I have an LGC1 which has decent speakers and virtual surround for a TV and I want to upgrade to a better setup. I really don't know what my expectations should be with soundbars and home theatres. I've seen the obage 5.1 available for quite cheap and am considering that as an entry level option. Also samsung and philips has some 5.1 soundbar setups, some 3.1.2 around 30 to 40k.
I also considered bose 600 soundbar which was 50k, however expanding this in the future to 5.1 will cost another 50k atleast.
The final considerations I had was to get a yamaha 5,1 with avr and speakers (40k ish) or a denon avr (50k, 5.1) and spend another 25k on some speakers.
Can someone help me understand which is going to offer the best value and how these very different options are going to compare? I have a pretty small room and my wife doesn't let me increase the volume too high.
Nikhil's replay made me laugh a bit as I was there too once at the same situation and so are most who come here asking for a 25 to 50k budget solution but end up spending lakhs and lakhs over the turn of a decade. (Hence its like welcome to the club of lost induviduals
To begin with, I spent money on a Sony 5.1 soundbar plus rear satellites, had it for a year - was good but not clean sounding and its mickey mouse sub woofer did little to nothing at all. But my ears wanted more.
So skittled here with a lot of questions got ridiculed a bit but got several brilliant answers that helped me get a preowned optical 7.1 AVR for 12k(one of its kind as optical supports only 5.1 in theory, widely believed but it worked - 7 channels were distinct), bought Micca 0o0 pairs for 10k each, (and a single piece for 7k), thats 37k plus 12k, sub woofers pair of Taga for 45k. So ended up with 12+37+45+4+3+5=1.06 lakhs. (I included wiring, electrician labour and HT calibration consultancy charges as I was new here and I was glad I did that).
The experience watching bluray discs was so immersive that I would say would make sound bars, HTIBs look like a distorted rusted train vibration. Then i spent for my other room an Atmos set up going up to 1.65 lakhs this time (Denon 2700h receiver cost me 65k instead of the Pioneer 817's 12k being the major difference). To my ears this was a masterpiece! Compared to the previous setup. I sold the Sony Soundbar HTIB and have used these for a year and a half when some HT local group painted a need for me to go 11 channel with a Marantz 8015 AVR which would cost 3 lakhs only for the receiver and maybe 2L for a used under warranty olx deal. Now my electricity bills went up and I installed solar for a few lakhs to offset the bill.
All these are rabit hole stuff. Therefore I just shut myself off HT groups so as to not get tempted to spend more. Now if someone asks me, I would advice them to find good second hand deals and once a good setup for a lakh or less is established, dont try to go for upgrades. Thats a never ending path.
