Yamaha speaker test

The main problem in organizing a home theater in the living room is traditionally the aesthetic conflict of necessary devices with the finished interior. It is not difficult to explain to your wife the necessity of a pair of components under the TV-set, but the installation of numerous black boxes of speaker systems and a heap of wires getting under your feet will hardly find an appropriate understanding. Given the small footprint and availability of furniture, the task may look impossible at all. Only a miracle can help. But if there’s a demand for miracles, there will also be a supply!

From Yamaha’s point of view, the answer to the aspirations of cinematic aficionados is to integrate all the speakers into one and do away with wires altogether. To completely dispel doubts about the disposition of the necessary units, the company even released a special TV cabinet, ready to not only accept the main unit of the audio system and player, but also to decorate your home with its sophisticated and stylish design. Kinsei rack is designed for 42-inch displays.

Solutions

The role of the main character is assigned to the “sound projector” YSP-4100. It serves as a receiver and all the satellites at the same time. No less than forty-two speakers are hidden under the front grille! Combined with sophisticated signal processing, they produce stunning, authentic ambient sound! Such a sound environment is formed by creating sound “beams” reflected from the walls and reaching the listener from all sides, including from behind. This is proprietary Yamaha technology, and it sets its sound projectors apart from conventional soundbars. The best effect is created in rooms up to forty square meters. Tuning of this sophisticated system is done automatically by the regular microphone. The data stream is received from the player via HDMI and decoded by an onboard processor compatible with the most advanced Blu-ray disc tracks. Four inputs allow connection of an impressive arsenal of playback devices or game consoles. But low resolution sources are easily tuned by built-in scaler to meet the requirements of Full HD screen.

Details

The most interesting design feature is Yamaha’s proprietary AirWired technology, which makes it possible to connect a wide variety of compatible Yamaha peripherals. There are wireless dock for iPod and adapter for subwoofer in this set. The first one, as its name suggests, connects to your portable Apple music player and broadcasts music from it through the speaker. The gadget itself becomes a convenient remote control with built-in display, which compares favorably with wired docking stations, where you can view track names on the two-inch screen from three meters away. In case of YID-W10 you don’t need binoculars and the level of ergonomics is absolutely incomparable.

Receiver SWK-W10 allows you to connect any subwoofer and broadcast the signal to it from the receiver equipped with AirWired. So there is no need for a cable from the center unit to the active bass driver. He also takes over the function of the power on and off, so that the remote can just forget about. The main thing is to have a socket in the wall nearby. For the purpose of this review, the system was completed with the subwoofer YST-FSW150, which is a new word in compactness of such devices. Slim unit with forward-facing phaso inverter and downward-facing speaker is designed to dissolve in the room and is unassuming to the location. It fits the purpose of the whole set just fine. Good bass is exactly what an ultra-slim audio system like the YSP-4100 needs.

Impressions

Competently placed and prepared to work set at first glance almost invisible. You can guess about its presence, only turning on some film. Enveloping, sweeping sound that obviously can’t come from a TV. Anyone who hears it will be involuntarily trying to find the speakers hidden somewhere in the walls with their eyes. The panoramic effect is considerably richer than the normal stereo, giving you the almost total cinema-like experience. Critics might draw attention to the lack of detail in the effects, but comparing one speaker with a home theater set is at least inappropriate. We can say for sure that advantages of this audio system are worth all the forced compromises and we will not regret the choice in its favor.

Price for the set: 82,575 Dollars.

Prices for the components of the presented set:

Yamaha YSP-4100 – 46 659 Dollars.

Yamaha YID-W10 – 7401 Dollars.

Yamaha SWK-W10 – 4827 Dollars.

Yamaha YST-FSW150 – 8952 Dollars.

Yamaha Kinsei – 14,736 Dollars.