Team-BHP - The Home Theater thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by anilisanil (Post 2581053)

And another good thing about watching them on HD channels is that they are uninterrupted! For some benevolent reason there are no ads on HD channels, yet!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustang.101 (Post 2581057)

Absolutely correct. This way a 30 min broadcast finishes in 20 mins and a 1 hr broadcast finishes in 40 mins. So bloody nice.

Seriously, thats such a cool thing. Strangely enough Movies Now does not believe in this concept, they show ads on their HD channel as well.

Always wondered why?

Hi All,

Need some help and advice from the experienced audiophiles out there!
I am in process of upgrading our current home theatre (which was set up 4 years back and some components added 2 years back!) The older room was an 11'x13' size and the new room where we are upgrading the home theatre to is 11'x19'.

Our current setup consists of:
Sony LCD 40BX400 (40 Inch HD LCD)
Philips Blu-ray player (BDP something!)
Yamaha AVR 5.1 Channel (almost 5 years old now)
Cerwin Wega Sub and satellite speakers.

We are now looking at upgrading this setup and getting:
1) New Floor standing front speakers + satellites
2) A good projector

Need your recommendations on what would be some good choices for the two things we are looking for! So far I have checked out some option from Jamo, Polk Audio etc and I liked the S605 Floor standing speakers. But there are so many mixed reviews on the net that I am not so sure about Jamo. Can other users please recommend some good options (with prices if possible!). The S605 pair is available for 42,500 here in Gurgaon.

Thanks a ton!

Regards,
Behemoth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemoth (Post 2582069)

Cerwin Vega! Do you have a liking for bass heavy sound?? SPL for that matter!

Can you kindly elaborate on your listening preferences. Also are you looking at upgrading your AVR?

Also what is your max budget?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashish22 (Post 2589065)

Yes, a few years back(6-8years) I liked heavy Bass quite a lot, and chose these on the limited budget I had at that time. Now my listening preferences have evolved a lot and I prefer mellow, realistic, natural sounds.
I appreciate good soundstage and field of depth.
I normally listen to Country music (Kenny Rogers , Don Williams , John Denver), Soft Jazz , a little bit of Rock (U2, Inxs, Eagles etc)
Wife likes listening to Ghazals (Jagjit Singh mainly).

My current budget (without AVR upgrade) is 60K for the speakers (2 floorstanding fronts + centre + Surround). I may eventually also go for the AVR upgrade in a few months.
The same setup will also be used for watching movies (room size 11x19).

Would appreciate your recommendations!
Some of the options I have auditioned / am considering:
Tannoy Mercury V4 (front Floor standing)
Jamo C605 (front Floor standing)
Bose V201 (rear surround)
Bose V301 (front speakers)

The more I see / Listen to options, the more confused I get!
Thanks!

I have always liked the concert series of Jamo. To me they seem to have tight midrange, punchy sound, well detailed and good sound stage and imaging.

Kindly avoid Bose. They are not half as decent for the price they come along with.

For the budget of 60K i might want to suggest you the polk combination.

Fronts: Polk TSI 500 (I liked their overall musicality, imaging, punch and the midrange)
Center: Polk CS20
Rears: Polk TSI 100 or OWM 3 based on your aesthetic choice. They are primarily used only to fill surround effects in movies/games.

This should easily fit in your budget and match timber to timer. I would suggest you to have a proper audition of this setup in a demo room and then see if its to your liking.

In the end the final decision should be done by your ears. If this doesn't suit your preferences then we can look at other alternatives.

PS: 1. This setup might sound little harsh with your present yamaha receiver. You might want to upgrade your receiver to a more balanced warmer receiver in order to fully utilize the potential of these speakers.
2. No experience with Tannoy Mercury

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashish22

Thanks Ashish!
I will definitely audition the combination which you have recommended. Any good showroom in Delhi /Gurgaon which you can suggest ( you can send me a PM).
Yes, as you mentioned about the receiver, it is also due for replacement, but due to current budget constraints, I will upgrade it in Feb-Mar.
Definitely will choose a speaker + Avr combination now and upgrade them one by one - wecome your suggestion on the Avr too!
Thanks a ton!

Regards,
Behemoth

After months of googling and reading through forums, i had three options to choose from following HTIBs:

Onkyo Hts3400 (Price quoted 23900/24000/24999)
Yamaha YHT 296 (Price quoted 35000/32000)
Denon DHT 1312XP (price quoted 30000/31900)

My needs were:
1. 80% movies/gaming and 20% music
2. Should have atleast 4 hdmi ports/3d ready/support for all codecs via HDMI
3. Should be able to handle PS3 for gaming and movies
4. Should be future ready/latest model and should be dependable product.

Onkyo Hts3400:
Two words, no stock! No where in bangalore! All Onkyo stores and dealers listed in their site had no stock of it, they were willing to take only bookings. Expected date was December mid or year end. Most of the forums had rated it pretty well, Audition is available in forum value mall onkyo store. Rude chap there :Frustrati
Most shops have only 3300 in stock. Grihavaibhava gave lowest quote of 23900 but not sure about date of delivery.

Yamaha YHT 296:
Hypercity was selling YHT 294 at 24990. But YHT 296 was not available. Other 3 stores listed in yamaha site had stock but they were not willing to negotiate below 32000. Demo'ed YHT 294, Speakers were let down.

Denon DHT 1312XP:
Walked in to Hometheatrestore in Jpnagar (follow google map to the T!) Met mr lokesh, he was very forthcoming in explaining all features, comparing onkyo/yamaha/denon. Demo'ed Denon and was blown away watching spiderman3 falling from roof scene, Fast&Furious chase scene and finally Hotel california video. Yamaha YHT 296 was available as well but major turn off was no onscreen display for AVR settings! you had to depend on mini LED display on the amp! Other than that i was all sold for yamaha, that was a deal breaker for me :Frustrati Finalized Denon after discussions (close to 3 hours spent in shop!) and bought one after negotiating with a Hdmi cable. Had to pay cash as cards are charged 2%. Excellent place to buy all equipments for Audiophiles!
Yet to set it up, will post my feedback once i install it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaas2000 (Post 2592596)

Denon DHT 1312XP:
Walked in to Hometheatrestore in Jpnagar (follow google map to the T!) Met mr lokesh, he was very forthcoming in explaining all features, comparing onkyo/yamaha/denon. Demo'ed Denon and was blown away watching spiderman3 falling from roof scene, Fast&Furious chase scene and finally Hotel california video. Yamaha YHT 296 was available as well but major turn off was no onscreen display for AVR settings! you had to depend on mini LED display on the amp! Other than that i was all sold for yamaha, that was a deal breaker for me :Frustrati Finalized Denon after discussions (close to 3 hours spent in shop!) and bought one after negotiating with a Hdmi cable. Had to pay cash as cards are charged 2%. Excellent place to buy all equipments for Audiophiles!
Yet to set it up, will post my feedback once i install it.

I have purchased the Yamaha RX-A810 from the US and expect to have it in hand on the 2nd of Jan. My friend just picked up the Denon 1312XP for 30K in Chennai. What did you pay for it?

Hi guys,
Need some help in choosing the home theater system for the new TV.

We are planning to take Sony Bravia LCD-TV CX420 or BX420 and a suitable speaker system around 10k to 15k. We came across DAV-TZ200 with the following features:

BRAVIA Sync
USB Movie Playback (DivX and MPEG4 Simple Profile)
USB Record and Play Function
HDMI Output (Upscale 1080p for DVD)
Total Power Output 500W (83W x 5 + 85W)
S-Master Digital Amplifier

I don't understand the specs much but BRAVIA Sync sounds interesting. (Hoping that buying the home theater and TV of the same brand would be beneficial!!)
The sony website shows a newer model DAV-TZ210 too with slightly higher output of 600W(100W x 5 + 100W), we might pick this one if that makes considerable difference!!

Since we are looking for 5.1 channel system, this is how we are planning to arrange the speakers(with sofa sets and dining table to show where we would/might be sitting with dimensions for just in case, the dimensions shown are approximate):

We would be using our existing TV stand as speakers stand.
The woofer will lie horizontally with sp1 horizontally on it. Does placing the speaker or woofer horizontally matters??
sp2 and sp3 at points 2 and 3 respectively. Alternately should we think about placing them in top corners at 8 and 9 respectively?
sp4 and sp5 positions were chosen at 4 and 5 because we would be sitting on the dinner table as well.
10, 11, 12, 13 points are mentioned just in case if you guys suggest are better points for any of the speakers.

Please give your feedback and any other suggestions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diyguy (Post 2599819)

I have purchased the Yamaha RX-A810 from the US and expect to have it in hand on the 2nd of Jan. My friend just picked up the Denon 1312XP for 30K in Chennai. What did you pay for it?

Can you please inform which place your friend bought Denon in Chennai and his experience of his purchase? Is he happy with the speakers? Though the AVR is rated good, the Denon speakers dont seem to have similar appreciation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kkr2k2 (Post 2601594)

BRAVIA Sync
USB Movie Playback (DivX and MPEG4 Simple Profile)
USB Record and Play Function
HDMI Output (Upscale 1080p for DVD)
Total Power Output 500W (83W x 5 + 85W)
S-Master Digital Amplifier

We would be using our existing TV stand as speakers stand.
The woofer will lie horizontally with sp1 horizontally on it. Does placing the speaker or woofer horizontally matters??
sp2 and sp3 at points 2 and 3 respectively. Alternately should we think about placing them in top corners at 8 and 9 respectively?
sp4 and sp5 positions were chosen at 4 and 5 because we would be sitting on the dinner table as well.
10, 11, 12, 13 points are mentioned just in case if you guys suggest are better points for any of the speakers.

Please give your feedback and any other suggestions.

Dont place the woofer below the TV. If i recall, the woofer has a side facing woofer with a front facing port. Stand the woofer in the corner below 8 /9.

Use swivel brackets for the rear speakers at 4,5, and angle them towards the sofa.

Front speakers 2/3 should be either at ear level when seated or slightly higher and ideally away from the TV ( same line as 4/5 ) to create a good sound field.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivek_lo (Post 2609342)

He got it at some store in Adyar, can get you the number if you want to pursue it. His center speaker quit working within a week or two and he had it replaced under warranty. Says no issue with the quality of the speakers..