Suggestions for a new HT. Budget 1.5 - 2 L

[beanstalk_230]

Hi,

Was planning to buy a HT setup for my living area which measures 33 x 22 & is not at all suitable keeping in mind the acoustics but still have to go ahead with the purchase.

In my room I currently use Onkyo 3300 which is used for 60-70% movies; 20% Tata Sky & 10% Music & I'm satisfied with it. Usage in the living area would comprise the following: 40% Tata Sky; 50% Movies & 10% Music.

I have been to just a single audition which was 3-4 yrs back & the setup I was really impressed is was Wharfedale 9.5 with some Yamaha stereo amp. In comparison auditioning room was too small to what I have to fulfill right now.

I have to begin from scratch now & I'm completely clueless. Kindly guide me.

P.S. Lucknow has just a single auditioning place that I know of : :: MAADHAV ENTRPRISE :: which I would be visiting soon.

 

[sameuun]

hi mate,
gud to hear someone from LKO, i too belong LKO,
and u r wrong that madhav is only dealer in LKO, there are 3-4 dealers in LKO who got a room for auditioning etc.
I was in same situation 4 months back and i got out,
there is another dealer in gomti nagar named dizitouch, he does all this and he is very friendly,

I had a same budget and since auditioning in LKO is a pain, so i had no other option but to go with hifivision senior suggestion for speakers and receiver.
i opted for dali setup with marantz SR5009, (5009 cuz its 2014 model and has HDMI2.0 hardware which will be useful for 4k 60 Hz)


search by name dizitoucj on google , u will get contact details, else if u want i will give u

currently work is under construction, speakers, projector and all, will definately call u and u can come and see for urself,

 

[beanstalk_230]

hi mate,
gud to hear someone from LKO, i too belong LKO,
and u r wrong that madhav is only dealer in LKO, there are 3-4 dealers in LKO who got a room for auditioning etc.
I was in same situation 4 months back and i got out,
there is another dealer in gomti nagar named dizitouch, he does all this and he is very friendly,

I had a same budget and since auditioning in LKO is a pain, so i had no other option but to go with hifivision senior suggestion for speakers and receiver.
i opted for dali setup with marantz SR5009, (5009 cuz its 2014 model and has HDMI2.0 hardware which will be useful for 4k 60 Hz)


search by name dizitoucj on google , u will get contact details, else if u want i will give u

currently work is under construction, speakers, projector and all, will definately call u and u can come and see for urself,

Its a pleasure getting to know people from Lucknow coming forward & participating in such amazing forums. 3-4 years ago I got no replies from our city for such discussions.

Got the details from their website. How did you decide upon the setup ?? Did you audition it somewhere in Lucknow ?? And what about the rest of the dealers ??

Regards

P.S. Kindly send your details over PM. Will contact you.

 

[elangoas]

You have a very good budget & huge area for entertainment... So iguezz your listening area will be somewhere around 300 Sqft...

My suggestion would be to consider a 9.2 AVR. (Onkyo TX NR 939/ Marantz SR 7008/ Denon X4000)... All these AVR's have audyssey Multi EQ XT 32 digital room correction software which will help you for better HT performance...

There are ofcourse Yamaha/Pioneer 9.2 AVR too, bu they don't hve Audyssey & have their own digital room correction software which i don't have experience with..

Given that your entertainment pattern is more of movies & TV less of music, i would say stick to bookshelf speakers and complete your 9.1 setup....

 

[sameuun]

i auditioned polk audio only fromm madhav.

i finalyzed dali after reading so many reviews and infact this forum is really blessed with such great nerds in audio and video, i got strong suggestions from this forum and final suggestion was from ashwani from DIZITOUCH, he is a dealer in dali as well. and have a gud knowledge.

aur madhav bhai to bus , paisa pheko tamasha dekho, very costly person he is

 

[beanstalk_230]

i auditioned polk audio only fromm madhav.

i finalyzed dali after reading so many reviews and infact this forum is really blessed with such great nerds in audio and video, i got strong suggestions from this forum and final suggestion was from ashwani from DIZITOUCH, he is a dealer in dali as well. and have a gud knowledge.

aur madhav bhai to bus , paisa pheko tamasha dekho, very costly person he is

Haha. Yet to meet him. I feel its a very strong call at your end to go ahead with the complete package without listening to it though I can understand it is more due to the limited availability in the city. I feel even I might have to go ahead with the purchase under similar circumstances.

Doesn't Mr. Ashwani at Dizi touch have a auditioning room or at least some demo sets to look into ??

 

[sameuun]

Haha. Yet to meet him. I feel its a very strong call at your end to go ahead with the complete package without listening to it though I can understand it is more due to the limited availability in the city. I feel even I might have to go ahead with the purchase under similar circumstances.

Doesn't Mr. Ashwani at Dizi touch have a auditioning room or at least some demo sets to look into ??

Yep
When.options are limited u had nothing but to trust on someone else's views

Yes.i heard polk audio but i didnt like at all
Seen some actions scenes and it was like too loudness and crunches were more than my ears cud handle,

I audioned dali after buying and its not like ab to lena hi parega, i listened and realised this is something what i wanted
Power but with little softness gud combinations between low freq and high, treable was mid, and really punchy even without subwoofer

I think auditioning and telling are really different experience

If u not in a jiffy, let my setup done, come and.audition and then buy


Something is wrong with my hifivision ID. Cant.send any PM though i canread , so pls leave ur number there will talk to u

 

[beanstalk_230]

Yep
When.options are limited u had nothing but to trust on someone else's views

Yes.i heard polk audio but i didnt like at all
Seen some actions scenes and it was like too loudness and crunches were more than my ears cud handle,

I audioned dali after buying and its not like ab to lena hi parega, i listened and realised this is something what i wanted
Power but with little softness gud combinations between low freq and high, treable was mid, and really punchy even without subwoofer

I think auditioning and telling are really different experience

If u not in a jiffy, let my setup done, come and.audition and then buy


Something is wrong with my hifivision ID. Cant.send any PM though i canread , so pls leave ur number there will talk to u

True what you said & this is where a forum like HFV comes to the rescue. BTW Where did you audition Dali ?? Ashwin or somewhere else??

 

[sameuun]

auditioned after buying

 

[beanstalk_230]

auditioned after buying

Auditioning the speakers you already bought Something very new to hear.

Aren't there any other options you considered before going in for Dali & Marantz (AVR - Denon X2000, Yamaha, Onkyo ?) or speakers of other brands ?? Madhav Enterprise / Dizi touch both websites happen to have a lot of brands mentioned.

Pm'ed you my contact.

 

[kestrel5915]

Hey Mate!

How was your auditioning?
My requirement is similar to yours although the listening area is much smaller.
I was planning to get the Dali Zensor setup but the prices given to me by Mr. Ashwani at Dizitouch were pretty absurd even though one other member (sameunn) had bought a similar setup for a good price.
One other thing that I realized was that he didn't have much technical know how and really had no idea about most of the things that I asked him.
And the funny thing is that you can't audition anything there because the setup is fixed with some in-wall speakers and there are no other speakers to demo.
The HT setup was also not very impressive. We watched a few scenes from TDKR and the output was all muddy. I think that might be because of the in-wall setup.
He is doing some renovation to expand the demo room but there also he plans to put fixed speakers with nothing extra to audition.

I have also been to Madhav Enterprises and auditioned B&W MT50 and CM series, KEF Q500, Golden Ears satellite system.
The demo rooms were equipped with multiple speakers and amps connected for audition, like it should be.
There are separate rooms one each for small HT, big HT and music.
The setup was at par with/above many of the setups I have seen in Delhi NCR.
Mr Madhav himself is a music enthusiast and has good technical know how, much much better than the people at Dizitouch.
I haven't yet received the price quotes from him but I guess the brands he is dealing in are expensive anyway so I'm expecting the prices to be high.
So it'll all come down to how much discount he has to offer.

Have you taken price quotes from these dealers?
If I don't get good prices here in Lucknow, I'll most probably pick my setup from Delhi NCR.

 

[beanstalk_230]

Hey Mate!

How was your auditioning?
My requirement is similar to yours although the listening area is much smaller.
I was planning to get the Dali Zensor setup but the prices given to me by Mr. Ashwani at Dizitouch were pretty absurd even though one other member (sameunn) had bought a similar setup for a good price.
One other thing that I realized was that he didn't have much technical know how and really had no idea about most of the things that I asked him.
And the funny thing is that you can't audition anything there because the setup is fixed with some in-wall speakers and there are no other speakers to demo.
The HT setup was also not very impressive. We watched a few scenes from TDKR and the output was all muddy. I think that might be because of the in-wall setup.
He is doing some renovation to expand the demo room but there also he plans to put fixed speakers with nothing extra to audition.

I have also been to Madhav Enterprises and auditioned B&W MT50 and CM series, KEF Q500, Golden Ears satellite system.
The demo rooms were equipped with multiple speakers and amps connected for audition, like it should be.
There are separate rooms one each for small HT, big HT and music.
The setup was at par with/above many of the setups I have seen in Delhi NCR.
Mr Madhav himself is a music enthusiast and has good technical know how, much much better than the people at Dizitouch.
I haven't yet received the price quotes from him but I guess the brands he is dealing in are expensive anyway so I'm expecting the prices to be high.
So it'll all come down to how much discount he has to offer.

Have you taken price quotes from these dealers?
If I don't get good prices here in Lucknow, I'll most probably pick my setup from Delhi NCR.

True about the demo part. Its all based on recommendations about Dali though all reviews favour & highly recommend it. If demo would have been available at Dizitouch I would have already bought the setup. My experience contrary to yours was quite pleasant & I had a good listening session. Ashwani is a thorough gentlemen & he is actually in the process of updating / upgrading his setup though that does become a hindrance for us as buyers.

I personally haven't been to Madhav Enterprises but the review I have from one of my friends who did visit the place recently having a similar requirement (mostly in terms of budget & a non HT room setup) ended up buying a Bose 5.1 & is pretty happy with it. Reason being he was suggested an increase in the budget which was not at all feasible especially considering the fact that the purchase was not going to be installed in a dedicated HT room & would be used in a living room setup as in my case which did not really warrant the increase in budget. By living room you can pretty much understand the type of media being played which would majorly be Tata Sky usage with music & movie playback becoming a secondary purpose. I do plan to visit Madhav Enterprises if somehow I'm able to get through their nos. in the coming week even though I have a mixed feeling about the place.

In a place like Lucknow it does feel like taking a leap of faith when the options available are so limited. People dealing in Wharfedale & a few other brands already closed down their shop a long time back. After going through most of the reviews Dali seems to be one brand that seems to gel with the requirement of people having a budget similar to mine & that has been a consistent view in most of the forums.

Marantz 5009 & Dali Zensor 5.1 is what I am currently looking at though this is just based on recommendations. What are your requirements ?

 

[kestrel5915]

My requirement is a 5.1 setup for my living room mainly for movies, gaming and music since we don't watch much TV as such.
The listening area is the drawing room which is only about 12X10 ft but it is part of a larger hall which has the dining room.
I have auditioned the following: Wharfedale (10.6), Monitor Audio Mass, Paradigm CT100, Tannoy V4i, Dali Zensor 5, B&W MT50, KEF Q300, Golden Ears SuperSat 5.1.
Of all these we liked the B&W sound the most although it was a satellite system.
KEF was good for music, Monitor Audio and Golden Ears were both good for movies.

So based on these auditions we'll be auditioning the B&W 685 S2 series bookshelf setup paired with an Onkyo AVR tomorrow because for music needs a satellite system will not suffice.
If going for only movies then B&W MT50 or MA Mass would have been more than sufficient for us.

I think for the price of a Bose 5.1 one could easily get a much better system but all depends on personal taste and requirements.

Dali is really good, other than that you can really consider others available in Lucknow like KEF, Polk Audio (although I haven't heard it yet), B&W (slightly expensive in India), Golden Ears (new brand but very good), Jamo.
Ashwani also offered me Elac speakers but he didn't have either the Dalis or the Elacs for demo.

What did you actually audition at Dizitouch?
Because when I was there he only had the in-wall speakers connected to a NAD amp and a PSB sub.
The in-wall ones weren't too great or clear.

 

[beanstalk_230]

My requirement is a 5.1 setup for my living room mainly for movies, gaming and music since we don't watch much TV as such.
The listening area is the drawing room which is only about 12X10 ft but it is part of a larger hall which has the dining room.
I have auditioned the following: Wharfedale (10.6), Monitor Audio Mass, Paradigm CT100, Tannoy V4i, Dali Zensor 5, B&W MT50, KEF Q300, Golden Ears SuperSat 5.1.
Of all these we liked the B&W sound the most although it was a satellite system.
KEF was good for music, Monitor Audio and Golden Ears were both good for movies.

That's a lot of speakers that you have auditioned. Where did you get a chance to have these demos ?? And do they all fall in the price bracket of 1.5 to 2L ?? I heard the same setup as you did. That's the reason I mentioned that I haven't had any demo of speakers that I am actually looking to buy therefore making it pointless from a buyers point of view. I do remember having a demo of Wharf 9.5 a long time back which I really liked but that was connected to a stereo amp. Polk with a Denon combo did not impress me on the other hand. That's all I have to compare right now. How was the Dali Zensor 5.1 combo in terms of the price & in terms of music (bollywood & likes) & was the punch in the system satisfactory ?

Secondly, a rather difficult question to answer. What is your preference / taste of the sound that you are currently looking at ??

 

[kestrel5915]

That's a lot of speakers that you have auditioned. Where did you get a chance to have these demos ?? And do they all fall in the price bracket of 1.5 to 2L ?? I heard the same setup as you did. That's the reason I mentioned that I haven't had any demo of speakers that I am actually looking to buy therefore making it pointless from a buyers point of view. I do remember having a demo of Wharf 9.5 a long time back which I really liked but that was connected to a stereo amp. Polk with a Denon combo did not impress me on the other hand. That's all I have to compare right now. How was the Dali Zensor 5.1 combo in terms of the price & in terms of music (bollywood & likes) & was the punch in the system satisfactory ?

Secondly, a rather difficult question to answer. What is your preference / taste of the sound that you are currently looking at ??

Actually I was in Delhi for some work and decided to stay there for a couple of days extra to demo some setups.
I auditioned B&W, KEF and Golden Ear at Madhav Enterprises, rest all in Delhi NCR.
The Dali Zensor 5 setup I demoed was in a small room so the speakers and the sub were overpowering the room.
I found that for music Zensor 5 was much better than Zensor 3 which is expected.
I think for the price the system was overall pretty good although the bass from the Dali E9F sub was not very tight.

I listen to mostly rock music like Pink Floyd, Metallica, Megadeth, Rammstein, Queen, Evanescence.
I also listen a lot to Beethoven Symphonies and Hans Zimmer OSTs.
In Indian music I like the music of Amit Trivedi, Sneha Khanwalkar, Jal (the band).
So its quite a mixed bag.
With the B&Ws I found the high frequency sounds also very clear and non-fatiguing plus the dialogues in the movies were also very clear.

I almost bought the Monitor Audio Mass but then thought about auditioning more to explore.
I found the Wharfedales that I auditioned were a bit bright but that might be because they were right out of the box because otherwise they are supposed to be on the warmer side.

All the setups that i have mentioned are within 2lacs except the B&W.
I think you should definitely visit Madhav Enterprises before deciding.

 

[beanstalk_230]

Actually I was in Delhi for some work and decided to stay there for a couple of days extra to demo some setups.
I auditioned B&W, KEF and Golden Ear at Madhav Enterprises, rest all in Delhi NCR.
The Dali Zensor 5 setup I demoed was in a small room so the speakers and the sub were overpowering the room.
I found that for music Zensor 5 was much better than Zensor 3 which is expected.
I think for the price the system was overall pretty good although the bass from the Dali E9F sub was not very tight.

I listen to mostly rock music like Pink Floyd, Metallica, Megadeth, Rammstein, Queen, Evanescence.
I also listen a lot to Beethoven Symphonies and Hans Zimmer OSTs.
In Indian music I like the music of Amit Trivedi, Sneha Khanwalkar, Jal (the band).
So its quite a mixed bag.
With the B&Ws I found the high frequency sounds also very clear and non-fatiguing plus the dialogues in the movies were also very clear.

I almost bought the Monitor Audio Mass but then thought about auditioning more to explore.
I found the Wharfedales that I auditioned were a bit bright but that might be because they were right out of the box because otherwise they are supposed to be on the warmer side.

All the setups that i have mentioned are within 2lacs except the B&W.
I think you should definitely visit Madhav Enterprises before deciding.

I am planning to visit Madhav E. this week & will have a look at the options available. I personally do not want to go in for a satellite system since music playback is also something that I might need. My brother went for a demo of Zensor 5 & 7 at Top Gizmo, Noida recently & he found the 7 lacking in clarity but up on the loudness which is obvious looking at the size increase. After going through your posts it seems Dali might just cut it out for me. Dizi Touch has offered me the Dali E12 sub which costs around 55k but I'm not sure whether or not should I buy it or look into some other options in the same range. Do you have some suggestions for a sub in the same price range which gives adequate punch to complete the Dali setup??

After all these auditions what are you inclining towards ??

 

[kestrel5915]

I am planning to visit Madhav E. this week & will have a look at the options available. I personally do not want to go in for a satellite system since music playback is also something that I might need. My brother went for a demo of Zensor 5 & 7 at Top Gizmo, Noida recently & he found the 7 lacking in clarity but up on the loudness which is obvious looking at the size increase. After going through your posts it seems Dali might just cut it out for me. Dizi Touch has offered me the Dali E12 sub which costs around 55k but I'm not sure whether or not should I buy it or look into some other options in the same range. Do you have some suggestions for a sub in the same price range which gives adequate punch to complete the Dali setup??

After all these auditions what are you inclining towards ??

Yes, a satellite system is not the way to go if music is also in consideration.

But your room size is huge so you should definitely get good fronts and center Also a lot depends on your seating position.
So better listen to a few systems before deciding.
At Madhav's place you can audition Polk Audio, B&W and KEF but his HT demo room is small so you might not get a realistic picture.

After all my auditions I'm leaning most towards B&W due to overall quality of sound but it'll certainly overshoot my budget.
I auditioned the B&W 685 S2 based 5.1 system on an Onkyo TX737 today and found it much to my liking but B&Ws are expensive in India :annoyed:
Anyway, I'm still undecided but leaning towards B&W.