Please guide me what should i buy

[johnysamajhdar]

Hello Friends,

I am looking forward to build a high end home theater system for myself. My room measurements are 12'x12'. Firstly, I am not at all in any hurry. Secondly, I want something that can be called as the state of the art product. Thirdly, I have a moderate budget of 2 to 2.4 lacs only. I have read a lot about the money, effort and the passion that people put in making audio systems. Can you please guide me by sharing the product details and the best possible top of the line A+++ grade quality sound system for me as i'm no audiophile and have no knowledge about this game. I'm a movie, gaming and music buff. Do a lot of gaming, watch movies and cartoons. I need something that can bring life to all of them. A system in which I can hear each and every sound clearly. A drop of the pin, drop of the water, birds chirping, people talking, car chasing, action sequences, blasts & fires, bike and car engines or whatever the sounds may be should be crystal clear, realistic and come to life. Any genre of music be it be Indian or Western should sound mesmerizing on the system. I hope with the help of audio gurus here I'll be able to achieve my dream. I'm interested in 5.1, 7.1 or 9.1 system or something that you can suggest me that is best suited for my room and solves my purpose. Would be connecting it with my high end gaming pc and 55" LED Television. I hope to hear from you soon. Waiting for a positive response from your side. I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart in advance for helping me.

Please Note: Presently using 2 Zebronics floor standing towers that i have purchased for my pc long time back. But seems they are not giving that quality sound. Also, My TV is 4K so is it possible to get a 4k amp within this budget?

Thanks and Regards

 

[efernand1]

Hi,

With the kind of budget you have in hand, you can get a decent system.

A decent avr...7.1 will cost between 45k - 80k again it depends on which brand, what specs etc...you could look at Denon or Pioneer (LX series) or Marantz (widely used due to proven performance)

Speakers which would be 5.1 or 7.1 would easily come with the remaining budget which should also factor the cables, wiring, HDMI cords etc.

Firstly I would suggest based on where you are located in India, to go and audition systems from the dealers around you and start making a list of the models or brands which appeal to you..dont reveal your actual budget to the dealer but say you are willing to spend about 1-1.25 lacs here and there + 10-20k if really required.

Once you made the list of what appeals to you in performance, budget and appearance, share that with us and we will guide you further...

Alternatively look for posts under "Home Theatre" or "what should I buy" or click on my name to read related posts which I have responded in the past..

All the best...dont rush..trust your ears...Remember this is a big investment and you need to get it right!

 

[efernand1]

Hi,

With the kind of budget you have in hand, you can get a decent system.

A decent avr...7.1 will cost between 45k - 80k again it depends on which brand, what specs etc...you could look at Denon or Pioneer (LX series) or Marantz (widely used due to proven performance)

Speakers which would be 5.1 or 7.1 would easily come with the remaining budget which should also factor the cables, wiring, HDMI cords etc.

Firstly I would suggest based on where you are located in India, to go and audition systems from the dealers around you and start making a list of the models or brands which appeal to you..dont reveal your actual budget to the dealer but say you are willing to spend about 1-1.25 lacs here and there + 10-20k if really required.

Once you made the list of what appeals to you in performance, budget and appearance, share that with us and we will guide you further...

Alternatively look for posts under "Home Theatre" or "what should I buy" or click on my name to read related posts which I have responded in the past..

All the best...dont rush..trust your ears...Remember this is a big investment and you need to get it right!

 

[johnysamajhdar]

Hi,

With the kind of budget you have in hand, you can get a decent system.

A decent avr...7.1 will cost between 45k - 80k again it depends on which brand, what specs etc...you could look at Denon or Pioneer (LX series) or Marantz (widely used due to proven performance)

Speakers which would be 5.1 or 7.1 would easily come with the remaining budget which should also factor the cables, wiring, HDMI cords etc.

Firstly I would suggest based on where you are located in India, to go and audition systems from the dealers around you and start making a list of the models or brands which appeal to you..dont reveal your actual budget to the dealer but say you are willing to spend about 1-1.25 lacs here and there + 10-20k if really required.

Once you made the list of what appeals to you in performance, budget and appearance, share that with us and we will guide you further...

Alternatively look for posts under "Home Theatre" or "what should I buy" or click on my name to read related posts which I have responded in the past..

All the best...dont rush..trust your ears...Remember this is a big investment and you need to get it right!

@efernand1 - Thanks a lot for your valuable input mate. I'm from Delhi but as I have told you that i'm new to this field i hardly know any dealers or pricing. Though I have done some research on some brands but to be frank foreign brands are way too expensive. I want to ask a question that's been running in my mind for a long time. How good are Indian Brand Setups? Are they worth buying? Any particular Indian brands which are popular among HT Enthusiasts? Some light on the same can really be helpful. Please let me know.

 

[afj]

youre ideally looking at a 5.1 setup, since you watch a lot of movies etc. 2 fronts, 2 rears, a centre and a sub. since you will have a sub, bookshelves for the front should do fine - you dont need floorstanders. to give you an understanding (and this is not 100% true) most of the music score / sound effects come out from the fronts, the centre has mainly voice, the rears will have your surrounding sounds (birds chirping etc) and the sub is for the bass

at that budget, for speakers you can look at the kef q series, quads. the tannoys also come well recommended. a step lower, you would be looking at the wharfedale diamonds. once you decide on the speakers, you can select an amp that pairs well with it. the marantz is good. a step below would be the denon and the yamaha. all depends on your budget. but at 2.4, you dont really need to go a step below.

what source do you have to play your movies / music. do you already have something that gives you 5.1 analog out? you could also look at an avr that has the hdmi input option, which comes inbuilt with a sound card / dac.

as for cables, any decent brand of hdmi / usb cable works well. for speaker cable, again pure copper of 16 or 14 gauge. and a good brand of interconnects

 

[nipunkx]

you could also look at an avr that has the hdmi input option, which comes inbuilt with a sound card / dac.

Can you please name a few such AVRs?

 

[johnysamajhdar]

@afj - Thanks for the info mate. I am now starting to schedule auditions with different dealers. My JBL demo is due on this weekend. Then will post my opinions and reviews after auditioning. I am also making a list of few Indian brands. Want expert opinion of learned people here who can advise me if i'm going right or not. Among the listed below which ones are good to go for please help on that. Bro the source to play movies and music is my high end gaming pc. It has an on board sound card plus high end graphics card.

Acoustic Portrait
Rethm
Audire
Lyrita
Lithos
Cadence
Sonodyne
Stone water Speakers
Peerless
Advance Audio-Pro FX (Fusion brand)
Dhakshin
Ahuja (PA)
Capital (the one in Delhi)
Norge (eastern)
Pandam
Telome
Sonotone (PA - Paudio Thailand)
Skyking
R.S (Pulz)
Salora
Dhawni (closed now)

Have talked to Acoustic Portrait guy Siva. They are not making speakers at the moment and only focusing on Amps. So I am disappointed. But another thing is that they quoted me 1.65k for custom made 7.1 amp.

Rethum guy George sent me the quote which is 6lacs+. So this option is also ruled out.

Ahuja guy said that speakers and amps can be used to make home theater but no surround sound will be available. I have to go for the demo next week.

Sonodyne demo is still pending but I have not heard much good reviews about sonodyne so far. So the thought of taking a demo is still dicey.

Lyrita demo is also pending. Have to fix it with the guy.

If anyone out there can help me out in suggesting something more valuable I will be really thankful to him. Waiting for your response. Thanks in advance to all out there.

 

[johnysamajhdar]

I would also like to request friends out there if they can provide me with the contact details of different dealers in Delhi. I don't have much info about people who are dealing in this stuff. So need details about good and honest dealers.

 

[afj]

Can you please name a few such AVRs?

im not really sure, but i think most the the regular brands like yamaha, denon, marantz, onkyo etc etc do come with such options

@afj - Thanks for the info mate. I am now starting to schedule auditions with different dealers. My JBL demo is due on this weekend. Then will post my opinions and reviews after auditioning. I am also making a list of few Indian brands. Want expert opinion of learned people here who can advise me if i'm going right or not. Among the listed below which ones are good to go for please help on that. Bro the source to play movies and music is my high end gaming pc. It has an on board sound card plus high end graphics card.

Acoustic Portrait
Rethm
Audire
Lyrita
Lithos
Cadence
Sonodyne
Stone water Speakers
Peerless
Advance Audio-Pro FX (Fusion brand)
Dhakshin
Ahuja (PA)
Capital (the one in Delhi)
Norge (eastern)
Pandam
Telome
Sonotone (PA - Paudio Thailand)
Skyking
R.S (Pulz)
Salora
Dhawni (closed now)

Have talked to Acoustic Portrait guy Siva. They are not making speakers at the moment and only focusing on Amps. So I am disappointed. But another thing is that they quoted me 1.65k for custom made 7.1 amp.

Rethum guy George sent me the quote which is 6lacs+. So this option is also ruled out.

Ahuja guy said that speakers and amps can be used to make home theater but no surround sound will be available. I have to go for the demo next week.

Sonodyne demo is still pending but I have not heard much good reviews about sonodyne so far. So the thought of taking a demo is still dicey.

Lyrita demo is also pending. Have to fix it with the guy.

If anyone out there can help me out in suggesting something more valuable I will be really thankful to him. Waiting for your response. Thanks in advance to all out there.

i didnt know that acoustic portrait made surround sound amps. if its in your budget, it will not disappoint. there are a lot of brands in there which i havent heard of. on what basis did you select these. it will be difficult for you to audition / get proper reviews on these. also think of after sales service. imo, short list a few (known brands) based on reviews, specs, features and price and then go audition them. again imo, you would budget 1.25-1.5 lakhs on the speakers and the balance on a matching amp. first audition speakers and decide on that, and then find an amp to pair with it

 

[johnysamajhdar]

@afj - Thanks again mate for prompt response. No i'm not considering all the brands. I have only listed Indian brands here. I still have to select the best ones out of these. According to my research online only these are the best ones:

Acoustic Portrait
Rethm
Audire
Lyrita
Lithos
Cadence
Sonodyne
Stone water Speakers
Ahuja (PA)
Norge (eastern)

Now I also have to compare the quality and pricing of Indian brands with the imported brands. Let's see. For now I have just started.

 

[afj]

@afj - Thanks again mate for prompt response. No i'm not considering all the brands. I have only listed Indian brands here. I still have to select the best ones out of these. According to my research online only these are the best ones:

Acoustic Portrait
Rethm
Audire
Lyrita
Lithos
Cadence
Sonodyne
Stone water Speakers
Ahuja (PA)
Norge (eastern)

Now I also have to compare the quality and pricing of Indian brands with the imported brands. Let's see. For now I have just started.

are you only looking at indian brands? esp at your budget, you should look at others as well

 

[Lad1]

At the budget you van get a nice b&w setup

 

[johnysamajhdar]

are you only looking at indian brands? esp at your budget, you should look at others as well

No No mate your got me wrong. I am just trying to look at the quality and credibility of Indian brands as well. Do they match up to the standards of other imported brands or not. Plus i don't have much idea about which imported brands are good and from where to buy them. That's why i have posted this thread here to share my worries and queries to get answers from respected experts and experienced people in forum. Like you are guiding me through the process of buying and choosing the right product. Hope i can get more help from the learned people in future. Really thank all the people from the bottom of my heart who are helping me in this process.

 

[efernand1]

Hi,

Very few use Indian brands....most use B&Ws, Quads, Tannoys, Wharfedale, KEFs, Pioneer, etc...

All depends on how you hear your music and what quality are you striving for...his means budget, setup, type of amp/avr being used etc..

Go window shoping and experience the kind of speakers available...

Shortlist what u like and we can help further

 

[johnysamajhdar]

@efernand1 - Thanks mate. I'm surely be selecting a few brands and then go for their audition. After that i'll share my experiences with you guys and would request your inputs to make my final decision better.

 

[RajithKumar]

Its a very good budget you have. Please be patient and do good auditioning for selection of AVR & speaker combo.
The FMs can guide well for the better combos ,out of that you should take your decision based on your hearing taste.

 

[ARN_Systems]

You could check out our customized demo house in Delhi for how you can integrate different brands to get the best set-up. Since you already have a nice display, your budget is well suited for a high end audio set-up. Do contact if you would like to visit or if any questions in particular

email: [email protected]

 

[johnysamajhdar]

At last the auditions have started. Today I went for the demo at Lyrita Audio (Home). The owner Mr. Viren Bakshi is a very nice and courteous guy. He had thorough knowledge of his craft. I auditioned "Horn Bookshelf Pair" and "Horn Grande Pair (wood veeneer driver and wood LeCleach horn, and Eminence Gamma 15" in front horn loaded cabinet)" speakers connected using "DHT Line preamplifer (Line Only) - 4 line inputs" + "2A3 Set power amplifier (Single-ended stereo amplifier, 3 watts/channel)" [both of them are tube amps with analog output]. Both the speakers sounded really mesmerizing. Specifically build for music lovers. Specification of the bookshelf speakers i'll post as soon as i'll receive it from the makers. But genuinely those speakers are really sounding good, crystal clear each and every instrument played in the music was sounding so great. I checked out playing different genre like bollywood, pop, ghazal, rock, jazz, blues and classical every piece sounded great on the speakers.

Horn Bookshelf Pair - 55000
Horn Grande Pair - 160000
2A3 Set Integrated amplifier [Single-ended stereo amplifier, 3 watts/channel (suggested by the maker) - 62000

Tomorrow will be going for another audition at JBL. Will Select the models and post the details after demo.

 

[raghupb]

Johny,

The initial requirements and the kind of speakers you auditioning are kinda conflicting.
You want a HT set up in a 12x12 room/listening space. A simple 5.1 AVR will do the trick here.
If this is going to be a multipurpose system (movies/gaming/music) then opt for a package which will do justice to all the modes.

Movies/gaming setups are quite similar. 2 ch music can get very confusing depending on how particular one is regarding the rendition.

Starting with a budget of say 2L (your lower end), a 5.1 AVR with HDMI/Wifi/BT etc would set you back about 40-60K depending on brand.
Usual suspects here are Yamaha/Pioneer/Denon/Marantz/Onkyo from the Japanese stable. No particular preference; all have their pros and cons.

With the remaining 1.5L you can get a wonderful 5.1 package all at once from many well known companies (Desi and Videsi).
If you are willing to go stage by stage, get L/C/R first then Sub followed by surrounds.

Remember AVRs are boxes processing digital and analog signals. Basically they are kitchen sinks.
Speakers from companies such as Lyrita/AP/Audire will reveal the short comings of the pre-amp/power amp stage.

If your immediate need is movies/gaming, go for an affordable 5.1 AVR + cube speaker package.
For music take your time and put together elegant system. The cubes will disappear into the walls leaving space for a pair of nice sounding stand-mounts for 2-ch music later on.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[johnysamajhdar]

Took the auditions for JBL and Tanoy today.

JBL Auditions:
JBL Control X 2Pair
JBL Studio 225C
JBL Studio 250P
Denon X1200 amplifier

Tannoy:
Tannoy HTS 201 5.1 Set
Denon X1200

Tannoy Mercury V4I
Denon X1200

Didn't like JBL much but Tannoy Mercury V4L was sort of ok. Base was a bit flat but surround was cool. So looking forward to the comments from the experts in the group about this setup. More suggestions are requested from my learned friends out here regarding good 5.1 and 7.1 setups with amp.


@Raghupb - Thanks a lot mate for your valuable suggestions will keep them in mind while auditioning.