Budget $6500. Please suggest AMP + 7.1 speakers combo

slicksilver

Golden Member
Mar 14, 2000
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I'm based out of India but can pretty much get my stuff from the US. Otherwise I can get them at the same prices here without warranty(grey market). Currently what I have :

Blue Jeans Cables
Panasonic AE-8000
A 20 x 16 feet room

Room acoustics and treatments is something I cant do now due to reasons I dont want to get into now(Parent's home theatre).

Any inputs would be greatly appreciated.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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How about for receiver, Pioneer SC-1222K, its $550 on newegg.com, is a rebadged SC-61 and gives you 100 watts x 7 (measured performance) from hometheater.com http://www.hometheater.com/content/pioneer-elite-sc-61-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures.

As for speakers, you can find the NHT Classic's on Amazon and SVS PB-13 Ultra from SVSound.com:

You can get
NHT Classic Four fronts ($2398)
NHT Classic Three Center ($600)
NHT Absolute Zero Rears x 4 ($880)
SVS PB-13 Ultra ($1999)
Pioneer SC-1222K receiver ($550)
--------------
Total ~$6500
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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You can also look at Ascend Acoustics for speakers:http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/spkrlist.html

also sub is here: http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/subs/subintro.html

Ascend Sierra Tower $1898 (+100 in black gloss)
Ascend Horizon Center $998 (+100 in black gloss)
Ascend Sierra-1 x 4 $1798 (comes in black gloss)
Rythmik F15SE subwoofer $1149 (comes in black gloss)
Pioneer SC-1222K receiver $550
+10% Ascend bundle discount
+5% Ascend subwoofer discount
---------------

$6338.55 or $6139.54 with black matte LCR.

EDIT: included system builder discount
 
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slicksilver

Golden Member
Mar 14, 2000
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You can also look at Ascend Acoustics for speakers:http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/spkrlist.html

also sub is here: http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/subs/subintro.html

They are probably a little better than the NHT's but will be $6593 in black gloss, it only comes standard in black matte, also I think the Sierra Towers are built-to-order only so you may have to wait extra time to get them.

Ascend Sierra Tower $1898 (+100 in black gloss)
Ascend Horizon Center $998 (+100 in black gloss)
Ascend Sierra-1 x 4 $1798 (comes in black gloss)
Rythmik F15SE subwoofer $1149 (comes in black gloss)
Pioneer SC-1222K receiver $550
---------------
Total ~$6,393 (basic finishes)

Thank you. If you had to replace the amp with a Denon one, which one would have chosen?

Also why no B&W or Monitor Audio recommendations? I dont know much about HT but most of the time I'm told that these two brands are on the wish lists of every aspiring HT builder.
 

MistaFreeze

Senior member
Feb 18, 2009
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You can think of B&W as a "good brand" that you don't have to do much research to know it's good. Or you can do research and find out that NHT, Aperion, or those Ascends listed above, are better for the price/performance ratio because they generally only focus on home audio and don't do car audio, gizmos for ipods, etc. I'm not one to ask many HT questions above a couple grand though as I've never built one that expensive, yet!
 

slicksilver

Golden Member
Mar 14, 2000
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I mentioned about B&W and Monitor Audio because they have repair/service centers here in India. Should there be a problem I at least have a place to take it to.

Other prominent brands available here are :

KEF
Polk Audio
JM Lab
Focal
Dali
Paradigm
Martin Logan

Amps:
Denon
Marantz
Anthem
 

gevorg

Diamond Member
Nov 3, 2004
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Are there audio stores where you live where you can go and audition various speaker technologies? That would be the best way to go, particularly for speakers like Martin Logan which have a very special presentation of sound.

Room acoustics and treatments is something I cant do now due to reasons I dont want to get into now(Parent's home theatre).

You have many options with your budget, but for the above reason I suggest to get a receiver/DSP with Audyssey room-correction technology.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,024
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does it HAVE to be 7.1? or would you do 5.1 if you can get better speakers?

btw, that projector is awesome i've had mine since like october and love it. i use it pretty much daily.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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Thank you. If you had to replace the amp with a Denon one, which one would have chosen?

Also why no B&W or Monitor Audio recommendations? I dont know much about HT but most of the time I'm told that these two brands are on the wish lists of every aspiring HT builder.

B&W spends a lot of money on "advertising". At pretty much every price point there's a better product than B&W, it's a "big store brand" and not what i would call a "value brand."

And B&W like Monitor Audio, I feel don't really give as much value for the dollar as a few of the internet direct American brands, which give you much better drivers for money. Another thing is a lot of the "big box" brands focus more on making their speakers look like furniture pieces and a lot more money is poured into the cabinet for looks rather than audio performance, which is more important when the lights are off.
 
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alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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Thank you. If you had to replace the amp with a Denon one, which one would have chosen?

Also why no B&W or Monitor Audio recommendations? I dont know much about HT but most of the time I'm told that these two brands are on the wish lists of every aspiring HT builder.

I would probably avoid Denon if you were running 7.1 and want high output (100 watts x 7). Denon receivers come with some very nice room correction software but their amplifiers are smaller than competing Yamaha and Onkyos or the Pioneer Class D series. The only Denon amplifier that can match the Pioneer SC-1222K I listed in power reserves is the denon 4520CI, and that's a $2200 receiver. The receiver below the 4520 is the $1100 3313CI and its basically a 70W x 7 receiver.

The cheapest Yamaha that can match the Pioneer is the RX-A2020 (which is $1500) and the cheapest Onkyo is the TX-NR1010 (which is $1700).
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
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I would probably avoid Denon if you were running 7.1 and want high output (100 watts x 7). Denon receivers come with some very nice room correction software but their amplifiers are smaller than competing Yamaha and Onkyos or the Pioneer Class D series. The only Denon amplifier that can match the Pioneer SC-1222K I listed in power reserves is the denon 4520CI, and that's a $2200 receiver. The receiver below the 4520 is the $1100 3313CI and its basically a 70W x 7 receiver.

The cheapest Yamaha that can match the Pioneer is the RX-A2020 (which is $1500) and the cheapest Onkyo is the TX-NR1010 (which is $1700).

keep in mind that the power needed also depends BIG TIME on the speakers purchased.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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keep in mind that the power needed also depends BIG TIME on the speakers purchased.

Of course, if you want linear off-axis response with very clean spectral plots, usually that comes from 3 or 4 way systems which have lower sensitivity because one driver plays lower than the others so all the drivers in the system are manually padded down. If you want output above all else, then you'll want to look at multi-driver arrays, basically variations of MTMs with no output down-padding.
 

giantpandaman2

Senior member
Oct 17, 2005
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You could always use these
http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers?page=1
http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/processors/products/umc200

for preamp/amp combos. Personally, if I had thought more about it before i got my receiver, this is the route I would've gone. Over time, you'll have to keep buying new preamps/receivers as HDMI/interconnects change. I think it's much cheaper, in the long run, just to replace a preamp rather than a whole receiver.

As for speakers, the Aperion, Ascend, and NHT's are all good. I, personally, have a Martin Logan based system which I'm pretty happy with. Bang for the buck, though, the internet direct wins. Watch out for sales, though, especially when new models come out. There are always killer deals when that happens. Those deals are often BETTER than internet direct pricing.

Anyone tried the new SVS sound systems? Not just the subs (which I have) but the actual speakers that just came out.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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There's a comparison thread of the new SVS Ultra towers on AVS. They are high power handling with great output, fun speakers, but not what you would call audiophile products, compared to say the Ascend Tower or the Salk Songtower. MTM with dual 6.5s and dual 8s. Basically output focused.
 

giantpandaman2

Senior member
Oct 17, 2005
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One of these days I'm going to find someone with the Sierra Towers with the RAAL tweeters. Would be fun to compare their performance with electrostats. Of course, the new Martin Logan center uses a ribbon tweeter too.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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You can also look at Ascend Acoustics for speakers:http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/spkrlist.html

also sub is here: http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/subs/subintro.html

They are probably a little better than the NHT's but will be $6593 in black gloss, it only comes standard in black matte, also I think the Sierra Towers are built-to-order only so you may have to wait extra time to get them.

Ascend Sierra Tower $1898 (+100 in black gloss)
Ascend Horizon Center $998 (+100 in black gloss)
Ascend Sierra-1 x 4 $1798 (comes in black gloss)
Rythmik F15SE subwoofer $1149 (comes in black gloss)
Pioneer SC-1222K receiver $550
---------------
Total ~$6,393 (basic finishes)

Ascend actually has a 10% package discount and a 5% subwoofer discount. So there is a $194 discount on speakers and $57.5 discount on the subwoofer with piano black finishes. Final price is actually $5789.55 + 549.99 = $6,338.55 in piano gloss and $5589.55 + 549.99 = $6,139.54 for LCR in black matte.
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,949
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Ascend actually has a 10% package discount and a 5% subwoofer discount. So there is a $194 discount on speakers and $57.5 discount on the subwoofer with piano black finishes. Final price is actually $5789.55 + 549.99 = $6,338.55 in piano gloss and $5589.55 + 549.99 = $6,139.54 for LCR in black matte.

Op is in India... shipping alone is probably more than that. I don't know the market in India so I cannot really make suggestions.
 

demiro

Member
Feb 1, 2013
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I think the Ascends + Rythmik combo blow away the typical brands in terms of overall value, but if logistics are an issue and preference is to buy local the brands mentioned by the OP are all certainly solid (at least).

Best bet is to try and hear the speakers and the AVR you are considering together, to be sure you have enough power and to compare how you'll actually listen.
 

demiro

Member
Feb 1, 2013
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You could always use these
http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers?page=1
http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/processors/products/umc200

for preamp/amp combos. Personally, if I had thought more about it before i got my receiver, this is the route I would've gone. Over time, you'll have to keep buying new preamps/receivers as HDMI/interconnects change. I think it's much cheaper, in the long run, just to replace a preamp rather than a whole receiver.

...

I've owned Emotiva and thought pretty highly of it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend them to someone in India. My sense is they tend to need repair a bit more than some typical brands. They seem to take good care of their customers here in the US, but not sure how that would translate half way around the world.