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YHT-S401 or YSP-2200?

post #1 of 64
12/29/11 at 12:23pm
Thread Starter 
Which soundbar does everyone think provides the best audio performance for the price? The S401 is the newest of the two and it decodes both DTS Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD. If I am not mistaken so does 2200. I do like the fact that the S401 has all the inputs on the receiver/subwoofer and not on the bar itself. This will reduce the amount of cables that need to be run to the soundbar. Which one would you all buy? Thanks for any input you can provide.
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post #2 of 64
12/31/11 at 8:32pm
Thread Starter 
Well I made a decision and ordered the S401. I will let you know how it sounds.
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post #3 of 64
1/5/12 at 6:55am
Due to the floods in Thailand which have disrupted Yamaha's manufacturing, stocks of the Yamaha YHT-S401 are almost non-existant at the moment, so the only realistic option is the Yamaha YSP2200 - the 2200 is a very well reviewed soundbar, good looking and feature rich at the pricce, so I don't think you will be dissappointed.
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post #4 of 64
1/5/12 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the info. I actually ordered my S401 and it was delivered this morning. Guess I got lucky. Will update with impressions once I get it setup.
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post #5 of 64
1/5/12 at 3:37pm
Hey p[lease fill us in on how it sounds. I am also in the market for a soundbar and have looked at the Yamaha and the Polk 6000. I demoed the BOSE cinema SR and being a Non fan of BOSE when i listened i was actually impressed as was my wife. She even said it sounds like there is speakers behind us and that is in the worst possible setup that speaker could be in. But the price is a turn off.
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post #6 of 64
1/5/12 at 4:57pm
Thread Starter 
She has arrived!
LL
LL
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post #7 of 64
1/5/12 at 5:47pm
Thread Starter 
Getting closer
LL
LL
LL
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post #8 of 64
1/8/12 at 9:51pm
Thread Starter 
Well I finally have it all hooked and working. I gotta say I am quite impressed. I am using all 3 HDMI connections for a PS3, AppleTV, and a HD Comcast receiver. It is hooked up to my Samsung PN51D8000 using HDMI ARC. The 3 channel sound was impressive given the large size of the room. The virtual surround was noticeable. Given that the S401 supports expanding to real surround speakers I took two rear speakers from an extra Mirage Nanosat 5.1 speaker system and hooked them up. One change in the menu system and the rear speakers are active.

For a bedroom setup I could not ask for more from a soundbar, except that I wish it was a little wider so it was more in proportion with the 51" TV but the sound is superior to the Samsung HD-W550 I had before. I was not satisfied with the input setup or sound from that system so I returned it for the Yamaha.

If anyone has questions about this unit feel
free to ask, I am very satisfied with it so far. The receiver/built-in subwoofer is very nice and you can control the volume of each speaker independently. The big seller on this unit for me was the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA support.
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post #9 of 64
1/10/12 at 5:00am
I liked the ability to adjust the soundbar legs to decrease the height too. How have you found the audio delay? I am running a Sony S550 blu-ray player and a PVR into the receiver and then out to the tv, and have found the need to manually add around 160ms for the PVR and probably about the same for the blu-ray.
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post #10 of 64
1/10/12 at 2:39pm
Congrats on your choice. However, I recently bought a YSP-2200, and couldn't be happier. I think it's in another league from the S401, IF you take the time to set it up properly (manual setup). You don't have to have a "perfect" room, but it does help.

Of course, the 2200 is a few more $$$, as well...
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post #11 of 64
1/18/12 at 10:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by heed View Post

Well I finally have it all hooked and working. I gotta say I am quite impressed. I am using all 3 HDMI connections for a PS3, AppleTV, and a HD Comcast receiver. It is hooked up to my Samsung PN51D8000 using HDMI ARC. The 3 channel sound was impressive given the large size of the room. The virtual surround was noticeable. Given that the S401 supports expanding to real surround speakers I took two rear speakers from an extra Mirage Nanosat 5.1 speaker system and hooked them up. One change in the menu system and the rear speakers are active.

For a bedroom setup I could not ask for more from a soundbar, except that I wish it was a little wider so it was more in proportion with the 51" TV but the sound is superior to the Samsung HD-W550 I had before. I was not satisfied with the input setup or sound from that system so I returned it for the Yamaha.

If anyone has questions about this unit feel
free to ask, I am very satisfied with it so far. The receiver/built-in subwoofer is very nice and you can control the volume of each speaker independently. The big seller on this unit for me was the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA support.

Hi Heed, thanks for the pics and info! Great looking set and I've been looking for a sound bar with true 5.1 expandability and this is the sleekest system I've seen yet.

So I do have a question. I do see on the backside that it offers full fledged 5.1 speaker connectivity, so since the sound bar has front R/L/C does it simply connect via 3 traditional individual speaker wires? I didn't see a single digital connection for the sound bar. Also, does this mean I could substitute the the sound bar with my own front, left, and center speakers?

Thanks!

Edit: Sorry, I just downloaded the manual and see that it does connect with three speaker wires.
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post #12 of 64
2/12/12 at 9:26am
I'm struggling with the decision between the 401b and the 2200 myself and would love additional input.

First, let me admit that you probably won't believe what I'm considering 'downgrading' from. I have Definitive Technology BP2002 towers with dual 10" powered subs and a Boston Acoustics Center Channel, and in-ceiling BA rear speakers, driven by a Pioneer 7.1 Dolby Digital Receiver.

Why switch? The towers are huge, and I'm replacing my 60" Sony SXRD with a true flat-screen, and want something that looks much neater in the room. Also, I don't find myself listening to movies or TV with a discerning ear - we struggle to find a volume level that will make dialogue clear but not blast the house with sound effects. Having heard the YSP1100 in a small room, I was very impressed with it's ability to fill the room and hold clear dialogue at any volume.

The 'high-end' side of me thinks the YSP-2200 is the easier and cooler choice. BUT, the room is fairly large and I worry about whether it can keep up and create even the sense of surround (I don't expect full surround, just crisp, rich and room filling effects). The 401b, on the other hand, seems weak and small, BUT has outputs for rear speakers so I could connect the in-ceiling units and retain 'true' surround. What's that worth if the front is going to seem so weak compared to what I have now?

Most of the audio emanates from the center channel in my current config, until effects/music kick in and then the BP2002's over-power the room. Seems like the 2200 would be nice for providing a similar/better dialogue, but the 401b would be better for surround.

THOUGHTS? Thanks!
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post #13 of 64
2/13/12 at 4:05pm
I'll give this a bit of a crack. The 401 is, in my mind, an aesthetically pleasing solution to a space-related problem. Its a simple reciever with a sub built in, with essentially 5 speaker outputs. The soundbar itself it 3 speakers built into a single bar, there are three pairs of speaker wires connecting the soundbar to the receiver. It doesnt have any sort of built-in room correction, but the standard DSP modes are good, especially the Voice Enhancer (if you watch a lot of dialogue-based TV).

The above comments aren't indicating poor performance, I find it a very suitable product, with plenty of volume when/if required. I haven't come to a point where I thought "gee I wish it was louder" yet, although I have a dedicated HT room if I want action-movie volume.

The scope for the addition of rear speakers would no-doubt increase the performance again, and the addition of the rear speakers unlocks further audio processing (e.g. pro-logic).

It falls down to what you want to be able to do. If you dont want the additional hassle of running surrounds, then the 2200 is probably for you, however if running surrounds is no problem, a proper rear-speaker surround effect would probably give better results than a psuedo-surround effect.
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post #14 of 64
2/13/12 at 7:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sport73 View Post

I'm struggling with the decision between the 401b and the 2200 myself and would love additional input.

First, let me admit that you probably won't believe what I'm considering 'downgrading' from. I have Definitive Technology BP2002 towers with dual 10" powered subs and a Boston Acoustics Center Channel, and in-ceiling BA rear speakers, driven by a Pioneer 7.1 Dolby Digital Receiver.

Why switch? The towers are huge, and I'm replacing my 60" Sony SXRD with a true flat-screen, and want something that looks much neater in the room. Also, I don't find myself listening to movies or TV with a discerning ear - we struggle to find a volume level that will make dialogue clear but not blast the house with sound effects. Having heard the YSP1100 in a small room, I was very impressed with it's ability to fill the room and hold clear dialogue at any volume.

The 'high-end' side of me thinks the YSP-2200 is the easier and cooler choice. BUT, the room is fairly large and I worry about whether it can keep up and create even the sense of surround (I don't expect full surround, just crisp, rich and room filling effects). The 401b, on the other hand, seems weak and small, BUT has outputs for rear speakers so I could connect the in-ceiling units and retain 'true' surround. What's that worth if the front is going to seem so weak compared to what I have now?

Most of the audio emanates from the center channel in my current config, until effects/music kick in and then the BP2002's over-power the room. Seems like the 2200 would be nice for providing a similar/better dialogue, but the 401b would be better for surround.

THOUGHTS? Thanks!

If you saw my other thread, I just "downgraded" from a 5.1 home theater system because I wanted to get rid of the clutter. All the speakers and wires taking up space. I got the 401 and am very happy. I'm using it with rear speakers connected wirelessly with a Rocketfish wireless kit. So I still get the 5.1 sound but I have a much cleaner look now. Volume is never a problem.
LL
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post #15 of 64
2/13/12 at 10:54pm
@heed

Very nice. Is there a loud fan in the receiver? By loud I mean audible.

philip
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post #16 of 64
2/14/12 at 8:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy12 View Post

If you saw my other thread, I just "downgraded" from a 5.1 home theater system because I wanted to get rid of the clutter. All the speakers and wires taking up space. I got the 401 and am very happy. I'm using it with rear speakers connected wirelessly with a Rocketfish wireless kit. So I still get the 5.1 sound but I have a much cleaner look now. Volume is never a problem.

Thanks, that's very similar to my setup and you clearly wanted the same thing as me (clean, minimal). What did you downgrade from? Is the sound now enough to fill your room? I'll look for your other post.

Any others with opinions on the YSP-2200? I'm ordering tomorrow one way or the other.
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post #17 of 64
2/14/12 at 9:06am
The YSP-2200 is in a different league than the YHT.

If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.
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post #18 of 64
2/14/12 at 9:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by weneversleep View Post

The YSP-2200 is in a different league than the YHT.

If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

+1
It is a completely different animal.
And they use totally different technology to create surround sound
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post #19 of 64
3/13/12 at 11:26pm
Thread Starter 
@pmcd

Haven't heard a sound coming from the receiver. Been using it for months. Not a single complaint with this system. I was tempted by the 2200 but could not justify the price for a bedroom setup. It was more of a space issue for me.
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post #20 of 64
3/14/12 at 6:29am
I just bought the YSP2200 a few weeks ago. I am impressed with it. I do have an ideal room for the technology used, and experience good surround from it.
The bass is very well balanced with the overall sound. It is not thunderous bass however, so if you like earth shattering bass that rumbles the house, this is not the system for you.
I did have a chance to hear the 401 at Electronics Expo this past weekend. I was impressed with it to - but in a different kind of way. The 3.1 surround isn't anywhere as impressive as the 2200. But the bass did seem much stronger and cleaner sounding to me than the 2200. The overall sound was still balanced however. The DSPs worked well in the large open display area I was listening in, but, its effect wasn't as "surrounding" as the 2200 at all.
I dont have any regrets going with the 2200.
I was able to get it in the middle $500 range from bn.com, so not much more than a 401.
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post #21 of 64
8/14/12 at 12:04pm
I notice that the S401 does not even have tweeters. How can this sound good. Every other sound bar has tweeters.
I have a yamaha ipod doc with no tweets , and you can see the big difference when you listen to say jbl mad.gif
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post #22 of 64
11/26/12 at 3:56pm
I just bought one of these bad boys (the S401) over Black Friday. I have it hooked up via ARC to my Samsung UN46C9000 with my Comcast box and my Xbox 360 using the other two HDMI ports. It's aesthetically-pleasing with the bar approximately as wide as the 9000 series's base.

This is my first stereo I've ever owned and so it'll take me some time to really tweak this thing how I want it, but for now, my untrained ear tells me it sounds a heck of a lot better than my TV's speakers and the extra bass is very welcome.

My one concern so far is that my TV has downgraded its video quality from 1920x1080i @60Hz to 1280x720 @60Hz. Anyone have any ideas why?
Edited by niceguy876 - 11/26/12 at 6:27pm
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post #23 of 64
11/26/12 at 5:42pm
So the comcast box is plugged into the soundbar receiver, or to the TV? Either way, it shouldnt affect the PQ handshake. If possible, I would try and set it manually. I dont have any issues with PQ passthrough from my various inputs (Sony BR player, PVR and a WD TV Live Streaming).
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post #24 of 64
11/26/12 at 6:12pm
Comcast HDMI is plugged into the S401's receiver, along with my blu-ray (runs at 1080p) and my 360 (untested).

Would I set a manual resolution on my TV or on my Comcast box? And I tried a quick google search on PQ Shake but came up with nothing...can you explain a bit more?
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post #25 of 64
11/27/12 at 6:54pm
I dont have direct experience with a comcast box, as i'm from another country, however as the comcast box is an output device (similar to your blu-ray and 360), the output resolution is set in the output box, i.e. you select the output resolution from somewhere within the comcast box's settings menu's.

Ideally, TV's will talk to their input devices via the HDMI link, and they will mutually decide which resolution is best to receive. In practice, this tends to not always work. A TV is just a panel with a fixed resolution. Any signal sent in to the TV will be scaled by the TV to fit the screen (and thus the resolution). The higher the resolution sent to the TV, the more information present in the signal, and the less scaling the TV needs to do and the better the picture quality is (assuming all other things being equal).
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post #26 of 64
11/28/12 at 4:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dgcam View Post

I just bought the YSP2200 a few weeks ago. I am impressed with it. I do have an ideal room for the technology used, and experience good surround from it.

The bass is very well balanced with the overall sound. It is not thunderous bass however, so if you like earth shattering bass that rumbles the house, this is not the system for you.

You can add a powered sub to the 2200 if you wish. Just run the line in parallel with the line to the 2200's sub.
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post #27 of 64
11/28/12 at 4:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy12 View Post


If you saw my other thread, I just "downgraded" from a 5.1 home theater system because I wanted to get rid of the clutter. All the speakers and wires taking up space. I got the 401 and am very happy. I'm using it with rear speakers connected wirelessly with a Rocketfish wireless kit. So I still get the 5.1 sound but I have a much cleaner look now. Volume is never a problem.

Dumb question but I can't see the answer in the 401's manual that I downloaded: During setup is the setup displayed on the TV, or do you do it all from the 401's display?

Thanks,

Ted
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post #28 of 64
11/28/12 at 4:52am
There is no OSD, so all done from the receivers LCD panel
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post #29 of 64
11/28/12 at 12:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ausdavep View Post

There is no OSD, so all done from the receivers LCD panel

Thank you!
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post #30 of 64
11/30/12 at 10:49am
I just purchased the 2200 via savinglots website. They claim to be a retailer that yamaha honors the warranty. This technology of projection / beam direction conceptually should work well for anyone willing to spend time tweaking the bar via the manual settings. But I'll report out once I get it set up. My TV is in a corner location with a sectional couch also in a corner location. It's an oddly shaped room over my garage so I don't expect to be able to dial in 7.1, but I think 4.1 should be doable with the 5th channel not sounding that great without a great flat wall to bounce off of.

An interesting note on beam direction. The design of the bar is conceptually the same as the design of modern day radar. Aesa radars utilize minor differences in phase between several co-located emitters. As the waves emitted from the radar intermingle the phase differences cause the beam to angle off in a different direction and we can aim the co-mingled beam based off of phase of the emitters and there relative location to one another.

The 2200 appears to be using the same physics to point sound and conceptually it should work very well. Food for thought though the woofers are aligned in a straight line so the sound this unit is pushing out can only be aimed in the flat plane that is straight out from the grill. So if the bar is below or above your listening level make sure it is angled up or down towards your general listening area.

Lastly if it is mounted on a short tv stand furniture in the room could absorb the sound. Keep that in mind as you want the sound to have straight line of site from speaker to walls to your ears.
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