Friends,
Sometimes It becomes really difficult to make decisions.
My quest to enjoy better music bought me here in this forum. Your advises, views & ideas helped me a lot and I finally decided to add an AVR first and then add a pair of floorstanders later on. (I have a old n faithful stereo set up with FSs)
So I did a quick audition in Delhi (due to shortage of time) but before going into it, I will let u know my needs & situations. Here are these:
- Working in central govt., transferable job so no fixed room size, decor & orientation.
- Budget constraint as usual, though recent pay arrears helped me to some extent.
- Listening tastes includes western (mostly rock) & hindi (filmy, pop & ghazals)
- Would like to have the AVR as musical as possible in its class/range (I now know it is difficult)
- Should have enough punch for movies too.
And not the least - its sound signature should be enjoyable to me.
So I planned to extract some time out of my official assignment in delhi, packed 2-3 my own CDs (but no movie clip) along with official papers & visited four dealers:
Dealer I - auditioned Denon 1910 with wharfe, not very impressive. Also auditioned marantz as integrated stereo amp paired with Wharfedale 9.5 for music (liked marantz & wharfe).
Dealer II - auditioned CA 340R with polk. Sounded good but lacked punch despite auditioning being done in a dedicated demo room....may be due to lack of availability of good software there (only Ghazni sound tracks).
Dealer III - auditioned Yamaha 863 with set of Q-acoustic 1050i and Paradigm 5.1 cinema. I was looking forward to listen 863 as it was recomended by dear venket & many other members of this forum. It is good no doubt. The amp has good punch for movies & suficient body in music too. (Dealer was playing a blu-ray demo disk....was this the reason??? not sure)
Dealer IV - auditioned marantz SR3053 & pm7001 in stereo mode, paired with some 'Rave' brand of Bookshelves. Didnt had time to see movie clip and just managed to catch train back home. Liked the sound signature of marantz, and also felt that SR3053 is not far behind in SQ than integated amp pm7001 (I may be wrong as I was in a bit of hurry)
Now here the delimma starts.....as I am torn between Yamaha-863 & marantz SR3053.
I liked the punch & looks of 863 but it cost almost double the SR3053. It is not that I can't afford it, and I know that once you buy... then you live with it. But yes I will look for the value for money. Rx-663 could have been suffice but it is not available.
SR3053 on the other hand a basic 5.1 avr. No future proofing... I am not much concerned with video capabilities...but non-availability of pre-outs, absence of formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio is a dragger. Music is good..video capabilities not seen.
As both the sets were not available with same dealer, I was not able to compare them for clarity and dynamic range.....and i am not sure of my audition too as it was hurried one and i am a novice.
What do you say.......Pl. do come up with your views as it will be a great help.
thanks.
Sometimes It becomes really difficult to make decisions.
My quest to enjoy better music bought me here in this forum. Your advises, views & ideas helped me a lot and I finally decided to add an AVR first and then add a pair of floorstanders later on. (I have a old n faithful stereo set up with FSs)
So I did a quick audition in Delhi (due to shortage of time) but before going into it, I will let u know my needs & situations. Here are these:
- Working in central govt., transferable job so no fixed room size, decor & orientation.
- Budget constraint as usual, though recent pay arrears helped me to some extent.
- Listening tastes includes western (mostly rock) & hindi (filmy, pop & ghazals)
- Would like to have the AVR as musical as possible in its class/range (I now know it is difficult)
- Should have enough punch for movies too.
And not the least - its sound signature should be enjoyable to me.
So I planned to extract some time out of my official assignment in delhi, packed 2-3 my own CDs (but no movie clip) along with official papers & visited four dealers:
Dealer I - auditioned Denon 1910 with wharfe, not very impressive. Also auditioned marantz as integrated stereo amp paired with Wharfedale 9.5 for music (liked marantz & wharfe).
Dealer II - auditioned CA 340R with polk. Sounded good but lacked punch despite auditioning being done in a dedicated demo room....may be due to lack of availability of good software there (only Ghazni sound tracks).
Dealer III - auditioned Yamaha 863 with set of Q-acoustic 1050i and Paradigm 5.1 cinema. I was looking forward to listen 863 as it was recomended by dear venket & many other members of this forum. It is good no doubt. The amp has good punch for movies & suficient body in music too. (Dealer was playing a blu-ray demo disk....was this the reason??? not sure)
Dealer IV - auditioned marantz SR3053 & pm7001 in stereo mode, paired with some 'Rave' brand of Bookshelves. Didnt had time to see movie clip and just managed to catch train back home. Liked the sound signature of marantz, and also felt that SR3053 is not far behind in SQ than integated amp pm7001 (I may be wrong as I was in a bit of hurry)
Now here the delimma starts.....as I am torn between Yamaha-863 & marantz SR3053.
I liked the punch & looks of 863 but it cost almost double the SR3053. It is not that I can't afford it, and I know that once you buy... then you live with it. But yes I will look for the value for money. Rx-663 could have been suffice but it is not available.
SR3053 on the other hand a basic 5.1 avr. No future proofing... I am not much concerned with video capabilities...but non-availability of pre-outs, absence of formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio is a dragger. Music is good..video capabilities not seen.
As both the sets were not available with same dealer, I was not able to compare them for clarity and dynamic range.....and i am not sure of my audition too as it was hurried one and i am a novice.
What do you say.......Pl. do come up with your views as it will be a great help.
thanks.