Music system advice required

Audiolab 9000Q and 9000P
just4kix

just4kix

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I could not find a proper section to create this thread. I chose this section because I have an AVR and things may explain themselves as mentioned below.

Background
Till 2010, I was using Onkyo TX-DS747 AVR, primarily for my HT. In 2010, I upgraded to Denon AVR-1910 mainly because:
  • The Onkyo did not have DTS decoding
  • There was no HDMI support - so no Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD-MA
  • No 7.1 (although this was not a concern then or now)
After upgrading, I tried to sell off the Onkyo but no one really wants an AVR that does not connect via HDMI. The few offers that I got were too low and I did not feel it "right" to give away at the price (sub INR 8000). I do not have a good music system and have been intending to build one for quite some time but never came around. Now I am seriously thinking of building one.

Budget is not a real constraint but I am of the type who looks at ROI in everything and I guess that I would listen to music at most 1 hour on weekdays and 3-4 hours on weekends (Sat+Sun). For such limited listening, it does not do justice to spend lakhs of Rupees. But I will come to this later.

Current thoughts
I am thinking of putting the Onkyo AVR for music use. It has 90Wx2 RMS at 8 ohms for the fronts. I have CDs (Indian and Western Classical, Hindi/Bollywood, English Pop/Rock), music on computer (MP3 only) in the same class as CDs, a turntable and few LPs. The AVR has AM/FM tuner built-in and that will be good too. I have a Pioneer 3-caroussel DVD player that I do not use much which can be used as CD transport. I have many audio cassettes too but not too much worried about them - I intend to buy CDs of those albums that I am sure to listen often. The equipment that I am thinking adding of are:
  • A DAC
  • A good set of bookshelf speakers to match the Onkyo
  • A media player
I am thinking of connecting the turntable directly to AVR and DVDP + Media player to DAC. DAC will of course connect to AVR and then to speakers. The music system will be installed in my living room of size 20' x 13'.

Budget
As I said that budget is not a real constraint but I do not wish to go overboard with it. I am thinking that 60K should be sufficient for the 3 items mentioned but I can extend a little further to 75K, if really worth.
  • DAC: about 25K (can extend to 40K)
  • BS speakers: about 25K (can extend to 35K)
  • Media player: about 8K (can extend to 10K

Advice required
p/s. Please do consider my audio listening time and preferences before suggesting
  1. Please let me know whether I am going in the right direction.
  2. Let me know whether to add or remove equipment.
  3. Suggest me a good set of music oriented speakers - I will audition of course. I prefer neutral sound. Where can I procure them?
  4. What will be a good DAC to buy and from where?
  5. Ditto for media player - must have digital out.
A big thanks to all. :)
 
What I believe is that you should buy Floor Standing for your audio requirements rather than bookshelves. The Tweeters, and midrange drivers are much better in the FS. In your budget, Kipsch has good FS's.
  • RC-42 : 20000
  • RC-52 : 28300
  • RC-62 : 37800
Also,Jamo has good speaker systems too. You could try the C-601 Bookshelf, sounded real good, was priced at Rs.25900, which is pretty good. Also try out the S-606 from Jamo, priced at Rs.36700. Another Great System. You could also try KEF-Q300 ( Rs.30000) , a great pair of speakers for your need.

For the media player, you can very well go the Boxee( ~INR 8K) has a digital optical out, and is the best for its price, along with the WDTV live, which is 2K cheaper. Also, take a look at Iomega Screen Play and Asus O-Play.
 
devilwearsprada said:
What I believe is that you should buy Floor Standing for your audio requirements rather than bookshelves. The Tweeters, and midrange drivers are much better in the FS. In your budget, Kipsch has good FS's.
  • RC-42 : 20000
  • RC-52 : 28300
  • RC-62 : 37800
Also,Jamo has good speaker systems too. You could try the C-601 Bookshelf, sounded real good, was priced at Rs.25900, which is pretty good. Also try out the S-606 from Jamo, priced at Rs.36700. Another Great System. You could also try KEF-Q300 ( Rs.30000) , a great pair of speakers for your need.

For the media player, you can very well go the Boxee( ~INR 8K) has a digital optical out, and is the best for its price, along with the WDTV live, which is 2K cheaper. Also, take a look at Iomega Screen Play and Asus O-Play.
Click to expand...

All those RC series you mentioned are center channel speakers. Floor standers have RF and bookshelfs as RB.
 
Please do not use an Onkyo receiver for music. I have one. One day just for testing's sake I connected it to my Usher Be718 to see how it sounds.

Unfortunately the results were truly terrible - there was no mid range to speak about, voices were shrill and there was absolutely no drive at all. The experiment lasted a mere 5 minutes before I put it back to its place.

In comparison, the Marantz PM5004 that powers a pair of jamo bookshelves in my computer setup at least made some semblance of music when connected to the same chain. The mid range was nice and warm, the voices had definition and most importantly, it sounded like music.

Considering I paid 4000 bucks less for the marantz than the onkyo, I'd definitely not suggest anyone to buy/use an onkyo receiver for any sort of music playback.

Mind you, there was no deficiency of either source or cables here. The source was my Ayon cd player and the cables were all top of the hand made einstein.
 
I am recently looking for a source and read lots and lots of reviews, shootouts, head-on comparison and found that it is heard to find a better DAC than PS Audio DigiLink III at that budget.

I personally heard the DAC(with Cullen Stage IV mod) at a FM's house and found it to be very very good. The amount of resolution it has and sound quality is unbelievable. You will get one in around $400-450 range(stock, not modded).
 
reignofchaos said:
Please do not use an Onkyo receiver for music. I have one.
Click to expand...

One forum member whom I recently visited said that his Onkyo AVR sounds better than his 35K NAD amp when connected to Daly FS. I could not test this combo as the NAD was connected to Daly and AVR to Wharf 9.1 FS. The NAD+Daly combo sounded much better than the Onkyo+Wharf combo. But he uses a DAC to the stereo amp and onkyo is fed with hdmi signal.
 
baijuxavior said:
One forum member whom I recently visited said that his Onkyo AVR sounds better than his 35K NAD amp when connected to Daly FS. I could not test this combo as the NAD was connected to Daly and AVR to Wharf 9.1 FS. The NAD+Daly combo sounded much better than the Onkyo+Wharf combo. But he uses a DAC to the stereo amp and onkyo is fed with hdmi signal.
Click to expand...

Well its not really a fair comparison in that case. Also I prefer marantz integrated amps over nads any day of the week. The former is reasonably neutral by entry level standards while the latter has a house sound that prefers just a lot of bloated bass. Folks say they have lot of drive simply because of this bloated bass.

I've owned both and ended up selling the NAD C320BEE in less than a year after purchase.

Cheers!
 
@reignofchaos, I do not wish to buy another amp. My audio listening will be limited and hence I need to use my spare Onkyo. Are you sure that all Onkyo's are universally bad for music?

Sent from my GT-I9100G using Tapatalk 2
 
None I've heard are actually good other than a vintage onkyo integrated amp that a friend had.

As for dac, get the xonar. There's very little else that is good at 20k or so.
 
These are the 2 DACs in my radar

1. W4S DAC1 with upgraded caps - $1200
2. Schiit GUNGNIR without USB - $750

Haven't listened to both of them. Shortlisted based on reviews and other FM suggestions.

Planning to pair it with my Oppo-93 for 2 channel stereo. I am not looking for USB support.

Thanks,
John.
 
john_k_antony said:
These are the 2 DACs in my radar

1. W4S DAC1 with upgraded caps - $1200
2. Schiit GUNGNIR without USB - $750

Haven't listened to both of them. Shortlisted based on reviews and other FM suggestions.

Planning to pair it with my Oppo-93 for 2 channel stereo. I am not looking for USB support.

Thanks,
John.
Click to expand...

There's a package of the W4S DAC1 with an m2tech hiface for well under that price available from forum member hifipal4all. PM him if you are interested.
 
On speakers, I'd suggest taking a demo of the Epos M12i. The dealer had one last piece available. Another option is the Polk LSI9, available with avenue sound Mumbai
 
Last edited:
john_k_antony said:
These are the 2 DACs in my radar

1. W4S DAC1 with upgraded caps - $1200
2. Schiit GUNGNIR without USB - $750

Haven't listened to both of them. Shortlisted based on reviews and other FM suggestions.

Planning to pair it with my Oppo-93 for 2 channel stereo. I am not looking for USB support.

Thanks,
John.
Click to expand...

What's the rest of the chain? The W4S can sound a touch bright if not all matched. No experience with the Gungir. That said, pretty much all head-fi flavour of the month dacs I've tried have been disappointing
 
jai1611 said:
What's the rest of the chain? The W4S can sound a touch bright if not all matched. No experience with the Gungir. That said, pretty much all head-fi flavour of the month dacs I've tried have been disappointing
Click to expand...

I tried it in my system recently. A friend was looking for an upgrade and he wanted my opinion. It didn't float my boat - felt it was a bit thin sounding.
 
Sorry to hijack the thread.

I am in the process of building the entire chain. I just got he Oppo-93 as of now.

My Short lists

1. AMP - SET amp with 845 or 300B. I am also looking at Pre-Power combo from Acoustic Portrait. Would like to listen to Dared VP-845 as well. Rethm also has a hybrid amp.

2. Speakers - High efficient, SET friendly, full range systems. Short lists - Zu Omen Def MKII, Rethm Maarga, Blumenhofer big Fun 17.

3. DAC choices are W4S DAC1 or Schiit GUNGNIR. I also want to check if we can get Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC.

4. IC/Speaker cables - Not decided on anything yet.

I am also looking at trading my Oppo-93 and getting an all new Oppo-105 :). So no need to get a different DAC. Haven't decided on it yet.

Thanks,
John.
 
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