Need your advise and recommendations for first setup

[umangloria]

Hi All, I am glad to be here.
I will have an untreated room (14*11) and a hall (16/18 * 11) on the upper floor of our new penthouse. I am planning to build a complete setup in either of them, mostly I will go for the hall my end goal is 7.1.4 if that is more enjoyable and suitable for the space or I can stick with 5.1.4 or 5.1.2.
Components I have selected:
AVR: Denon 3800h
Fronts: QA 3030i
Center: QA 3090Ci
Rear: QA 3020i 0e 3010i
Atmos: I haven't sorted or listed anything yet and also ceiling is hard concrete so any suggestions on which speakers work best for that and mounting information will be super helpful.
Sub: I am still exploring

Note: I currently have a max budget of 1.8-2 lakh so I am thinking of getting AVR + FRC for now and keep adding components as budget allows later.

Questions:

1. Is 3800h overkill for the room size and selected speakers ? If yes any other recommendations, I like movies and music equally.
2. Is 3090Ci enough or good for the center channel
3. Should I opt for 3010i or 3020i
4. Which configuration I should go for if I am setting up in the hall?
5. Please suggest sub
6. After bargaining I got the quotation for above mentioned components below from Hifi Gallery: https://maps.app.goo.gl/j6XGKLjcrDhp87yj7
   1. AVR - denon 3800h - 115000 , marantz 6015: 110000, 2700h: 68000
   2. 3030i - 38k (Not sure as I was mostly discussing AVR till this point)
   3. 3090Ci - Not sure

Has anyone dealt or done business with them previously, they are saying that AVR will come with an official 1-year warranty directly from Denon.

Thank you in advance

 

[edjamesx]

AVR Denon 3800h is good to go .
QA Acoustics are good speakers , considering your room size , Floor standing speakers will be better option. Check the same with QAcoustics.
Also check Elac debut speakers in the similar price range ,it's more punchier than QA acoustics.

For Sub , you have lot of options
Start from Polk HT 12 " sub, and if you want real punchy BASS you need to consider getting REL /SVS/XTZ / Rhythmic subs , but they are more pricey.

 

[umangloria]

Thank you @edjamesx for the suggestions, I initially was leaning towards Elac debut 2.0 b6.2 but then I was like if I can get 3030i and b6.2 at the same price I thought of going with QA because I wasn't able to find any bad review and for Elac b6.2 some are saying that it is not as easy as QA to get most out if it. Plus QA looks slightly nicer but still, I am not sure about my decision.

 

[ajuvignesh]

Thank you @edjamesx for the suggestions, I initially was leaning towards Elac debut 2.0 b6.2 but then I was like if I can get 3030i and b6.2 at the same price I thought of going with QA because I wasn't able to find any bad review and for Elac b6.2 some are saying that it is not as easy as QA to get most out if it. Plus QA looks slightly nicer but still, I am not sure about my decision.

Yes, Elac would be harder to drive compared to Qacoustics.

 

[edjamesx]

Thank you @edjamesx for the suggestions, I initially was leaning towards Elac debut 2.0 b6.2 but then I was like if I can get 3030i and b6.2 at the same price I thought of going with QA because I wasn't able to find any bad review and for Elac b6.2 some are saying that it is not as easy as QA to get most out if it. Plus QA looks slightly nicer but still, I am not sure about my decision.

QA Acoustics are good speakers , but as per my audition i found Elac debut to be more punchier and QA Acoustics to be on little softer side. If the sensitivity of these speakers are between 89 to 92 db then it should be easily driven with any AVR.
If possible try auditioning both speakers and choose the one which sounds best to you.

 

[umangloria]

QA Acoustics are good speakers , but as per my audition i found Elac debut to be more punchier and QA Acoustics to be on little softer side. If the sensitivity of these speakers are between 89 to 92 db then it should be easily driven with any AVR.
If possible try auditioning both speakers and choose the one which sounds best to you.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any store near me where I can audition these in person, I will try to see if there are any stores in Ahmedabad where I can check these.

 

[umangloria]

Also, I got a message from one really nice dealer about the Elipson Horus series, He said Elipson Horus 6b can provide more clean bass and rich sound. Does anyone have prior experience with the Elipson Horus series?

 

[Mahi]

Hi All, I am glad to be here.
I will have an untreated room (14*11) and a hall (16/18 * 11) on the upper floor of our new penthouse. I am planning to build a complete setup in either of them, mostly I will go for the hall my end goal is 7.1.4 if that is more enjoyable and suitable for the space or I can stick with 5.1.4 or 5.1.2.
Components I have selected:
AVR: Denon 3800h
Fronts: QA 3030i
Center: QA 3090Ci
Rear: QA 3020i 0e 3010i
Atmos: I haven't sorted or listed anything yet and also ceiling is hard concrete so any suggestions on which speakers work best for that and mounting information will be super helpful.
Sub: I am still exploring

Note: I currently have a max budget of 1.8-2 lakh so I am thinking of getting AVR + FRC for now and keep adding components as budget allows later.

Questions:

1. Is 3800h overkill for the room size and selected speakers ? If yes any other recommendations, I like movies and music equally.
2. Is 3090Ci enough or good for the center channel
3. Should I opt for 3010i or 3020i
4. Which configuration I should go for if I am setting up in the hall?
5. Please suggest sub
6. After bargaining I got the quotation for above mentioned components below from Hifi Gallery: https://maps.app.goo.gl/j6XGKLjcrDhp87yj7
   1. AVR - denon 3800h - 115000 , marantz 6015: 110000, 2700h: 68000
   2. 3030i - 38k (Not sure as I was mostly discussing AVR till this point)
   3. 3090Ci - Not sure

Has anyone dealt or done business with them previously, they are saying that AVR will come with an official 1-year warranty directly from Denon.

Thank you in advance

MARANTZ SR 6015 only 1,10,000rs ???? ,( with orginal GST bill & company warranty card ) sir

 

[umangloria]

MARANTZ SR 6015 only 1,10,000rs ???? ,( with orginal GST bill & company warranty card ) sir

Not with GST bill for sure but they said an official warranty will be there. I am not sure how it works, I decided to go with 3800h for now.

 

[Mahi]

Not with GST bill for sure but they said an official warranty will be there. I am not sure how it works, I decided to go with 3800h for now.

With out Bills how warranty claims?? Boss's

 

[umangloria]

With out Bills how warranty claims?? Boss's

Yeah, I think they are doing some settings as they guaranteed that it is a proper Indian unit directly from the company. I can update you once I get the AVR delivered to me.

 

[umangloria]

I am slightly confused about speaker choice with this info:
1) What are the best budget floor-standing speakers for the front right and left
2) I am currently having a quotation of 3050i and Elipson Horus 11f both are nearly 65k. I haven't explored any other options, Should I spend extra to jump to these floor-standing speakers from bookshelf speakers like 3030i which costs around 38k?
3) Is there any other pair that you suggest in this price range? or I should stick with 3030i
4) Any reviews on the Elipson Horus series?
5) What about JBL Stage series as well it also seems in similar price range

 

[argho]

I have a Denon X3700H with all QA speaker HT setup. Its really good.

So my 2 paisa :
- Yes, Denon X3800 is a good choice
- For surrounds, 3010i is more than enough. Dont need 3020i.
- For sub pls consider the QA QB12 sub. Its really powerful and good.
- For HT , floor stander for fronts are a waste considering that :
- the receiver does bass management ( low frequencies are routed to the sub )
- Denon receivers have to be set to "small" speakers for fronts (else you will destroy your front speakers)

Just my view.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

So my 2 paisa :
- Yes, Denon X3800 is a good choice
- For surrounds, 3010i is more than enough. Dont need 3020i.
- For sub pls consider the QA QB12 sub. Its really powerful and good.
- For HT , floor stander for fronts are a waste considering that :
- the receiver does bass management ( low frequencies are routed to the sub )
- Denon receivers have to be set to "small" speakers for fronts (else you will destroy your front speakers)

I would go with @argho's suggestion. I have a all Qacoustics setup in my living room of 11.5 x 17 feet. And a Marantz SR6011 ( A decade old version of the current 6015 ). My sub is also a small Qacoustics Q3070 or something, but I would'nt recommend this sub, go for the QB12 as suggested. It is much bigger than my small one, but the sound lives upto the big sub expectations. Bookshelves for front L&R should suffice for a start. And definitely try to accommodate 4 atmos speakers for that room size, and go 5.1.4 for now. Ideally, decide where the atmos speakers can go, then pre do the wiring inside the false ceiling. Once everything is sorted, and when the upgrade bug bites in a few years, as it always usually does, then you can add floor standers for front L&R to scale up the setup from 5.1.4 to 7.1.4 or maybe a 7.2.4. All the best

P.S : If you have plans to scale upto 7.1.4 in the future. Then please bear in mind that the rear speakers need to be some distance off from your seating position to the back. So plan your seating and speaker placement accordingly, and get everything pre-wired to avoid a noodle soup in the future. You can run all speaker cabling under the floor or inside the false ceiling if you attempt it at the design stage.

 

[prateekatasniya]

Get an AVR with dirac..
Dirac is the deal maker. ( 3800 is a great choice)

JBL stage series is a very good option.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

Thank you @argho @Yelamanchili manohar and @prateekatasniya for your suggestions, It really helps me a lot, I got a suggestion of IndiqAudio from two FMs so
I contacted Amit yesterday from Indiqaudio last evening and the issue is the prices of their speakers seem to be on a higher side:
Right now I have a budget of 80k, and here is the the quotation I received from him:
1. diamond-mishra-2 pair —> 52k
2. universal-akaar-2 center --> 25k
So it is a total of 77k for 3.0 and at the same time I can get:
1. QA 3030i pair-> 34k
2. QA 3090Ci center --> 19k
3. QA 3010i pair -> 21k
that comes to a total of 74k for 5.0

Hi and good morning

While the Indiq speakers are well regarded by their respective users on our forum. I sadly dont have any personal experience with them. So only way to find out is to see if you can get a listen to both.

If that is impossible, then see what subwoofer options both have. Ideally a companies subs and bookshelves / satellite speakers which crossover at a higher 80hz are tuned to have the same tonality, so that the transition from lower mids to bass sounds seamless. This is only important for music and not for HT. So factor in the below two things :

1) Sensitivity of the LCR package - higher sensitivity is better for HT.
2) Price of sub + LCR and not just LCR. And try to gather some feedback on the quality of the subs - Only if music usage is 50% or more. Can be disregarded if HT or TV usage is more.

All the best

 

[argho]

Thank you @argho @Yelamanchili manohar and @prateekatasniya for your suggestions, It really helps me a lot, I got a suggestion of IndiqAudio from two FMs so
I contacted Amit yesterday from Indiqaudio last evening and the issue is the prices of their speakers seem to be on a higher side:
Right now I have a budget of 80k, and here is the the quotation I received from him:
1. diamond-mishra-2 pair —> 52k
2. universal-akaar-2 center --> 25k
So it is a total of 77k for 3.0 and at the same time I can get:
1. QA 3030i pair-> 34k
2. QA 3090Ci center --> 19k
3. QA 3010i pair -> 21k
that comes to a total of 74k for 5.0

If QA is within your budget, go for it. You wont regret.

Dont forget the sub. The QB12 is not cheap.

 

[umangloria]

@argho @Yelamanchili manohar Good morning
This is the point where I am confused, I am torn with this speaker selection dilemma because of so many options but I am in the city where I can hardly get demos of 2-3 brands at max that after contacting 7-9 stores/dealers.

So, I was able to get a demo of the Heco Victa Prime 502 setup and Elac f5.2 setup but both sounded quite different and both seem way too overpriced at least at these dealers. after calling most of the dealers they all are saying that they don't have QA in stock and they always try to push other brands saying these sound better than QAs and QAs only have 1 year of warranty while these have 3-5 years etc etc.

Lastly, I am also quite confused between QA and IndiqAudio as both are new for me however according to Amit from IndiqAudio he seems super confident about his product and according to him this Diamond Mishra 2 can beat speakers costing 3-4x more easily. However, I am not that audiophile person who might be even able to notice too much of a difference but if the price was about the same I would have easily opted for IndiqAudio currently the difference is almost 20k+.

Even to make the situation worse I came across JBL stage FS speakers and normal people are saying that those are even more fun speakers than their rivals (not audiophiles).

 

[argho]

@argho @Yelamanchili manohar Good morning
This is the point where I am confused, I am torn with this speaker selection dilemma because of so many options but I am in the city where I can hardly get demos of 2-3 brands at max that after contacting 7-9 stores/dealers.

So, I was able to get a demo of the Heco Victa Prime 502 setup and Elac f5.2 setup but both sounded quite different and both seem way too overpriced at least at these dealers. after calling most of the dealers they all are saying that they don't have QA in stock and they always try to push other brands saying these sound better than QAs and QAs only have 1 year of warranty while these have 3-5 years etc etc.

Lastly, I am also quite confused between QA and IndiqAudio as both are new for me however according to Amit from IndiqAudio he seems super confident about his product and according to him this Diamond Mishra 2 can beat speakers costing 3-4x more easily. However, I am not that audiophile person who might be even able to notice too much of a difference but if the price was about the same I would have easily opted for IndiqAudio currently the difference is almost 20k+.

Even to make the situation worse I came across JBL stage FS speakers and normal people are saying that those are even more fun speakers than their rivals (not audiophiles).

Finally , you need to decide.

Others can only advise.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

@argho @Yelamanchili manohar Good morning
This is the point where I am confused, I am torn with this speaker selection dilemma because of so many options but I am in the city where I can hardly get demos of 2-3 brands at max that after contacting 7-9 stores/dealers.

So, I was able to get a demo of the Heco Victa Prime 502 setup and Elac f5.2 setup but both sounded quite different and both seem way too overpriced at least at these dealers. after calling most of the dealers they all are saying that they don't have QA in stock and they always try to push other brands saying these sound better than QAs and QAs only have 1 year of warranty while these have 3-5 years etc etc.

Lastly, I am also quite confused between QA and IndiqAudio as both are new for me however according to Amit from IndiqAudio he seems super confident about his product and according to him this Diamond Mishra 2 can beat speakers costing 3-4x more easily. However, I am not that audiophile person who might be even able to notice too much of a difference but if the price was about the same I would have easily opted for IndiqAudio currently the difference is almost 20k+.

Even to make the situation worse I came across JBL stage FS speakers and normal people are saying that those are even more fun speakers than their rivals (not audiophiles).

Hi again

Both me and @argho are using Qacoustics speakers. So we both can only recommend what we have heard or are using. So you have to take a decision now. Best to short list maybe two or maximum 3 sets of speakers as the finalists. Then start a thread seeking comparisons of the two or three. So that way you will have more feed back, and the Indiq users will also be able to chip in with some valuable advise.

Edit : Thought I'd just add that this is a confusion all of us go through all the time. My head is aching for the last 2 years with my Dac search. And apart from doing arm chair research, I eventually have to pull the trigger one day. And it might be hit or miss. So we just take a chance most of the time, unless we can audition properly. And eventually learn to live with the consequences.