A newbie requesting help and advice

[mailrishigupta]

Hi all.
My name is rishi and I am a complete newbie as far as sound systems are concerned.

I have recently put my mind to setting up a good home theatre system in my living room. Its dimensions are 23ft x 16ft x 12ft high.

To this effect, after putting in a lot of research, I have gone ahead and bought a panasonic p50v20 plasma, which I have fallen in love with.

My budget for the remaining stuff is MAX 35k.

I don't have any surround sound system or av player at the moment. And I would like information regarding these. As of now my knowledge about these is zero.

As far as the player is concerned, I do not want blu ray. Nothing too fancy. I just want something that can play dvds and files from usb drives, and supports the common formats.

now coming to the main part. The sound system. I would me much obliged if someone could answer the following questions in a bit of detail:-

1) what I have gathered by going through the topics in this forums is that when buying sound systems , one should not go for companies like sony, lg etc, but rather go for "professional" companies like onkyo and denon. What I would like to know is are these companies really much better, and if so, what companies should I be looking at if I wanna stay in my budget of 35k?

2) what role does an avr play in the sound home theatre system, apart from playing content. Does it contribute to the quality of the sound system? (as in, not whether it supports dolby etc, but rather, does it contribute at a hardware level, like amplification)

3) Do I need to get seperate avr and 5.1systems, or will a combo do. More importantly, what would better suite my budget?

4)if you could explain some basic specs and features that I shpuld look at while buying audio systems.

5) is there a good option available with wireless speakers?

6)i would not like huge speakers, or wall mounted ones. I rather seem to like those sleek ones that are on tall thin floor stands. Are there good options available in this format?

7) where in delhi should I go to actually look (and hear) systems?

Considering all the abpve points, do suggest to me what I should buy...

And oh btw, im no audiophile so I would not,mind miniscule imperfections in the system, but yes, I can and I do appretiate good quality sound.

I would use my system to watch movies mostly.

And one,last point. I have connected my tv to my computer which,is in a seperate room, using a long hdmi cable. I use this to play movies. My tv has an s/pdif out, and that is the only wayi can get digital sound outof my tv, so it would be nice if my sound system could take s/pdif in......

I know this is a loooong list of reqests, but please do share your immense experiece with me. It would be,much appretiated.

 

[mandeep]

hello mailrishigupta,

First, welcome to Hifivision

You have made a good step by bying a panasonic 50v20 plasma and congrats for the same.:clapping:

For your room size, Yes, you need a good AVR for best sound solution.

You can also go for big floor standing speakers for that room size.

Unfortunately, u will need a bluray player to get the most out of your tv and be future proof for some time.It will also play DVD's.

 

[musicbee]

My budget for the remaining stuff is MAX 35k.

Not many options at this price point. You can start with checking out the HTIBs from Onkyo... good bang for buck.

As far as the player is concerned, I do not want blu ray. Nothing too fancy. I just want something that can play dvds and files from usb drives, and supports the common formats.

Any basic DVDP with USB option will do.

1) what I have gathered by going through the topics in this forums is that when buying sound systems , one should not go for companies like sony, lg etc, but rather go for "professional" companies like onkyo and denon. What I would like to know is are these companies really much better, and if so, what companies should I be looking at if I wanna stay in my budget of 35k?

Check out Onkyo HTIBs.

2) what role does an avr play in the sound home theatre system, apart from playing content. Does it contribute to the quality of the sound system? (as in, not whether it supports dolby etc, but rather, does it contribute at a hardware level, like amplification)

AVR will drive (amplification) the speakers and also decode Dobly, DTS, etc. Will also upscale stereo (basic Tata Sky) to 5.1. The content will be played by the DVDP. So you connect the DVDP to the AVR to the speakers (for sound). Also, DVDP to TV (for picture).

3) Do I need to get seperate avr and 5.1systems, or will a combo do. More importantly, what would better suite my budget?

At your budget a combo HTIB (Home Theater In a Box).

4)if you could explain some basic specs and features that I shpuld look at while buying audio systems.

Depends on the content you will play... for basic DVD you only need a digital cable (coaxial or optical). For Blu-Ray rips or if using the PC to play your content then HDMI. So the specs will depend on your content and further recommendations can be made when you share what type of content you will be watching. But I believe from your post you only want a basic DVDP supporting basic formats and no Blu-Ray or HD content.

 

[badrisuper]

I suggest HTIB from onkyo or sony etc. if your budget is limited. If you buy in impulsion later you may feel bad, better upgrade one by one if you want a better setup. If you want to stick on to your budget, then go for HTIBs. musicbee has answered most of your questions i think. Better post more of your possibilities and your expectation from a surround sound. It may make others to understand your expectation from a surround sound.

Badri

 

[goyal.sanchit]

Hi all.
My name is rishi and I am a complete newbie as far as sound systems are concerned.

Hello Welcome to Hifivision.

I have recently put my mind to setting up a good home theatre system in my living room. Its dimensions are 23ft x 16ft x 12ft high.

To this effect, after putting in a lot of research, I have gone ahead and bought a panasonic p50v20 plasma, which I have fallen in love with.

My budget for the remaining stuff is MAX 35k.

I don't have any surround sound system or av player at the moment. And I would like information regarding these. As of now my knowledge about these is zero.

As far as the player is concerned, I do not want blu ray. Nothing too fancy. I just want something that can play dvds and files from usb drives, and supports the common formats.

If you do not have a dvd collection I would suggest buying a media player rather than a dvd player in which you can directly copy and play movies.

now coming to the main part. The sound system. I would me much obliged if someone could answer the following questions in a bit of detail:-

1) what I have gathered by going through the topics in this forums is that when buying sound systems , one should not go for companies like sony, lg etc, but rather go for "professional" companies like onkyo and denon. What I would like to know is are these companies really much better, and if so, what companies should I be looking at if I wanna stay in my budget of 35k?

Yes these companies are much better than Sony, Lg etc. I know stats can lie buy here is one stat-

The THD (Total harmonic distortion) of Sony etc is about 10% whereas THD of Denon, Yamaha is about 0.5%.

THD is the loss in quality from the original song.


When I had to buy a system I listened to Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo, JBL etc and sony is more of a noise when compared to others.


In 35k budget you can check out Onkyo 3300/3400 or you can also buy a separate avr such as Denon 1312 and speakers to go with that.


I recently bought Denon 1311 (Rs 18,000) and jbl cinema 300 (Rs 20,000) and am very happy with the setup.


3) Do I need to get seperate avr and 5.1systems, or will a combo do. More importantly, what would better suite my budget?

You can go for any of the 2. Both can fit in your budget.



5) is there a good option available with wireless speakers?

Not very sure you would get the same quality sound with those. Maybe check out a soundbar in that case.

6)i would not like huge speakers, or wall mounted ones. I rather seem to like those sleek ones that are on tall thin floor stands. Are there good options available in this format?

No idea.

7) where in delhi should I go to actually look (and hear) systems?

In Delhi there are many places where you can listen to systems. A search on forum would reveal many address.


I would use my system to watch movies mostly.

And one,last point. I have connected my tv to my computer which,is in a seperate room, using a long hdmi cable. I use this to play movies. My tv has an s/pdif out, and that is the only wayi can get digital sound outof my tv, so it would be nice if my sound system could take s/pdif in......

Another way of doing it would be to connect the hdmi cable from your computer to the avr and another hdmi cable from avr to the tv.

In that case you can set video to be played by tv while the music would be decoded and played by avr only without any need of connecting tv and avr with s/p dif.

 

[mailrishigupta]

thank you mandeep, musicbee, badrisuper and goyal.sanchit for patiently reading my post and replying in great detail.

@goyal.sanchit: yes, i guess running the hdmi from my pc to the avr, and then an hdmi from the avr to the tv would be the way to go.

After reading your posts, i realised that going with the onkyo 3400 or the denon 1312xp would be the simplest way to go.

Now the thing is, I do not need as many inputs in the avr as these two offer( my TH P50v20d tv has more than enough, and i can always run an spdif cable from my tv to the sound system).

What i was thinking was whether there is an option where i get less video features(i dont need 3d or 10 different inpuits etc) and basically get the BEST sound quality and experience 35k can buy in exchange. As i do not know what kind of systems are available, please do enlighten me if anything in the category of what i want is possible.

 

[marsilians]

...

For your room size, Yes, you need a good AVR for best sound solution.

You can also go for big floor standing speakers for that room size.

Unfortunately, u will need a bluray player to get the most out of your tv and be future proof for some time.It will also play DVD's.

His budget is 35K and what you are suggesting is well beyond that.

 

[marsilians]

@mailrishigupta - you have absolutely the right mindset in terms of expectations from your system, budget and quality. I would suggest a home theater in a box (HTiB). This will play DVDs through speakers much better than your TV. Search the forum and you will find plenty of options. Once you have gotten a few choices go and audition them in a store. and then put down your observations so people can guide you further in your buying decision.

Remember the journey is time consuming yet well worth it. Dont get pushed over by aggressive sales men. Their end goals are different than yours (commission vs. audio satisfaction).

 

[kaadye]

given the room size is 16x23 feet and assuming that you would be sitting at a distance of 15 - 16 feet from the front speakers. generally the setup would be to achieve atleast 75 db with a 10 db higher headroom i.e 85 db at your listening positions. the more the better for movies.
with the current set of speakers which have a sensitivity of around 88-91db.
if you end up buying a speaker with 88db sensitive, then with all the db losses accounted for you would require an amplifier which pumps out atleast 25 watts each channel to give you 91db at your listening positon which is quite good.
when you shop for speakers please check for the minimum amplifier wattage requirement to drive them. since most of the budget amplifiers are rated at 2 channel driven at 8ohm, they could drop upto 40-50% when running all channels. so a 100 watt amplifer would be only delivering 50 watts when running all channels together.
so say if you select a speaker which has a minimum requirement of 25 watts to drive them then you might end you driving your amplifier to clipping.
the best bet for you would be to go for a htib but slightly powerfull ones or upgrade in parts - i.e buy the amplifier and fronts then upgrade the centre and surrounds then the sub etc.

 

[netant]

Huge thanks to mailrishigupta for this thread, this helps me a lot.

buy the amplifier and fronts then upgrade the centre and surrounds then the sub etc.

kaadye, Thanks mate, boosted my confidence as im on this same path
My inclination is more towards music (Rock, Metal, Indian classical and some Reggae)

 

[corElement]

Onkyo s3400

 

[mailrishigupta]

Thank you everybody!!! You're welcome netant

I know this is slightly questionable behaviour, but i have decided to stretch my budget to 65k...

Can you please suggest the BEST setup i can get in this budget?