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Full user review
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4.0 stars
"Give big sound to your mid-sized entertainment center with minimal effort."
Pros: Superb sound quality. Truly expansive sound field. Solid, reliable quality. Loads of customization. Low power consumption. Great remote control.
Cons: Surround beams don't work if seated against a wall. Target Mode doesn't really work. Connections hard to access when placed on a shelf. Wall bracket not included. Subwoofer can be recommended.
Summary: I actually own the YSP-800, which is about 98% identical to the YSP-900. I've owned the YSP-800 for a year and a half now, and I can say that it's a truly reliable, quality product. It's made nearly entirely out of metal, and the display on the front is a very attractive off-white.
The sound quality is great enough that games, movies, and television all come alive with rich yet balanced mids and highs, and surprisingly adequate bass output. I'd place the audio quality of the YSP-800/900 on par with that of some sets of Yamaha Studio Monitors I've tested before. The bass put out by the unit is natural sounding. It sounds good, but don't expect to get room rattling booms out of it. For that, you'll need a subwoofer. Yamaha makes a subwoofer designed to go with the YSP's, the YST-FSW100, but I can't personally recommend it. The YST-FSW100 only sounds like a minor upgrade from the bass already put out by the YSP. Your best bet would be to go for a more substantial subwoofer that could even be used in future setups after the YSP.
The virtual surround field generated by the YSP's beams does indeed work, and you can clearly pinpoint left and right speakers FAR off from where the YSP actually is. It's really quite an interesting experience. Unfortunately, however, the surround L+R beams only operate properly if allowed to ricochet off the rear wall. This means that if you're seated too close to the rear wall, the surround beams will never quite make it. The surround beams will instead sound like a much wider, grander stereo field, which is still cool, but not surround. I have tested my YSP-800 in a room that actually allowed me to hear the surround channels, and I can confirm that they work -- and work well.
While it is true that the YSP-800/900 doesn't quite perform the best with music, that's not to say it doesn't do it well at all. Music can be quite enjoyable on the YSP. You just have to get some settings right to truly make it sound its best. Even though "Stereo" mode might seem like the best solution to listen to music, 5Beam or 3Beam mode set to Music Surround can give the best quality result, where the voice actually appears in the Center, FR, or FL channel. The "Target" mode which can channel a beam to your location in the room doesn't really work like you'd think. While the intensity of the bean is strongest at its focal point, it can still be heard rather clearly around the rest of the room. At best, Target can be useful for LOW-level night time listening. Though, expect to lose nearly all of the audio quality -- the sound is reduced to that of laptop speakers on Target.
Setting up the YSP was not hard at all. Even the box it comes in is smaller than any surround system you could purchase. I keep my YSP on the first shelf under the TV of an IKEA "EXPEDIT" entertainment center. It really couldn't have been any more of a perfect fit. Unfortunately this means that accessing the connections are difficult since they point down. This was done so that folks who wall-mount their YSP can still access their connections. It's a small gripe, thought. The actual setting up of the system is simple thanks to a logical menu hierarchy on the unit, and the special calibration microphone that can handle most of the dirty work for you. The auto-setup works excellently, and though this may just be my anal tendencies, I like to go in and tweak the settings chosen by the calibrator even further to my liking.
In terms of connectivity, the YSP is really good enough for all things audio. I have the following equipment hooked up to my YSP-800:
RCA 1 - Sound from HDTV sources
RCA 2 - Apple Airport Express
Optical 1 - Playstation 3
Optical 2 - Xbox 360
Coax - HD Cable STB
Subwoofer - YST-SW225
The connections available was rather perfect for the equipment I own, and since the YSP-900 shares the same connection panel, there's no reason you couldn't connect the same types of things. You can also rename the YSP's inputs so that you can better identify the one needed. Also helps not to have your DVD player connected under "VCR", you can just rename it!
Something I'm not used to saying, is actually how nice the remote control is for the YSP. It has great feeling buttons and can control both the TV and YSP without needing to switch between "TV/YSP"
Overall, I was initially impressed by the YSP and I'm still pleased with it even today. I have no plans to replace it within the near future, as it's still continuing to deliver great, spatial, immersive sound.. If you have an entertainment center that can accommodate a YSP, or if you're looking for a great, simple and attractive way to provide sound for your wall mounted TV, I can easily recommend considering the YSP-900 or greater.
Where to buy
Yamaha YSP-900:
$482.99 - $699.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$699.99 | Yes |
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$549.98 | Yes |
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$699.95 | Yes |
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$499.99 | Yes |
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$549.98 | Yes |
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