Need help choosing between Bose and Polk

[arnprasad]

Hi. my friend is travelling to US for couple of weeks and he also has friends who do such short trips and hence getting stuff from US is not a constraint. I am an old school guy who likes to set up a proper 5.1 - buy decent speakers, buy receiver....if possible a projector. Now while there is no direct comparison between the Bose and Polk/5.1 system - if money is bit of a constraint, what would one recommend taking a long term view? buy Bose or rather go for Polk or such brands and slow build a more affordable proper 5.1 setup.

Bose he is considering is https://www.amazon.com/Bose-SoundTo...565076&sr=8-6-acs&keywords=bose+soundtouch+10

Frys had the following polks on sale last week..not sure if its still available
https://frys.com/search?search_type=regular&sqxts=1&cat=&query_string=8707461&nearbyStoreName=false for 55 dollars - so this can be side speakers
https://frys.com/product/8707481?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG for 68 dollars each..so thats front speakers for 140 dollars
https://frys.com/search?search_type=regular&sqxts=1&cat=&query_string=psw10&nearbyStoreName=false for 79 dollars
https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-C...527565710&sr=8-3&keywords=polk+center+speaker for 100 dollars

so thats 5.1 channel for around 400 dollars...add another 300 for a decent 7.2 receiver....thats a proper 7.2 channel setup. Prices I am quoting are from a frys promotional email i get every day.

these are two difference technologies for may be two different sets of folks with two different set of needs...but still if one were to compare....which one would one prefer
Also Bose has the Acoustimass 10 for around 1000 dollars..how does that compare?

 

[elangoas]

so thats 5.1 channel for around 400 dollars...add another 300 for a decent 7.2 receiver....thats a proper 7.2 channel setup. Prices I am quoting are from a frys promotional email i get every day.

For US $700 (or) lil more, you can complete atleast a good 5.1 set-up here itself along with AVR.. There are ways to get AVR for a lesser price.. Please check aval options in your city..

For speakers, you have Taga inmove series 5.0 set-up (or) Taga TAV series here (india) itself for for < $400.. A 5.0 speaker package + a 10 inch subwoofer.. will cost you approx equivalent of US $500..

Projectors are a good choice to get from US as they are easy to manage (baggage) & lot cheaper..

What is the total budget?..

 

[arnprasad]

Ok..so I take it from your post that buying Bose is not recommended. Regarding the budget - he might not be able to plonk it in one go. thats why i was advising him to get it in bits and pieces depending on spare money he has and folks travelling to US. Slowly build it over a period of time

My experience has been that for all components - apple to apple - it costs 50% more in India..you think that logic wont hold true for speakers if dragging tall boy speakers from US is not an issue?

 

[elangoas]

Ok..so I take it from your post that buying Bose is not recommended. Regarding the budget - he might not be able to plonk it in one go. thats why i was advising him to get it in bits and pieces depending on spare money he has and folks travelling to US. Slowly build it over a period of time

With regard to speakers, even if building it slowly due to budget constraints is fine here itself.. At-least AVR + speakers you can get it locally for lil (or) slightly higher cost..Getting speakers from US, with heavy baggage can be tedious IMO..

My experience has been that for all components - apple to apple - it costs 50% more in India..you think that logic wont hold true for speakers if dragging tall boy speakers from US is not an issue?

50% is lesser.. It is actually close to 100% for some items..

But, if your friends (or) his friends don't mind the baggage, then no issues.. I have asked few of my friends to carry speakers from US / Europe and it is a bit tiring..