help on AVR

[kannapi]

i was planning to build an HT ..now stuck with the sound options .. seems the budget options are from Yamaha YHT series .. Reliance kochi offered me 196 @23k, 1810@31k and 299 @36 k..with 2yr extended warranty at addnl 2.5k

i have afew doubts .. is the difference only in AVR ..or are the speakers different too.. i mean i can live without tru hd ,front usb, ecomode,and 4k if the speaker quality is all the same.. 3D passthrough is there in 196 and FM ..i will be happy with that .. the media which supports all those dolby features are rare and i dont mind that ... my main use will be to stream content from my lap/HDD and watching TV via airtel DTH ...

pls enlighten me regarding media players too .. should i buy roku or something like WD live TV @10k .. since streaming is not a consideration right now,wont chromecast which has 5.1 surround support over teewe2 be sufficient over dedicated media players ??

PS:i am not an audiophile

 

[suhrid_s]

All 3 are very good for first HT. I bought yht-299 3 weeks back. Please check the side by side comparison to get more clarity regarding the differences between them.
Home Theater Packages - Yamaha - India

Summary:
Speaker set (5) is same.
Yht-299 has active subwoofer whereas 2 others have passive subwoofer.
YHT-299 has YPAO for automatic calibration.
YHT-299 has more support for different Dolby and DTS formats.
YHT-299 has few more ports for connectivity

According to my opinion, if we dont want to spend extra for YHT-299, better to go for YHT-196. I'd suggest you to have audition before buying.

 

[kannapi]

what about onkyo ht s 3700.. onkyo quoted 33k for it ..it has most features of yht 299 ...

 

[ItsMe]

go for one with active subwoofer. It makes a difference.
Anyway audition all of them, before you take a call