PDP Concept maple is a good intermediate set. Just change the head and slowly change cymbals.

Tighten the batter head or reso head?

I wrote heads, as in both.
The batter needs to be tightened, but I'm not sure if your loose snare sound is due to the wire or the reso or both being loose.
You might find yourself cranking it really high up before it starts to sound good, it just means that your head and/or drum's tuning range is much higher up than you think it is.

I had that budget in mind when I was going about sourcing for a drum set. My suggestion will be PDP Z5 which I think you might be able to get for less than RM2k.
And then Stagg DXK cymbal set which I think would fit the budget nicely. Should be less than RM1k.

CAVEAT:But know that the shells are poplar and the cymbals are brass. In time as your friend progress, he/she will be thinking of changing the drum heads, changing the brass cymbals to bronze ones and upgrading the drum set.

I would have been happy with the Z5 and brass cymbals had I not learnt about poplar shells, birch shells, maple shells; and then there is bubinga and and some other obscure wood from some forsaken land far far away. I figured that in the future there will most probably be changing of drum heads and then replacing the cymbals. But the drum set stays. So it figures for me to get a better drum set. That was how I ended up spending above my budget and got the 5 piece PDP Concept Maple series.

My wife is very happy with the purchase. Our drum set at home sounded much better than the one she plays at the music centre where she goes for her drum lessons

Another factor for the purchase was that she fell in love with the white finishing of the drum set. It was the best looking white drum set out there LOL 

CAVEAT: I bought our drum set less than a month ago. You might want a second opinion from other drummers here who are more experienced.

But honestly speaking, does the drum head you use actually affect the accent, quality and audible decible of the drum? My set came with Evans heads. But it's also slightly out of tuned for reasons unknown. And as far as my sister or I know, there isn't a drum tuner in ipoh.

Kind of shaky in terms of wanting to explore how to tune it myself and wouldn't i need a drum dial?

Nice to hear that your wife goes for drum lessons Perhaps you can post a video of you jamming with her.

Hmm one wounder what's the difference besides black colour.

Want smthg better yet cheaper than axis?

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2...71450534&type=3

Thanks for the feedback

Seems like he's sorta dangling between getting a set now or not.

Judging from your pictures, your PDP set does look astonishing in white. I would've opted for a white set of the rhythm mate if there was one too Wanted to go for the blue(my other fav colour).

But honestly speaking, does the drum head you use actually affect the accent, quality and audible decible of the drum? My set came with Evans heads. But it's also slightly out of tuned for reasons unknown. And as far as my sister or I know, there isn't a drum tuner in ipoh.

Kind of shaky in terms of wanting to explore how to tune it myself and wouldn't i need a drum dial?

Nice to hear that your wife goes for drum lessons Perhaps you can post a video of you jamming with her.

You're referring to the Czarcie Kopyto pedals right? They look sweet.
At RM2.5k they're not necessarily cheaper, but how is it better?

which drum throne model u guys recommend?