PSB Alpha+Pion 815 vs. Yamaha YSP-1?

[alexb76]

Hi,

First post, I love this site and reviews, very unbiased and extremely accurate.

I currently have a set of PSB Alphas, with a pair of Celestion Impact 35 towers. The Celestions are from 1998, 4-ohm, 200 Watts with 3 drivers. PSB alphas people know about (bookshelf, 6ohm, great bang for bucks)... using celestions upfront and PSBs for center and rear. My receiver is an older RX-V493 with prologic only rated at 70*3+20*2. Also, using an Energy 8" sub.

The sound quality has been ok, but never WOW! Now, I am upgrading my receiver to Pioneer VSX-815 to take advantage of HDTV sound in 5.1 and to also take advantage of MCACC to calibrate my put together system to sound better in my room (fairly large 16' * 20').

Now, my question is... would I get a better sound with upgrading the receiver to the Pioneer or with completely changing it to Yamaha YSP-1? I figured I can sell my speakers and receiver and make the difference between a new receiver and Yamaha YSP-1...

Which one would sound better? Is YSP-1 just a compromise for space, or does it really sound as good as it was reviewed... more importantly, how would it fair compared to my system at home!

Thanks a lot for any help!

PS. This will be used for 30% TV, 50% DVD/HDTV (5.1), 20% music.

 

[alexb76]

It seems my room plays a role... so here it is

It's a room 20' by 16'. The RP HDTV is back on the wall about 14-16' away from the seating position. There's a dry wall to the right (of seating) and then there's a round stone fireplace to the left with a door. Behind seating it's ALL windows with blinds. The room shape is not perfect rectangle. Windows are not parallel to the opposing wall, but are formed in a round shape and the room is wider by the windows... something like this:

|-------------|
| TV |
| |
) |
) |
) |
) |
| SEAT |
~~ ~~
~~~ ~~~
~~~~


Well, that's kind of how it's shaped... would this work well with YSP-1?

I canot get spaces to fill up the drawing... so not helpful after it's posted!

 

[alexb76]

anyone? need help deciding on this...

 

[mulester7]

anyone? need help deciding on this...

.....Alex, you said the seating position sweet-spot is 14-16 feet from the TV....so I think your TV, is on the short-wall end of a 16x20 room, and the wall behind you, called 16 feet also, is off angle from the opposite TV wall....is that correct?....and, is the TV centered in the middle of the 16 foot wall?....how high up the wall is the TV?....could that be varied?....what size is the TV?....are the ceilings 8 feet from the floor in the whole room?....get descriptive with us, Alex, you "could" have good room acoustics possiblities....question....will the "windows wall", behind you, bounce sound waves to the drywall side wall, or the fireplace/door/drywall side wall?....I forgot to look if this is your first post, Alex, welcome to Audioholics if'n it is......

.....edit....Alex, the reason I'm going after your room acoustical potentials, is that it will give guys here familiar with surround receivers, to give a better opinion on the two you're considering....and, I'm thinking constantly of damping in my own theater room, so maybe I spilled over, I don't know....shift into Damping 101 with me, guys....I'll have some questions....the rugs ain't Elvis....some of you guys are gonna' end up wantin' one....or six....I'll post some links back over at the small cannons thread on the rugs....

 

[jcPanny]

Yamaha YSP

I think this the Yamaha will work pretty well in small, square rooms with solid walls on all sides. To simulate the surround information, the YSP bounces it off the side walls, therefore, you are much better off with a receiver and a normal 5.1 speaker system.

For HT, it is important to have a tonal match between the front and center channels, so you might consider all PSB up front and buying a pair of surround speakers or bigger PSB mains.

 

[alexb76]

.....Alex, you said the seating position sweet-spot is 14-16 feet from the TV....so I think your TV, is on the short-wall end of a 16x20 room, and the wall behind you, called 16 feet also, is off angle from the opposite TV wall....is that correct?....

Yes, the wall behind the seating position is round shaped, like one half side of an Octagon, made out of windows frames goin from ground all the way to ceiling. I am around 14' away from TV, and 2-4' from the windows in the rear.

and, is the TV centered in the middle of the 16 foot wall?....how high up the wall is the TV?....could that be varied?....what size is the TV?....are the ceilings 8 feet from the floor in the whole room?....get descriptive with us,

TV is almost centered, there's a door to the left, so it's centered between the door and the adjucant wall, almost center to where 3 people sit, and a little to the right for 2 more people.

The wall where TV stands, is 8 feet across plus a regular size door next to it (so total like 11 feet). TV is a 42" Widescreen LCD projection, on a 20" high stand. Ceilings are 8 feet.[/quote]

Alex, you "could" have good room acoustics possiblities....question....will the "windows wall", behind you, bounce sound waves to the drywall side wall, or the fireplace/door/drywall side wall?....I forgot to look if this is your first post, Alex, welcome to Audioholics if'n it is......

.....edit....Alex, the reason I'm going after your room acoustical potentials, is that it will give guys here familiar with surround receivers, to give a better opinion on the two you're considering....and, I'm thinking constantly of damping in my own theater room, so maybe I spilled over, I don't know....shift into Damping 101 with me, guys....I'll have some questions....the rugs ain't Elvis....some of you guys are gonna' end up wantin' one....or six....I'll post some links back over at the small cannons thread on the rugs....

The wall to the right of TV is drywall, to the left there's a closet first, then round shaped fireplace that extends to a 2nd door and then there's one feet of drywall which is behind the seating position. The wall behind TV is drywall, and the wall behind my seats are Windows as described. Floor is thick carpet.

I apprecite your response and help... I hope this is enuf info.. I may take a pic if that helps better.

 

[alexb76]

I think this the Yamaha will work pretty well in small, square rooms with solid walls on all sides. To simulate the surround information, the YSP bounces it off the side walls, therefore, you are much better off with a receiver and a normal 5.1 speaker system.

For HT, it is important to have a tonal match between the front and center channels, so you might consider all PSB up front and buying a pair of surround speakers or bigger PSB mains.

Wouldn't MCACC equalization help with tonal balance? I do have the PSB Alhpas, but they are in antoher room (for it's smaller size), I used Celestions to get more oomph and hopefully get MCACC to balance it.

 

[alexb76]

anyone? I gave all the info that was required.

 

[Sheep]

anyone? I gave all the info that was required.

LOL. Its not JUST about the info, we also need to know how everything your talking about will work out. Not many people have experience with the YSP-1.

Like me.

I think for the same price, you could get a decent 5.1 system.

SheepStar

 

[mulester7]

anyone? I gave all the info that was required.

.....haha, Alex, you done good....I wouldn't spread the front mains more than about 9-10 feet without a center speaker up front, and make attempts to damp the first bounce above and to the side walls if possible....don't worry about the brightness of the windows behind you....damp that first bounce if you can from the front....that room sounds nice for the possiblities....good job of description....make every attempt to listen to both the receivers you are considering....one should have a better presence to you, be it bright or not so bright....Alex, consider a sub or subs from the front......

 

[alexb76]

.....haha, Alex, you done good....I wouldn't spread the front mains more than about 9-10 feet without a center speaker up front, and make attempts to damp the first bounce above and to the side walls if possible....don't worry about the brightness of the windows behind you....damp that first bounce if you can from the front....that room sounds nice for the possiblities....good job of description....make every attempt to listen to both the receivers you are considering....one should have a better presence to you, be it bright or not so bright....Alex, consider a sub or subs from the front......

I do have a sub, an 8" Energy sub. How should I dampen? not quite sure what u mean by the 1st bounce above and to the side wall?