Looking for a all in one music system or an equipment setup on an utterly small budget

[docaashish]

Hello there Esteemed members

Happy Festivals to you all

Right , So I like to listen to music whenever i have time. had a Sony system (RV50) which was beyond repair , having a Blaupunkt soundbar SBW-01 which is pretty good but the itch to have a all in one music system was there since past 2 yaers so purchased a Sony MHC-V21D. on 5th Oct this year.
I know its not at all a music system just a Party speaker for Boomy and bassy sound lovers.

It proved pathetic as far a audio quality is concerned. Though It had all the features one wishes for in a music system but lacked the basic requirement that is the audio quality.
I was fooled in buying 21D thinking its a Sony so sound quality will be good , was given a demo at peak vol as there was a lot of noise in the showroom, it felt alright and then i thought its a Sony , it should be good. but the audio is just boomy , no clarity , utterly muffled Highs and mids.
After a lot of efforts, today i returned it to the seller (after almost 20 days of purchase ) and they are only replacing it and not giving any refund.

So my request to all you great people is plz suggest a good system which has
Clear audio, produces audio with good highs, mids and lows.
should have cd playing function as i have a lot of audio cds , mp3 cds , Bluetooth, USB, ( would be a great bonus if it has audio out , audio in , NFC, and hdmi port too )

I read a few posts and what i could gather was people here are more into high end amp, speaker and player stuff. But my need is just a good old fashioned simple budget friendly setup

My Music preference :
I listen to all kinds of stuff
Indian classical vocal and instrumental
Ghazals by Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Begum Farida khanum, Mohd Rafi
Bollywood songs and ghazals from 50s and 60s
Acoustic numebrs from English Music, Slow songs and stuff.

I have already paid Rs 17500 to the seller for the Speaker and 1 year extended warranty.
would be great if something comes in similar budget , I can add another 5k to it as well if the need arises.

The seller ( Sargam Electronics ) have told me that i can tell them the system that i need and they ll arrange.

On my part i had done the research before buying v21d and was surprised that conventional 2 speaker and 1 central unit systems are obsolete now and no company is making them. All around i could find only boxes with one woofer and 2 or 4 small tweeters and mid range speakers. The last great system that Sony produced was MHC-GZ33DX atleast thats what i heard , but i could find it for retail purchase.

Would appreciate some input if you guys can .

I know most of the audiophiles prefer a setup of an amp, a playing unit and a set of speakers, But thats out of the question for me i guess as Sargam only sells single unit music systems. So kindly give your inputs friends

Thanks
AB

 

[docaashish]

Bumping this up ( if double posting or bumping up one's own thread is against rules then apologies upfront )
Could really use some inputs dear members.
Just suggest a good music system from one of the reputed companies if possible
which has cd/dvd player, bluetooth, Nfc, usb, etc.
Would be grateful.


On my part audio wise i found PANASONIC SC-UA7 as a great speaker, whopping 700watt RMS more than 10 speakers and crystal clear sound too.
But it doesn't have a cd player and from my past experience Panasonic music systems are prone to break down pretty quickly within 3 to 4 years of purchase.




There can be another option ( as i feel you guys are more into high grade audio equipments than those boxy things available in the market these days, one of which i bought as well )
I can leave the amount with Sargam and might use it later on, for myself or any relative.
Can you great people guide me how can i build a personalized music setup on a shoe string budget.
I have a living room which is around 25ft x 12ft
as i mentioned earlier i like to listen to all kinds of genres in music
my preference is clear audio without any humming or hissing ( high freq which are too harsh on the ear)
ample bass and right amount of mids.
I have a collection of saregama Mp3 cds, rest of the music is in 320kbps files or m4a files ( which i can play via usb or via Bluetooth) having an amazon echo device to stream music, will be gradually subscribing to or will be purchasing HD files as well from online vendors.

I have access to some .flac collection as well that one of my friend has on his personal drive.

let me know
Again many thanks in advance

 

[Yuvaraj_N]

Audition these powered bookshelf speakers "Vander & Thonet-- Kugel" which costs around 21K.
And you can buy a separate CD player for 2 to 3K.

 

[sound_cycle]

My Music preference :
I listen to all kinds of stuff
Indian classical vocal and instrumental
Ghazals by Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Begum Farida khanum, Mohd Rafi
Bollywood songs and ghazals from 50s and 60s
Acoustic numebrs from English Music, Slow songs and stuff.

A provisional answer, I only put this up because I am trying to solve this for a friend.

My current thinking is for a BT speaker that he can stream to from a phone.

As for SQ I have been searching high and low for Bollywood stuff from the 60-70-80 - stuff I listened to on radio/ cassettes. I'm reconciled to listening them, and overlooking the dismal SQ on many/ most - as Jamie Lanister said "the thing I do for love". Just don't audition anything with these. Spending on a Tidal sub etc is unlikely to be productive, sonically at any rate.

I have tried out the Bose soundlink mini in my room for several hours and was pleasantly surprised for what it did. This is my current suggestion to him. It is IMHO a very entertaining sound. And for his budget (20K) I think throwing all the money on the speakers is not a bad thing.

A friend just picked up a NAD power amp for $15, and sent me pics just because he knew I'm looking for a power amp. He also got a pair of serial matched Altec Lansing Grenada speakers with 15" drivers ! For $0.00. I need a weeping room.

Used in India is hardly those prices. But lets see with a bit of luck say a Dali z1 ~ 13K, int DAC/amp ~25K, Schiit Eitr $179 + a PC source is realizable. The Bose will come in rather close for a lesser spend (I was listening to it in placed on a speaker stand in a room which was treated with BBA, all bets are off with bare walls and tiled floors and the speaker placed below the telly)

ciao
gr

 

[arunkvivek]

For a budget of 22K, it is tough to get speakers + CD player + media player with all bells and whistles. Kugels, Swans come to mind.
Try to get a refund from them and consider buying:

1. a pair of entry level Yamaha, Onkyo, Boston Acoustic or Pioneer FS (18-22K), Recommending FS instead of BS as you can save on money for stands and entry level FS can usually go louder. If you find any used high sensitive speakers (more than 90 db), you should consider yourself lucky
2. get Chinese D-amps like SMSL, Fx-Audio (DAC+ bluetooth features are available in some) but all of them have a good inbuilt DAC with Coaxial/Toslink input - $84-$100 ~ 8K
3. and simple Onida/Sony DVD player with Coaxial out for CD play back ~ 4K

Total = Rs.30-40K.

If it doesn't work, try to get only FS listed above and get the rest by yourselves outside.

 

[arunkvivek]

A friend just picked up a NAD power amp for $15, and sent me pics just because he knew I'm looking for a power amp. He also got a pair of serial matched Altec Lansing Grenada speakers with 15" drivers ! For $0.00. I need a weeping room.
ciao
gr

I feel jealous about the Grenada speakers!!!

 

[Vinay2013]

I have tried out the Bose soundlink mini in my room for several hours and was pleasantly surprised for what it did. This is my current suggestion to him. It is IMHO a very entertaining sound. And for his budget (20K) I think throwing all the money on the speakers is not a bad thing.

+1. Bose Soundlink Mini is such an exceptional bluetooth speaker which sometimes provides details, I have not heard before on many expensive set ups. It is just hard to believe and pay 15K for such a small speaker when other bluetooth speakers are available for 2K or more.

 

[docaashish]

Audition these powered bookshelf speakers "Vander & Thonet-- Kugel" which costs around 21K.
And you can buy a separate CD player for 2 to 3K.

Thanks for the suggestion. I ll try and get a feel of these LIVE if possible
But then the biggest issue that i faced when i was trying to look for a CD player last month was that they didnt have much of audio friendly functions , like random play , programmable play etc plus no option to jump folders via USB , that was the reason i went out for a full fledged all in one setup.
Still I am going to keep this in mind
Many thanks

A provisional answer, I only put this up because I am trying to solve this for a friend.

My current thinking is for a BT speaker that he can stream to from a phone.

As for SQ I have been searching high and low for Bollywood stuff from the 60-70-80 - stuff I listened to on radio/ cassettes. I'm reconciled to listening them, and overlooking the dismal SQ on many/ most - as Jamie Lanister said "the thing I do for love". Just don't audition anything with these. Spending on a Tidal sub etc is unlikely to be productive, sonically at any rate.

I have tried out the Bose soundlink mini in my room for several hours and was pleasantly surprised for what it did. This is my current suggestion to him. It is IMHO a very entertaining sound. And for his budget (20K) I think throwing all the money on the speakers is not a bad thing.

A friend just picked up a NAD power amp for $15, and sent me pics just because he knew I'm looking for a power amp. He also got a pair of serial matched Altec Lansing Grenada speakers with 15" drivers ! For $0.00. I need a weeping room.

Used in India is hardly those prices. But lets see with a bit of luck say a Dali z1 ~ 13K, int DAC/amp ~25K, Schiit Eitr $179 + a PC source is realizable. The Bose will come in rather close for a lesser spend (I was listening to it in placed on a speaker stand in a room which was treated with BBA, all bets are off with bare walls and tiled floors and the speaker placed below the telly)

ciao
gr

Yep sound-link mini is indeed awesome but looking for a filling audio with appropriate bass as well. No doubt they produce very good clear audio.
A friend is in US at the moment will be coming back next month i guess ( not sure though ) will ask him to check prices and all.

For a budget of 22K, it is tough to get speakers + CD player + media player with all bells and whistles. Kugels, Swans come to mind.
Try to get a refund from them and consider buying:

1. a pair of entry level Yamaha, Onkyo, Boston Acoustic or Pioneer FS (18-22K), Recommending FS instead of BS as you can save on money for stands and entry level FS can usually go louder. If you find any used high sensitive speakers (more than 90 db), you should consider yourself lucky
2. get Chinese D-amps like SMSL, Fx-Audio (DAC+ bluetooth features are available in some) but all of them have a good inbuilt DAC with Coaxial/Toslink input - $84-$100 ~ 8K
3. and simple Onida/Sony DVD player with Coaxial out for CD play back ~ 4K

Total = Rs.30-40K.

If it doesn't work, try to get only FS listed above and get the rest by yourselves outside.

Thats pretty decent. Will share this with a friend who I guess might know someone who deals in old audio equipments , lets see what he says
Many many thanks

+1. Bose Soundlink Mini is such an exceptional bluetooth speaker which sometimes provides details, I have not heard before on many expensive set ups. It is just hard to believe and pay 15K for such a small speaker when other bluetooth speakers are available for 2K or more.

I have heard the Sound-link mini and indeed its worth every last penny but somehow never felt like buying as a full fledged music player for the living room.


Many thanks for the suggestions dear friends
Kindly keep chipping in with more ideas so that i can have plenty of options to work and try
Will help other newbies like me too