Which home theater system should I buy?

[angynagpal]

Hi All,
First of all I have to mention the fact that this forum is really really really great.....a God Sent if I may say so ! A lot of us love good sound in the music or movies that we hear and watch, but have absolutely no idea as to what product we should really buy, as we just have to go by the pitch of the salesman or the reviews on the net, some of which might not be true! So having a site like this, specially specific to India, is really really great and hats off to all of you guys who actually take time off and help people like us !

Now, coming to my query, I am looking for a decent 5.1 or 6.1 setup for my living room with good quality sound. My budget is upto Rs. 45k or a lil (15k) more if its really worth the difference. I would try to be as elaborate as I can about my preferences and room layout !

I like loud and crystal clear sound, which is as good a theater . I like to be totally submersed into the sound and hate any kind of distortion which would spoil the experience !

The TV area would not be very large. The living room will be divided into a TV area and a dining area, so no separate room or enclosure will be there for the home theater setup ! The TV would be a 47 or 52 inch one, which would be placed not more than 8 ft in front of me, so thats the dimension of the room, its like 6ft X 9ft, with balcony on one side (totally shut with a glass door) and an open area on the other where the dining table etc would be setup. The floor would be a wooden one, and I am planning to setup a nice TV cabinet which would be able to handle my PS3, DVD Player, PC CPU, DTH Settop box etc, and the front speaker.

I am totally lost when it comes to home theater systems, and even though I have tried to read a lot about these things, I am still not able to find out how I can choose a good setup. Infact I have no idea on how to set it up on my living room. The structure of the room is such, that the distance between my couch and TV would eb 8-9ft, thus there is no way I can have the speakers way behind me. Also, I am confused whether I need the wall hanging speakers or the ones on stand. I think I might need the wall hanging ones seeing that the couch would be touching the wall, thus having standing speakers would mean that either they would be in front of me or right next to me instead of being behind me.

Finally I would like to mention that my PS3 and HD Setop Box would be providing the output for these speakers, thus I would need a setup with two optical inputs !

If anyone can help me here I would be really really greatful. Am totally lost, and have no idea on what product to buy. Currently I have just been able to the sony products which are costing between 25-45k, but dont know how good they will be.


Edit: I should add the fact that I would be using the system 70% for movies and gaming and 30% for music.

 

[angynagpal]

Is this product (Onkoyo HT-S3400) a good option for me? Is it available in Delhi? How much would be its cost?

Onkyo HT-S3400 - 5.1-Channel Home Theater Package | Model Information | Onkyo USA Home Theater Products

 

[Deleted member 17547]

Yes, it's available in Delhi & Gurgaon. I had a chat with Onkyo dealer and he quoted me 25K for Onkyo 3400 System. A lil more bargaining n u may get it 23-24K.

Cheers..!!

 

[D_minor7]

Do not buy a HTIB , if you do not have the budget buy few components at a time . But buy the speakers and the AV receiver separately...

 

[angynagpal]

Yes, it's available in Delhi & Gurgaon. I had a chat with Onkyo dealer and he quoted me 25K for Onkyo 3400 System. A lil more bargaining n u may get it 23-24K.

Cheers..!!

Thanks sir! Read on the forums that its available in MGF mall in gurgaon, so will check it out there ! Anyways, now more in favour of Onkyo S6100 !

Do not buy a HTIB , if you do not have the budget buy few components at a time . But buy the speakers and the AV receiver separately...

Yeah, I would love to do that, but my knowledge in these things is very limited, and the living room layout is such that I dont know if upgrading would make much difference to the experience (do tell me if im thinking wrong, as I am not too knowledgable in these things)!

If someone from this forum can help me personally, I would be really grateful !

 

[ashishkesarwani]

You should also audition Violet Wireless 5.1 Speaker system which is available for 65K but the kind of sound and flexibility this system offers is immense. You can demo this system at Lakozy Electronic's Delhi showroom.

 

[angynagpal]

Thanks all for your suggestions ! Went to the Onkyo Dealer in MGF mall today. S6100 is not available in India , instead the had HTS 5300, which was for 53k in a scheme, but I didnt find it worth the price after the demo. Based on my room size I think 3400 seemed the best option in quality vs size. They quoted 27k if I buy immediately under some scheme, as original price they said ws around 31k.

They also showed me Elai speakers.....they sounded pretty awesome and the person who demo'd it to me told me tht they are high frequence speakers and are comparable to Bose speakers.....but I need to research a bit more about this company online, as I did like the sound from the speakers ! He quoted 70k for them.

I also tried out yamaha speakers, but wasnt as impressed taking into consideration the price vs quality of sound. Compared to Onkyo 3400, yamaha speakers sounded pretty much the same but costing more by half the price of onkyo. Need to research though about the difference in the two. The thing is I would be staying in this house for the next 7-8 years atleast, so upgrading is not an option for me yet, as the room size will remain the same, and in this room size and layout, I dont think more powerful speakers would be more useful.

Hey another thing I wanted to ask, is it a good idea to place the speakers on the cieling of the room? I have seen the layout pics on the net, but was still wondering, as that can fill the whole room with sound rather than just the sofa area

 

[iaudio]

You must be talking about Elac speakers.

 

[angynagpal]

You must be talking about Elac speakers.

Yeah....had not heard of the name before...but after searching on the net, I guess it was Elac !

The dealer said that these speakers (they were those small ones that bose has which are mounted on the walls) are comparable to bose, is this true? Also, if I attach thes speakers to the ceiling, would they give good surround experience, say, like a movie theater?

I have tried to find info on the net about placement on ceiling, but have not been able to find out if its a good idea? I, being a noob in this field, have a feeling that placing the speakers on the ceiling would provide a better experience, specially since the area where the TV would be placed is small, and anyways, the back of the couch is touching the wall, so am not sure how placing the speakers right next to my ear would sound ! Also, this way it might feel more like a theater where its difficult to know where the sound is actually coming from.

Please please guys tell me, is it a good or better idea to place the speakers on the ceiling? Also does it matter if the speakers are Dipole or Bipole?

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Thanks all for your suggestions ! I think 3400 seemed the best option in quality vs size. They quoted 27k if I buy immediately under some scheme, as original price they said ws around 31k.

Price is quiet high for Onkyo HT-S3400. I bought the same in Mumbai 10 days before for Rs.22500/-

Either you need to bargain or find a better dealer.

 

[angynagpal]

Price is quiet high for Onkyo HT-S3400. I bought the same in Mumbai 10 days before for Rs.22500/-

Either you need to bargain or find a better dealer.

Yeah figured that out after reading a lot of posts on this forum. The average price seems to be around 25k ! Thanks for the info, you got an awesome deal ! Does this price include the installation as well?

 

[akhil7j]

Hi,

If you are looking for HTiB, why don't you go for Canton Movie 65 or QAcoustic Cinema Package? Once you listen to this, you will forget Onkyo..

 

[angynagpal]

Hi,

If you are looking for HTiB, why don't you go for Canton Movie 65 or QAcoustic Cinema Package? Once you listen to this, you will forget Onkyo..

Sure...! Is there a showroom in Delhi where I can demo this system? Thanks for the info...was really looking for such suggestions as there are so many options in this forum that it actually overwhelms you :lol:

Also...whats the price of the above systems??

 

[angynagpal]

Phew...so finally after going through 100+ threads, I have finally decided to audition the following setups:

1) Denon1311 + Paradigm Cinema CT90
2) Denon1611 + Paradigm
3) Denon1611 + Polk Audio RM6750
4) Denon1611 + Energy Take Classic 5.1 / MS70+ / QAcoustics 1010i
5) Space Audio Speakers (dont know with which receiver)
6) Cambridge Audio Minx Speaker (dont know with which receiver)
7) Onkyo 3400
8) Onkyo 508 + HT728
9) BOSE Acoustimass 6 Series III Home Entertainment Speaker System
10) BOSE Acoustimass 10 Series IV Home Entertainment Speaker System (i.e. if it works with denon1611)

I am from Delhi, so any idea where I can audition these systems? Currently I have in mind the showrooms in MGF Mall in Gurgaon, Onkyo showroom in C.R Park, Other showrooms like Croma etc (though I dont think they would be having this equipment).
If you guys know know any other showrooms in South Delhi (Preferably Saket, Kalkaji, C.R Park, Malviya Nagar and Gurgaon Malls) please do let me know, I would visit them as well !

I would be auditioning these systems over this weekend.

 

[avidyarthy]

C.R Park is the HUB of Hi-Fi in Delhi ........ has Jamo, Onkyo, Klipsch, JBL, Revel, Harman Kardon, Tannoy, Mordaunt Short, Cambridge Audio.

Sight & Sound, GK1 .... Dali, Focal, a few others.

Bass & Treble, Dwarka .... Wharf, MA, Denon, Pioneer, others

Lakozy, Lajpat Nagar .... NAD, PSB ...

Paradigms are at C.P .......

Search the Forum to get their detailed addresses.

 

[haisaikat]

Try the MS Aviano package as well, I have purchased them and found to be very good.

 

[angynagpal]

C.R Park is the HUB of Hi-Fi in Delhi ........ has Jamo, Onkyo, Klipsch, JBL, Revel, Harman Kardon, Tannoy, Mordaunt Short, Cambridge Audio.

Sight & Sound, GK1 .... Dali, Focal, a few others.

Bass & Treble, Dwarka .... Wharf, MA, Denon, Pioneer, others

Lakozy, Lajpat Nagar .... NAD, PSB ...

Paradigms are at C.P .......

Search the Forum to get their detailed addresses.

Thanks for the information!!! :signthankspin:

In CR park, all the systems you mentioned are available in that single shop which I mentioned or are there more shops as well?

 

[angynagpal]

Try the MS Aviano package as well, I have purchased them and found to be very good.

Those speakers look huge....my tv room is very very small

 

[angynagpal]

Went with my fiancee to the Onkyo showroom in C.R park yesterday evening! They just had Onkyo (obviously), Klisch and Elac setups with them. I reached there quite late so its understandable that the dealer and his workers were pretty tired and didnt talk much ! Anyways here is my experience:

We pretty much went there with S3400 in our minds, as my fiancee didnt feel that getting a very expensive HTiB for a small room would be a good idea, and that in that price we can maybe buy two, one for the bedroom and one for living room, so we just went in, asked what all is available and then asked for a demo of S3400.

The guy showing the demo played the scene from Master and Commnder movie where everything is quiet and suddenly there is a rain of bombs from another ship which wrecks every piece of wood available in the scene ! When the bombs hit, the surround effect was obviously awesome with everything around us falling apart (or so it seemed ). My fiancee liked it and said that it was the best choice and we keep our budgets intact as well ! But one thing I noticed was that when the bombs fell and everything went boom bam boom around us, though the effects were amazing, it was so loud that we had to cover our ears, and it was really uncomfortably loud. But that must have been due to the high volume, or thats what we thought. Then I saw the small Elac speakers there, and since I had already heard them before and liked it, I asked the dealer to give us a demo of that as well. My fiancee gave me that 'raised eyebrow' look as I had already told her that the price would be around 50k, but I shrugged, as in suggesting, whats the harm in listening, we will still buy 3400 !

Anyways, the dealer played the same scene on Elac, and immediately we noticed that the same scene with same loudness in the bombing scene, was not at all hurting the ears. Infact it was enjoyable and covering our ears didnt even cross our minds ! I asked the dealer to play the same scene again in S3400, and again the same thing, the sound was hurting our ears badly! Then I looked at my fiancee with my eyes seeking for her approval, and even she realized that whats the point of buying a HT which will hurt your ears at high volume, as isnt that what one looks for while buying a HT, that we can watch a movie with good volume to have that feeling of watching in an actual theater? Whats the point of buying a HT which you will not even keep on high enough volume to have that immersive feeling when watching a movie or listening to music !

Another thing I noticed was, and it amazed the sh*t outta me, in that scene, just before the bombs are launched, Russle Crowe raises his telescope to look at the opp ship. When listening on Elac speakers, there is a 'Whooosh' sound when he raises the telescope, but when listening on S3400, even though it was on very high volume of around 54, there was 'not even a hint' of the whooosh sound. It was as if that sound wasnt there at all. I was amazed at this, as how can a speaker give that whoosh sound with so much clarity, where as another speaker (with maybe higher volume) does not even give a hint of that same sound. That made my decision for me (though I would be listening to other options as well like denon and polk before decision)!

I had some queries though, and would be very thankful if someone could answer them for me:
1) IF others have heard Onkyo S3400, and other speakers, did you notice some sounds being missed by 3400? Is it possible that one speaker can give that sound so nicely while the other skips it totally? Or is it just my ears or was the speaker creating its own sounds?

2) Im no audiophile, so I dont understand the terms like frequency, db etc., but how is it possible that one speaker kills our ears so badly that we had to cover them, while the other, with the same loudness, sounded so nice to our ears? I mean, whats the logic behind this? What effects this? S3400 sounded just like a loud voice or sound, but ELac sounded like everything was crystal clear and not just mere sound. Whats the reason for this?

3) The dealer mentioned that Polk Speakers (and maybe denon) doesnt have enough service centers here? Is this true? Hows the service for denon and polk in delhi?

4) Now that you have understood my tastes, is there any other HT system that you would reccommend to me ?

5) I haven seen many threads recommending Elac speakers! Whats the reason for thet? Are speakers like Polk, Energy etc even better than Elac?


Thanks for your time guys!!! Cheers!

 

[angynagpal]

no replies