CyberStoic
03-11-2004, 05:12 AM
Hi all;
Over Christmas, my father picked up a sony (STR-DE595) receiver and tiny sub/sattelite speaker set (sa-ve335). The receiver is rated at 100 watts X5 and is small (15 pounds) and fairly simple and straight forward to use. The speaker set consisted of 4 "full range" 3x5" speakers (like you'd find in your tv or clock radio) and a center. It sounded okay at best, and kind of thin. It sounded okay enough for movies, but for music, it was not much better than a boom box with a bass boost.
My father decided to get some bigger speakers for the mains and a friend of his gave him two Yamaha towers that he had in storage. I stopped by, hooked them up and they sounded awful. That is, way too much treble that was harsh and hard to tame, and no bass at all. Now the spec sheet says these speakers should be able to run 35-20,000 hz so their should be some bass. I believe they are rated at 89db sensitivity.
To complicate this, the room is a sonic nightmare (it is 14' by 33' feet; with a brick fireplace angled in the left front corner; a 14 inch dropped section in the center of the room to cover the main heating vent; low 6.5' ceilings; and a 6 foot wide entry on the right mid room going to an open stairway and hallway.) I figured it was the room acoustics and began to try to position these speakers to improve the sound.
With the right in the right corner (12" inches from both walls) and slightly toed in the bass improved somewhat. With the left next to the fireplace (about 3 feet from the left wall) this also improved things and the treble was not so harsh. After about 2 hours of adjusting, using an spl meter and just screwing around, it was to the point it was almost ok, but honestly it was not any better than the cheesy clock radio wannabe speakers that he had.
On a fluke, thinking the speakers were messed up, I brought them to my house and set them in as fronts to test them. They instantly came alive and sounded nice. The treble was a bit harsh, but was controlled by my yamaha amp and some minor placement adjustments. I left them on for a number of hours, on the oft chance that they had been sitting awhile and maybe needed to be broken in.
I brought them back to my father's house, set them up and they sounded like trash again. They sounded underpowered, anemic, lame.......
I know the room acoustics are awful, but even so, I began to wonder if this amp had enough power to drive these. So, I went back to my house, got my yamaha receiver and brought it over. Sure enough, it sounded much better. Subjectively, it did not sound as good as they had at my house. So, in the end, my father returned the yamaha towers back to his friend since this receiver doesn't seem sound right with them. I gave him an old pair of KLH 900's bookshelf speakers that I used to use as surrounds (until I could afford better) and placed them as fronts and that improved the sound considerably and he is now happy with the sound in stereo so I guess problem solved (until he decides to replace the KLH's and get some nicer bookshelf speakers!!!).
And so, to my question. (And yes I know that my Yamaha receiver is steps above this entry-ish Sony). Is is possible that this receiver just doesn't have the power to run these? The receiver is ultra light (15 pounds) and the power supply and capacitors look tiny in comparison to the Yamaha.
Thanks for any suggestions!!
Vinny
Over Christmas, my father picked up a sony (STR-DE595) receiver and tiny sub/sattelite speaker set (sa-ve335). The receiver is rated at 100 watts X5 and is small (15 pounds) and fairly simple and straight forward to use. The speaker set consisted of 4 "full range" 3x5" speakers (like you'd find in your tv or clock radio) and a center. It sounded okay at best, and kind of thin. It sounded okay enough for movies, but for music, it was not much better than a boom box with a bass boost.
My father decided to get some bigger speakers for the mains and a friend of his gave him two Yamaha towers that he had in storage. I stopped by, hooked them up and they sounded awful. That is, way too much treble that was harsh and hard to tame, and no bass at all. Now the spec sheet says these speakers should be able to run 35-20,000 hz so their should be some bass. I believe they are rated at 89db sensitivity.
To complicate this, the room is a sonic nightmare (it is 14' by 33' feet; with a brick fireplace angled in the left front corner; a 14 inch dropped section in the center of the room to cover the main heating vent; low 6.5' ceilings; and a 6 foot wide entry on the right mid room going to an open stairway and hallway.) I figured it was the room acoustics and began to try to position these speakers to improve the sound.
With the right in the right corner (12" inches from both walls) and slightly toed in the bass improved somewhat. With the left next to the fireplace (about 3 feet from the left wall) this also improved things and the treble was not so harsh. After about 2 hours of adjusting, using an spl meter and just screwing around, it was to the point it was almost ok, but honestly it was not any better than the cheesy clock radio wannabe speakers that he had.
On a fluke, thinking the speakers were messed up, I brought them to my house and set them in as fronts to test them. They instantly came alive and sounded nice. The treble was a bit harsh, but was controlled by my yamaha amp and some minor placement adjustments. I left them on for a number of hours, on the oft chance that they had been sitting awhile and maybe needed to be broken in.
I brought them back to my father's house, set them up and they sounded like trash again. They sounded underpowered, anemic, lame.......
I know the room acoustics are awful, but even so, I began to wonder if this amp had enough power to drive these. So, I went back to my house, got my yamaha receiver and brought it over. Sure enough, it sounded much better. Subjectively, it did not sound as good as they had at my house. So, in the end, my father returned the yamaha towers back to his friend since this receiver doesn't seem sound right with them. I gave him an old pair of KLH 900's bookshelf speakers that I used to use as surrounds (until I could afford better) and placed them as fronts and that improved the sound considerably and he is now happy with the sound in stereo so I guess problem solved (until he decides to replace the KLH's and get some nicer bookshelf speakers!!!).
And so, to my question. (And yes I know that my Yamaha receiver is steps above this entry-ish Sony). Is is possible that this receiver just doesn't have the power to run these? The receiver is ultra light (15 pounds) and the power supply and capacitors look tiny in comparison to the Yamaha.
Thanks for any suggestions!!
Vinny