Home Theatre Audio for 35K budget - Suggestions needed !

Status
Not open for further replies.
sarang

sarang

Explorer
The HT setup is almost ready and demand a decent audio setup on a budget.

Current setup includes:

HTPC
e5200 + OCZ Vanquisher
G31M-S2L
2GB 800 MHz
4670 with HDMI
50" Plasma

Other equipment i need to use the audio setup for will be

TataSky : analog L+R
PS2 : Optical SPDIF
Wii (coming soon) : Dunno :ashamed:
ipod touch 16gb : auxillay in

The room is 20x10x10. The surroundings are very noisy as its close to a busy road.

Budget is 35K not extendable.

Cabling is already in place for a 5 speaker setup. Subwoofer cable will need to be purchased which preferably have to be accomodated in the said budget.

ZERO wife acceptance issues so even a fuglier setup is welcome if it serve its purpose.

I auditioned the following HTiBs so far.
1. Jamo S406 speaker setup with a sherwood amp(They only had this one for some strange reason) : Too muffled sound, the wood (whatever it was) was sounding pretty cheap, so out of question.

2. Onkyo 3100: nothing to eve talk about.

3. Yamaha YHT -195
This one sounded cleaner than the both above but stilll lacked the clarity and detail i am looking for, but for the money this did sound like a thing to consider.

4. HK130 + JBL SCS140
Another good choice and so far best of the lot. Would have loved to listen to the SCS178 from JBL but it was not available, neither did i get a quote for this.

5. Onkyo s5100
Did not justify the cost in terms of speakers. The electronics do seem promising and looks to be the most feature rich of the lot. Still the combo number 4 sounded neat as againt this 35K setup.

Additional thoughts:

How good is the HK130 as a amp? Since it costs ~12K i can consider getting a decent speaker package for the remaining 23K.

Is there a similarly priced decently performing amp in the same price range? Hint: Cranky's Pio may be?

And what speaker package can be had for ~20K to augement the Amp.
 
Sarang, quick one.. a normal RCA cable works for subwoofer hookups. Don't get suckered into buying expensive frail SW cables.

Haven't heard the systems on test, so best of luck!
 
TechHead said:
Sarang, quick one.. a normal RCA cable works for subwoofer hookups. Don't get suckered into buying expensive frail SW cables.

Haven't heard the systems on test, so best of luck!
Click to expand...

Point noted.

Not bound to the systems listed here, actually these were the ones i had heard so just wanted to put things in perspective for the gurus to suggest me accordigly. :)

any other suggestions are welcome as far as they are in budget.
 
sarang said:
Point noted.

Not bound to the systems listed here, actually these were the ones i had heard so just wanted to put things in perspective for the gurus to suggest me accordigly. :)

any other suggestions are welcome as far as they are in budget.
Click to expand...

Man mine setup is also pending. So if you are getting quote do mention mine and try to get discount. It seems you are after music and so am I. Mine is Music: 60%, Movie: 35%, Game: 5%.

Do keep in the loop.

~LT
 
@LT: Sure dude, been watching you thread, dint speak there as you had a more generous budget as against the measly stuff i am putting together. :ashamed:

will sure keep you posted.
 
The JBL SCS 260 will be about 25K, and you should be able to scrounge a receiver for 10K, if you bargain really hard. I know Sumaria were willing to let a package go at that price with those speakers.

The SCS260 are really worth the extra moolah over the SCS140. They actually can do some music duty, and are very similar to the MX5021 in driver complement (of course they are different tonally). The midrange improvement is totally worth the extra money. The sub is the same as the SCS140, and manages to partner these speakers even better, as the crossover can be lower in frequency - so there is much less boom from the sub.
 
JBL sounds good as i can personally go and audition them, here in pune.
How would the HK130/132/134 be?

It could be had for about 11 K here.

You paid 10K for the Pio right? Will it be enough for this puropse?

Gotto check pune prices for the 200 though. Will give them a listen whenever i get some time, and update this thread.
 
I'd once auditioned the HK 132 + the JBL SCS 260 from Chroma, Surat (price was exceptionally high compared to what cranky's posted since this's Surat!) and it sounded right for movies. Albeit the same goes for games as well, so if you're planning to hook a PS3 into this system, it's a better investment anyday. :D

In any case, dont blow your moolah on the Z5500. Peeps on the Z5500 wont know what they're missing unless they listen to a discrete amp + spkrs setup like this one. I was once planning to ditch the MX and invest in this setup but gave up when I realised I'm missing a PS3 and the PV8D. :P
 
I didn't like the way the HK receivers looked, but their power ratings seem very honest compared to say, the Pio or the Sony, which can't think of putting a number below 100W RMS (the actual power is much lower). Also, I don't know about their sound - but JediKnight (on this forum) is running the 132 (IIRC) with the SCS140, you may try shooting a PM to him for a more accurate opinion...
 
Two quick notes: The Wii has no digital audio output, so you need to hook it up through analog input. The Pio is very well connected, it has three (fully assignable) digital inputs and a total of six inputs, and thus can be configured to run from nine inputs (the inputs auto-detect signals), including the multichannel analog if you have a good soundcard.

Also, though you don't need an expensive sub cable, get one a little better than the 30-rupee cheapies. I was using one-third of a pretty good AV cable, and it was picking up a lot of hum due to the long run. I now use a DIY cable made with heavy lay microphone patch cable and some MX connectors (the best they make). Total cost within Rs. 500, and with zero hum and interference.

Lastly, if music is what you need, the JBLs will not cut it, unless you are pretty casual about quality. For gaming and TV, they are fine, and will be decent for movies too. Not music though, so don't go expecting miracles.
 
@cranky: thanks

1. Music is not a priority pre se. But would prefer some music capabilities to use the few gigs of multichennel audio lying around, but still not a priority as i am saving separately for a lyrita setup.

2. So what other options do i have south of 25K in terms of speakers considering i go for the pio?

3. Got the cable point. Will come back to it once i actually have the system in place.
 
You might want to check the sonodyne genie as well. Everytime I hear that speaker, I feel its very good value and very very underrated. The 10k sonodyne receiver ain't bad either. It does an honest 70 watt of power.
 
cranky said:
sarang, once again, who's cracky? I'm headed that way, but not just yet ;)
Click to expand...

oops, my bad!!!!!! :ashamed: :ashamed:

typo.

Chaos said:
You might want to check the sonodyne genie as well. Everytime I hear that speaker, I feel its very good value and very very underrated. The 10k sonodyne receiver ain't bad either. It does an honest 70 watt of power.
Click to expand...

Let me check if i can audition them here in pune. If not then i'll have to make a trip to mumbai.
 
update: going to audition the following equipment this evening:
1. AG-D2000 | Consumer Electronics | Receivers / Tuners

2. Marantz 3001

3. Wharfedale moviestar 50+, 60/65+, 70+ packages.

4. Some other canadian speaker brand the seller mentioned, and i forgot. :ashamed: lets see how things work out.

From what i've read the marantz is better sounding (detailed) as compared to other similarly priced recievers. Lets see (hear) how far that is true.

@LT: will update you pretty soon.
 
linuxtechie said:
Sarang,

You mentioned: 4670 with HDMI

Which card?

~LT
Click to expand...

Palit. This one Palit Radeon HD 4670 Super 512MB Graphics Card The Card :: TweakTown

Auditioned the above mentioned gear except that the speakers were not wharfedales as told. They were some canadian brand. Marantz reciever was really good when we played my audio CDs. But the major intended usage was movies and it kind of disappoint me. though it did not put me off as much as others auditioned so far. HK being the only exception.

The marantz is huge, larger than any entry level AV receiver i came across. It was fed by a pioneer dvd player, the seller was very nice and let me play with the gear to my heart's content.

The marantz and those (i forgot the name again) speakers + an Energy subwoofer, was being hawked at 36.5.

The speakers did not impress me much though. They were housed in plastic and did not hold much of their own even in the DTS demo track.

I was not going to attribute the failure to the marantz, so i requested the person to hook up a pair of PSB alpha LR1s and the marantz started to show what it was capable of.

Accurate mids, beautiful trebles( enigma bells clearly audible for once). :P

Now the disappointment part, the crossover cane only be set to 80,100,120 and even at 120 the sub was not getting much juice. This is great when listening to music but i did feel the sub could do with some more juice, at least the crossover should start at 150Hz. (Or am i wrong? Advice needed here)

The Teac avr + speakers had nothing much to talk about and was a forgetteble experience.

After the biz talk there was some time to relax and he was kind enough to let me gorge on to a pair of MA silver driven by a Naim power amp. :) Blissssss. I listened for a bout half an hour with the MAs.

More updates soon.
 
Which sub was it?

The LR1 are very nice speakers for the money, but a 5-speaker set with LCR1/LR1 ends up at about 28-29K on its own, receiver and sub extra.

The LR1 go down to about 100Hz so it is not necessary to set the crossover any higher. If you need more bass, you need a bigger sub. Remember in your room the bass will always be more because it is smaller. You can adjust levels, but the XO should be set for the lowest possible frequencies the satellites will handle.

I would suggest (if your budget is a hard limit) picking up only the front speakers and a good sub (NOT the PSB, tell us what options you have there and we can suggest) along with he receiver. Add the LCR1 or Alpha B1 later for fronts and move the LR1 to surround duty four months down the line. You'll have a very high quality setup that way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom