Plese guide on my first HT 5.1 buy

[somjk]

Hi Folks,
Seems like lot of knowledgeable folks here in this area , while i consider myself a noob, so looking forward to your advise/tips.
Thank you so much in advance.
I live in Bangalore and while i currently have a Denon NCD R7 Network receiver(came with 2 denon speakers as part of the package) for the last 10 yrs, i want to finally upgrade to a 5.1 (wiring et al for 5.1 was done as part of interiors before moving in 5 yrs ago, but now i finally want to utilize it)

Main purpose: Would be to listen to audio/music , though i'm guessing watching movies on all the OTT apps out there (Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar) would ensure 5.1 content output and hence that would come anyway for free in a way, but my main motivation is to enhance the quality, depth, richness of sound coming from music.

Music Taste: Thanks to my young kid, music that gets played at home covers a fairly wide variety of genres ranging from latest pop to pop-rock, hiphop etc. I personally love my jazz and of course classic / 80s' old school rock as well. But then we also do listen to some EDM /party music as well for gatherings

Music Sources: Mostly online streaming like Spotify Premium, Apple Music , Amazon Music , do have some music collection stashed in a USB drive as well

Dimensions: Music/HT/TV would be in my living room ( 22Width x 20Length in feet ) with the distance from living room to couch (L shaped) being around 12ft

Also, given the woodwork done for the TV mounting , seems like i have space only for bookshelf speakers not the big tower/floor standers.

Sampling done so far: So far i have seen /sampled Denon 2700 AVR with Polk RTi A3 bookshelf speakers(front) from Polk and Q350 Bookshelf speakers from KEF (as per suggestion by the guy who visited my home )
But then when i went to profx , found that more than the above 2 i liked the combo of using S15 bookshelf speakers from Polk (not exactly sleek , sexy looking like the above KEF ones ...maybe that's why he didn't recommend?) , but the sound difference b/n this and the above 2 was distinctly clear. So would like suggestions i guess along those lines ...
Have also heard about Marantz SR 5014, haven't got to properly sample it yet ... So i keep hearing this debate between Denon /marantz and lot of audiophiles seem to prefer the latter? Any objective reasons for the same? Also how would you advise going about this selection process? It has been a bit confusing and overwhelming so far

 

[chander]

It all depends on your sound preference (& budget obviously), and as you are already sampling - you are on the right path.

Again depends on what you would prefer but my current system is this -

Fronts - QAcoustics Concept 20s (mounted on hand made stands)
Center - QAcoustics Concept center
Rears - DLS Mini (low profile flat speakers - almost disappear)
Sub - QAcoustics QB12
Receiver - Denon X2700H
Players - Xbox Series S, Mac Mini 2015 and Apple TV 4K

I have gone thru many systems and I had a decent budget for this setup too, but in the end, I couldn't fault the QAs for what they are. I wanted to go with the Dynaudios, but I realized, given my sources, maybe they were an overkill, "Maybe". I do not use BR players so maybe that extra money was wasted anyhow.

I use this with Primephonic, tidal and spotify enough to know, I don't think I need better than them. I don't claim to have Golden Ears, but I have not been able to really pin-point anything I do not like.

Also how would you advise going about this selection process? It has been a bit confusing and overwhelming so far

On this, you are already on the right path. Keep auditioning, nothing better than that. You can use the suggestions here to create a list you may want to audition, but in the end my treasure could be worthless for you.

 

[fLUX]

I understand, it was and still is a very overwhelming experience purchasing any gadget with so many user opinions/reviews and add to that your own preferences and biases. Let me overwhelm you a little more with few questions and suggestions

i) While its a dream of many of us to get a simple setup which performs equally well across areas be it movies/music , once you start auditioning systems you will know that its always a trade-off towards one side or the other. So you need to be very clear on which side you want to lean too and to what extent would you be willing to spend.
To start off with the Denon vs Marantz discussion, Denon is known to be punchier with good dynamics aiding in movies whereas Marantz is known to be more musical and slightly leaning towards a softer sound signature. You will not find either significantly different and should be good for movies & music, however if you happen to any setup with Integrated Amplifiers/separates you will notice that they do significantly better for music than the AVR. If you are wanting to go that route anytime in the future I would suggest to go for Denon X3700H/Marantz SR5014 as they come with preouts(this lets you connect additional amplifiers for each channel and will allow you to setup a parallel stereo chain/use more powerful amplifiers connected to your AVR in the future. The AVR would cost more but will give you the flexibility to play around if you decide to do so any point of time

ii) Coming to the speaker setup, the S15 are not really well know for music and are little harsh/bright to most of us (some prefer that kind of a signature and do prefer it over its compatriots). I would suggest you to demo the below brands before you take a decision
- ELAC Debut B5.2 & Qacoustics 3030i/Concept 20 , both can be demoed at Modern World , Domlur ( I personally like how the Concept 20 sound)
- Dali Oberon 1 at The HTStore , Jayanagar
- Indiq Audio Gold Mishra/Platinum Achal /Custom LCR setups , lot of FMs have ordered/already own this and are very happy with their setup. I own their floorstanders and poweramp and very satisfied with both.


To conclude my suggestion for AVR is the X3600H/X3700H/SR5014 , cant go wrong with either of these. For speakers, it totally depends on what kind of music you listen and also what is your sound preference so go ahead and audition as much as possible and then jump the bandwagon on any of these

 

[somjk]

I understand, it was and still is a very overwhelming experience purchasing any gadget with so many user opinions/reviews and add to that your own preferences and biases. Let me overwhelm you a little more with few questions and suggestions

i) While its a dream of many of us to get a simple setup which performs equally well across areas be it movies/music , once you start auditioning systems you will know that its always a trade-off towards one side or the other. So you need to be very clear on which side you want to lean too and to what extent would you be willing to spend.
To start off with the Denon vs Marantz discussion, Denon is known to be punchier with good dynamics aiding in movies whereas Marantz is known to be more musical and slightly leaning towards a softer sound signature. You will not find either significantly different and should be good for movies & music, however if you happen to any setup with Integrated Amplifiers/separates you will notice that they do significantly better for music than the AVR. If you are wanting to go that route anytime in the future I would suggest to go for Denon X3700H/Marantz SR5014 as they come with preouts(this lets you connect additional amplifiers for each channel and will allow you to setup a parallel stereo chain/use more powerful amplifiers connected to your AVR in the future. The AVR would cost more but will give you the flexibility to play around if you decide to do so any point of time

ii) Coming to the speaker setup, the S15 are not really well know for music and are little harsh/bright to most of us (some prefer that kind of a signature and do prefer it over its compatriots). I would suggest you to demo the below brands before you take a decision
- ELAC Debut B5.2 & Qacoustics 3030i/Concept 20 , both can be demoed at Modern World , Domlur ( I personally like how the Concept 20 sound)
- Dali Oberon 1 at The HTStore , Jayanagar
- Indiq Audio Gold Mishra/Platinum Achal /Custom LCR setups , lot of FMs have ordered/already own this and are very happy with their setup. I own their floorstanders and poweramp and very satisfied with both.


To conclude my suggestion for AVR is the X3600H/X3700H/SR5014 , cant go wrong with either of these. For speakers, it totally depends on what kind of music you listen and also what is your sound preference so go ahead and audition as much as possible and then jump the bandwagon on any of these

Wow thank you so much flUX and Chander for your elaborate and prompt replies! Oh dang i thought i had checked of all the boxes on "things to type before posting a new question" but somehow missed the budget part looks like , my bad! So yes as can be evidenced by the parts auditioned so far, and they all seem to be in the 2-2.5L range (MRP) , but i'm willing to go that distance(2.5L) and heck i'm even willing to stretch upto 3L for the right buy of course.
And i did forget to mention that my first shop to go was Modern World Domlur, and he did show /sample me the Q3030i front speakers . But that being my first, i had nothing to compare it against...i mean i liked it , but did'nt obviously want to settle for the first thing i heard. Looks like i'll have to don a little thicker skin and not shy away from going to these folks and auditioning the same thing again and again (hoping they won't get bugged with me, but then hey it's my money huh? ) just to get it right
Thanks you so much for the recommendations on the AVRs , you made that pretty clear for me now! I'm also planning to sample Paradigm speakers...Anybody's take on those ? sorry if this is a dumb question ..but re: those Indiq Audio Gold LCR setups , lot of acronyms thrown in there ...what is LCR and what are FMs? Infact this is the first i've even heard of Indiq Audio Gold ...

 

[fLUX]

Wow thank you so much flUX and Chander for your elaborate and prompt replies! Oh dang i thought i had checked of all the boxes on "things to type before posting a new question" but somehow missed the budget part looks like , my bad! So yes as can be evidenced by the parts auditioned so far, and they all seem to be in the 2-2.5L range (MRP) , but i'm willing to go that distance(2.5L) and heck i'm even willing to stretch upto 3L for the right buy of course.
And i did forget to mention that my first shop to go was Modern World Domlur, and he did show /sample me the Q3030i front speakers . But that being my first, i had nothing to compare it against...i mean i liked it , but did'nt obviously want to settle for the first thing i heard. Looks like i'll have to don a little thicker skin and not shy away from going to these folks and auditioning the same thing again and again (hoping they won't get bugged with me, but then hey it's my money huh? ) just to get it right
Thanks you so much for the recommendations on the AVRs , you made that pretty clear for me now! I'm also planning to sample Paradigm speakers...Anybody's take on those ? sorry if this is a dumb question ..but re: those Indiq Audio Gold LCR setups , lot of acronyms thrown in there ...what is LCR and what are FMs? Infact this is the first i've even heard of Indiq Audio Gold ...

IndiQ Audio is an Indian company making speakers and poweramps , custom LCR is (Left,Center & Right) as against their standard offerings which are the Gold Mishra and Platinum Achal. Get in touch with their owner , he is a very helpful fellow ( number listed on https://www.indiqaudio.com/). Also do have multiple auditions , don't think any owner would dissuade you from doing that and if someone does stay away from that outlet I have found most of the showrooms in Bangalore I visited very hospitable.


P.S - FM's refers to forum members

 

[NewBee2020]

I agree with @fLUX....It is overwhelming to purchase any new device with so many options/reviews which are present in front of us...Even I was very new to this audiophilia...All I can say is audition/demo is the key as sound is very subjective....When it comes to my experience,I have auditioned Polk/kef/qacoustics range of speakers and finally settled with IndiqAudio Platinum Achals....The Achals are well rounded and I liked their overall sound signature when compared to other speakers I have auditioned and their after sales customer support is very good.
Audition as many speakers as you can and settle the one which suits your requirement... Bangalore got lot's of options to do for the same.
All the best for your search!!

 

[somjk]

Thank you very much guys again ! Again another noob question .. i keep hearing words like 'bright' and 'warm' being bandied around especially in comparison with recievers like denon and marantz etc
What is Bright , what is warm? (though i have an intuitive understanding of the words) but still ....
Is there a particular song/music genre that i can play on 2 different speakers just to help highlight which of the speakers/receivers is 'bright' (or NOT).
More importantly, what decides this - i.e this is an AVR thing or a speaker thing?
The point i'm trying to get to is i want to understand the choices out there before i pick one ( coz i know and as everyone's been saying it's finally upto me - the user's choice , but i just want to pick a choice that i understand)

Thanks again

 

[chander]

I am no expert - but for me this is what they mean (from experience and some reading bias too). There is no way to precisely define these in terms of presentation, but the general consensus says -

Bright - treble prominent, fatiguing (CAN BE - NOT NECESSARY) over long duration listening. But some people love it. Can be very energetic, engaging, can sound punchier. MOST AVRs tend to be punchier mostly like the denons, as it really helps with movies, where effects are important.

Warm - laid back, mostly rounded, not exactly neutral (but what is), work with most kind of music, but 'sometimes' can lack energy. Easy to listen to over extended periods, can work great as background music sources . Very easy to enjoy and groove to, but sometimes can give an impression of lack of dynamics.

Again a lot of this is perceived and depends on your hearing and the ambiance or setup. Everything can play a part in this kind of representation, the amp, source, speakers, placements, cables (jury is out on that) the combinations together and this is a rabbit hole.

My suggestion would be, if you are not short of time or patience, keep auditioning till you find what works best for you. All the stuff mentioned above is a journey, it is not something that you can kind of gauge by reading up. You have to experience and learn. The polks you mentioned, most people love them for their bright presentation and most dislike them for the very thing, but you liked them, so this yours to decide - I apologise for saying that again.

Also - just a suggestion, that worked for me over the years - do not try and analyse when you go to audition, I know it is the antithesis of what is suggested, but in my experience,when you analyse, you tend to forget that you are supposed to enjoy - it is extremely easy to find issues, everything has issues - nothing - no product out there is perfect. When you truly start enjoying, you start automatically seeing what you 'do not like' - that makes the list short to select from. Again- this has helped "ME" might not work for you.

"Is there a particular song/music genre that i can play on 2 different speakers just to help highlight which of the speakers/receivers is 'bright' (or NOT)." - On this, almost any song out there that you know well, and have a good quality recording of - try on a pair of polks/klipsch with denon and a pair of maybe Elacs/wharfedales with marantz and you should get an idea. Again this is not a scientific experiment and is far far away from being accurate, but just the brightness and the warmth, 'should be' apparent.

The is my more than 2 cents, I leave it to the more experienced FMs to elaborate or correct me.

 

[nvnaveen]

Hi Folks,
Seems like lot of knowledgeable folks here in this area , while i consider myself a noob, so looking forward to your advise/tips.
Thank you so much in advance.
I live in Bangalore and while i currently have a Denon NCD R7 Network receiver(came with 2 denon speakers as part of the package) for the last 10 yrs, i want to finally upgrade to a 5.1 (wiring et al for 5.1 was done as part of interiors before moving in 5 yrs ago, but now i finally want to utilize it)

Main purpose: Would be to listen to audio/music , though i'm guessing watching movies on all the OTT apps out there (Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar) would ensure 5.1 content output and hence that would come anyway for free in a way, but my main motivation is to enhance the quality, depth, richness of sound coming from music.

Music Taste: Thanks to my young kid, music that gets played at home covers a fairly wide variety of genres ranging from latest pop to pop-rock, hiphop etc. I personally love my jazz and of course classic / 80s' old school rock as well. But then we also do listen to some EDM /party music as well for gatherings

Music Sources: Mostly online streaming like Spotify Premium, Apple Music , Amazon Music , do have some music collection stashed in a USB drive as well

Dimensions: Music/HT/TV would be in my living room ( 22Width x 20Length in feet ) with the distance from living room to couch (L shaped) being around 12ft

Also, given the woodwork done for the TV mounting , seems like i have space only for bookshelf speakers not the big tower/floor standers.

Sampling done so far: So far i have seen /sampled Denon 2700 AVR with Polk RTi A3 bookshelf speakers(front) from Polk and Q350 Bookshelf speakers from KEF (as per suggestion by the guy who visited my home )
But then when i went to profx , found that more than the above 2 i liked the combo of using S15 bookshelf speakers from Polk (not exactly sleek , sexy looking like the above KEF ones ...maybe that's why he didn't recommend?) , but the sound difference b/n this and the above 2 was distinctly clear. So would like suggestions i guess along those lines ...
Have also heard about Marantz SR 5014, haven't got to properly sample it yet ... So i keep hearing this debate between Denon /marantz and lot of audiophiles seem to prefer the latter? Any objective reasons for the same? Also how would you advise going about this selection process? It has been a bit confusing and overwhelming so far

Hi SomJK,

nice u have started to research on ur buy & i would say thats best to know product details from each ones point which helps u to guides you to rite way & rite buy & price.
As you have demo'd AVRs like Denon 2700, marantz 5014 i would suggest look for pre out option AVR which you will use for long run & this help to boost ur LCR or out put to 2nd AVR or stereo setups..
Marantz have bit more power & Bass in marantz is good & denon is suitable fo rboth music & movie simply neutral sounding but look for better powered whichever u buy .
coming to speaker i have seen u have few in list & as suggested by FMs here trust ur ears demo as many as u can & buy the best.
Brand Indiq is one which many have gone & felt satisfied with their sound signature & detailed output for every instrument .
as u r in bangalore u can speak & fix appointment for demo with Mr Amit a true gentleman.
I have seen many folks here who tried many multi national Brands & finally after Demo'd with Indiq & settled with Indiq product & they are very happy for their buy.
One good option here is u have 15 days return policy which give try at home & see if u like & keep r return. but till no return thats the trust & confidence product have. One more good option u have here is upgrade policy within 3 years if u wanna upgrade their product u pay only extra cost of new product & return ur old for what u bought & get new one dont you feel best one to try..