Soundbars - Yamaha YAS-101 and YHT-S401 owners opinions (and possibly others)

lovelldr

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Hi guys.

Currently on the lookout for a soundbar for the living room, as getting increasingly annoyed by the lacklustre sound produced by the TV's inbuilt speakers... Ideally wanted full surround sound, but the missus has put her foot down, and I'm not allowed full surround speakers etc... So, gotta settle on a soundbar.

Have looked around and read lots of opinions about a few different ones. Had originally decided I liked the look of the Pioneer soundbar, as it had the HDMI inputs and everything I wanted at a nice cheap price (I'd seen for £300). But, on reviews, people said the felt let down by it's performance...

Now, I know that to be able to properly judge this, I need to go and view them and see how I feel they sound... But, the problem comes where there nowhere that has all of the units I wanted to demo. I have a richer sounds, where I will try to go tomorrow to demo the yht-s401, and hopefully the panasonic htb520. But, they don't stock the yas-101 nor the pioneer I'd originally looked in to.

So, my dilemma is how much of a difference is there between the yas-101 and the s401/htb520? From what I've heard of previous amps etc, yamaha usually give good results, and from soundbars, it looks like they're one of the best. So I'm kind of expecting to prefer the s401 against the htb520. But, I'd like to know what people think of the 101 vs the s401...

Looking forward to some good info on people's opinions :)
 
Have you considered a 2.1 system like the Onkyo HTX 22HDX? Or maybe a stereo amp and pair of standmount speakers? The stereo option would certainly give a better overall sound imho compared to most cheap soundbars.
 
I'm also looking at buying the s401 but I've not found a single review of it and there's no thread on here. Don't know what this is :(
 
i bought the htb520 today and its a vast improvement from my tv speakers. htb520 was the cheapest hdmi (arc) soundbar i could find, 280. yht-s401 cost 450+.
 
i bought the htb520 today and its a vast improvement from my tv speakers. htb520 was the cheapest hdmi (arc) soundbar i could find, 280. yht-s401 cost 450+.

only 1 HDMI input though and doesn't do hd audio formats, shame :(
 
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only 1 HDMI input though and doesn't do hd audio formats, shame :(

Yup, that's the thing that I'm a bit let down with by the 520... But then compared to the yas-101 that has none, it's an upgrade :p

Decisions. Could do with currys/comet etc stocking each for us o compare :)
 
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Ok I've ordered the s401. Will post my impressions when I have it.
 
Mr Fujisawa said:
Ok I've ordered the s401. Will post my impressions when I have it.

How much u get it for? Now, why didn't u order a yas-101 at same time to satisfy my curiosity :)

Also, in two minds of whether to wait until after xmas, see whether any decent sales make em cheaper?! Put up with the sound so far for 2 months, another 2 won't hurt if can get cheaper ... if not, I want now :D hehe
 
How much u get it for? Now, why didn't u order a yas-101 at same time to satisfy my curiosity :)

Also, in two minds of whether to wait until after xmas, see whether any decent sales make em cheaper?! Put up with the sound so far for 2 months, another 2 won't hurt if can get cheaper ... if not, I want now :D hehe

£486 from amazon. It's available elsewhere for £450 but they wouldn't answer their phone to confirm stock so sod em.
 
thats not amazon themselves, though is it?

no, i went for tribaluk. But by shopping through amazon I can ship to a different address. No sites would deliver saturday so the only other option was to send to my mates work address.
 
I went for the YAS-101 to replace my YSP-800 and although the surround effects are not as clear it suits me (it only being £219 was a major factor also!). The sound overall is crisp and clear.

After having to use the TV speakers for a week waiting for it to arrive I think I appreciate it even more!

(although if I get my 800 fixed - faulty capacitor - I will be setting this back up and selling the 101)
 
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It has arrived :)
 

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It has arrived :)

And??? :p

Have you managed to get it all set up and sorted yet? What's the sound like on it?

What's connectivity to it like? Looking forward to finding how well it connects with the hdmi of the tv and hdmi-cec (vieracast etc)... What tv do you have?

Cheers :)
 
And??? :p

Have you managed to get it all set up and sorted yet? What's the sound like on it?

What's connectivity to it like? Looking forward to finding how well it connects with the hdmi of the tv and hdmi-cec (vieracast etc)... What tv do you have?

Cheers :)

Just finished setting it up. A surprise I found is that it actually has connections to attach rear speakers which is nice.

As for connections, I just had to turn on an option on the amp (HDMI CONTROL) and now it's picking up ARC audio and I can control the volume and power with the TV remote. I also have a PC connected over HDMI, a PS3 and a 360.

Sound is good, very clear and nice bass. With the PC outputting 7.1 over HDMI and doing a 7.1 channel sound test, it does quite a good job of making the rears and sides sound 'rear and side'.

I've not yet worked out what to do with the surround mode for TV yet though, if I put it on TV or Movie settings I'm not sure I like what it does to the sound, but it could be the position I'm testing from as the box and gumph is all over my bed still.

Here's a few pics. I tried attaching them but kept getting an error.

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Many thanks for that Fuji :)

Just wondering, do you actually have any other speakers connected? Wasn't sure from your comment? Read something earlier about it allowing expansion of full surround, which is another excellent bonus, but just wanted to check that you weren't basing your comments on that?

Looking at this further, am quite sure I'd like to go for this, but not sure that it'd fit in the space I have available :( Can you confirm that the specs I found are correct regarding dimensions of the sub & speaker?

800 x 79 – 100 x 79.5 (height adjustable) mm (Front speaker system), 435 x 135 x 361 mm (Subwoofer) 31-1/2” x 3-1/8– 3-7/8” (height adjustable) x 3-1/8” (Front speaker system), 17-1/8” x 5-3/8” x 14-1/4” (Subwoofer)
 
No I don't have extras, you can see the extra ports though on the picture of the back. As you can see I also don't have a lot of space to play with, my door opens to the right and will hit the sub, so I'll have to stick a bit of felt to the door in case it gets knocked!

It has plenty of options for dynamic range and also 'clear voice' which i think just boosts the centre channel and maybe a bit of EQ for speach, I'll find that usefull for night time etc.

Definitely happy with the purchase :)

and yes the specs are correct
 
very funny, i am using this with that exact TV, except mine is still being shipped so should be here in the next few days...
 
Well, went out and got the s401 this afternoon.

Just made room for it on the shelf. Got it all connected... But, blimey, there's so many options. Setting it up ain't gonna be a 5 min job :p Dunno what's the best option to use. Also, that speaker pass through thingy they included with it appears quite useless :p
 
lovelldr said:
Well, went out and got the s401 this afternoon.

Just made room for it on the shelf. Got it all connected... But, blimey, there's so many options. Setting it up ain't gonna be a 5 min job :p Dunno what's the best option to use. Also, that speaker pass through thingy they included with it appears quite useless :p

Speaker pass through thingy?
 
Speaker pass through thingy?

Sorry, meant remote pass through thingy :p The part that receives the IR command from the remote. If I put it straight up next to the tv, it seems to work fine, but, leaving the 10mm gap that it suggests doesn't work always ... needs moving the remote to certain height etc...
 
I haven't had to use it luckily.
 
Can't have set mine up properly, as sound wise, it doesn't really sound as good as I'd expected, and as good as it sounded in the shop... Unless it's just the crappy source from tv, as haven't really had a chance to test with any blurays or anything yet...

What settings did you use Mr Fuji? Does yours sound really good? Also, for setup, do you have to manually adjust sounds for surround effect? As there was no autosetup thingy as others I've used...
 

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