In summary:
A brilliant audio solution for flat-screen TV owners
Rating: 92%
Best for: Beginners and enthusiasts
Plus: Good value; all digital; great surround effect
Minus: Sound field can be narrow; no analogue video out
Contact: Balanced Audio - 011 314 0760 - www.balancedaudio.co.za
Price: R6 990
We've had single-speaker solutions on test before. In fact, one of those we've had was from Yamaha - its massive and very capable YSP-4000. Most of these devices have had a big soundbar containing many little drivers used to produce a convincing surround-sound effect. Sound would appear to come from all over the room, no matter how hard we tried fixing our mind on the one speaker under the television.
But this YHT S400 is Yamaha's baby, an all-in-one solution. Designed to fit under a 32-inch LCD, the soundbar itself only has three modest drivers. The subwoofer is also the receiver unit, and is actually about the same size as a conventional home theatre receiver, so can be placed next to the DVD player or DSTV decoder on a TV stand.
Connecting everything up is, honestly, a five-minute job. Position the soundbar under the TV, use the supplied cable to connect it to the subwoofer/receiver, plug the receiver into the wall and, hey, presto. All that's left to do now is get some HDMI cables to connect the receiver to the TV, and to connect up to three other HDMI devices to the receiver.
This is the important part, though. Designed to be a solution for LCD TVs, the S400 only has digital inputs. While most modern DVD players and game consoles will have HDMI ports to connect to the receiver, some folks might like to use something like this with an 'old' TV: that is to say, one without an HDMI input.
In practice, using our trusty old Black Hawk Down DVD, the S400 is every bit as convincing as the other solutions we've tested. In busy scenes, the sound stage does tend to feel a bit narrow (although still wider than the television it's likely to be used with). In scenes where fewer things are going on, the effect is startlingly realistic. We really felt we needed to dodge helicopters and bullets, much to our surprise.
For the price, the baby Yamaha offers great value. Most LCD televisions have pretty average integrated sound, and this is not a great amount of money to greatly improve quality and immersion.
Specifications
Soundbar: Three 50-watt drivers
Subwoofer: 100-watt
Ports: 1x HDMI output, 3x HDMI inputs, 1x RCA stereo input, 1x FM antenna jack, 1x Yamaha dock connector
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