Folks,
I'm new to this forum but I've been reading and am posting now to get some more opinions on finalizing options for a 5.1ch Active speakers Home-theater in my aptmt Living room.
Location: I'm an American expat based in Bangalore, India and that means I fewer options to consider and there is no "used" market to speak of and imported things in general cost nearly double here compared to the base US prices.
WAF: "Any darned thing which is...Not too big, Not too loud. Not too ugly."
Dimensions: 15’ x 16’ Living room open to a 11’ x 11’ Dining room, ceiling height is 10’, flooring is polished marble, walls are brick, ceiling is RCC with cement plaster).
However, there is a slight chance that I may have to move to a bigger 4 BHK aptmt...with Living & Dining hall: 25' x 18' open to a Foyer: 9' x 12' with Ceiling height 10'. should accidents
necessitating a move to a 4BHK happen - I may still be able to finagle a dedicated bedroom for a HT.
Usage will be about 70% movies - 30% music.
All videos (avi, mp4, mpg, mkv, divx etc) and music (mp3) files are on hard-disk and will be played via VLC player on the PC, all the speakers will be directly connected to the 5.1ch sound card on the PC using XLR (if available) or through RCA-XLR jack).
After considering various brands and based on my budget I've narrowed down my choices to Genelec vs ADAM:
Right now the brand perception/reputation, performance, build quality, cabinet material & shielding, features and the halo effect of their higher-end products on the consumer line, endorsements by great musicians/studios and surprisingly even on looks - I'm leaning towards Genelecs... the ADAM of course offers comparable performance at an incredible price to performance ratio... and the A77X is a 3 way 7" active speaker for the price of a two way active 7" active from Genelec. ADAM is still in the running mainly due to Price/Perf after vanquishing many worthy competitors like Focal, Dynaudio, Neumann, Mackies, Emotiva, KRK, Behringer, RCF, Tannoy, M-Audio etc... If ADAM were to have offered slightly better looks and a magnetically shielded aluminum cabinet - I would've gone with them no doubt...
Since this is a decision I will have to live with for a decade or more (I don't like the idea of selling and trading-up etc... besides there is no market for used hi-fi pro level equipment in India that I know of)
The following list is in ascending order of base price ranging from about $2750 to $5200 (excluding subwoofer and before taxes, customs-duties, shipping, installation etc)
Please enter your vote (and suggestions/reasons if any):
Make| Left,Right | Center | Surrounds | Price (US$)
ADAM | A7X | A7X |A5X | $3000
ADAM | A7X | A7X | A7X | $3400
Genelec | 8040 | 8040 | 8030 | $4600
ADAM | A77X | A77X | A7X | $5200
Options with same speakers for LR and different Center or Surrounds (due to budget considerations):
Make| Left,Right | Center | Surrounds | Price (US$)
ADAM | A7X | A5X | A5X | $2750
ADAM | A7X | A77X | A5X | $ 3600
Genelec | 8040 | 8030 | 8030 | $4200
ADAM | A77X | A7X | A7X | $4600
For the subwoofer: I would like to hear write-in suggestions that will suit the above aptmt and speaker setup for a max budget of $1000.
Subs with freq. response from 20Hz to 120Hz with not too high powered amps, very low distortion and should meet WAF and NAF (not too loud or rattling etc).
In theory it may be better to go with the Genelec 7060 sub which is well integrated with the other Genelec speakers but it is twice my budget, whereas the 7050 which is within my budget has not been recommended for surround setup with 8030 due to the 8030's greater SPL capacity.
If someone who has worked with these subs could say - it won't be a bad idea to go with 7050 - my decision is easier and the 7050 seems very efficient and consumes only 70W for an SPL@1m of 100dB. I don't know how important of a factor Genelec’s new Laminar Spiral Enclosure (LSE) is: "LSE is sheet metal rolled into a spiral shape and clamped between thick MDF side panels which forms a seamless, gently curving reflex tube with excellent laminar flow characteristics and minimal turbulence noise. The curved shape also offers excellent structural stiffness and optimal packing of a very long reflex tube into a small space. The bass management unit is mounted on vibration absorbers, to ensure rattle-free operation. This results in a robust and reliable system. The handsome cast-aluminium grille also functions as a heat-sink for the power amplifier."
- Do these features make it worth twice the price of other subs with similar output?
Frankly I think a good sub shouldn't cost that much - especially considering the intense competition among the multitude of sub makers and some people even assemble their own subs as a weekend-DIY.
Therefore please correct me if I'm wrong... I assume there are much better subs out there with equal or better performance that cost far less...
Thanks in advance for all the votes and responses.
