Very budget-hostile forum for home theater

[DB1989]

Very true again nitin

On paper I have what merits to be a atmos system. But in a living room which caters to other functions. The speakers are not even optimally placed owing to space and aesthetic constraints. The only reason I still have it in place, is because it sounds better than my stock TV. A few of my friends have come to the conclusion, that we'd be happy enough with a good sound bar in the living room whenever the AVR died. And 2 friends have already junked their HT systems, and gone pure 2 channel. So unless there is a well designed and treated dedicated room with a good quality projection system, probably spending all that moolah on a surround system is pointless.

Likewise. Without a proper and dedicated room, it's difficult to get a truly engaging surround sound experience. I have a 7.3.2 system in my living room but mostly listen in 2.3 i.e. stereo plus Subs.

If one can nail good stereo imaging, it can sound much better than a ho hum surround sound setup. The fact that the stereo consists of a decent DAC and Amp pays dividends over and above what most AVRs can manage.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

Likewise. Without a proper and dedicated room, it's difficult to get a truly engaging surround sound experience. I have a 7.3.2 system in my living room but mostly listen in 2.3 i.e. stereo plus Subs.

If one can nail good stereo imaging, it can sound much better than a ho hum surround sound setup. The fact that the stereo consists of a decent DAC and Amp pays dividends over and above what most AVRs can manage.

If music is consumed more than movies, then in my opinion better to bypass a AVR completely, and settle with a source, amplification and 2 speakers. AVR's have more bells and whistles, than quality Watts

 

[deeps007]

If music is consumed more than movies, then in my opinion better to bypass a AVR completely, and settle with a source, amplification and 2 speakers. AVR's have more bells and whistles, than quality Watts

But the truth is that it is still a necessity as you don't always just listen to music.

 

[fLUX]

But the truth is that it is still a necessity as you don't always just listen to music.

I started off with a setup meant for movies with a ratio of 60/40, the music experience and rabbit hole was so sublime thay ratio has now changed to 10/90 Don't think there is a blanket truth and am sure i am not the only data point /outlier here

 

[Sandipbarik]

Everything depends on peoples perception and budget.
People needs to make sure that they are asking the right questions to the right people, if someone with a budget of 50k is asking questions of good system to a group of audiophile people they will always say 50k budget is trash, as I have seen audiophiles getting headphones worth lakhs and still thinks theres scope of upgrade.
Most review sites and forums target the audiophile segment which to be honest is out of budget for most Indian market, so it all depends on the kind of questions people ask to the right people.

I started my HT journey with just 25K buying an Onkyo HT in a box, as I grew, I learned, I saved and slowly upgraded to my current system which costs around 5L and still theres room for upgrade ( room treatment, dual subs etc ) ....so did I get the absolute best with my budget...NO ....but did I get what I was intending as an upgrade...yes. So in my opinion people should be happy with what they get in their budget and grow with it, rather than asking or looking for whats best out there.

HT is a journey ....Not a destination

 

[arnprasad]

my two cents as an almost 50 year old uncle.....getting a bit senti

at this stage of my life where my teenage sons don't have too much time to spend with me... what matters most is not whether my system has bagged what hifi awards...but whether they have time to sit with me and watch a movie. For Indian standards I have a decent setup and have been salivating about having an Atmos upgrade and asking every tom dick and harry who is going abroad to get a AVR for me. But in the end what makes me happy are the occasional 2-3 times a month where my sons watch a movie with me.

Sure having a denon 2700H or above may enhance my surround sound experience by 5-10% more. Having a well sounded room will enhance it by another 10%. May be Dirac room correction will add another 5%.

By the time I would have constructed and set up a world class home theater, my kids would have moved on. As far as my wife or mom are concerned, they wouldn't care less about the speaker package

There is nothing wrong in aspiring to have a good setup. Once you cross over from a TV speaker sound to a decent rig which all together costs you around 1 lac...AVR plus 5.1.......every additional 50K results in law of diminishing marginal utility. Given all the external factors in play in a country like ours, one may not even appreciate the added gain.

Hence anyone upgrading from TV sound..A second hand 5.1 AVR for around 20K and a decent speaker+ sub package for around 50K is all they need- which in my opinion is like owning a 20 lac car - good enough for 99 percent of normal folks.

 

[greenhorn]

If you just want a 5.1ht system then you can get a very good system extremely cheap. Every part of such a system is commoditized - amps, speakers, subs, surround decoders.

Even 7.1 using non atmos formats is doable. The moment you want to do atmos suddenly all budget options go out the window. No discrete/software atmos soundcards/processors. You have too buy a giant overpriced reciever and rebuy your amplifiers and preamps every time. And they're all super expensive. It's either very basic soundbars or ultra expensive recievers.

Unfortunately the market is artificially distorted due to restructuring imposed by licensing terms which permit only certain types of hardware devices to be made with these capabilities. So there we are.

 

[arnprasad]

If you just want a 5.1ht system then you can get a very good system extremely cheap. Every part of such a system is commoditized - amps, speakers, subs, surround decoders.

Even 7.1 using non atmos formats is doable. The moment you want to do atmos suddenly all budget options go out the window. No discrete/software atmos soundcards/processors. You have too buy a giant overpriced reciever and rebuy your amplifiers and preamps every time. And they're all super expensive. It's either very basic soundbars or ultra expensive recievers.

Unfortunately the market is artificially distorted due to restructuring imposed by licensing terms which permit only certain types of hardware devices to be made with these capabilities. So there we are.

Just to clarify - when you say commoditized - do you mean going the DIY route?

 

[greenhorn]

Just to clarify - when you say commoditized - do you mean going the DIY route?

Depends on what you call diy. I was suggesting a setup with discrete parts. 5.1 decoder + hdmi splitter + multi channel or several stereo amps. You'll need to put some effort to hooking them all up together and getting them working, but it's a lot cheaper and more future proof compared to an all in a box reciever

 

[siddharthdas]

Likewise. Without a proper and dedicated room, it's difficult to get a truly engaging surround sound experience. I have a 7.3.2 system in my living room but mostly listen in 2.3 i.e. stereo plus Subs.

If one can nail good stereo imaging, it can sound much better than a ho hum surround sound setup. The fact that the stereo consists of a decent DAC and Amp pays dividends over and above what most AVRs can manage.

Agree completely + a good sub I think to adress the somewhat different needs of movie watching.

 

[MaSh]

Oh boy this thread can get spicy. Not surprising.

The ever rising prices of components has not helped matters. Simplest of speakers, amps, even silly cables are over priced these days.

Pre used stuff and clever research along with some non standard solutions can lead to creative setups. But it's not easy.

Also i feel a bulk of members may have matured from simple systems to upgraded systems. Now once you upgrade automatically the lesser system will not stand up to the upgraded one. It can change how a person thinks, how he perceives a setup.

We all once started with a maruti 800 or a santro and I am sure at the time it was our Mercedes. However now if driving BMW, how would that maruti feel?

MaSh

 

[arnprasad]

Depends on what you call diy. I was suggesting a setup with discrete parts. 5.1 decoder + hdmi splitter + multi channel or several stereo amps. You'll need to put some effort to hooking them all up together and getting them working, but it's a lot cheaper and more future proof compared to an all in a box reciever

Pls give examples of each of the components and suggestive prices and amazon links if they exist. I dont remember too many threads where someone discussed this topic in detail. Basically you are saying if some does not need atmos but is ok with 5.1, then no need to buy a receiver in the 40-60K range but put something together instead and you are saying its not only cheaper but better than a receiver.

I have been tracking the classifieds on this site for used 5.1 receivers under 20K mark but havent found any.

 

[MaSh]

Pls give examples of each of the components and suggestive prices and amazon links if they exist. I dont remember too many threads where someone discussed this topic in detail. Basically you are saying if some does not need atmos but is ok with 5.1, then no need to buy a receiver in the 40-60K range but put something together instead and you are saying its not only cheaper but better than a receiver.

I have been tracking the classifieds on this site for used 5.1 receivers under 20K mark but havent found any.

If you don't need Atmos, then I guess the Logitech z906 seems like a great system. If the source has only hdmi output then a simple hdmi extractor with optical out should work well.

MaSh

 

[greenhorn]

FS: Home Audio Video - Logitech Z5500 Digital 5.1 Speakers

Hi All, Selling my Logitech Z5500 Digital. The age would be around 10-12 years and it has been kept very well. Upgraded to a Samsung Q990B with new TV so selling this. Condition - Overall sound quality is amazing. Subwoofer is in very good condition, just some dust in pics but bass is great...

techenclave.com

Here's a for sale post from another forum. Those drivers need new surrounds but otherwise in good shape

 

[corElement]

I have had a person complain that this HFV forum is too mid-fi, nobody here is discussing any worthwhile, proper, really high-end gear.
So you get it both ways. This forum is what it is. I personally think HFV is diverse enough for anyone to feel at home be it DCS/Wilson audio folks or the other end of the spectrum (the 250-500$ folks as the OP puts it), there's enough folks to help you, no matter the budget. Just dig deeper into the forum and be friendly and open to opinions and people.

haha I kinda feel the same as what the person told you but ironically I prefer midfi.

 

[captainsubtext]

My two cents having started with a basic htib and now moved to av separates:
- higher end AVRs do better channel separation + clarity.

- audessey is not great but it’s not terrible either - get the mobile app and tweak your curve to suit your preference. Bass management on audessey is not too good imo but you could get something like a minidsp to fix that.

- a properly set up budget 5.1 sounds great and immersive. Better than tv speakers / cheap sound bar. Unfortunately prices are inflated at the moment and what would usually cost 70k is around 100k+

- buy second hand for great deals - there’s a Dali 7.1 setup in the ads section which sounds great if you have the space.

 

[corElement]

My two cents having started with a basic htib and now moved to av separates:
- higher end AVRs do better channel separation + clarity.

- audessey is not great but it’s not terrible either - get the mobile app and tweak your curve to suit your preference. Bass management on audessey is not too good imo but you could get something like a minidsp to fix that.

- a properly set up budget 5.1 sounds great and immersive. Better than tv speakers / cheap sound bar. Unfortunately prices are inflated at the moment and what would usually cost 70k is around 100k+

- buy second hand for great deals - there’s a Dali 7.1 setup in the ads section which sounds great if you have the space.

I've generally found the receivers from the 90s to be substantially better in sq than new ht. It's ironically concerning. a sony gx909 would DESTROY most modern receivers in terms of sq because it was designed to sound good vs isolated traits being exaggerated in modern receivers. I originally started off in 7.1 and Consolidated over time into high end stereo because I found myself enjoying 2 channel hq stereo for all content vs multichannel with avg SQ. But that's just me.

 

[captainsubtext]

I've generally found the receivers from the 90s to be substantially better in sq than new ht. It's ironically concerning. a sony gx909 would DESTROY most modern receivers in terms of sq because it was designed to sound good vs isolated traits being exaggerated in modern receivers. I originally started off in 7.1 and Consolidated over time into high end stereo because I found myself enjoying 2 channel hq stereo for all content vs multichannel with avg SQ. But that's just me.

Budget permitting I wouldn’t go with an AVR for listening to music at all.

 

[corElement]

w

Budget permitting I wouldn’t go with an AVR for listening to music at all.

who said anything about music?