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Wow. That is a lot of AV gear under one roof.

Is there a reason you have kept the speakers in the corner and almost against the wall?

The RtiA9 is capable of pretty solid bass. Their close proximity to the wall is probably going to make the bass bloat more than sound accurate. You are likely to gain better imaging keeping it closer to the TV or where the sub woofer is positioned.

You should a stereo receiver or integrated for the music set up.

@Vikram - As Sandeep mentioned, you should consider losing the Pioneer SC 61 and get an integrated or a pre amp/dac feeding into the Emotiva for the music. The AVR's just dont play that well with 2 channel music. What is the source for music?

@ Sandeep - RtiA9's are indeed rear ported. But since every room is different, I ve seen them placed 8 inches from the rear wall and not sound boomy and in some cases even 18 inches sounded all muddy. I guess he probably knows what worked best for him.

Thank you. Well, it may not be apparent in the picture however the RTi A9s are about 12 inches from the wall.

You're point about a stereo receiver or an integrated amp is well taken however the PS3 & a Sony CD player are hooked into the SC-61 so while watching lets say a movie I use a surround mode that brings in the centre channel and subs into the play and while listening to music (via the CD player), I use the stereo mode so only the towers are playing. I know its not an ideal set up but however I have already gone beyond my budget for the time being so..:)

I agree with your suggestion regarding the pre amp/dac however these additions would have to wait for the time being. Some of these components are from legacy set up from our our old home where I had a much simpler arrangement so I had to use these in my new set up.

For music the source that I use is the Sony CD player that is hooked into the SC-61 (my apologies for its omission in the original post). Nothing to beat the sampling rate of the compact disc as compared to that of the MP3 format. My collection mostly consists of Western & Indian classical, Jagjit Singh, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Jim Morrison, Beatles, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, some Jazz etc so this set up would have to suffice for now.

The issue isn't the distance from the Wall. The speakers are placed in a corner which in my experience ruins bass. This placement is not ideal for any speaker. Off course, this is also a personal preference so maybe you (or the user) prefer it this way.

TV's HDMI ports aren't working, so as an alternative, I'm trying to connect the monitor out (V port using an AV component cable) of the AV receiver to one of the AV Inputs of the TV and there's just a lot of static/noise, no picture - The On screen display (OSD) of the receiver isn't displayed on the TV and neither is the picture from a source connected to the receiver. This is as basic a connection as possible, what could be wrong ? :Shockked:

TV's digital audio out is connected to the receiver, so I can listen to stuff played on the TV via the home theater speakers.

Problem is only with the picture from receiver and it's sources to the TV.

Two possibilities, either the entire inputs board of the TV has malfunctioned or your source like AVR or BDP/DVP/ etc has problems in output stage. Have you tried connecting your source directly to TV bypassing AVR to check if HDMI or AV connection input and output are working?

Av3 is working, will check Av1 and 2 which are inputs on the rear panel of the TV.

Haven't done this check yet.

Hi Folks

I was looking to upgrade my HT from an Onkyo 5.1 R340 to something new. This has been there for the last 10 years now and i felt the need for upgrading. I talked to a few experts and then put together my needs

1. My movie watching is limited and so is my TV watching. We end up watching for about 30 - 45 minutes on weekday and maybe 1 or 2 movies over the weekend. My movies typically are ones with less special effects and audio effects and we give a premium to story and word play. In that sense, i feel that the current set up of 5.1 is more than sufficient

2. My music is another story altogether. I have a huge collection of music and have converted most of them into flac format. They now sit on multiple SD cards. My music listening is really heavy. It is about 3 to 4 hours on weekdays and maybe 8+ hours on weekends. Sometimes its so much that missus calls our home a tea stall. I realize that what i need is a 2.1 system

I also listen to some streaming music, but those are not hifi music (Prime music ).

I need a set up that can
1. Play streaming music - I am ok with a BT connectivity to my Phone
2. Play through my SD card
3. Ability to connect my FiiO player with DAC. (The interface is not great as ipod, but the sound quality is much better)
4. Ability to taken in external inputs like a turntable (I am on the market for that as well)


I checked out a few and landed my sights on the following
1. Cambridge Audio CXA 60 receiver
2. Q Acoustics 2050i or Triangle Signature

Now here comes the catch. A combination of these will put be backwards by about 2 lakhs along with sound dampners, wires, fitting etc

1. Is there a better option that i can look at with similar sound signature (crisp and clean sounds - no muds, no over the top bass etc)
2. Should i go for a run of the mill system like the Bose Soundtouch which then becomes a portable device as well
3. Are there other portable options as well which have similar sound signature

Any pointers would help

I think you're on the right track in terms of the receiver - Cambridge Audio has some extremely good audiophile quality stereo amplifiers.

On speakers, I would suggest to look at various brands that make floorstanding speakers (I have the Focal Chorus series and they sound great).

The combination of the receiver + speakers + your music is what you need to audition before you decide. Problem is the showroom's audition/listening rooms may have sound treatment etc which will make most speakers sound great, but get them home and they will sound a lot different. One way to go about is to carry your music to a multi-brand outlet where you can audition the receiver with various speaker brands (use the same music source so you can discern the differences). Another option is to go with some audio consultants since the advantage will be that they may be able to arrange for demos at your home with the brand/equipment you plan to buy and they deal with used and brand new (the used market is also great, I bought my Center speaker and subwoofer used). Also, some of these guys can get you great deals on new stuff that as a retail/walk in customer you cannot get at dealerships.

@subraiyr if it is a pure music set-up you're after, check out the Klipsch Forte III. I can't recommend better speakers for a stereo set-up.

Pick up a networked receiver or whatever is the technical name like Yamaha RN 602 Cambridge, Marantz etc with all sorts of connectivity options FM, BT, Alexa, and any traditional source.

For speakers try
1. Klipsch Forte III. expensive( 4 lac ) but absolutely worth it.
2. Klipsch Hersey III (1.65 lac) again excellent only beaten by Forte III
3. Try Klipsch Sixes Bookshelf powered speakers. Don't need an amp. But may need a Sub. Cost around 70 K.

I have recently auditioned these three. Want Forte III, but may settle for Hersey III due budget.

Tried Klipsch floorstanders RP 8000F and RF 7III. Good but cant hold a candle to Forte III.

Forte and Hersey are Heritage line speakers and not available for audition everywhere.

Hope it helps.

QUERY TO ALL:
I live in an apartment in Bangalore where power cuts are frequent. Every time there change from BESCOM to DG, the entire TV and connected devices such as AVR, STB, speakers etc shut off. This is extremely annoying as the rebooting everything takes a while and if the power is back, the process starts all over again. So i have been looking for a UPS which should ideally be compact enough to place around the TV area, and should be able to take the load of a 42" LED tv, an onkyo AVR with 5.1 speaker system including 2 tower speakers and a woofer, a set top box and wi-fi modem. I need the UPS to support for not more then a minute, as it only takes a few seconds to switch from DG to MAINS and vice-versa.
could anyone help with what size and brand of UPS do i need to look at for this requirement. TIA

I was in a similar predicament and had a projector as part of my HT setup as well. I used a APC 1 KVA online UPS for the projector and a whole house inverter for the rest of my equipment. My whole house inverters are again APC with capacities of 1 KVA and 800VA. I have split the rooms between these two inverters. I believe an online ups of 1KVA will suffice your setup without the need for a whole house inverter. Look at apc as a brand recommendation.

Thanks! I was looking at 1 KVA options but was not sure if it would be sufficient for the requirement. The TV would consume approx 80W and the onkyo AVR consumes 370W of power. The onkyo connects to 5 speakers and i am not sure if the speakers would further add to the load. I have an onkyo sub which is separately connected to power so am sure that will have to be considered separately in power consumption calculation. Not sure on how much power the sub consumes. Add the tatasky STB to the load and thats about it. Will 1KVA suffice for these? I am not sure how to confirm that.

1KVA will suffice imho. You can segregate your spike strips such that the sub can go to raw power and anything like that which is inconsequential for your watching experience for that one or two minutes. There are various measuring devices that you can get to see power consumption instantaneous and easiest would be to turn on everything and go look at your digital EB meter. Alternately you can purchase oower monitoring devices but I believe 1KVA will do, even taking into consideration inefficiencies.
Just checked my hall setup now and the 49" Sony Led is consuming ~50w, the bose cinemate is taking 35w and the Dishtv STB was consuming 18w.