[BMWlover]

Originally Posted by ampere

I agree to what you say because now we get a 7.1 system for a the price of a 5.1. But as Fillmore said, how many movies we get for 7.1? So my point was not on investing on a 7.1 AVR (because that is default available) but on a 7 speaker system (as to do we really need it?)

Ampere, please refer to my earlier post, around 200 movies are available with 7.1 surround, and while I agree that this is a drop in a bucket, who know what will be available say 10 years from now. For a system this expensive, I don't plan on upgrading it anytime soon anyway, and 7.1 surround when available should be bad-*** on quality speakers . Even the cost of 2 extra surround speakers is not that significant when you consider the total cost of the system. A 10-15% increase at best.

Originally Posted by arjunrudra

I dont know if this is the right thread but I'm planning to buy a high quality stereo player and anted inputs on the same.
I want something with an aux in and it should mainly play cd's.
I have shortlisted the Bang and Olufsen Beosound 1 and the Bose acoustic wave music and the normal wave music aswell.
PLease give me any other suggestions aswell.

Arjun my 2 worthless cents : -
do you need a single piece stereo player that has an integrated cd-player and aux for portability? if yes then idk if you much choice in the market. The only thing I can think of is the B&W zepplin and even that does not have an integrated cd-player. Comes with an iphone/ipod dock though. If you can settle for separate speakers then there are a myriad of excellent options at that price point.

[ikoneer]

Guys, Help me to choose a HTS in the budget of 50-75k. Earlier, i was very much confused between HTiS and HTS, but now i have decided to go for HTS and budget arranged accordingly.

Are there many places in chennai for doing a HTS audition,i have been to ProFX in spencers, any other places? please provide the choice

[srishiva]

I am looking at HT setup close to 150K or more. I have gone through the thread but finding it difficult to find the places where I can audition different setups. I know of Onkyo and Denon. I am not sure if there are other places that have multiple receiver/speaker options in Bangalore, please help.

[nairrk]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

Guys, Help me to choose a HTS in the budget of 50-75k. Earlier, i was very much confused between HTiS and HTS, but now i have decided to go for HTS and budget arranged accordingly.

Are there many places in chennai for doing a HTS audition,i have been to ProFX in spencers, any other places? please provide the choice

+

Do you want to see Onkyo system???

Go to :

Onkyo Sight & Sound India Pvt Ltd,
# 49, Kasturi Rangan Road,
Alwarpet,
Chennai -18
(Land mark - Behind Chola Sherator hotel and parallen to poes garden road and ttk road on either side)

Working hours 11Am to 8 PM

They have
Onkyo S5300 7.1 HTiB - (final rate I got from them Rs.52,000/-)

combination set:

Onkyo TXSR 508 + SKS HT 728 (the rate quoted to me Rs.53000 for 5.1 HTs)
My friend went over there and seen the audition and confirmed both are good.

Try it..?

[ikoneer]

Originally Posted by nairrk

+

Do you want to see Onkyo system???

Try it..?

Yes, why not?

I will go in this week and will pass on my comments.

For a beginner,
1. which one should i go for? Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer, etc.
2. Is it good to go for a single brand or do a mix and match?
3. Is it good to go for HTiS high end or HTS - Receiver and speakers?

[nairrk]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

Yes, why not?

I will go in this week and will pass on my comments.

For a beginner,
1. which one should i go for? Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer, etc.
2. Is it good to go for a single brand or do a mix and match?
3. Is it good to go for HTiS high end or HTS - Receiver and speakers?

+
1 - opinions from various forums says that all are good(its like if I have Denon, then I give good mark to denon..like that). search some website and you will also get confused at the end.

2- again, all the dealer recommend to go for seperate i.e Reciever plus speakers (different brand)

3- In HTiB, according to them, the speakers are not upto the market(still
it is not my suggestion. I was not able to see/audition any brand/make so far as nothing is available anywhere near my place)

The opinion from my friend, after seeing both the set's, the Onkyo SR508 and Speakers HT 728(this also has 7.1 complaint) is better than the HTiB S5300. (earler the shop guy also said same comment i.e for movies S5300 will score better whereas for music the combination set will be good. I have been searching various web and forum for the last 3 months and what I have seen was that most of the experts recommend to go for reciever + speaker seperately instead of HTiB which has less/limited power??

Denon is expensive than Onkyo.
Denon 1911 is the good one but the reciever itself cost something around
Rs.43000/45000 and then speakers around Rs.30/35000 (depends).

When you go to Onkyo store, you can ask for other model (I think they have the HTS 9100THX at Rs.76000 (Mrp Rs.81000)- see this one also?

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by BMWlover

Thanks for the info, I am kind of a noob when it comes to audio equipment this high-end, so please bear with me if I ask any dumb questions.

So reignofchaos, I am then looking at a monoblock amp from McIntosh(Krell and Mark Levinson should be way out of range) and the like to power my front two towers (either the Electra 1038 Be or 800Ds) , and another separate 7 channel for my surround speakers and sub, amirite?
Also, could you please share thoughts/info on the Focal Electra setup you listened to? Would that be a sound buy or would you advice me to look at other brands?
Could you also direct me to a knowledgeable dealer that stocks amps this high-end and could arrange demos of different setups so I could judge things better?

Where are you located? If its Delhi, you can check Sound of Music, Sight and Sound India and Boomerang. You would need the best amp you can afford for your mains (left and right channels) and another potentially cheaper 5 channel for your remaining speakers. Do not skimp on the amp for the mains - especially if you wish to listen to music.

The focal electras are inherently a little on the forward side. They do well with slightly laid back amps. I heard the Electra bookshelf at a friend's place with Mark Levinson and it sounded heavenly. The very same speaker, this time the floorstanders sounded like rubbish at profx because they were driving it with crappy denon receivers and a dvd player as the source.

Please don't skimp on the source either. If you wish to listen to any sort of music on the setup, don't forget to invest in a good CD player.

[ppr]

Hi

I am sure all of us are aware of the huge difference in prices of home theatre (and other electronic equipment) between the gray market and that bought through the official dealers.

The mantra given by the official dealers always is "we will not service anything bought in the gray market". Taken in by this mantra, I bought a top of the line Harman Kardon receiver a few years back from FX at Crossroads. (The AVR 8500, THX Ultra). It was a terrific buy which gave yeoman service driving my Dynaudio Audience 82's all these years (Actually only the center and surrounds for the last few yrs, as I used a separate power amp for the fronts after a year of buying the receiver)

The Receiver packed up abruptly a few days back. No sound, even from the pre-outs, no test tone, nothing!

Now the fun began. I called up the JBL lounge at Palladium, who referred me to the service centre at Lamington Road. The service centre guy, on the phone, said "We can't repair this old amp, no spares available". He did not even want to see the amp before saying this to me. When I got upset, he asked me to send it across. Again he told me on the phone "Ye toh bahaar ka amp hai, repair nahi hoga!" Excuse me!!!! What does an official dealer mean???

I have seen people telling us not to buy Pioneer and Marantz (even in this forum, for ICE also) as they do not have an official presence here. Does having an official presence matter? For Higher end HT equipment, the mark-ups are as much as 150% over buying something abroad. In the case of Denon, it is 100% over the gray market in India itself. Might as well take a chance on the gray market stuff, at least that dealer does not promise something he cannot do!

Just my 2c. Had to get it off my chest!

Originally Posted by arjunrudra

I dont know if this is the right thread but I'm planning to buy a high quality stereo player and anted inputs on the same.
I want something with an aux in and it should mainly play cd's.
I have shortlisted the Bang and Olufsen Beosound 1 and the Bose acoustic wave music and the normal wave music aswell.
PLease give me any other suggestions aswell.

What is your budget? What is the size of your room?

The best quality sound would be from two bookshelves with a good quality amp and CD player. The price range on these things is huge. So set a budget and be prepared to spend about twice that amount. Then start looking.

The two systems you mentioned will look great, sound average for the price you are spending. For that amount, you will get much better sounding systems.

ppr

Originally Posted by BMWlover

Thanks for the info, I am kind of a noob when it comes to audio equipment this high-end, so please bear with me if I ask any dumb questions.

So reignofchaos, I am then looking at a monoblock amp from McIntosh(Krell and Mark Levinson should be way out of range) and the like to power my front two towers (either the Electra 1038 Be or 800Ds) , and another separate 7 channel for my surround speakers and sub, amirite?
Also, could you please share thoughts/info on the Focal Electra setup you listened to? Would that be a sound buy or would you advice me to look at other brands?
Could you also direct me to a knowledgeable dealer that stocks amps this high-end and could arrange demos of different setups so I could judge things better?

I am not sure that the McIntosh amps are cheap? They sound fantastic but should be as expensive as Krell or Mark Levinson at similar specifications. They are hybrids and sound fabulous. You can also look at Cadence, high end Indian Tube amps.

ppr

Originally Posted by BMWlover

Fillmore, while it is true that most movies don't have a 7.1 soundtrack, many new movies coming out actually do (Statistics Page - Blu-rayStats.com displays less than 200 titles). The audio dealer was pushing me for a 9.1 setup lol, now that would be overkill..obviously the 9.1 setup would not be all discreet channels but according to him will offer better SQ and a bigger soundstage, any thoughts on that?
This setup is something that is going to be a long-term investment so why not make it future-proof at a fraction of the cost? Adding any speakers will be near impossible later on anyway.
So any info on which brands I should look out for? as of now thinking of investing in a focal audio setup as have heard good things about them, but they are insanely expensive, specially in India..

Check out Dynaudio, Cadence (Indian brand, but great speakers), PSB (Platinums are terrific value). I think that you will find these at least as good and probably better than the Focals at the higher end. Also check out my post below on gray market vs official prices. Cadence does not have a gray market and is made in India to the highest specifications.

Moderator's Note: Please use the edit / multiquote option instead of posting back to back posts within 20 mins. Thanks.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by srishiva

I am looking at HT setup close to 150K or more. I have gone through the thread but finding it difficult to find the places where I can audition different setups. I know of Onkyo and Denon. I am not sure if there are other places that have multiple receiver/speaker options in Bangalore, please help.

Check ProFX on MG road and Vectors on Brigade road

[ikoneer]

When i go in for an audition, what are the things that i should check for?

Sound Quality would be the first i presume. Do i start from high-end to low-end or vice-versa, which is bad for my budget?

What can be termed as a minimal configuration (specification) required for a 'Good' HTS of Receivers, Speakers and Woofer?

Edit: Another list of confusions. Is it better to go for 5.1 speakers or 3-way tower speakers with woofer. Which is good. the more models i see, the more confused it is.

[ppr]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

When i go in for an audition, what are the things that i should check for?

Sound Quality would be the first i presume. Do i start from high-end to low-end or vice-versa, which is bad for my budget?

What can be termed as a minimal configuration (specification) required for a 'Good' HTS of Receivers, Speakers and Woofer?

Edit: Another list of confusions. Is it better to go for 5.1 speakers or 3-way tower speakers with woofer. Which is good. the more models i see, the more confused it is.

Sound quality is very subjective. What sounds good to one may not to the other. Basically you need to see what sounds good. Have a set of discs with you (Audio and video) which you can compare on different systems. You will usually end up spending more than you plan on so keep the budget moderate to start with, then you can feel you are splurging ;-)

The 5.1 speakers means 5 speakers (Left, Right, Center, 2 surrounds and a powered sub woofer. The speakers may be 2 way (Tweeter + Woofer) or 3 way (Tweeter + Woofer + MidRange). Could be a combination of these e.g. the Fronts may be 3 way and the surrounds 2 way etc. So they are two different things you are talking about.

The minimal configuration depends on your room size and the material you want to listen to.

ppr

[ikoneer]

Originally Posted by ppr

Sound quality is very subjective. What sounds good to one may not to the other.

The 5.1 speakers means 5 speakers (Left, Right, Center, 2 surrounds and a powered sub woofer. The speakers may be 2 way (Tweeter + Woofer) or 3 way (Tweeter + Woofer + MidRange). Could be a combination of these e.g. the Fronts may be 3 way and the surrounds 2 way etc. So they are two different things you are talking about.

The minimal configuration depends on your room size and the material you want to listen to.

ppr

Thanks PPR. Yes, agreed Sound Quality is subjective, so no questions on that.

Let me rephrase, Does thes 5.1 speaker system have 2-way, 3-way inbuilt in them or not? If i go standing tower speakers with 2/3 way do i still need to buy the centre and rear or just the tower would be sufficient. i believe a woofer is required in any case.

My usage would be for english movies and tamil AV songs.

Minimal configuration, i meant, i am looking for pointers to say this might be a good specifications to have (eg; 130 W/ch, 8 ohms, 1 khz, 1 channel driven - cited from onkyo site ), so that i would know what to look for and may be eliminate other config. Does that dependent on room size, then let me measure and give it later.

Originally Posted by nairrk

The opinion from my friend, after seeing both the set's, the Onkyo SR508 and Speakers HT 728(this also has 7.1 complaint) is better than the HTiB S5300.

Denon is expensive than Onkyo.
Denon 1911 is the good one but the reciever itself cost something around
Rs.43000/45000 and then speakers around Rs.30/35000 (depends).

When you go to Onkyo store, you can ask for other model (I think they have the HTS 9100THX at Rs.76000 (Mrp Rs.81000)- see this one also?

This place is close by to my wifes' office and i asked her to do an audition today. She liked the tower models better than the HT Packages.

The Quotes are as follows:
AMP
TX SR 307 5.1 - Rs 25000
TX CR 608 7.1 - Rs 48000 (Award Winner model it seems.. experts please comment)

Speakers: 5.1 Speaker Package
Onkyo SKS HT 728 - Rs 36000
Pure Acoustic Super Nova - Rs 45000
Elac (German) - Rs 95000 --- she auditioned and liked these speakers too much. Is the model really worth the price?

Wiring rs 50/meter. Doesn't the unit come with wiring?

HT S9300 THX - Rs 81000
HT S5300 RS 63 after disc Rs 52000

I will audition this weekend. Also, we have a Yamaha Store in Nungambakkam and i will visit them as well this weekend.

Does anyone have any contact at ProFX chennai, i once went there and the sales guy tried to cheat on me. I dont' really feel like going there again, but i liked and was impressed by the music that was auditioned and will buy if i know the actual cost.

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

Let me rephrase, Does thes 5.1 speaker system have 2-way, 3-way inbuilt in them or not? If i go standing tower speakers with 2/3 way do i still need to buy the centre and rear or just the tower would be sufficient. i believe a woofer is required in any case.

Answer to part of your question.
If you want the 5.1 effect , yes you need to get a center speaker irrespective of whether your tower is 2way or 3way.

The center channel is typically used for the dialogue what people speak in the video. Now if you don't have a center not that you cannot hear the dialogue at all. but as an example instead of listening in surround mode the AVR may re-route in stereo mode and you will get the same on your front speakers.

However for the most common formats Dolby Digital and DTS, both are 5.1 and if you have all the 5 speakers and the sub, you get the best effect.

You can also checkout Jamo , Sonodyne (value for money) , Warfedale.
(DO NOT get sucked in by a Bose demo .. give it a skip ;-) )

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

Let me rephrase, Does thes 5.1 speaker system have 2-way, 3-way inbuilt in them or not? If i go standing tower speakers with 2/3 way do i still need to buy the centre and rear or just the tower would be sufficient. i believe a woofer is required in any case.

Yes, you can buy just two front towers and use that to play 5.1 sound. Towers are 3-way and have crossover network built in. As you mentioned, you would need sub for some effects.

Your AVR will convert 5.1 signals to play with 2.1 system. End result would be "close" to 5.1 for most part.

Do you have DTS demo DVD? You can audition such a system with DTS demo DVD and decide for yourself. This DVD has scenes from multiple movies that use 5.1 track.

[naj]

Hi!,
I had been to Sound Factor on East street today to audition definitive, infinity and JBL ES 100.

Definitive has Bipolar floors standers with inbuilt sub.Price 85 K onwards.
They sounded very harsh and dint like it.

Infinity was ok at 65k but a sub is definitely required.

Lastly JBL ES 100 was a surprise. It sounded pretty good with a freq resp of 32hz to 40 khz their is no need for a sub. Price 65k
Tried to get reviews on it but are not available on the net.Out of some material and opinions I could gather was that they are good but sound like Dance floor speakers.And its correct keeping in mind the freq resp.

All the above auditioned on a denon 1911.

Awaiting for the audition of Klipsch F3 with Denon 1911. I am promised the same at Pankaj at Laxmi road.

So finally I will decide between The JBL ES 100 or Klipsch F30 with the denon 1911 AVR.

Any advice Gurus can give me on the above or any thing else I should go for.
Its getting a little frustrating in the search for a HT . I think a little help/advice from The experts at T-BHP could really make me decide.

Cheers,

Naj