Denon + KEF OR Denon + POLK....Advise needed

[srijith]

Hi Everyone,

Iam searching for my first HT setup and would need you valuable inputs!!!

My budget is around 75 K. My preferences are 70% music and rest is movies. Iam not concentrating on buying center and surround for the time being.

I have been to Pro FX Mulund(Mumbai) and have auditioned the below package

Denon 1612 + Tower speakers KEF C series C5 + KEF C4 200Watt Sub

Denon 1612 + Polk Tower speakers TSi 400 + PSW 125 300Watt Sub

It has to be mentioned that KEF speakers sounded much clearer in term of Treble and KEF sub's lows were excellent when compared to Polk Sub.

However Polk tower speakers sounded much louder and it had base which was missing in KEF.

Which of the above package do you guys think would be good in terms of music?

How about the following package which was suggested to me by a dealer ( Deonon 1612+ JBL studio one series speakers). Does this combination work well.

Please advise.

Regards,
Srijith

 

[HTuser]

Consider Polk RTi Series and DSW Subwoofers, if you can't stretch your budget try to build step by step.

In case of KEF, Q series is better than C series.

I chose RTi because I also felt better bass - I like more bass.

Audition with your favorite tracks with these two speakers sets and decide the one you like more.

There are other makes like Paradigm, Monitor Audio, Tannoy, Quad etc
Denon 1612 is a good chose, but don't hurry in deciding the speakers. There may other makes/models which you may like more than KEF/Polk.

Chose the right one matching your budget and sound preference

 

[Santy]

If you listen to music for 70% of the time, why not get a stereo setup...?

 

[miroflex]

Hi,

I agree with Santy's advice.

Regards.

 

[spirovious]

Kef Q300 was sounding much better with Denon stereo amp with music.Its award winner BS & you can add centre & surround to get 5.1 setup.

 

[muradasa7]

Since you have indicated that you are going to listen to music as well as use it for Movies a dedicated stereo setup is ruled out. I listened to both Polk and KEF and since my usage is 80% movies and only 20% music i went in for Polk. For your usage KEF would suit you perfectly. Its an excellent,well built speaker and if you like it do go for it. On the other hand if you are looking to upgrade to watching movies equally in the future do try the RTi series from Polk. They are awesome. They do cost a little more. But well worth it.

 

[Santy]

Since you have indicated that you are going to listen to music as well as use it for Movies a dedicated stereo setup is ruled out.

Sir, that's not always the case. Nobody is advising the OP to stop watching movies and go for music setup only. If you spend more time in music than watching movies, you can 'start' with a dedicated stereo setup and then keep saving money for HT upgrade. You could use the speakers bought for stereo for fronts and then slowly add other components. While you are building your HT, you are actually enjoying HiFi music, the quality of which is far more better than the AVR's output. For your knowledge, my simple Norge 1000+Dac combination outperforms my Yamaha AVR (which is generally considered to be more musical than similarly priced AVRs) quite effortlessly.. My two cents. Ofcourse, AVR is an allrounder and nothing wrong in using it for music as well.

 

[paritosh]

Well, I went through the same ordeal as well! 5.1 or 2.0?! I decided for the later one as I knew that my movie watching is not as much intense as music. So I ruled out 5.1 as an option and went for a dedicated 2 ch amp.

But, a mid way could be worked out here. OP can go for Denon 1312XP HTiB and buy really good book shelves or floor standers later on. The AVR is good enough for music job as well feeling he has made no compromises on either fronts.



Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

 

[muradasa7]

Santy, i cudnt agree with you more. For listening to music a dedicated stereo set up is the best. No arguments on that. . But since his budget seems to be limited and his appeal for movies seemed to be more i had suggested an AVR and speakers, which is more suited for movies. Ultimately the decision is his. We can only offer our own experiences.

 

[mikehcm]

i would second muradasa7, 30% is lot more movies, even the basic AVR these can upscale to 1080p which will be missed in a regular stereo setup, also lots of other video goodies which is found on an AVR.

 

[Krish82]

Hello Sirji, my suggestion:
i have a Polk Rti A5 and they sounds great , midrange is good and so is the bass, i think these now costs 46K, but with bargain you can get for less. i will say buy only the mains which should be good in sound quality and imaging be it movies or music, and buy the subwoofer later. Dont spend your money just for a sake of having a subwoofer on the PSW. Just buy the mains and the receiver and get sub later when you have money. i did the same and i am happy. If you want a sub anyhow now, then try to get klispch or velodyne but not polk.

 

[srijith]

Hi All,

Thats true thers no match between a stereo amp and an AVR.

However my budget doesn't allow me that flexibility to have a separate 2 chnl amp and an separte avr so i have decided to go for the avr setup compromising on little bit of sound quality :sad:

I have also been to Viola and The shop at Andheri, audition Marantz 2 chan stereo amp and was blow away. Auditioned Paradigm, Wharefedale, Polk out of these Paradigm was the best.

Paradigm tower series were excellent.

Please advise guys.

Sree

 

[Santy]

I have auditioned Denon 1612 + Polk RTiA5 at fivepointone and the same AVR with KEFQ500 (very brief period) at Profx. I felt the KEF was marginally better. However the KEFQ300 bookshelves paired with Denon integrated was absolutely mind blowing.

 

[srijith]

@ Santy:- KEFQ500 for the price its very good value for money. I auditioned POLK and KEF but i found KEF to be a notch above POLK. Havn't auditioned BS. Is it suited for music?

I have auditioned Denon 1612 + Polk RTiA5 at fivepointone and the same AVR with KEFQ500 (very brief period) at Profx. I felt the KEF was marginally better. However the KEFQ300 bookshelves paired with Denon integrated was absolutely mind blowing.

 

[Santy]

@ Santy:- KEFQ500 for the price its very good value for money. I auditioned POLK and KEF but i found KEF to be a notch above POLK. Havn't auditioned BS. Is it suited for music?

Are you asking about KEFQ300? Its simply amazing for music.

 

[srijith]

Hi All,

I have finally finalized my system. Below are the specs.

Denon avr 1312
KEF Q300 BS
KEF C4 sub

Thanks for all your advise.

Regards
Sree

 

[Kittu]

How did you find the kef c4 sub for movies and music? Q300 BS are a great choice.

 

[srijith]

I Had auditioned Polk and KEF. KEF sounded much smoother over all. Also fits to my budget.

Any idea on BS stand? where can i find cheap stands for my BS. donot want to spend 4-5K for the stand .

 

[Kittu]

You are in mumbai right , check with our forum member magma.

 

[Santy]

I Had auditioned Polk and KEF. KEF sounded much smoother over all. Also fits to my budget.

Any idea on BS stand? where can i find cheap stands for my BS. donot want to spend 4-5K for the stand .

If you are free on 11th Dec, join us @ the Mumbai Meet, you will not only find magma's BS stand and racks but also magma himself! And you will get to audition plenty of audio gear in the meet. Click here

Just one condition. You must bring your KEFQ300!