Seeking advice on a home audio setup

[rajdeepbiswas]

Hello hifivision community,

I am here to seek your advice on building my first "real" home audio setup.

My usecase is mainly music (I majorly listen to metal and electronic, so a good thumpy bass is as important as clear instrument separation to me). I, sometimes, will play video games with only the audio on the sound system and, sometimes, watch movies on a projector (with, again, only the audio on it), so I am not looking for a complete video capable receiver.

My target is to have 4.1 or 5.1 surround (the surround part being more important than the .1 (subwoofer), which in turn is more important than whether it's 4 speakers or 5). I want to stress on the fact that I *need* "surround" in my room because I want the audio to be coming from everywhere to the center instead of firing directionally from just one wall or two (which BTW is why soundbars are completely out of the question for me).

My initial budget is at 40k but I am willing to stretch a bit (or just upgrade) over the years. My room isn't HUGE - I've not tape measured it but I eyeball 12 x 12 feet squared - so if I can make the surround-ness work by putting two speakers on opposite walls as the initial setup, I don't hate that idea (but I don't want to answer my own question).

Oh, and! Having bluetooth "as built-in as possible" is important to me because I have a bunch of devices I want to stream from and most of them don't have a headphone jack (thanks, modern tech). The only access to lossless streaming I have is Apple Music. A lot of my streaming is also going to come from Spotify and YouTube so please let me know if mid-high-end hardware is not really going to be worth the expense and effort if I am going wireless.

I am a newbie when it comes to audio hardware. I barely understand anything besides what preamp/amp/receiver are. Like, if you throw wattage and amperage or 9.1.4 vs 11.1.4 at me, I am too jetlagged to look it up right now (but I will get to in the near future, I promise).

I have only used HTIBs (besides headphones; the best ones I've had so far are the Sony XM5) before this, and if there are good HTIB solutions for my needs, I am okay-happy going that route, too.

A lot of people recommended Onkyo, but that was on posts from like 2 years ago and seems like this brand has discontinued. I want to know if a similar quality/price balanced brand exists that sells in India without exorbitant markups.

So far, by my research, the Logitech Z906 5.1 seems like it's best suited for my first "real" home theater setup but again, I don't want to answer my own question.

 

[chander]

With the budget you have mentioned - it will be hard to get an "upgradeable" surround sound system.
Please correct me if I wrong - I understood - that you would prioritise surround sound over a subwoofer? IN THAT CASE - given your budget -

Your needs point to a simple 5.1 computer system as you already mentioned a Logitech Z906 kind of system - though you can even go cheaper. This should cover all your needs - surround sound, thumping bass & you can get a simple BT dongle and you will save up a decent amount of money too.

I was in your shoes a couple decades ago and I used to have a creative system - that worked for me for all the gaming & movies with a cheap projector system, while I slowly & steadily started creating a second music system one by one.

 

[fLUX]

Depending on how flexible are you after auditioning I would recommend a
Satellite 5.1 + AVR either mix & match or using a pre-built offering from Yamaha & likes. I had started with a similar budget looking for a HtiB system. I auditioned
i) A Yamaha system
ii) Polk TL1600 + AVR system

After listening to Polk system I upped my budget to 65k odd for this combo & it served me well for 5 + years. I would recommend you to audition as you are from Bangalore
i) Yamaha showroom near Indira Nagar
ii) ProFX for Polk TL1600 ( across city but MG road store is where I demoed the same)

If you are hard cut on your budget, then Logitech Z906 or similar 5.1 offerings will also work. But considering Music is your primary usage the HtiB system will likely he better than these multimedia offerings.

Another compromised solution is stick to 2 speakers and an intrgrated amp ( can be had for under 50k if purchased used ). Barring surround sound they will work well for every other use case of yours

 

[fLUX]

Depending on how flexible are you after auditioning I would recommend a
Satellite 5.1 + AVR either mix & match or using a pre-built offering from Yamaha & likes. I had started with a similar budget looking for a HtiB system. I auditioned
i) A Yamaha system
ii) Polk TL1600 + AVR system

After listening to Polk system I upped my budget to 65k odd for this combo & it served me well for 5 + years. I would recommend you to audition as you are from Bangalore
i) Yamaha showroom near Indira Nagar
ii) ProFX for Polk TL1600 ( across city but MG road store is where I demoed the same)

If you are hard cut on your budget, then Logitech Z906 or similar 5.1 offerings will also work. But considering Music is your primary usage the HtiB system will likely he better than these multimedia offerings.

Another compromised solution is stick to 2 speakers and an intrgrated amp ( can be had for under 50k if purchased used ). Barring surround sound they will work well foe every other

 

[ajuvignesh]

if you want sound to come all around you, unless with a 5.1/DTS dvd audio, seek to the portion of audio in streaming services like netflix prime video, you don't find 5.1 audio on streaming services like spotify. Apple music has atmos but agaqin, that works only with earphones.
But if you want to watch movies, then a 5.1 or atmos system make sense. However, you're into music.

Lemme tell you, All you need is a properly setup stereo system, if i get your intentions correct. With a properly set 2 speaker stereo system, you will get sound from the center, sounds beyond the speakers on either sides and also from inbetween the speakers. With a highend system, you will get a 3D sound behind the speakers where you can sense left, right, height and even depth. However, you cannot expect sounds coming from behind or top. Actually, that is not the point of a music system. A perfectly set music system will mimic a live sound where artists spread across the stage from left to right and front to back. There positions can be accurately reproduced behind just a pair of speakers. In a live concert, artists occupy the stage and they won't perform from behind or from the above. Hence a stereo system is limited to left and right of speakers and front to back between the speakers in a costly system.
However, if you are behind movies, you can get an awesome experience with an atmos system. you will get sounds from left, right, center like a stereo and additionally, from behind and above. To achieve this you need a serious budget. However, you can start with a 9.2 AV receiver or atleast 7.2 atmos supported receiver and adding speakers slowly when budget permits. 9.2 system means, you will have two speakers left and right, one speaker in the center, two speakers behind you and 4 speakers above you. in case of 7.1 atmos, you will only get 2 speakers above you. in a 11.1 system, you will get 6 speakers above you. good movie mix will effectively make use of all the 6 speakers above you like in a atmos theatre.

Now that you have an idea of HiFI systems, you get to decide what you want. Music, movies or both. for music, stereo is the choice. for movies and both music and movies, Home theatre is the choice. you will get to enjoy movies a lot and you get to switch stereo mode or use stereo to atmos converter in an avr for music experience. In converted atmos, you will not get individual sounds coming from all around you like movies but has 'echos, reverbrations' around you to give you that spacious feel.

You need to audition both the stereo systems and Home theatres is a way to understand things. if you still want great movies and decent music performance, go with AVR route. I doubt you will get a 3d performance between and behind the speakers like you will get in a costly properly set stereo system but you can enjoy movies to the fullest. However, if your preference is a stereo system, you will get audio nirvana but decent movie experience minus sounds from behind and above.
Now, go audition both kind of systems in bengaluru and comeback here and post your experience unbiased. Forum members can suggest you based on your input.
if you choose stereo, you will have to audition again to find out your preference towards sound signature, bass quality/quantity, tone of sound, etc.
If you choose home theatre, you will audition again a few home theatres to understand how each system sounds and you can start from there what to buy and where to buy.

All the best.