[bryguy27007]

Hello all,
 
I am looking for a set-up to listen to music. I will be listening from my computer, iPhone, and also (but least important) is home theater through a PS3 and TV. I was thinking about making the jump from a cheap sound-card (that I need to rubber-band the speaker output in order to hear stereo sound) and cheap 2.1 speakers to a receiver and speaker set-up. I have been browsing through threads here and pieced together a potential set-up that I would love some feedback on.
 
Receiver:
Yamaha R-S300BL
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044779H2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
 
Would I be able to get by with the Yamaha R-S201BL? Is the step up from the 201 to the 300 significant?
R-S201:
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-Natural-Stereo-Receiver-R-S201BL/dp/B00F0H88SY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1390199486&sr=1-1&keywords=yahama+r-s201
 
 
Speakers:
Polk Audio TSi-400 (x2)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018QROHC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AED492BX4II6G
 
 
I have heard that with the TSi-400's you need to add a sub-woofer but I am already way over budget so I could just add a sub-woofer later and still get better sound than my current (borrowed) 2.1 system that oozes static and bad sound? I heard good things about the Polk Audio PSW-505 sub-woofer, but that costs a pretty penny. Is it worth it to go for that or does anybody have any other suggestions?
 
What cables will I need to connect the 2 speakers to the receiver, my computer to the receiver, iPhone to receiver, and a TV/PS3 to the receiver? 
 
Thank you for entertaining a newbie's questions!

 

[dirtrat]

While I'm sure many here can give you good advice, IMHO you would be better served in asking this question in say the AVS forums. These forums are more geared for headphone users and specifically this forum is for source components, not receivers and speakers. Good luck.

 

[bryguy27007]

Thank you, I was going to put a disclaimer saying I wasn't quite sure where to put this. I saw another thread in this section asking about speakers so I put it here, my mistake. Should I cross-post it or contact a moderator to move it?

 

[bryguy27007]

Any opinions?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Thank you, I was going to put a disclaimer saying I wasn't quite sure where to put this. I saw another thread in this section asking about speakers so I put it here, my mistake. Should I cross-post it or contact a moderator to move it?

 
He's referring to a totally different forum, which is not a subforum here, so you have to register over there and copy-paste.
 
http://www.avsforum.com/
 

 
What cables will I need to connect the 2 speakers to the receiver, my computer to the receiver, iPhone to receiver, and a TV/PS3 to the receiver?

 
Given the receiver you posted this will be very, very, very tricky - it was designed specifically for audio-only sources like CDs, turntables, and digital audio servers. If you get a network-capable surround sound HT receiver with a dedicated USB port for iDevices (some also work with Android and HDDs) instead, you get all the connectivity options, like so (cable type in italics):
 
iPhone >> Apple data cable                       >>
PC      >> (mini to HDMI)HDMI 1.3* or 1.4   >>
PS3    >> HDMI 1.3* or 1.4                        >> Surround sound HT receiver >> HDMI 1.4***      >> HDTV
                                                                                                             >> Speaker cable  >> Speakers
                                                                                                             >> Subwoofer cable(Single RCA coaxial) >> active subwoofer
                                                                                        
Make sure that from the start you choose speakers that have a compatible 5.0 or 5.1 series, that way when you decide to have surround sound (which I assume is likely due to gaming and movie sources), you can get the matched center and surrounds. This is critical because if your surrounds aren't matched using the same driver combination you could end up with dialogue that sounds different from voices coming from off-cam as well as other sound effects. Even your soundtrack can be affected as some of that music comes from the center speaker in some movies.
 
*Check if your computer's graphics card has HDMI; if it has only DVI you might be in trouble - it will have to be connected directly to the HDTV, and some receivers and motherboards might not have SPDIF output for digital audio, not to mention that some receivers who do have SPDIF might not be able to decode surround sound from there anymore, which will be a problem if you upgrade to surround sound later on
**HDMI 1.3 has digital audio streaming; I think it's the standard by now
***HDMI 1.4 has an audio return channel, so if your HDTV is hooked up to your cable box via HDMI 1.3, digital audio is sent to the receiver for decoding and amplification to go out through your speakers