Budget receiver and speakers

[dichkaun]

Hi,
Friends I need some help in setting up a basic listening station. here are the specs:
* Listening habits: Music - 70% Movies - 30%. Wife/Family will watch mostly movies.
* Music type: mostly Indian classical with addition of some jazz.
* Room size: 23x10
The plan:
* Buy a receiver and two floor standers for now. As I get richer (God when will that happen), plan is to add a sub, dedicated player, center channel and rear in that order.
The budget:
* 20K for the receiver.
* 25K for the speakers.
* 2-3K for the overheads.

What I have done so far:
* Spent several weekends reading through the forums and other reviews on the web.
* Spent several hours in the listening room. This is where I screwed up. I got arried away a little, forgot my budget and mostly listened to stuff beyond my budget (Klipsch RF25, MS 908i, some JAMO model, Sonydyne Avant305, Marantz SR7001/PM7001). MS 908i + PM7001 was the best of these.

Now the reality has stuck and I plan to listen to something I can fit in my budget.
That's where I need some help:
The receiver:
# Should I go for a stereo amp for now.
- If yes, then is there something which is available under 20K in bangalore.
- If no, then which 5.1 amp should I look for under 20K. I know i can get a Yamaha vx459 amd 461 under 20K without bill.
# What floor standers can be looked at for a budget around 25K? I want to go for a pair of floor standers since it may be a long time till I get enough dough to buy a decent powered sub.

Next, where all can I go to listen to all these in Bangalore? I know Audio Planet, Cinebels and the Sonodyne listening room. Where else can I go?

Finally, is there any harm in buying stuff without bills? There is no warranty. Any other issues. I find significant difference between the with bill and without bill prices.

Now that I have written all this, I feel like a big load has been taken off my head. I feel that with this groups help, I will be able to make a choice. I'd rather worry about which CD to buy than which system to buy.

~dich.

 

[cyrus]

Since your primary use of this system is music here is what I suggest you to listen:

Cambridge Audio 640A v2 Amplifier with Mordaunt Short Avan 906i floorstander speakers. Great combination as a friend just purchased both for under 50K. Give this a listen and give me your feedback!

You can always later on purchase Azur 540D (Version 2) - CD/DVD player

 

[particleman]

I would slightly modify Cyrus' excellent suggestion - also look into the Cambridge Audio 540R-v3 AV receiver and pair it with the Mordaunt Short 914i floorstanding speakers. As Cyrus mentioned, go with the 540C-v2 CD player from Cambridge in future and add the rest of the Mordaunt Short center, surrounds and sub family in future.

Another approach would be the Denon 1507 AV receiver around 25k and floorstanders like Wharfedale Diamond 9.5 (around 28k) and then add 9.x series speakers later.

 

[dichkaun]

I would slightly modify Cyrus' excellent suggestion - also look into the Cambridge Audio 540R-v3 AV receiver and pair it with the Mordaunt Short 914i floorstanding speakers.

Hi,
Even the Mordaunt Short 908i is beyond my budget. The 914i surely will be way above.
~dich

 

[particleman]

Even the Mordaunt Short 908i is beyond my budget. The 914i surely will be way above.
~dich

Nope, the 914i is priced between the 904i and the 906i and is why I recommended it. Its quite an improvement on the 90xi series.

 

[dichkaun]

Nope, the 914i is priced between the 904i and the 906i and is why I recommended it. Its quite an improvement on the 90xi series.

Thanks. Will definitely check these out.

 

[dichkaun]

Cambridge Audio 640A v2 Amplifier with Mordaunt Short Avan 906i floorstander speakers. Great combination as a friend just purchased both for under 50K. Give this a listen and give me your feedback!

Thanks. Any idea on the price of Cambridge Audio 640A v2

 

[particleman]

Thanks. Any idea on the price of Cambridge Audio 640A v2

It's around INR 23k. It does not include shipping and other costs. So assume a margin of 1k or 2k.

 

[Viki]

Hi Dichkaun,

For the receiver, check out my Yamaha RXV1500 in Classifieds section - this is way superior to the RXV459/461, or any of the Cambridge receivers, and is more or less within your budget. I am also looking to sell the matching floorstanders - Yamaha NS555 (black) - for about 20K. These match the RXV1500 very nicely - I have been using them for an year now. I also have a NSP70 surround package - center + 2 surrounds and 1 rear. If you are interested in the whole lot, we can work out a good deal. You can hear them in Pune.

Selling all to upgrade my system - RXV1700 + NS777, hopefully.

Viki

 

[dichkaun]

Hi Dichkaun,

For the receiver, check out my Yamaha RXV1500 in Classifieds section - this is way superior to the RXV459/461, or any of the Cambridge receivers, and is more or less within your budget.
Viki

Unfortunately this is 50% above my budget for the receiver.
Thanks.

 

[dichkaun]

Yesterday I listened to wharfedale 9.5. I had them paired with an expensive Denon amp and later with Yahama RX-V359.
I really liked the sound with the Denon. With the Yamaha, the sound was a little meek.
Unfortunately, there was no stereo amp available.
I'll checkout some more this week.

~dich

 

[dichkaun]

Nope, the 914i is priced between the 904i and the 906i and is why I recommended it. Its quite an improvement on the 90xi series.

Hi particleman,
The 914i has only one driver while the 906i has two drivers. Shouldn't the 906i have better performance.
This is just theoretical as I am still to hear the 914i. Audio Planet says it'll be available in 10-12 days.
Thanks,
~dich

 

[particleman]

The 914i has only one driver while the 906i has two drivers. Shouldn't the 906i have better performance.

I have heard only the 904i and 906i myself and not the 914i and my suggestion was based on this:
http://www.mordauntshort.com/assets/documents/Hi-FiWorldOct07914irvwlicensed.pdf
which seems to suggest some improvements over the 906i in the midrange area.

Therefore while the 906i (which is pretty good anyway) may have better range and reach lower, the 914i sounds like it may be a livelier speaker in terms of vocals presentation. If you have a large room to fill, 906i would undoubtedly be the one for you but if the cheaper 914i does the job then its money saved. I wish I could hear it but MS has no showroom right now in Mumbai. Do let us know how you find them when you get a chance to audition them.

 

[dichkaun]

I checked out Polk Monitor 50 at profx.
Sounded good, but not as good as the wharfedale 9.5 or MS 908i which I listened to earlier.
They were paired with Denno 1507 and Denon PMA-500AE separately.

I also listened to KEF IQ5 and wasn't very impressed. The KEF's are also more expensive.

~dich

 

[particleman]

Hey, have you listened to the Monitor Audio Bronze (BR) series? I knew there was a great speaker I was forgetting about. If you don't mind a bookshelf, the PSB Image B25 is an excellent rock and roll speaker. By the way, I took the plunge myself a couple of weeks back and got the Mordaunt-Short 906i - quite happy with it. Good luck with your hunt.

 

[dichkaun]

Thanks particleman
Any idea on the prices of Monitor Audio Bronze (BR)?

What amp are you pairing the 906i with?

Would you mind letting out the price you paid for the 906i?

~dich

 

[particleman]

Sorry but I have no idea about Monitor Audio prices - I'm guessing the Bronze BR5 (Monitor Audio BR5 Your Speaker) should be under 30k or so. The Audio People (http://www.audiopeople.net/) are the dealers for India.

The PSB Image B25 was 25,000 a couple of years back at Lakozy in Mumbai.

I am using my 906i with Cambridge Audio Azur 540A Version 2 and am satisfied with the results. Details in my PM to you.

 

[dichkaun]

To bring this thread to a conclusion:
I bought a demo piece Cambridge Audio 640A V2 from Soundsmiths. I had them ship it to Bangalore.
Cost me 16500/- + 747/- Shipping.
Original Price: 22229/-

Speakers:
demo piece Sonodyne Sonus 2605 from Sonodyne Shop in Forum Mall
Cost me - 17000/-
Original Price: 22000/-

New Roarr 2815 Sub
Cost me 15500/-
Original Price: 17000/-

Sonodyne comes with 3m wires for speakers and sub.

I had initially budgeted 20K for the amp and 25K for the speakers.
I started off with listening to AVR, but in the 20K budget the stereo amps are wayyyyy better then the AVRs.
So I listened to Marantz (4001), Denon, CA (540/640), and Norge 1000. Except for Denon, I liked all three. Norge is the cheapest but does not have a pre-out for a sub. I picked the CA 640AV2 because of the cheaper price that was offered.

Next the speakers:
I had initially zeroed in on Wharfedale Diamond 9.5 and Mordaunt-Short Avant 906i, but after listening to the Sonus 2605 several times in the Forum Mall, I figured they are better value for money.

And since I had some money left over I ended up buying up a sub too. Buying the sub and speakers from Sonodyne, allowed me to bargain more.

I still need to get some decent interconnects to allow for better placement for the speaker.

~dich

PS: I know many dealers will frown at my posting prices here. But I think its time we buyers start collaborating to bring the prices more inline with international markets. I'll post my dealer experience in another thread.

 

[realactivex]

Hi dich
congrats on your buying experience.
Hope you really have years of great music for your ears ( and your soul too)
It is so nice of you to take time off to close this thread and bring it to a logical conclusion. It would be so great if all the other members who start a thread asking questions like " which speaker/sub/avr/amp to buy.." will eventually close their thread with a concluding remark on what they actually did. Did they buy it? what combination did they choose and what prompted them to go that particular combi, how did theier experience with dealer(s) go and what their learning are and their recommendations to the rest of crowd waiting to take the plunge....

Thanks again dich.. well appreciated!
Murali

 

[particleman]

Congratulations, dichkaun! Glad to know it worked out well for you. Happy listening (easier said than done - the need to tinker must be controlled!). Now the next important step - imagine all the other amps and speakers out there don't exist. This is important for total bliss.

Very impressive setup you've got, excellent job I must say. Do try Lyrita Audio for ICs if you want VFM.

I also agree with realactivex - it is a rare thing for anyone to keep us updated with such fine detail. Often we wonder what happened to someone who asked for advice and never posted again. However this tale has a happy ending.

Now let the music play!