[trehansid]

Originally Posted by barathvajan

Hi the room size is 18' x 11'. Its going to be placed in hall. Source would be DTH HD connection and BR players.

If sequired additional set of speakers (second output) will be placed in a 15 x 11 room.

Barath

1) Given the room size and the width, Bose seems to be the ideal with around match-box sized speakers, considering that dedicating a space to the speakers will be an issue.

2) if above point is not a concern then you wont need big floorstanders for that room but just good quality book shelf speaker shall suffice.

3) Options that you may want to look at :

SPEAKERS
========

Front Speakers
Picking good speakers are a must & usually we build the system around the speakers tonality & presentation. You may look at the book shelf speakers from following companies :

- Quad
- Monitor Audio
- PSB
--------> These shall remain under 32-40k

**You may also want to look at one floor stander which can still fit in well as its not too big in size and you wont need a speaker stand either for it. The speaker is - Monitor Audio RX6. This speaker is a music lovers delight and has kept everyone happy with a very decent performance wrt movies as well for a room about the size you mentioned. Pls note RX6 is a high quality speaker and should be around 82-85k.


**Approx Cost - 32-40,000 for Book shelf speakers such as Quad 11L2, Monitor Audio Bronze, PSB Image Mini
**Approx Cost - 70-85,000 for speakers such as Quad 22L2 & Monitor Audio RX6

Center & Surround Speakers :
You can ask the dealer to pair the front speakers with the center & rear/surround speakers of the same brand. Else you can also mix the brands with slightly cheaper range offered from - Wharfedale Speakers. Do look at Wharfedale DFS - which is an elegantly designed surround speaker at the minimal cost of about 14-15k approx, its aesthetics look better instead of the box speaker hung on the rear wall. You can pair it well with - Quad, Monitor Audio & PSB - but for rear speaker only. For the Center, try and keep the brand same as the front speakers, but if budget is really the constraint then you can look again on wharfedale center. But then hear the set up at the dealer's place first.

**Approx Cost for rear speakers - INR15-18,000
**Approx Cost for the Center Speaker - 18-22,000 depending on which brand you pick


AV RECEIVERS
==========
- MARANTZ
Now when we need Music & Movies both, we usually (not at any rule), advise to look at 'Marantz' AVRs which are known for their musicality & good performance in HT. You can look up models likes SR 5006 & SR 6006

**Reference link - Marantz US | SR5006


- DENON
Denon offers commendable performance, more wrt movies in an HT set upand at the same time play music as well.Do look at the latest range of Denon AVRs (Audio Video Receivers) with your local dealers. You can look at models starting from 1612 upwards to 1912 ..and there on depending on how much you would you like to spend.

**Reference link - A/V RECEIVERS | DENON US

Anything around 100w+ shall be good enuf to keep you future safe.

**Approx Cost - INR40-55000/-



BLUE RAY PLAYERS
===============
- Try getting your hands on an OPPO - OPPO Digital - Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Players - Buy Direct from the Manufacturer
You can pick the Oppo 83. It shall be shipped directly to you hence shipping + duties shall be applicable.
- If you dont want to go that way, then you may pick any of the Sony's new offerings wrt BD Players, they have been reviewed well.

**Approx Cost - INR25-45,000 depending on what you pick. At the bottom most, Pioneer also comes with BD player worth INR6500 approx, which does the basic as is expected.


CD PLAYERS
==========
Considering the budget, you can look at the Marantz CD6003 if available as it has been superseded by the new Marantz CD6004. Marantz as a company is focused on the music & we have never found someone unhappy being a Marantz user.

There are other brands as - Cambridge Audio, Pioneer etc that you may want to look at as well.

Approx Cost - INR15-28,000/-



Have tried to advise above of a products and their approx range that shall fall between 1.5 to 1.75L depending on the choices you make.

You can mix and match either of the brand of speakers with the AVR mentioned & as a suggestion, do listen anything at the dealer's place before buying - preferably the same movie, the same scene for the movies, when you try various setups. And hear the same song again and again on various speakers that you test, so that you can hear the difference and pick what you like.

Some dealers usually crank up the volume which makes it all impressive & big but loses out grossly on in delicate details & performance of a system at low volumes, like how you & me may want to listen to our music after a long day of work in the evening hours.


All the very best.

[trehansid]

Wrt to punchy bass, we actually expect too much from speakers at times, to accomplish that level of needed bass a well paired sub-woofer needs to be introduced to help the speakers.

Usually Subwoofers cater to low-frequencies (bass) and more low they go the heavy gets the price tag. Also, most of the subs dont really go as low as they claim, if some claim to be going low at 25hz, it may do up about 35hz-ish, is what i have heard from old skool Music & Movie lovers on The Global Audiophile and not that it is something i have personally measured.

Some interesting Links to show you how the Hifi Systems look like at home when you pair up best components offered by various brands -

1) Hifi Pics on Global Audiophile.network :
HI-FI Pics - Add urs & Comment on the previous

2) Here is a Music lover, looking at adding a subwoofer and getting into intricate details before deciding on one. Its good to read such discussions, if someone is slightly inclined to technical aspects of Hifi Systems.
Sub-woofer to compliment a 2ch setup

Cheers
..

[hemantbsutar]

Originally Posted by trehansid

...

Just to assist, i shall sum up for you :

CD Player
Marantz 6003 or anyone from Cambridge Audio which can accept USB & or Digital input.

AVR/Receiver
Any model from MARANTZ that fits your pocket & pairs well with speakers - if you want movies & good musicality. Choose Denon/Onkyo/Yamaha if you think you shall watch more movies than listening to music. Any AVR around 70-100w per channel shall be more than enuf to drive any reasonable loudspeaker. We shall not discuss too technically here as i am picking only one brand in speakers here, which are quite easy to pair with most amps/receivers(avr)

Speakers
Speakers from Wharfedale are the way forward, i wont suggest any other brand for now to keep it sane and knowing the capabilities of this brand very well.

Cables
DAC, Beldon, Chord - you can pick speaker cables & interconnects needed to connect the cdp to the receiver(avr) in the money left in the end.

1L should be able to squeeze in all of it.


Happy shopping!

I am going to use 80% for playing Movies.
I think Yamaha AV will be cheaper to get from Singapore etc? Warranty and support are easy to get here locally too?
Any indicative cost of the speakers-? Do i get all 5 from Wharfdale? DO i need a sub woofer. So many questions

[trehansid]

- Not too sure on Yamaha AVR, you would have to check for yourself locally.

- Wharfedale has a quite a decent range of speakers & you can find a full theater set up with Front, Center & Rear Speakers + a sub too. All of them can be squeezed in around 50k onwards. Various models & various price levels & the difference quality. Shall be best to go and hear. In any case i would have asked you to do that. While Diamond 10 is the latest, 9 is still loved by most is the feedback i can provide you with.

Yes dear, a sub would be needed if case you are option for an HT system. For music you may or may not need one. Depends if you listen to Rap or Vocalists/minimalist Ensemble

[navan49]

I love to have the BOSE. But it is too expensive in India. I have to work out the prices in Singapore and compare.It its reasonable I would like to get it from there on my return.

[suhaas307]

How about Altec Lansing 2.1 MX5021. I have this sitting in my room, and honestly, they sound great. Crystal clear and they don't jarr at high volumes either. They're pretty loud and do the job! It was priced at 9k back then.

They're primarily computer speakers, and work with gaming-consoles too. I use it for listening to classic rock and progressive rock.

I feel that it's a better alternative to the Bose equivalent that was priced at 30k!

Feedback?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

How about Altec Lansing 2.1 MX5021. I have this sitting in my room, and honestly, they sound great. Crystal clear and they don't jarr at high volumes either. They're pretty loud and do the job! It was priced at 9k back then.

They're primarily computer speakers, and work with gaming-consoles too. I use it for listening to classic rock and progressive rock.

I feel that it's a better alternative to the Bose equivalent that was priced at 30k!

Feedback?

Its always good to build based on choice, preference and budgets. This way you can stagger your purchase and also choose according to needs.
For example, when I bought mine, I just bought AV-Rx and LR book-shelves. Since movie was not the idea, I was on this diet for quite some before
I got the surround and center. And finally also a Sub.

As regards to this thread, I got Bose 301 series bookshelf for surround. The reason, was I got a good deal. Also I use them for surround and not for music.

(I use the base HK AVR130 and JBL Northridge Bookshelves for Amp and L&R)
They have been serving very well for the last 7 odd years!

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its always good to build based on choice, preference and budgets. This way you can stagger your purchase and also choose according to needs.
For example, when I bought mine, I just bought AV-Rx and LR book-shelves. Since movie was not the idea, I was on this diet for quite some before
I got the surround and center. And finally also a Sub.

As regards to this thread, I got Bose 301 series bookshelf for surround. The reason, was I got a good deal. Also I use them for surround and not for music.

(I use the base HK AVR130 and JBL Northridge Bookshelves for Amp and L&R)
They have been serving very well for the last 7 odd years!

Budget plays an important role.

I got myself a JBL Sound-Dock several years ago. It was for the purpose of charging my iPod and giving me good sound on the move. I wanted something light, portable and something to charge my iPod. It works wonderfully, even after 5 years! In fact, it fills the room with a wonderful sound.

In comparison, my friend's Bose sound-dock is no better than my JBL dock, and the JBL costed me 6k, and the Bose, a massive 20k!

[navan49]

Subaas You are right the Altec Lensing is a wonderful speaker system.It too give a good sound quality. I did use it some times in the past. But a mini speaker sets of Bose impressed me a lot when I listened in one of the stores.Next to that I was impressed by JBL stick 3 in one speakers.

[jayded]

I'm curious to know this.
If Bose as proven from various sites, are just hype and no go, then why do premium luxury automobile manufactures like Mercedes, Audi etc provide Bose infotainment and audio systems in their high-end cars? I've heard you could choose between Bose, B&O, B&W etc. when you book your car. Is it really just the "perception" that Bose is a luxury audio brand which leads to these offerings? Or have they really improved a lot over the years (considering this thread was started way back in 2006)?

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by jayded

I'm curious to know this.
If Bose as proven from various sites, are just hype and no go, then why do premium luxury automobile manufactures like Mercedes, Audi etc provide Bose infotainment and audio systems in their high-end cars? I've heard you could choose between Bose, B&O, B&W etc. when you book your car. Is it really just the "perception" that Bose is a luxury audio brand which leads to these offerings? Or have they really improved a lot over the years (considering this thread was started way back in 2006)?

Let me help you with this.

Bose is not a bad brand by any measure. They do make quality products. But the price tag they slap on to their products can't be justified. As simple as that. you could get similar equipment for a lot lesser, is what several people say.

To help you understand better, let me put it this way:

The VW Passat comes with several features you wouldn't find on cars twice the price. It offers you luxury that cars worth 50 lakhs would be proud of. It gives you all that, for just 30 lakhs or so.

In comparison, the Audi A4 (which is basically the same car underneath) costs more, but offers less. It's all about the brand name. Bose has built a brand-name for itself over the years. It's a 'luxury' product, despite packing the same 'luxury' that the so-called 'lesser' brands pack.

It's the same with B&O. They have all those fancy rising-out-of-the-dashboard tweeters and fantastic looking speakers, but they are packed with Philips electronics and components, and cost 3 times as much as Philips products.

They are Lifestyle products at the end of the day. You don't buy it for performance, you buy it for the style and the panache they come with.

Much like Puma shoes and apparel. Agreed, they're great. but Reebok make cheaper, and possibly better shoes too. But you'd rather be seen in Puma shoes than Reebok shoes, right?

[jayded]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Let me help you with this.

Bose is not a bad brand by any measure. They do make quality products. But the price tag they slap on to their products can't be justified. As simple as that. you could get similar equipment for a lot lesser, is what several people say.

But in the intellexual link at the start, it says a 1,300$ Bose is inferior or comparable with a 300$ Aiwa system. Now isn't that bad? I would say so. Plus they mention about using very cheap parts like paper cone, lesser diameter drivers, spring-loaded clips, lower grade enclosure material etc. And it's mentioned that the same is being used in their entire range of base model to their high-end flagship models. So my question was basically on how they are now? Are they still just a brand name, or have they significantly improved acoustically?

To help you understand better, let me put it this way:

The VW Passat comes with several features you wouldn't find on cars twice the price. It offers you luxury that cars worth 50 lakhs would be proud of. It gives you all that, for just 30 lakhs or so.

In comparison, the Audi A4 (which is basically the same car underneath) costs more, but offers less. It's all about the brand name. Bose has built a brand-name for itself over the years. It's a 'luxury' product, despite packing the same 'luxury' that the so-called 'lesser' brands pack.

Apart from the "Brand" value or the snob value, I don't think we can compare a set of speakers to cars. Simply because you chose a car for various factors like space, power, fun-to-drive factor, snob value, practicality, while a speaker is chosen just for pure sound quality output, and hence there are much lesser variables compared to choosing a car IMO

They are Lifestyle products at the end of the day. You don't buy it for performance, you buy it for the style and the panache they come with.

That seems right.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by jayded

But in the intellexual link at the start, it says a 1,300$ Bose is inferior or comparable with a 300$ Aiwa system. Now isn't that bad? I would say so. Plus they mention about using very cheap parts like paper cone, lesser diameter drivers, spring-loaded clips, lower grade enclosure material etc. And it's mentioned that the same is being used in their entire range of base model to their high-end flagship models. So my question was basically on how they are now? Are they still just a brand name, or have they significantly improved acoustically?

Apart from the "Brand" value or the snob value, I don't think we can compare a set of speakers to cars. Simply because you chose a car for various factors like space, power, fun-to-drive factor, snob value, practicality, while a speaker is chosen just for pure sound quality output, and hence there are much lesser variables compared to choosing a car IMO

That seems right.

Every brand in the market will always have some bad press, and some good press. It's left up to you to believe it, or perceive it the way you want. The article does talk about how unimaginably inferior Bose speakers are, and they probably are. But take it with a pinch of salt.

They are probably inferior. They probably aren't. I am not going to believe everything on the internet. Of course, my perception about Bose being a superior acoustics brand has changed for the worse. There are many reliable and credible sources who'd confirm the same. But then again, i wouldn't write off Bose completely. If I get a good deal on a Bose system, I'd buy it. And when I say good deal, i mean, REALLY really good deal!

Secondly, I'm not comparing speakers to cars. I'm just putting things into perspective for you. I was merely trying to make you understand what Bose is in the audio-field. They aren't great, for the price you pay. Similarly, someone who buys a Passat would feel the same way. He would say the Audi A4 is expensive just because of those four-rings on the goatee-grille. After all, it's nothing but a Passat underneath that shiny black coat.

I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

[R2D2]

Guys,

I am thinking of replacing my Bose AM5 Mk-II vintage stereo speakers with something more contemporary that will suit my Pioneer VSX-LX70 6.1 channel amp. The AM5 served me well for nearly 16 years without blinking even once. Primary use is music not movies, so sound quality is important. I listen mainly to soft rock and Jazz. Neutral/mellow, not bright sound preferred.

Any suggestions? Budget is upto Rs 1 lakh.

Regards,

[jayded]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Secondly, I'm not comparing speakers to cars. I'm just putting things into perspective for you. I was merely trying to make you understand what Bose is in the audio-field. They aren't great, for the price you pay. Similarly, someone who buys a Passat would feel the same way. He would say the Audi A4 is expensive just because of those four-rings on the goatee-grille. After all, it's nothing but a Passat underneath that shiny black coat.

I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

Hey Suhaas, I totally understand what you said. And yeah, as you said I guess it's got more to do with brand perception that actual quality.