HT system suggestions

[arijit.saha]

I am new to this forum. I have been contemplating getting a HT system for my new home in Bangalore. I am not an audiophile but got some basic understanding of HT system & it's components and to some extent I can differentiate good quality sound from a bad one.

I have been reading various threads on this forum and doing my research for last few weeks.

I am attaching a jpg file of the room setup (30 ft X 12 ft Drawing cum Dining hall where TV & Sofa setup area is about 11 ft X 12 ft).

Initially I was thinking of starting with a HTiB and later upgrade to better system but after reading the various discussions I am not able to make up my mind on the approach. Now I am thinking of starting with a good receiver & some inexpensive speakers and later upgrade the speakers.

At this moment I can spend about 80 K (+/- 10%). I should be able to allocate another 50 K in 6 months.

Use of the system will be primarily for watching HD movies and HD TV channels. I am an avid watcher of various podcasts on my iPhone & iPad and hence having airplay on the receiver will be good. Overall I will say
HD movie/channel - 60%
Online content (Youtube, Podcasts etc.) - 30%
Music (Soft music) - 10%

Now here are my questions
1. Will it be a good idea to invest in a receiver like Marantz SR 5008 at the start?
2. Are there any other alternative recievers with comparable feature set & quality but lesser price?
3. Based on my initial budget will I be able to get any speaker system to start using the receiver and not wait for 6 months for the second round of budget allocation?
4. On a longer run, will I be able to use Sonodyne speakers (Sonus / Avant center & front) with a receiver like Marntz SR 5008?

Any suggestions / guidance will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[afj]

since you are going to be staggering your purchase, you should first develop a master plan of what you want your entire system to be. whatever you purchase first should be part of the eventual set up. you would definitely need a surround sound amplifier. you could first get the two fronts and a sub / two fronts and a centre. and then add the balance with the rears later on. if youre putting in a sub woofer then you dont need floorstanders for the fronts and can use bookshelves.

for speakers you should audition the wharfedale diamond series. a step up would be the kef q series. once you decide on the speakers you can choose an amp to match. pairing is very important. amps to consider are the yamaha, denon and marantz

 

[elangoas]

Your have a very good budget....What Flatpanel TV do you have & check if it support ARC function over HDMI....

As afj pointed out, you have yamaha, denon and marantz... You also have Onkyo & Pioneer AVR....

Since you are setting up from scratch, i would suggest you to get the AVR from abroad (Singapore/Malaysia/Dubai/Kuwait) as it has the same voltage like India (220 - 240 V)...You will easily save more than 50% on any model....

For speakers there are plenty of options like Wharfedale, Paradigm, Polk, PSB, Klipsch, Jamo etc etc...

If you have already heard Sonodyne Sonus (or) Avant & like them , you can pretty well keep them in in your shortlist....

Since your majority of the viewing is movies & internet, I would suggest you for satellite/BS + Sub combo (or) rather than FS + Sub combo...

 

[arijit.saha]

Your have a very good budget....What Flatpanel TV do you have & check if it support ARC function over HDMI....

Thanks for the response. I have Sony Bravia EX720 series. I will have to check the manual but I think it supports ARC.

 

[efernand1]

Hi,

Congratulations and all the best for your HT plan. Well in terms of a good HT system which will give you good value for money....from all the AVRs I used for the past 10 years, you should consider owning a Marantz and for now I feel you should go for the NR1504 which has Airplay and networking. It is Slim and is about 50w RMS per channel...let this not fool you when you compare to other competitors who claim 100w pc. The AVR has all the features, a suite of Music /Game/ Movie modes to enhance the spatial surround effect....bass+treble and the most important besides audyssey auto setup and calibration of speakers...it has 9 band adjustable EQ for each channel which helps you make those crucial adjustments..it helps really for music....Marantz is known for warm depth and punch music....

Honestly the B&W CM series speakers would be the perfect match for this AVR and will perform exceptionally well...refer to videos and cnet reviews.....it all depends which kind of speakers you want...I use Boston Acoustics Soundware XS 5.1 which will yes save your space and perform better than Bose or any other competitive satellites....The Bostons are Award winning speakers...I honestly got rid of the Bose Cubes I used......

The NR1504 + Bostons combo deal on Hifi Mart would cost you around 50K odd....its worth...You can decide to go with the NR1504 or look at the SR series if that appeals to you more.

you can also look at the A series of Boston and select the wood / walnut finish speakers available on Hifi Mart

Bookshelf rears Boston Acoustics A 25 Speaker

Centre Boston Acoustics A 225C Center Channel Loudspeaker

Front Speakers Boston Acoustics A 250 Floorstanding Speaker

Subwoofer Boston Acoustics ASW 650 Subwoofer

I will upgrade to the B&W CM series within due course in time...above Bostons are good value for money and performance...The best subwoofer in the world is the VELODYNE and IMPACT 12 will do good justice ..if not within budget go for IMPACT 10.

End of the day remember the Marantz + Bostons are companies who have done research and provided products that are excellent, competitive and within budget.

Hope this helps you.....you may want to consider adding a good blu ray player...Cambridge audio or OPPO or the Pioneer BDP LX 55 are good ones for performance in music / movies played thru discs or external HDDs.

End of the day it depends on what appeals to your taste and wallet!

 

[elangoas]

Thanks for the response. I have Sony Bravia EX720 series. I will have to check the manual but I think it supports ARC.

Yes Sony EX series supports ARC... Just look @ the TV's HDMI port, one of them would be mentioned as ARC (Audio Return Channel)...

 

[dheerajin]

Hi Arijit,

Any Ht system is primarly recognised by subwoofer and center speaker..so choose it wisely preferably mix and match..

cheers
Dheeraj