Yamaha Receiver 500 watt

[Moviefanatic]

Hi. I saw this home theater receiver at Best Buy not long ago for $400 some and was wondering what you guys could make of this model: M# YHT-391BL.

My friend told me it looked like the best one there that we looked at. I asked a sales associate why there was no mention on the back of the subwoofer of how many ohms there were. He said that it had a built in amplifier and said that you didn't need ohms if it's built in like that. It didn't make much sense to me so I thought I'd ask you guys.

My friend says that every subwoofer comes with a hole, that that's where the bass comes from. I can't recall there being a hold in it. He said it was likely on the bottom.

What gets me is that it's only 500 watts. Wouldn't that be bad sound quality?

That's all I can recall for now. Thanks in advance.

P.S. Appartently it's 600 watts, not 500. Maybe a moderator can change that mistake...?

P.P.S. The sales guy said that most subwoofers are 6-8 ohms, said that this one is probably 6. But I've seen the ohms listed at 1.5 before, which sounds like it'd sound dull.

[Anthony]

Wow, where to begin. If it's wearing a blue shirt in BB, don't believe anything coming out of its mouth.

A receiver must indeed provide a minimum impedance (Ohms) rating to allow you to determine what speakers are appropriate. Most consumer grade speakers are 8 Ohms, but there is the occasional pair that are 4 or 6 Ohms. So that rating is important. But that is just an amp-protection thing, not a power or sound quality thing.

500W is not bad. In a 5.1 setup, that's 100W per channel to the mains and primary surrounds. A bit less for 7.1. I had a Parasound 85W amp that blew away a Kenwood 125W amp in both power and sound quality -- so it's not just wattage that matters. Yamaha has a pretty good reputation for making quality amps and receivers.

I just checked the part number you listed: it's for a full home theater in a box. Complete with speakers and subwoofer. It looks like it is a passive subwoofer, meaning the receiver is also driving the subwoofer. That's where the 500W came in. 500W mains + surround + 100W for the subwoofer. That's probably why there is no subwoofer out on the panel, but I couldn't find a picture with more detail. It may also be why the speaker impedance limits aren't marked clearly (they assume you will only be using their speakers)

What speakers do you have? If you are buying this for the whole kit and want a no-hassle install, then it's probably an okay deal. If you already have a subwoofer and main speakers, there are a lot of great receivers out there at the $400 price point that are better bargains (including some from Yamaha).

I hope this helps some.

[Jungle Jack]

Hello,
I agree with everything has written. Also, tell your your friend not all subwoofers have "holes" from which they derive their sound. Those subwoofers are ported subwoofers and the aforementioned "hole" is the port. There are also sealed subwoofers which have no holes whatsoever. Furthermore, their are several other designs as well. Infinite Baffle, Transmission Line, etc.

However, ported and sealed are the most common. With ported being most abundant in budget subwoofers as it easily allows for higher spl's.

I would highly recommend purchasing separates as opposed to HTIB's. You will get much higher quality sound. It will cost more, but you will truly get much more enjoyment out of it.

What is the most money you can come up with at this moment? If your budget is tight, I would recommend starting with a quality receiver and a pair of speakers to start. And going from there.
Cheers,
JJ

[tonyvdb]

Have a read of this post as it will answer most of your questions that may not have been in this thread.

[Moviefanatic]

Jungle Jack wrote:

What is the most money you can come up with at this moment?

$300 is all I have. I do have a subwoofer that's 8 ohms. It came with a used home theater I got from a pawn shop that worked really good for a few months.

I have already read that thread you posted, tonyvdb. I haven't enough to buy anything that I want at this point. Woe is me

[tonyvdb]

Do you have any older speakers that are still somewhat good? $300 is enough to get you into an fairly decent low end receiver that is better than what you had. This Onkyo 507 would be a good start.

[Moviefanatic]

No, the ones I had blew out due to that Wal-mart HTIB. Only a subwoofer, unfortunately. Maybe I could look in a few pawn shops to see if I can find some speakers.

[lcaillo]

Understand, it was not the cheap HTIB that caused the problem with your speakers. It was not understanding the limits of the technology and misuse. That misunderstanding is partly due to the lack of education on the part of retailers who sell the products, but you have to accept some responsibility for using it in a manner which was simply beyond its design. If you don't educate yourself and understand this, you may repeat the experience again, only with more powerful amps and better speakers.

[Moviefanatic]

I completely get that it was my fault.

[tonyvdb]

The thing with most if not all low end consumer electronics is that even though the volume goes to 10 does not mean that you can go that loud. Leonard is correct when he said "lack of education on the part of retailers who sell the equipment" Its even the pressure of meeting their sales quota, they miss lead customers into thinking the a HTIB system is a great buy without finding out the users requirements including room size. Speakers the size of pop cans are Not going to fill a room that is even 8'x8'. I hear so many times on this forum members with HTIB systems who are simply trying to over drive there speakers beyond what they are designed to do causing distortion and failure like in your case moviefanatic.
It simply is a case of you get what you pay for.

[lcaillo]

Moviefanatic wrote:

I completely get that it was my fault.

The point is not to assign blame, but to understand what the technology as applied in a given system is capable of doing. If that does not match what you expect, then you will have problems and not be satisfied.

[Moviefanatic]

lcaillo wrote:

The point is not to assign blame...

Oh, I know that, but I do agree that I shouldn't have tried to get the thing to do what I wanted it to do. It gave me plenty of warnings, shutting down frequently, but I failed to use my head. I wonder, though, if that piece of equipment shouldn't be removed from the market; anyone who buys that thing could get a very bad surprise if after the date that they could get it returned turns up the volume to imprerss their friends and boom! $158 before tax down the drain. Funny thing is, I bought a $100 system from them and it stopped working about 6 months subsequent the purchase date. I should go on Walmart.com and review it. I don't think that the $158 one was even on their site, but that $100 one was.

Now, with a receiver, if it comes with speakers, you can put speakers that didn't come with it in their place, can't you? I mean, that's what you guys have sugested, but I'm afraid to try that again given my experiences. I was worried that with such a cheap system my old speakers might not work too well given the systems weakness.

Hey, tonyvdb, my 1st HTIB (well, it wasn't in a box at the pawn shop when I bought it but you could tell by the way the speaker wires branched out from the DVD player), it had pretty dinky speakers but they were fantastic! I've a good sized room, 7 foot by 11 foot by 14 feet, kind of in a thick L shape. But not long after I got it the picture on screen became distorted when the volume was at a normal level, a level that wasn't always that loud at all. I think that it was a 90s home theater system. On the back it says: Manufactured under licenced from Dolby Laboratories. "Dolby" and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. Confidential Unpublished Works. (C) 1991-1997 Dolby Laboratories, inc... For what it's worth.