Onkyo 3300 or 1610+speakers?

[saisrujan]

Hi ppl,

This is my first post on this forum. At the outset, I would like to thank all those who have been contributed to these forums. The information present here has been immensely helpful.

I bought a Panasonic 42V20 and BD45 blu-ray player to go with it and a HD DVR from Sun Direct. I am planning to invest in a good HT system. My budget is around 35k and can stretch to 40k if it's truly worth the extra pennies.

My listening habits would be 75% music (mainly acoustic rock and classical music) and 25% movies + HD TV. I am not a bass fan and I require just enough tight bass to enjoy depth in the music. I rarely crank up the volume and my room size is 10x15. The living room is typically 10 x 14. My ideal speakers should provide a warm, pleasing, room-filling sound even at low volumes.

I will be auditioning Onkyo 3300 this weekend, but I don't believe Onkyo's HTIBs are good for my listening habits. Therefore, I am tending towards Denon 1610 and a decent 2.1 / 2.0 setup to start with and then expand to include center and surrounds later on.

Would the Onkyo 3300 suffice my requirement, or would you recommend good bookshelfs / floorstanders with something like a 1610?

I am basically clueless on bookshelfs / floorstanders and reading up on any of the threads isn't leading me anywhere. I need your help on getting me started on the right set of choices for me and then I will take my research forward from there and arrive at a decision.

I live in Bangalore and pointers to any salesperson who knows his stuff would be awesome.

 

[pannags]

Hi ppl,

This is my first post on this forum. At the outset, I would like to thank all those who have been contributed to these forums. The information present here has been immensely helpful.

I completely second your thoughts. 5 months on this forum have been an immensely learning experience. so much so, that I feel very confident about making my decision.


I bought a Panasonic 42V20 and BD45 blu-ray player to go with it and a HD DVR from Sun Direct. I am planning to invest in a good HT system. My budget is around 35k and can stretch to 40k if it's truly worth the extra pennies.

My listening habits would be 75% music (mainly acoustic rock and classical music) and 25% movies + HD TV. I am not a bass fan and I require just enough tight bass to enjoy depth in the music. I rarely crank up the volume and my room size is 10x15. The living room is typically 10 x 14. My ideal speakers should provide a warm, pleasing, room-filling sound even at low volumes.

This is pretty much similar to my requirements or listening patterns, if I may say and after much thought and reading and receiving opinions, I figured out that the best thing to do is build a decent stereo setup comprising of an Amplifier and a pair of decent speakers (I'm madly in love with floorstanders)

I will be auditioning Onkyo 3300 this weekend, but I don't believe Onkyo's HTIBs are good for my listening habits. Therefore, I am tending towards Denon 1610 and a decent 2.1 / 2.0 setup to start with and then expand to include center and surrounds later on.

Would the Onkyo 3300 suffice my requirement, or would you recommend good bookshelfs / floorstanders with something like a 1610?

I am basically clueless on bookshelfs / floorstanders and reading up on any of the threads isn't leading me anywhere. I need your help on getting me started on the right set of choices for me and then I will take my research forward from there and arrive at a decision.

IMHO, the 3300 is a magnificient buy for the moolah it costs. I auditioned it twice - at different places - and it seemed to be reasonably decent. But then, as far as my buying decision is concerned, I have gathered the below thoughts:

Option 1: buy a decent entry level stereo setup (total budget 45k) with options like Onkyo 8222 or Marantz PM8003 or Cambridge Audio and pair them with Polk Audio TSi 400 or Monitor Audio or ELAC

Option 2: Buy an AV receiver that is future proof for atleast the next 5-8 years, in which space you could choose between OnkyoTX-SR608 or Denon 1911 or Marantz PM5004 (costs hover about the 45k mark) or the more expensive Onkyo TX-SR708, which offers a network receiver as well.

A HTiB is not the best chioce as you seemed to be more inclined to music than movies and not very keen on bass as much as clarity.

I must admit, however, that the choices are aplenty and vendors only add to the confusion. Every other guy claims that the brands he sells are the best ones to buy! A good way to audition is to carry your favorite CDs and have them played. Please be warned, I was surprised that most dealers did not have a stereo setup ready! They wanted an advance notice to have them setup - under the claim of low volume of sales. The agenda is also to push the more expensive AVRs.

I live in Bangalore and pointers to any salesperson who knows his stuff would be awesome.

Try Onkyo Wonderland at Sigma mall or at Modern World

Try Profx, located on MG Road for Denon


Good luck and do keep me posted of your decision. I will mostly be finalising my decision shortly.

Cheers,
Pannags

 

[saisrujan]

Thanks Pannags for your suggestions and support.

Option 1: buy a decent entry level stereo setup (total budget 45k) with options like Onkyo 8222 or Marantz PM8003 or Cambridge Audio

To get the best sound for 2-channel music for the moolah, your suggestions definitely make a lot of sense. But I intend to eventually build a 5.1 channel system which can work for music and movies. So, a 2-channel amp probably isn't a good idea for my case.

Option 2: Buy an AV receiver that is future proof for atleast the next 5-8 years, in which space you could choose between OnkyoTX-SR608 or Denon 1911 or Marantz PM5004 (costs hover about the 45k mark) or the more expensive Onkyo TX-SR708, which offers a network receiver as well.

My budget maxes out at 40K to start with. My living room is quite small and a 5.1 channel is all I want for the next 3-4 years. So, wouldn't a 1610 fit the bill? I've read a lot of threads and the only difference between 1610 and 1911 seem to be the extra 2 channels and higher rated power. Would I be missing out on anything important if I go in for 1610?

... and pair them with Polk Audio TSi 400 or Monitor Audio or ELAC

I seem to like Polk Audio TSi 400 from my research. Will try to audition these speakers. Will these speakers be a good match to 1610? My research on speaker-pairing with 1610 largely yielded bookshelves - no floorstanders.

Another train of thought... Can I buy Onkyo 3300 and upgrade the speakers later on? How does the Onkyo 3300's AVR compare to 1610?

 

[PrasannaK]

I bought onkyo HT Package 7.1 for 40K 3 years back ...then found that the front L+R speaker is small for my CD listening habits. Later bought Jamo s606 Tower speakers for 23K.. I then switched the onkyo front speakers to surround. It's amazing now and sounds as if mine was a 1 lakh system.

My Sugession,

Go for Onkyo/Yamaha HT package for 22 - 25K ..then add Yamaha Tower speakers (16K) or Jamo (23K) for the front. Consider the amount u pay for the HT package is for the Receiver and the subwoofer.