Team-BHP - The Home Theater thread

Am in the lookout for a budget HT setup in the 25K-35K range. Had homed on to the Onkyo 3305, but when I went to the demo, I came across the Pioneer HTP-RS30 which got me interested in the system.Between the 3305 and the RS30, the latter offers floorstanders for the front channel with obvious advantages to the sound quality.

The details of the Onkyo are here:
Home Theater Systems : HT-S3305 | ONKYO Asia and Oceania Website

And the details of the Pioneer are here:
http://www.pioneer.ph/static/09todor...e/todoroki.pdf

Does anyone have any ides about hoe Pioneer HTs are? The fact that there are no reviews on the net about the Pioneer HT dissuaded me from making an outright purchase!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR (Post 2246975)

1. I am puzzled why the home theater thread here does not mention Pioneer.

2. Even Pioneers site is very reticent on their HT systems. They are listing only dealers / stockists of their auto / ICE systems on their site.

3. The home theater dissuasion thread:-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...er-system.html

Mods may consider merging these threads.

Went through the thread mentioned above earlier, but all the setups mentioned there are way above my budget!

Neel, about a fornight back. I called ONKYO to come and check for a problem with my receiver which was not getting switched on.

The ONKYO office here knows me very well and been using their HT from last 5 years.

I spoke to my favorite salesman and he convinced me to come over to their office and check out the latest entry level model HT-S3300. After just a short demo, i fell hook, line and sinker

Though they dont exchange. But, in my case they exchanged my previous Onkyo HT and installed the new one at an amazing exchange price.

Entire transaction from end-to-end got completed in < 6 hours:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visaster (Post 2199760)

What i need now is HELP on deciding

Hard disc ( company, capacity, cost range )
HDD player with WIFI capability
How does PS3 double as a HDD player and networking (internet browsing)

AV receiver and speakers after 6 months for sure.

My 2c about PS3. I read reviews about PS3's BD capability, wifi, HDD etc and I bought one. CNET reviews ranked them as the best quality BD Player. But PS3 had issues in terms power consumption, enormous amount heat etc.

Other than these, I had issues playing certain DIVX files, reason not known. Divx plays nice in PC and not in PS3. PS3 does not play MKVs. Very limited codec support. Though the picture quality is far better than my current Netword Media player (AC Ryan HD).

I do not play too much games, so, I thought is was a waste and sold it off and got AC Ryan, which does its job just nicely. It just plays anything thrown at it.

Can put an internal HDD, connect HDD/USB/WIFI Module etc.

Browsing is a pain in PS3. Thought it plays youtube videos. Youtube has its specific interface for PS3. But, I seldom use it since I had no PS3 keyboard. May be it will help to improve the experience. I just had the controllers. Browsing was a problem because of the zoom was not perfect, going up and down/right left was a pain.

Hope this helps.

Hi All,
I am looking for a good quality Home Theatre system and have my requirements noted down as follows:

WHAT DO I ALREADY HAVE?
Well, Nothing of Audio stuff but i do have Panasonic Plasma P42V20D (Which does support Audio Return Channel over HDMI which can be useful)

BUDGET
45k (though flexible)

USE-CASE (In decreasing order of preference)
-Music and lots of it.I listen to lots of Hindi Film music, Indi-Pop, English (Trance, Some Jazz maybe) etc. I am not that into heavy metal rock.

-Movies; Though not so frequently i feel me and my parents have started watching more and more movies since i got the Plasma

-Gaming : I have a Wii (Yaa i know, nothing Hi-Def about it) but i play it frequently.

-PC : I do frequently connect my PC directly to TV via HDMI (I have the audio cable connected from audio card to the Video card, so both audio and video are sent over the same HDMI cable.). I also have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro. I have never really used this sound card to its full potential. Maybe i'll find some use the new system.

Both the Music and Movies are mostly played by Streaming from my PC(which is in another room) over Wi-Fi.
(The Audio Return Channel i mentioned can be useful here for throwing back audio from the TV to the Receiver)

WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR?
I dont want 5.1 HT Package setups with those tinny speakers. I am looking for quality stuff.
I know good HT components can be really expensive and buying them all at the same time can run into few lakhs. So based on my use cases and budget i am planning to start with :
1) Decent A/V Receiver and
2) Full range Tower speakers.

I'll get the Sub,Center and the Surrounds later on as the budget permits.

INITIAL FINDINGS
Well i did a bit of RnD and have found few models

A/V Receivers
-Denon AVR-1311 (Entry level 5.1, does not have video upscaling, nor ARC) - Rs 25k

-Denon AVR-1611 (1311 + Video upscaling,ARC etc) - Rs 32k
-Onkyo TX-SR508 (Most feature rich, 7.1 with all features of Denon AVR-1611) - Rs 27k
I have got feedback from a friend who says Onkyo is not that good, so i am not sure

Speakers
-Jamo HCS436 - Rs 14k
-Polk Audio TSI 300 - Rs20k (Not sure the exact price)

I took a test drive of AVR-1311 with the above Jamo and Polk Audio, The polk one being a bassier tho Jamo was decent too.

QUESTIONs
Well that was the info. i could gather from my side. I want your opinions as to what i should really go for

-Which A/V Receiver i should go for?
-Which Speakers to go for ( I am a bit inclined to Polk TSI 300).

My questions are open so please suggest any other brand/models too.

Hey guys,
I've just got an Optoma HD20 Full HD projector, but unfortunately that's all I have right now.

I'm planning to get a 5.1 Sound system along with a PS3 / Blu-ray player / Digital Media player.

The problem now is that I'm short on cash and wanted to buy a set of powered book shelf speakers that are sub 10 K. This is an interim solution for the Projector and will be shifted to my mum's computer when i get the full sound system. I wanted to know what my options are.

I was thinking of the following.
1> Audioengine 2
2> Klipsch
3> Paradigm

I'm a complete noob when it comes to home audio.
Also where in Bombay can i get these?
Went to Lamington Road... no luck
Went to Lakozy... no luck.

Thanks,
Sprucegoose [Shekhar]

Hi guys,

Owning a HT is my dream. Hope to make it come true, help.

Own a 40" Samsung LCD TV Series 5 C550
Will be purchasing a PS3 in the coming months.
Hard disk full of DVD/HD/BDRips, which will get connected to the TV.

Need a 5.1, preferable floored ones, but can adjust on wall mounted too.
Making a hole in the Wall will invite my landlords nose inside my house.

What are all the brands available? I knew only Sony and Onkyo. But do not know its intricacies.
What would be the budget?
The HT should be VFM

Thanks and cheers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dre@ms (Post 2309840)

I was talking to a friend of mine. He told me to stay away from all the budget 5.1 systems. [i have no personal experience with these, just telling you the advice that i heeded]

He said going in for a budget system is going to be a waste of money, you should get creative/logitech/altec lansing which will work out MUCH cheaper and deliver almost similar quality.

I'm planning on spending about 50K on my system, which since i'm not loaded will be spread out over 5 - 6 months.

Get a separate Amp, Speakers & Sub and then connect them.

not yet got even an inclination on the equipment i'm going to pick up. Might as well wait till i have the cash. Planning to pick up a set of book shelf speakers as an interim solution. have used Audioengine 2's before and they are class. better than the budget stuff i've heard at croma and the like.

I owned a Altec 5.1 and left it in Delhi. And now got a Mitashi 5.1 as my marriage gift. Unfortunately, my lab bit the sides of the subwoofer. Replaced it with a new sub, but not getting the factory result. And one drawback is, the satellite speakers doesn't have a clamp to be made wall hanged, I should buy a plank and then make them sit on it. And not loving the sound quality too.

If budget HT is not suggested, how much is the minimum amount to be spent? As I have already told, I am a novice when it comes to speakers, amps et al.

But would love to assemble them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dre@ms (Post 2310078)

If budget HT is not suggested, how much is the minimum amount to be spent?

Heheh. You are really green behind the ears!!!! You should follow one of those threads in the ICE sections, where we ensure that the thread starter exceds his budget by 2X - 5X. ;-D

Of course, I am exaggerating.

Quote:

But would love to assemble them.

Hope you mean buy the separate components (speakers and amp) and connect them.

I suggest you start with samurai's thread on designing home theater systems. Use the advanced search function to locate the thread, else it is mentioned a few pages back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dre@ms (Post 2309840)

What are all the brands available? I knew only Sony and Onkyo. But do not know its intricacies.

Yamaha, Denon, JBL, Pioneer, just a sample.

Quote:

What would be the budget?

As big as you want it to be.