVRs. Are Yamaha AVRs worth a look, considering my requirements ?

Need all the help that i can get ? Thanks in advance for your comments.
 
Home Theater > Theater At Home > Movies???

It's not going to play any good music that much I'm sure of. Reasonable quality can be achieved with expensive AVRs like the Yamaha RX-V663 or more, but even here not too good.

You're better off going with Audioenigne A5 or something similar (depending on your source) for music and investing the rest in a decent to good HT system. The mileage will be more and better for music (which is 75% of your requirement) this way. An integrated unit will be anyways good for movies, but will really lack as far as music is concerned.
 
I think you are on the right track of getting 2 channel first. If music is what you want, get the music part right. Moser's suggestion is good.

Another option is to get separate amp + speakers. For instant gratification for movies, you need to have a processor that has dolby digital/ dts decoding for dvds. What you can do is, get a dvd player with these decodings on board, get 2 channel integrated amp, and two good quality speakers.
DVD99 from Cambridge audio has recently been purchased by some forum members. It should take care of upscaling, playing dvds, having very good quality stereo sound.
Amp - I am not sure. More people can suggest.
Speakers - Again, not sure. But polks, jamos in these places are not that good. JBLs can be slightly better than those, but again won't be great. You may go for wharfedale as it is a favorite budget brand with experienced people out here.

When you want to upgrade, buy extra speakers, and AVR. AVR is a fast changing technology and will always leave you wanting for more, even if you don't need.
 
at that budget youre not going to get a good ht system. and it wont sound good for music either. i would suggest that you go in for a simple 2.0 stereo system. a good pair of bookshelves and a decent stereo amp. you could add on a sub later and convert it to a 2.1. you'll get a lot more quality out of the sq
 
I'm afraid you won't find a good sounding floor stander in your budget, unless you are interested in used ones and also get a great deal.

my suggestion is that you go for a decent pair of bookshelf speaker that you can fit into your budget. then add a Sub later. wharfedale and PSB offer good bookshelfs that would pair well with denon.

some AVRs upscale SD images to HD resolution. some newer model AVRs have better upscalers, older ones don't do such a good job. many DVD players do fine job of upscaling SD to HD which you can directly connect to your display. HDMI Audio.....if you will settle with a 5.1 system, this doesn't matter, optical or coaxial connection can give you same result. HDMI plays important role in HD Audio formats.
 
some of the musical AVRs are-
1.Denon
2.Pioneer
3.Sony-ES series
4.Marantz
5.Yamaha
6.Arcam
 
Trust me - there is no 'home theatre system mainly for music out there'!:) I went down that path and I now have a Marantz receiver lying unused (am going to shift it to another room).

If you are serious about music, then an integrated amplifier and a good pair of speakers is the way to go. If needed you can add a subwoofer and that would take care of movies and music satisfactorily.
 
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