[navin]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Can you please share more details of your build?

Don't know much about Fountek.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php...528#msg1146528

My experience with Fountek is limited to their NeoX tweeters and FR88/89/EX series of full-range drivers.

Originally Posted by keroo1099

Nice to see someone else go the DIY route for similar reasons..

I used to be an active loudspeaker builder in the late 70s all of the 80s and upto about 1995. After 1997 or so my family life did not leave much time for this.

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by navin

One disadvantage of a projector is that it's brightness is dependent on room light. Ambient light makes the picture look faded. Hence I used a large Plasma TV instead. The other reason was a ceiling mounted projector would look ugly if mounted too low and it's picture would be interrupted by a ceiling fan if it was mounted too high. So take this into consideration.

For the speakers look at packages from KEF, Focal, Monitor Audio, PSB, Paradigm, B&W etc. I did a study of all these brands and a few more like Magnepalanar (they have some service issues in dusty humid conditions) and Sonus Faber (probably the closest to my liking) in the 5L (for 7.1 channels) range in 2012 and found nothing that I liked. Anything I liked would have cost me 8L or more (for 7.1 channels). Eventually I built my own speakers using drivers from SEAS, ScanSpeak, TC Sound, Fountek, and RAAL and some help from Rick Craig. Given that I paid retail prices for all the parts and hired a carpenter and also paid Rick for his services I estimate I got about 50% saving on a similar system from a commercial manufacturer.

Thanks Navin.
I have a Plasma at home, so I know why you are suggesting a plasma screen. Problem with Plasma is, bigger size comes at cost and I wanted a large screen over 100 inch.
My room was dedicated for home theater at the time on construction. So I have only one small window that I have already blocked with thick wooden blinds.

Thanks for your suggestions on speakers. It may be hard to get audition of most of them. I will spend my weekends going around few HT shops in Bangalore. And my budget is limited to around 1 lakh for floor standing front speakers and another 50k for sub. I wish I had the knowledge, budget and patience as you did for building own speakers.

I already had audition of Polk at ProFX and Yamaha at Thomson. Can anyone suggest other places in Bangalore where I can find the brands suggested by Navin?

My Yamaha RX-A2050 arrived and already hooked up to my existing Panasonic front speakers. Have been doing MusicCast from iphone for past 2 hours and I am already loving it. My old speakers sound better on this receiver, but I know I am not doing justice to this beast. So I will not get peaceful sleep until I find a suitable bride for the receiver.
As I upgrade speakers in Zone-1, my older speakers will move to Zone-2 and 3.

BTW, MusicCast is a nice feature. Setting up WiFi, speakers and MusicCast was pretty easy.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by sj_koova

My Yamaha RX-A2050 arrived and already hooked up to my existing Panasonic front speakers.

Have a look at post 2344 http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3728354here. I linked in Yamaha speakers that I use with my A810. I went with an all Yamaha setup.

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by diyguy

Have a look at post 2344 http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3728354here. I linked in Yamaha speakers that I use with my A810. I went with an all Yamaha setup.

Thanks diyguy. I had audition of Yamaha NS 555 and NS 777 at Thomson. Certainly an option because it is easily available and well within my budget. I liked the Polk RTi A7 better though. May be because ProFx had a proper HT room with acoustics done. Thomson was more like a small corner of their shop carved our for HT audition. They had no speakers others than Yamaha for comparison. Somehow I was not much impressed with Yamaha.

[glenmz]

Originally Posted by GTO

Many thanks for the suggestions, guys! After reading your posts, I'm becoming more inclined toward a good 2.1 system rather than a 5.1.

If I go for 2 speakers, they'll be floor-standing. Always loved how those look.

May I add Harman Kardon into the mix please? They sound awesome.
When I was searching for a music system, AVR was never in my list as I was primarily looking for a music system. But while searching, realized that there are not many mass market HiFi systems. Good ones cost a bomb and those needs to be customized. So AVR came into the list.
I auditioned the below
Yamaha - (YHT 198 and 299 if I remember it right) - Best of both worlds. Sounds natural and good tone.

Pioneer - Bassy. Sounds too harsh at time. Nothing special.

Onkyo - So-so Experience. Gave it a pass.

Harman Kardon - Was the basic system and was blown away. Think HK 70 was the model.

My Friend was returning from the US so I asked him to look around. He was able to carry upto about 5kg. The normal AVRs were about 10kg. We stepped on a deal on HK AVR 1610. A rather sweet one. Best part was it weighed ony 4.5 kg. Went for this deal. And I absolutely love going for this. Got DLNA, Bluetooth and the works. Source is not a constraint now. Bluetooth streaming is pretty convenient. No 'strings' attached, hence. Have not noticed any loss in quality.

Got a pair of bookshelf speakers custom built
One thing I realized that the AVR plays quite a role on how things sound. I auditioned the speakers at the person who built this, on a Sherwood amp. The mids were clear but the bass was missing (Yes, I love my bass). Was terribly disappointed. Took the speakers home and hooked to the HKs. Totally different animal. Kick A$$ bass, clear notes and crisp Highs.
I recently did a DIY Subwoofer, powered one with a 12 Inch Boston drivers and a car amp . Purists may hunt me down for this blasphemy, but to me, this serves the purpose. And yes, I was on a budget. The extra bass helps during movies. I need to fix the distortion (rather a jarring) from the sub at high volumes.

Try to get HKs from US if you need to stay within your quoted budget if you have someone travelling.

BTW If you are indeed looking for Floor Standing speakers, Yamaha has one which was costing around 17k at Reliance Digital. Model - NS-8390. This was the price quote I got 2 years back.

Originally Posted by sj_koova

I already had audition of Polk at ProFX and Yamaha at Thomson. Can anyone suggest other places in Bangalore where I can find the brands suggested by Navin?

Try DNI at Bellandur. This is near Ecospace. You would see the DNI board from the flyover. They had good listening rooms setup when I went 2 years back.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by GTO

If I go for 2 speakers, they'll be floor-standing. Always loved how those look.

Before you put down money, please audition a nice pair of book shelf speakers like the KEF Q300, PMC-DB1, Usher S-520. There are many more but I have little experience with the rest. These speakers are expensive but they have a sound that is better than every other floor stander I have heard, at a similar price. Don't be fooled by the size of a floor stander. Not all of them sound great. In fact, they are a lot more complicated to build and sound right cause of the larger volume of space to treat and design on the inside.

I have a stand mount (or book shelf) speaker that sounds great and has the ability to shake up a 200sq ft room with a ceiling height of over 20 ft.

Originally Posted by navin

The owner Shyam Bajaj passed away some time ago so I don't know if they are still in business and who is running the show.

Oh maan. Very sad news. Back in the 80 and 90's, almost every home that had a nice stereo set up, it would be a Norge, Cosmic or Sonodyne.

[navin]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Before you put down money, please audition a nice pair of book shelf speakers like the KEF Q300, PMC-DB1, Usher S-520.

Oh maan. Very sad news. Back in the 80 and 90's, almost every home that had a nice stereo set up, it would be a Norge, Cosmic or Sonodyne.

Sandeep I think only the Q300 would fit GTO's budget.

Of these 3 brands only Ashoke Mukherjee (Sonodyne) I believe is still with us. Manubhai Desai of Cosmic I believe has also passed on.

Originally Posted by sj_koova

Thanks for your suggestions on speakers. It may be hard to get audition of most of them.

My Yamaha RX-A2050 arrived and already hooked up to my existing Panasonic front speakers.

I was able to get auditions in Mumbai. I have no idea about Bangalore. Sorry.

BTW one good variation I have found is this:

1. Get a good stereo amp (in my case I use a Yamaha S2000).
   
2. Connect Front left and front right pre-out from the AVR to the Power in on the stereo amp.
   
3. Connect CD player to CD input on the stereo amp and all other sources (esp video sources) to the AVR.

Now you can switch between 2 channel audio and HT and get the best of both worlds. Your front speakers need to be really full range for this. The stereo amp relieves the AVR from 30-40% of the sound reproduction and hence the AVR has more headroom. The power supply of AVRs is often short changed and cannot really do a remarkable job with all 7 channels going together (few AVRs like the Denon 5805 are pretty capable but these are the exceptions, remember the Denon weighed 45kgs).

[keroo1099]

Originally Posted by sj_koova

Thanks Navin.
Can anyone suggest other places in Bangalore where I can find the brands suggested by Navin?

Here you go:

Audio Vision
Electronics Store
Address: 80 Feet Rd, HAL 3rd Stage, Hal, Puttappa layout, New Tippasandra, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560075
Phone:085530 50505
You can ask for Rajesh. Lovely chap who makes speakers and valve amps.

Absolute Phase
Electronics Store
Address: 48, Cubbon Rd, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
Phone: 080 2532 7496
Prithvi, also a car nut like us.

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by glenmz

Try DNI at Bellandur. This is near Ecospace. You would see the DNI board from the flyover. They had good listening rooms setup when I went 2 years back.

Thank you. I live closer to Bellandur. DNI deals with Dali, JBL, Focal and Boston

Originally Posted by navin

BTW one good variation I have found is this:

1. Get a good stereo amp (in my case I use a Yamaha S2000).
2. Connect Front left and front right pre-out from the AVR to the Power in on the stereo amp.
3. Connect CD player to CD input on the stereo amp and all other sources (esp video sources) to the AVR.

Now you can switch between 2 channel audio and HT and get the best of both worlds. Your front speakers need to be really full range for this. The stereo amp relieves the AVR from 30-40% of the sound reproduction and hence the AVR has more headroom. The power supply of AVRs is often short changed and cannot really do a remarkable job with all 7 channels going together (few AVRs like the Denon 5805 are pretty capable but these are the exceptions, remember the Denon weighed 45kgs).

Hello Navin, I guess I haven't understood what you suggesting, because I am wondering if I actually need an additional amp. I can switch to pure 2.1 channel in this receiver itself from the Yamaha App in iphone. And with the combination of MusicCast and AV controller app from Yamaha, I am able to manage the receiver and all network content from my iphone. My song collection from NAS box, PC and phone can easily stream to receiver through MusicCast.
So why do I have to add another stereo amp. Were you saying this stereo amp will share the load when I want to play 7.1.2 content because I am using the pre-out?


For the front speakers, will PSB Imagine X2T do the job. It is little above 1L and in my budget.

Originally Posted by keroo1099

Here you go:

Audio Vision
Electronics Store
Address: 80 Feet Rd, HAL 3rd Stage, Hal, Puttappa layout, New Tippasandra, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560075
Phone:085530 50505
You can ask for Rajesh. Lovely chap who makes speakers and valve amps.

Absolute Phase
Electronics Store
Address: 48, Cubbon Rd, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
Phone: 080 2532 7496
Prithvi, also a car nut like us.

Thank you keroo1099. Will check these places.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by GTO

After reading your posts, I'm becoming more inclined toward a good 2.1 system rather than a 5.1.

Coming in late to this discussion..
GTO - since you do not intend to watch movies/video, honestly I think you'd be better off with a Stereo amplifier (than an AV Receiver) as Navin has mentioned in an earlier post. AVR's try to do too many things are not as good when it comes to Audio/music.

I suggest you decide the amplifier and then audition it with different speakers (look at both floor standers and bookshelves in your budget). Key things when auditioning is to use the same amp and the same set of CDs/music source. Happy hunting, keep us posted

Then audition with the amp, speakers and Subwoofer for your final 2.1 setup.

If you have the budget, do look at Focal floor standers - they sound great

[navin]

Originally Posted by sj_koova

Hello Navin, I guess I haven't understood what you suggesting, because I am wondering if I actually need an additional amp. I can switch to pure 2.1 channel in this receiver itself from the Yamaha App in iphone.

So why do I have to add another stereo amp.

For the front speakers, will PSB Imagine X2T do the job.

scroll a little down on this link
http://www.hifihunter.com/articles/i...-setup-part-2/

For 2 channel audio there is no need for all the processing that an AVR has. If you are not using a dedicated CD player then you can stick with a single AVR for all your audio needs but if you have a dedicated CD player it makes more sense to have an integrated amplifier to work with it.

this is part 1 of the above link
http://www.hifihunter.com/articles/i...-setup-part-1/

here is one review that uses the Imagine X2T
http://www.cnet.com/news/instead-of-...r-alternative/

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by navin

here is one review that uses the Imagine X2T
http://www.cnet.com/news/instead-of-...r-alternative/

Thanks once again Navin. I would prefer streaming music from my network sources. I understand the quality difference, but for me convenience is equally important.
After reading many review online and following 220 pages thread on PSB in AVSforum, I am convinced about X2T. I prefer a speaker that does well all low end of frequency range and all reviews say X2T does a wonderful job at low end without compromising much on mid-high.

Now the next question is where to find it in Bangalore for audition and may be purchase on spot! Checked ProFx, DNI, Htstore. None of them have it.

HiFiMart shows it available for purchase online, but expensive.

Also will warranty be a problem in India?

[navin]

Originally Posted by sj_koova

Also will warranty be a problem in India?

On paper the warranty issues are not a problem. In reality I can tell you that very, very, few dealers/distributors have spare parts in stock. If something does go wrong repairs can be time consuming and costly (if not covered under warranty). That said most speakers can last decades. There is very little that can go wrong. The worst case would be if a capacitor in the tweeter crossover dies (capacitors short when they die) as this also leads to damage to the tweeter (since the tweeter has little protection). In my 40 years playing with audio (ok I am an old fart) I have only had good speakers die on me twice. Once was when the amp put out a DC signal and blew out both tweeters and the other was due to lack of use (speakers stored for 7 years) the glues that hold the cone and voice coil in place just gave up.

Look at speakers that have woofers with butyl rubber surrounds and not foam surrounds as these rubber surrounds survive better in India's hot, humid conditions.

The PSB Imagine series is fine. The did not fit my bill but that does not mean they wont fit yours.

[GTO]

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice, guys!

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

If its a floor-standing then I don't think you need a sub at all for music listening in room size you mentioned.

Done. I'll first get the speakers. But I must tell you that I love the "thub thub" bass.

Polk recently introduced new T50 in the budget range which is said to be reply to highly praised budget set SP-FS52 designed by Andrew Jones for Pioneer.

Only on Team-BHP will someone call 46k speakers a 'budget pair' .

Spike in the mid-range can be taken care with little bit of equalization.

I actually don't like too much mid-range. Always turn it down. My equalizer settings are in the shape of a 'U'.

Originally Posted by sanjbmw2001

Music - 2.0 only or as an overkill 2.1 - 5.1 is for movies

I hear you, sir!

You mentioned the source as laptop - question - What is the quality of music on the laptop - mp3, (128, 320, 64), FLAC etc. The answer here is linked to the point above - if its mp3 then bluetooth may suffice

Good quality. It's only CD rips or downloads from the iTunes store.

Now the downer - all the above will not come in your budget - you would have to double it (atleast) but then this maybe a long term investment.

Don't mind doing so, but then, it's an office room. Music will be played in the background. For reference, here's what I've been happily using in the cabin since 5+ years.

Originally Posted by navin

if you are going 2.1 you will need to find an integrated amplifier that has a "pre out" so you can drive an active subwoofer from the "pre out".

Gotcha!

The Audioengine system is more subtle. Pioneer's audience is the BOOM-Tizz folk.

I don't like subtle sound. Disco is my music tune!

Originally Posted by glenmz

May I add Harman Kardon into the mix please? They sound awesome.

Yeah, I like their sound. Have a JBL soundbar with a big subwoofer and I find it perfect for movies.

When I was searching for a music system, AVR was never in my list as I was primarily looking for a music system. But while searching, realized that there are not many mass market HiFi systems. Good ones cost a bomb and those needs to be customized. So AVR came into the list.

Likewise. What I really want is a good HiFi system.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Before you put down money, please audition a nice pair of book shelf speakers like the KEF Q300, PMC-DB1, Usher S-520. There are many more but I have little experience with the rest. These speakers are expensive but they have a sound that is better than every other floor stander I have heard, at a similar price. Don't be fooled by the size of a floor stander. Not all of them sound great. In fact, they are a lot more complicated to build and sound right cause of the larger volume of space to treat and design on the inside.

Ok, but all I want is good sound. I'm not going to go looking for the perfect highs & lows (and all the other stuff Navin does). I'm going to walk into one shop and close it.

Originally Posted by NPV

GTO - since you do not intend to watch movies/video, honestly I think you'd be better off with a Stereo amplifier (than an AV Receiver)

Any good stereo amplifiers? I mostly see only AVRs online.

Key things when auditioning is to use the same amp and the same set of CDs/music source. Happy hunting, keep us posted

Will do, thanks!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by GTO

Any good stereo amplifiers? I mostly see only AVRs online.

Good stereo amplifiers - look for brands like Marantz, Cambridge Audio, Onkyo.
Sorry, I do not know current model #'s and series.

Stereo amplifiers have evolved over the years and since the sources are now media players, laptops and phones (earlier the source was usually a CD player), they come with good DACs (Digital-Analog converters).

*I would suggest you look at the used (pre-worshipped) market for speakers and the amp since you can get audiophile quality stuff at lower prices.