A cheap stereo system with audiophile quality at different price points
A caveat. I have spent days looking at reviews to try and assemble these systems. Trying to keep them affordable involved various comparisons.
Amps
SMSL is universally acknowledged to have the most bang for the buck. Very high quality internals, an enormous range of EQ adjustments and high quality amp chips. There are two that stand out.
SMSL AOa200 Mk II and SMSL A300. Both output a true 85W/channel but the 300 has more features, most of which you might not use.
Aiyima A70 has been crowned the best class d budget amp. Output 90W/channel.
They all accept Bluetooth, but the SMSL models have the better codecs.
After careful review, I recommend any of these three. All have subwoofer out connections for either active or passive subwoofers. But, and it's a biggie, the Aiyima does not have a high pass filter to offload bass signals to a subwoofer. If you do not want a sub, then no worries. I will explain in my speakers choices why you may not need one.
Speakers
Polk Audio offers two models that measure very well, and are highly recommended by the vast majority of reviewers, especially Erin's Audio Corner, on the web and YouTube. He uses very sophisticated measurement systems and has very good subjective opinions. He recommends these.
XT-20 passive monitor
Xt-15 passive monitor
The XT-20 has a woofer that goes down to 60Hz without distortion, thereby obviating the need for a subwoofer, unless you really, really like lots of bass.
The XT-15 has an identical tweeter, but the woofer is smaller, so a subwoofer might be beneficial.
Speaker Stands
You can get fancy or cheap. The key is that the tweeter is at your ear level when sitting and listening. The Polks benefit from being about 6 inches or so from the wall since they have ported bass modules.
Turning the speakers either away or towards you helps to adjust your acoustics and treble balance and sound stage.
Budgets
High End
SMSL AOA300 ₹63,400
POLK XT-20 ₹34,000
POLK PSW10 ₹32,000 (Subwoofer)
SIDE TABLES ₹800
Total ₹1,30,200
SMSL AO200 MKII ₹21,270
POLK XT-20 ₹34,000
POLK PSW10 ₹32,000
SIDE TABLES ₹800
Total ₹88,070
Medium
SMSL AO200 MKII ₹21,270
POLK XT-15 ₹22,500
POLK PSW10 ₹32,000
SIDE TABLES ₹800
Total ₹76,570
SMSL AO200 MKII ₹21,270
POLK XT-20 ₹34,000
SIDE TABLES ₹800
Total ₹56,070
Lower
Aiyima A70 ₹14,222
POLK XT-20 ₹34,000
SIDE TABLES ₹800
Total ₹49,022
Recommendations
The "Lower" is all you really need for a medium sized room. Excellent acoustics, undistorted bass so low that you don't need a subwoofer, but can add one later. Power outputs on all three are similar.
If I had the money, I would go for "High End", the reason being that this system will wipe the floor with systems 5 to 8 times the price. Superb sound, tons of EQ options to suit you, flexible inputs and excellent quality components.
Small suggestion. I own a tiny DAC, the Fosi DS2, which plugs into the USB port on my cellphone and bypasses the crappy DAC inside Android phones. I use a 3 meter long, 3.5mm male to two male RCA plugs into the RCA inputs on my amp. I download lossless codec music from my Apple Premium Music account and play it through the stereo. The FOSI costs ₹6,600 and the difference in sound quality is staggering. A cheap way to stream very high quality music from a phone. If you own an IEM (In Ear Monitor) this is an inexpensive, portable, high quality way to listen to music on the go.
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