Budget rig: the ₹1,50,000 second-stage home studio upgrade

The brief: you already have a starter rig, something like our ₹75,000 laptop setup, with a laptop, headphones and a controller. Now you have ₹1,50,000 for the second stage: bigger monitors, some room treatment, an interface with more inputs and outputs, and a proper vocal mic. All prices are what Bajaao, an Indian music retailer, showed on 28 Oct 2026. USD figures are conversions at 95.20 rupees to the dollar, the ExchangeRate-API rate that day, not US street prices. Prices move often; check before you buy.

This is a desk review from listed prices and specs. We have not tested this rig.

The rig

That leaves about ₹11,600 for balanced monitor cables and whatever the room turns out to need.

Why each piece

Monitors: Kali Audio LP-6 2nd Wave. Bajaao listed a single LP-6 2nd Wave at ₹22,916, so ₹45,832 for the pair, with open-box singles at ₹14,993; both listings were marked sold out on 28 Oct, so check stock or wait for a restock. The step up from 5-inch to 6.5-inch drivers is the reason to upgrade at all. The obvious alternative, Yamaha's HS7 pair, was ₹45,784, about the same money; we picked the Kalis but would not argue hard with either.

Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 4th Gen. Bajaao listed it at ₹37,716, down from ₹40,075. Focusrite's page lists it at $339.99 and gives the reasons to move up from a 2i2: two more line inputs, MIDI in and out, and separate mixes for the headphones and line outputs. If you never use MIDI hardware, Bajaao's Audient iD14 MKII listings showed the new MKII at ₹26,725, which would free up about ₹11,000 for treatment.

Microphone: Rode NT1 5th Generation. Bajaao listed it at ₹31,399; that listing is the 5th Generation kit, and Rode's page says it ships with a shock mount, pop filter and XLR and USB cables, so no extra accessories are needed. Rode also explains its trick: it has both an XLR output and a USB output, and the USB side records in 32-bit float, while the XLR side is a plain analogue output. For a budget pick, the AT2020 was ₹8,999, though it was listed as sold out on 28 Oct.

Treatment: PrimAcoustic London Bass Trap kit. Bajaao listed this two-panel kit at ₹19,865. Cheap foam squares, such as the Aurica tiles at ₹499 each, are everywhere, but in our view thin foam does little at low frequencies, which is where small rooms cause the most trouble.

Stand and cable. The Hercules MS432B stand was ₹2,739 and a Proel XLR cable ₹849.

What we think

The order matters more than the parts. In our ₹75,000 guide we said a small untreated room hides most of the gain from better monitors; that is even truer at 6.5 inches, where more bass reaches walls and corners. So buy the panels first, live with your old speakers for a few weeks, and only then decide on the monitors. If the room is still a problem, the ₹11,600 left over can go on a second treatment kit before the speakers. And the mic only earns its place if you record vocals or acoustic instruments; if you don't, drop it and buy more treatment, which helps every track you make.