Planning for 3 speakers, 2 BS and 1 CS, options??

[KonfuSed]

Hi All,
Now is the time to upgrade my fronts from the Sony ones to something better. I'm planning to buy 2 Bookself speakers and one center speaker. My budget is around 15k+10k. I may add another 2k if needed. My AVR is Denon 1910 and I already have a Wharf SW150 sub.
Now by reading through some related posts I've found that Wharfe's 9.2/9.1's are good match for Denon. But I just wanna know how are the newer i.e. 10.2 or 10.1 stands in comparo? I'm also planning to get 2 Floorstandars in some later point of time and I may then move the Bookselves for 2.0 setup for music only.
About the Center speaker how does 9.CS compared to 10.CS? CM will be bit costlier option for me.
But I don't just want to have a look at Wharfedales and would like to know what other options I have. How much will be Monitor Audio BR2? Or Tannoys? What about Klipsch? If so how much are the prices and where to audition them in Bangalore? Or should I stick to Wharfe's for timber matching with the Sub? Or that shouldn't matter. More I'm reading stuff more confused I'm getting.
Regards

 

[doors666]

Hi All,
Now is the time to upgrade my fronts from the Sony ones to something better. I'm planning to buy 2 Bookself speakers and one center speaker. My budget is around 15k+10k. I may add another 2k if needed. My AVR is Denon 1910 and I already have a Wharf SW150 sub.
Now by reading through some related posts I've found that Wharfe's 9.2/9.1's are good match for Denon. But I just wanna know how are the newer i.e. 10.2 or 10.1 stands in comparo? I'm also planning to get 2 Floorstandars in some later point of time and I may then move the Bookselves for 2.0 setup for music only.
About the Center speaker how does 9.CS compared to 10.CS? CM will be bit costlier option for me.
But I don't just want to have a look at Wharfedales and would like to know what other options I have. How much will be Monitor Audio BR2? Or Tannoys? What about Klipsch? If so how much are the prices and where to audition them in Bangalore? Or should I stick to Wharfe's for timber matching with the Sub? Or that shouldn't matter. More I'm reading stuff more confused I'm getting.
Regards

my 2 cents - skip the CS and put all your money in BS, buy a cs later when you have more money.

 

[iaudio]

Doors, well said.
Konfused, as Doors said, its better you use the entire 25-27k for a good pair of bookshelves( esp as you want to use it for a dedicated 2 channel set up later on).
I think you can look at ones like MA Br2, Usher s520, Dali Lektor 1, Paradigm mini monitor etc. Dont worry about the Subwoofer being wharfedale.
Let the auditions begin!

 

[KonfuSed]

Now I'm getting more confused;-).. Guys, I thought having a center is probably important for the dialogs, cause the current one seems to be cracking a bit and not able to keep up with the AVR it seems. And as of now I'm more concerned about having a 5.1 system than the stereo setup. That stereo setup will take some time for sure and it's not priority as of now. But still if you guys feel that it's better to go for a bit costlier setup then I can give it a thought. How much will those MA's or Dali's cost? And do they justify the extra cost compared to the Wharfedale's? And if I had to spend that much shouldn't I be going for a pair floorstanders like 9.5 or something?

 

[iaudio]

Kaushik bhai, IMHO, Its better to spend extra on a pair of fronts you can live with for a while rather than getting a whole package which you will tire of in a short time.
No doubt, the centre channel is of utmost importance for dialogues and speech and if music is not a big priority, get a centre which matches with the bookshelves you decide upon, and postpone the bookshelf purchase till you can fork up the additional 10k or so.

 

[prash2k01]

you can also add quad 11l2 in your list. They are also in the same range

 

[KonfuSed]

Kaushik bhai, IMHO, Its better to spend extra on a pair of fronts you can live with for a while rather than getting a whole package which you will tire of in a short time.
No doubt, the centre channel is of utmost importance for dialogues and speech and if music is not a big priority, get a centre which matches with the bookshelves you decide upon, and postpone the bookshelf purchase till you can fork up the additional 10k or so.

Yeah, that sounds better I think. I'll just buy a center as of now. So any advice on the center for MA and Dali? Or Wharfe 10.CS will do the job well? But I was under impression that the Wharfedale's(9.2) are good speakers and gel well with the 1910 and hence I was thinking about them.

 

[prash2k01]

do concider timber matching
Go for wharf

 

[iaudio]

Kaushik, Yes, the wharfs are good. But there are a lot of better bookshelves out there for a little more money.

 

[KonfuSed]

Ok, now I need to go and find the price list for MA and Dali (which I feel will be costly? Or not?).

 

[thekinge]

Kaushik,

When I started out the hunt for my HT + stereo setup, I had auditioned the wharfedale diamond 10.1 with Denon 1910 and denon CD player. I thought that the combination sounded decent. However, I am not expert enough to judge the actual performance of this combination in a scientitfic manner hence it is just that "i liked what i heard in this combination".

And I think the diamond 10.1 is available for less than 15K inr in Indiaif I am not wrong.

 

[KonfuSed]

Hey TheKinge, Thanks for your input. I do have Wharfedale diamonds for their price. And as of now it seems only they are within my bidget. Any comparision between 10.1 to 9.2 considering the fact that they are now almost similarly priced?
And anyway I guess I need to postpone my purchase for another month as I had transfer some funds elsewhere which was of higher priority:-(

 

[psychotropic]

simple answer, buy my Ushers

 

[sumeshj]

You are totally right about the importance of center channel for dialogues. Let me tell you my experience with a setup similar to yours.

2 months back I bought the Denon 1610 AVR along with Wharf 9.2 as fronts. The rest of my speakers (9.CS, 9.DFS) were on order and yet to arrive, so I connected just the 9.2s to the 1610 and used it like that for several weeks. While the setup sounded great for music (the 9.2s are really good speakers for the kind of music I listen to - ghazals, country, hindi film), it left a lot to be desired when watching movies. Even with the AVR in stereo mode (where all 6 channels are pumped into 2), the dialogues were faint and barely audible. Whenever there was an action scene the setup sounded great, but was very faint during every other scene. I had to pump up the volume to high levels to hear dialogues properly, and at a point I was really worried that something was wrong with my AVR.

Yesterday I got delivery of the rest of my speakers and I immediately connected the 9.CS and ran the Audessey setup again. Played "Quantum of Solace" -- big difference! The dialogues are sufficiently loud now and I could hear lots of other sounds which I hadn't heard earlier. Tonight I plan to install the 9.DFS and complete my setup. Hopefully now I should get a good and complete HT effect!

PS: Haven't got the sub-woofer yet, but the 9.2s do a decent job of reproducing LFE. Should do for the time being. This is where I have a question for you. I am considering buying the SW-150. How's your experience with it? Is it good enough for movies?

 

[KonfuSed]

Thanks Psychotropic for the offer but I don't have that much budget and anyway I'm pushing off my purchase for some other time as I had to divert my funds to some other matter.

Hi Sumesh, thanks for the input. Regarding the Sub, I'm using SW150 and for me it's doing the job well enough. But one thing about the Sub is that it can handle frequecies only till 30Hz I think. So if you need to hear all the frequencies then might have to look for a costlier solution.

 

[KonfuSed]

Hi Friends,
Here is an update from my side ;-).. I went to audition the Wharfedale 9.2 today at Vector systems. Lokesh at Vector was very helpful and waited for my late arrival (started late and got stuck in traffic) and kept the setup ready. Went with the CD's that I listen most of the time (Dark Side of the Moon, Best of Dire Straits, Best of U2, Best of Def Leppard and Lounge Safari). First I just played Time on the 9.2's and immediately one thing was clear that they are not hurting my ears like my current sony speaker or the JBL's in car do. I started liking them, then I played With or Without you as the DS CD didn't worked(gonna buy a new CD now :-( ) and it did sound really nice. Next in was Pour some sugar on me and at that moment I thought let me check the 9.5's too. So I repeated the track on 9.5's this time. This time I was kind of blown away. They did sound better to my ears with more clear vocals and even better instrument representation (don't know what this exactly called). Lokesh has the speakers connected with a switcher and on the fly the speakers can be changed. Now with the 9.5's playing I found that 9.2 seems to be missing few things/frequencies and I'm not talking about lower frequencies but even in the mid range. The difference was pretty obvious and I was now totally confused (as I always am;-) ). In one hand I had 11k extra that I need to pay and on the other hand the sound that I like and where my heart went. Now we shifted to Longe Safari (Punjab) and then Don Williams(Gypsy Woman) and here both of the speakers sounded really well but I still found 9.5 to be better and closer to what I wanted. It sound crisp and clearer than the 9.2's and I decided. So I did what I do best, went with a smaller budget, got confused and end up raising the budget and ordered the ...........................................9.5's................................... Yes, I thought if I'm spending already let me spend a bit more get what my heart says. So throw the idea of the center speaker for time being and put that money into the 9.5's. And here I'm, waiting for my black 9.5's which will be delivered by next Friday. I hope I did the right thing by getting the 9.5's.
The setup there was Marantz CD player and a Denon amp.

 

[Kittu]

Hi Friends,
Here is an update from my side ;-).. I went to audition the Wharfedale 9.2 today at Vector systems. Lokesh at Vector was very helpful and waited for my late arrival (started late and got stuck in traffic) and kept the setup ready. Went with the CD's that I listen most of the time (Dark Side of the Moon, Best of Dire Straits, Best of U2, Best of Def Leppard and Lounge Safari). First I just played Time on the 9.2's and immediately one thing was clear that they are not hurting my ears like my current sony speaker or the JBL's in car do. I started liking them, then I played With or Without you as the DS CD didn't worked(gonna buy a new CD now :-( ) and it did sound really nice. Next in was Pour some sugar on me and at that moment I thought let me check the 9.5's too. So I repeated the track on 9.5's this time. This time I was kind of blown away. They did sound better to my ears with more clear vocals and even better instrument representation (don't know what this exactly called). Lokesh has the speakers connected with a switcher and on the fly the speakers can be changed. Now with the 9.5's playing I found that 9.2 seems to be missing few things/frequencies and I'm not talking about lower frequencies but even in the mid range. The difference was pretty obvious and I was now totally confused (as I always am;-) ). In one hand I had 11k extra that I need to pay and on the other hand the sound that I like and where my heart went. Now we shifted to Longe Safari (Punjab) and then Don Williams(Gypsy Woman) and here both of the speakers sounded really well but I still found 9.5 to be better and closer to what I wanted. It sound crisp and clearer than the 9.2's and I decided. So I did what I do best, went with a smaller budget, got confused and end up raising the budget and ordered the ...........................................9.5's................................... Yes, I thought if I'm spending already let me spend a bit more get what my heart says. So throw the idea of the center speaker for time being and put that money into the 9.5's. And here I'm, waiting for my black 9.5's which will be delivered by next Friday. I hope I did the right thing by getting the 9.5's.
The setup there was Marantz CD player and a Denon amp.

Congrats on your purchase .. Can you pm me @ what price you got the 9.5s? and have you tried auditioning the 9.6 s ?


Kittu.

 

[KonfuSed]

Thanks Kittu. The price was decided at 26k. And 9.2 are 14.8k. They had 9.6 too but the price was 40k(MRP) and I really didn't want or could stretch my budget a single penny more. So I decided to give it a skip although Lokesh told me I can audition 9.6 and 10.7 too. May be I'll audition them(just for sake of it ) when I go to get the center/surround speakers.

 

[Kittu]

Thanks Kittu. The price was decided at 26k. And 9.2 are 14.8k. They had 9.6 too but the price was 40k(MRP) and I really didn't want or could stretch my budget a single penny more. So I decided to give it a skip although Lokesh told me I can audition 9.6 and 10.7 too. May be I'll audition them(just for sake of it ) when I go to get the center/surround speakers.

Thanks for the reply. Did he throw in some free cables coz I spoke to another dealer over phone he told me 9.5 price was 30k and 14% discount available may be in person he would make it 16% :licklips: or more ? What cables did you order and please post the price of them too ..


Kittu...

 

[KonfuSed]

He asked me which cables I want, whether 14AWG or 18AWG and I was not sure. So can anyone guide me on the cables? As I'm totally noob about Cables and required gauges. I don't think he'll give me the cables for free although I tried hard gonna try again for the cables.
Total Sound quoted me the same 26k when I called him but they don't accept credit card and hence I only have this option left. I don't think he'll reduce any further, I bought my Sub from Total Sound and he did give me the best price in town. But he never comes lower than quoted it seems as that's already low.