arunkvivek
Well-Known Member
I have decent amount of space in my living room (12 X 18 ft) and wanted to fill in a HT setup. I have had no HT apart from old computer 5.1 package from Mercury. I have been reading the blogs on the different threads on this forum for almost 4 months now to understand nitigrities of the audio systems.
More I read, more confusing it became. With a huge budget limitation, I was extremely confused as to where I should start.
Should it be AVR? Should it be Speaker?
The oft quoted buzzwords: Warm, laidback, attack, sound stage, distance were confusing adjectives. I decided to take the plunge last weekend to have an audition with a budget of 50 - 75K. My wife was reluctant and considered that expense could be a splurge; better investment would be on gold jewels (nifty)
Being in Bangalore, I called up the audio stores closer to my place to fix up audition time. Music Ranch in Jaya nagar was the first destination. As per the portal, they were supposed to open at 11:30 AM and I was there (with my wife) at 11 AM. Luckily for me, the owner Mr.Mukesh came in early to have the store opened. I had memorized a few buzzwords to showcase myself as an informed customer!!!
Looking at Mukesh, I dropped my gaurd and confessed that I was a first timer and sought his guidance. I also declared that I am doing a recce as my investments(!) would take at least a month or two to materialize.
I insisted that a FS has to be part of the HT setup. He let me go my way but suggested that I would be making a compromise if I were to try and fit into my budget; it was too tight for a good AVR and HT setup. We did not even venture into testing of the PSB FS he had lined up. He suggested that I start with FS and AVR and slowly add on other pieces.
He brought Tannoy V4i speakers from another room for demo. I told him that music would be my primary content. So, we did not want to waste time on a movie demo.
I played the following songs:
We were blown away. The adjective sound staging made sense, There were no blackholes between the two channels. The Carnatic piece brought the speakers to life. I expected the speakers to be true to Cliff Richards as it was Western music. The Guitar and Voice were super.
I wanted to see how the speakers fared with Indian Classical. The low notes on Mridangam, shrill notes from Ghatam and Aruna's bassy voice were all crystal clear. Even the small sound of Aruna managing her breath came out live.
I listen to a lot of Ilayaraaja songs so had to play this song by Usha Uthup. The different layers of the songs which I didn't know that they existed came out of the hiding. However, there was a lot of distortion. The CD that I got was mastered from a tape. That might have been the reason.
Just as an icing we listened to Jodha Akbar. The balance in mixing was evident. There were no distortions. After a good one hour of listening, Mukesh suggested that we try Polk Audio's Book Shelf. We tried them but after FS, it sounded bland. My wife declared that we would go for FS only. Finally, I managed to win over an important stakeholder.
The very evening, I had audition fixed up with HT Stores for Jamo S426H. We started off with music (same list). The speakers had no presence at all (biased view) as we had listened to Tannoy before that. Nevertheless, for the price, I wanted to try if I could convince myself by trying the movies. Fast & Furious was played. The speakers came alive and was so engrossed in the movie that Mr.Lokesh had to step in after 10-15 minutes to take my opinion.
I told him that I like the HT setup for movies but the music wasn't satisfactory. He asked me to try Pure Acoustics speaker (I don't remember the model number). Played the same playlist again, the output firmed up our belief that we shouldn't compromise on quality. I did not want to waste any further time. I told Mr.Lokesh about the change of mind that we had. We wanted to a good pair of FS over a value for money budget HT system. I also did not want satellites as I wouldn't be able to flaunt the money spent.
Mr.Lokesh took me into another demo room where he had Tannoy and another speaker lined up. Since we had already listened to Tannoy (same model), we requested him to play the 'other' speaker. Wow, we enjoyed these speakers more than Tannoy. We couldn't feel the presence of the devices in the room. It was just music. The speakers were Dali Zensar 7. My wife was checking out the recliners. One more item added to the wishlist now!!!
I requested Lokesh to give me some ballpark figures on where I would land. I told him that I shall cook some money and return to him.
The AVRs in both the cases were Denon - Tannoy was powered by X520BT while Dali was powered by X1100W
For a first timer, It was an unforgettable experience!
More I read, more confusing it became. With a huge budget limitation, I was extremely confused as to where I should start.
Should it be AVR? Should it be Speaker?
The oft quoted buzzwords: Warm, laidback, attack, sound stage, distance were confusing adjectives. I decided to take the plunge last weekend to have an audition with a budget of 50 - 75K. My wife was reluctant and considered that expense could be a splurge; better investment would be on gold jewels (nifty)
Being in Bangalore, I called up the audio stores closer to my place to fix up audition time. Music Ranch in Jaya nagar was the first destination. As per the portal, they were supposed to open at 11:30 AM and I was there (with my wife) at 11 AM. Luckily for me, the owner Mr.Mukesh came in early to have the store opened. I had memorized a few buzzwords to showcase myself as an informed customer!!!
Looking at Mukesh, I dropped my gaurd and confessed that I was a first timer and sought his guidance. I also declared that I am doing a recce as my investments(!) would take at least a month or two to materialize.
I insisted that a FS has to be part of the HT setup. He let me go my way but suggested that I would be making a compromise if I were to try and fit into my budget; it was too tight for a good AVR and HT setup. We did not even venture into testing of the PSB FS he had lined up. He suggested that I start with FS and AVR and slowly add on other pieces.
He brought Tannoy V4i speakers from another room for demo. I told him that music would be my primary content. So, we did not want to waste time on a movie demo.
I played the following songs:
- Fall in Love/ Lucky Lips - Cliff Richards
- Kalinganardhanam Thillana - Aruna Sairam
- Vegam Vegam - Usha Uthup (Movie: Anjali MD: Ilayaraaja)
We were blown away. The adjective sound staging made sense, There were no blackholes between the two channels. The Carnatic piece brought the speakers to life. I expected the speakers to be true to Cliff Richards as it was Western music. The Guitar and Voice were super.
I wanted to see how the speakers fared with Indian Classical. The low notes on Mridangam, shrill notes from Ghatam and Aruna's bassy voice were all crystal clear. Even the small sound of Aruna managing her breath came out live.
I listen to a lot of Ilayaraaja songs so had to play this song by Usha Uthup. The different layers of the songs which I didn't know that they existed came out of the hiding. However, there was a lot of distortion. The CD that I got was mastered from a tape. That might have been the reason.
Just as an icing we listened to Jodha Akbar. The balance in mixing was evident. There were no distortions. After a good one hour of listening, Mukesh suggested that we try Polk Audio's Book Shelf. We tried them but after FS, it sounded bland. My wife declared that we would go for FS only. Finally, I managed to win over an important stakeholder.
The very evening, I had audition fixed up with HT Stores for Jamo S426H. We started off with music (same list). The speakers had no presence at all (biased view) as we had listened to Tannoy before that. Nevertheless, for the price, I wanted to try if I could convince myself by trying the movies. Fast & Furious was played. The speakers came alive and was so engrossed in the movie that Mr.Lokesh had to step in after 10-15 minutes to take my opinion.
I told him that I like the HT setup for movies but the music wasn't satisfactory. He asked me to try Pure Acoustics speaker (I don't remember the model number). Played the same playlist again, the output firmed up our belief that we shouldn't compromise on quality. I did not want to waste any further time. I told Mr.Lokesh about the change of mind that we had. We wanted to a good pair of FS over a value for money budget HT system. I also did not want satellites as I wouldn't be able to flaunt the money spent.
Mr.Lokesh took me into another demo room where he had Tannoy and another speaker lined up. Since we had already listened to Tannoy (same model), we requested him to play the 'other' speaker. Wow, we enjoyed these speakers more than Tannoy. We couldn't feel the presence of the devices in the room. It was just music. The speakers were Dali Zensar 7. My wife was checking out the recliners. One more item added to the wishlist now!!!
I requested Lokesh to give me some ballpark figures on where I would land. I told him that I shall cook some money and return to him.
The AVRs in both the cases were Denon - Tannoy was powered by X520BT while Dali was powered by X1100W
For a first timer, It was an unforgettable experience!
