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Sound Bar Discussions (Yamaha, Polk, Etc)

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#1 ·
Hello to all,

I've been reading about the Yamaha YSP 1000/800 and the Polk Audio Soundbar where you can obtain 5.1 surround sound from a single speaker mounted near your TV. I actually had the chance to hear the Yamaha YSP at a local home theatre shop and it sounded great...(they do recommend you purchase a separate subwoofer)...

the ultimate reason to buy one, the wife factor, (no wiring, no obtrusive extra speakers, etc)..

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with either of these two products and would be willing to share their thoughts?

cheers :)
 
#2 ·
I had the opportunity to see the Yamaha unit set up at a near by home theatre shop. I sat with the salesmen in the demo room while he placed a small microphone in the middle of the room. He then put it in some type of set up mode and it basically bounced white noise off the walls for about 1 or two minutes. What was really strange was that I was hearing the white noise coming from the wall behind me that had no speakers.

After the set up he put in a movie. Can’t remember the name but it was an action movie with lots of gunshots. I swear if I had not seen this with my own eyes I would not have believed I was not listening to a 5.1 speaker set up.

That being said, I love my speaker set up and would not change it for one of these units, however I was lucky to be able to run all my cables when the walls were being built. If that were not the case I would have really considered the Yamaha unit. As for the Polk unit I cannot comment as I have never seen or heard one.

Take care,
Cam
 
#4 ·
I've found the YSP 800 selling for approximately $1100 at Futureshop and Bestbuy, but can't seem to locate the YSP 1000. I'd still like to know the quality difference between the two and hear what I would be giving up if I went with the YSP 800.

has anyone else had the chance to compare the two, or at least hear the 1000 version?
 
#5 ·
I have heard the ysp1 (same as the 1000 without the auto setup/microphone) I am looking for clear center dialog and this unit seems to fill the bill. Just recently discovered the Polk Surround Bar and have yet to hear it to compare to the Polk. The ysp is a bit more $$ but no receiver is required - the Polk Surroundbar does require a receiver.
I too would like to hear from someone who has compared the two or seen an article from one of the audio magizines comparing the two.

Terry in NC
 
#6 ·
CamG said:
I sat with the salesmen in the demo room while he placed a small microphone in the middle of the room.
That's what bothers me. A demo room. Probably has optimal wall material and room measurements. I'd like to hear from someone who actually has it at home in a fully furnished room with hardwood flooring. I wonder how it performs with an unusually high ceiling.
 
#43 ·
I know for a fact that Yamaha does not optimize FS/BB or any other demo room for their YSP speakers, in fact the demo rooms are actually less than ideal because the speakers are designed for home instead of demo-room.

High ceiling will not be a problem. The only problem you will encounter is if you don't have 4 walls, or you have a dead room or you walls are unusually far apart.
 
#8 ·
It might be. The YSP 800 is selling for around $1000 Cad at BB/FS, and I've seen it going for around $600 Cad on Ebay (but buyer beware as always). From what I've read, you should probably consider a separate subwoofer and a mounting bracket is extra. I think it would fit your budget, but then again the Polk soundbar might be a consideration as well.
 
#9 ·
Yes, the room configuration would be very important for this type of speaker. If you don't have walls in certain places, you won't get the appropriate reflections, etc.

It's not the money that's usually the important factor when making these decisions - it's WAF, or difficulty in installation, etc. These units also have a "sweet spot" that is much smaller than a true DD5.1 setup.

If you've got the room and locations for actual speakers, you should use actual ones instead of virtual ones.
 
#10 ·
Just bought one

Just bought the YSP-800 for our family / media room (not the dedicated theatre room). Anyway it's connected to the HTPC and Sat Receiver and XBOX through an optical splitter. I had read up on it and when I finally heard it a Trutone in Toronto, I knew it would pass the wife test while giving the surround capability I was looking for. Got it at boxing day prices for $850.

Anyway the room it is in is part of the kitchen as well so it is 20 ft wide, tall and about 35ft in length with Hardwoods. I do loose some rear effects due to the lenght of the room but it is still very good. Left to right imaging is excellent. Sound does not appear from directly behind but I would say it comes from about 3/4. With this side room, I sould have to add a sub but I already have a Servo15 downstairs which the wife thinks is just another end table.

Anyway - pretty happy with it for what I paid and use it for. It doesn't measure up to the dedicated theatre system I have but it's not bad and astheically it can't be beat.
 
#11 ·
I have the Polk Surroundbar and was sold on an in store demo at FS (purchased an HK AVR 335 at the same time), in the middle of a main isle. The Yamaha relies on bouncing signals off walls so a HT specific/ideal room is almost a requirement - you will only see this product demoed in a sound room as mentioned above. The Polk uses SDA technology and is more suitable for odd shaped/regular rooms. You don't get true rear, but it is a wide soundstage and sounds great with the bonus 10" powered sub that came with it. My main reasoning was I didn't want to run the wire, and for the price/convienience you can't go wrong.

See here for more details:
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/flatscreens/surroundbar/
 
#12 ·
I have my YSP800 in an odly shaped room and even though it does rely on walls to bounce the sound, it will find a wall thats as conviniently as possible. That's what the microphone is for -
Now it dosen't mesure up to a dedicated home-theater but it's a great peice for setup right under my plasma. I have the matching subwoofer which makes for a nice sound setup.
the YSP1000 is just much louder - the difference in sound quality is minimal.
And it dosen't give you a better 5.1 feel.
All i heard from a FS rep was that the YSP is much better then the sound bar.

I honestly don't think I'll be going back to wired home-theaters for a while.
I'm not an audiophile and this is just great for me. I do wish it had more inputs/outputs. Maybe even a couple HDMI connections.
Maybe in the next version.
 
#13 ·
Joeskie said:
All i heard from a FS rep was that the YSP is much better then the sound bar.
Hmmm..I heard the opposite from a FS rep that the surroundbar is better which I have. I just thought having a dedicated receiver was better than a built in and I think that the polk one also looks better..having said that, it is all subjective.
I love my surroundbar under my panny plasma with the HK receiver.
 
#14 ·
Ysp-800........

Hello,

Any updates from people who have tried the YSP-800? Is it worth the money?

I can't really have a "booming" system where I live so this would be a great addition if it is great as Yamaha says....


Thx
 
#15 ·
Yamaha YSP

I just purchased a YSP-1 from a dealer in Kingston on Monday. It was a floor model, so I got a very good deal on it. Although it differs in some respects from the 800/1000 series (namely the lack of a "measuring" mic & DSP presets) it has the same beam throwing technology.
All I can say is WOW!!!
I am a audio engineer by profession and it exceeds my expectations in every way! The manual setup takes a little time, but is well worth doing, especially if your room is not an optimal box.
The sound is extemely clear, well defined & the surround is startlingly good!
Even music (which is not the YSP strong point) is surprisingly clean. There is an extensive suite of parameters & adjustments that can be tweaked to give the best sound possible. It does require the addition of a subwoofer to fill out the lower end however, so budget for that.
Good sound, sleek, unobtrusive look, happy wife! It's all good :D
Can't wait to pair it up to something like the new 50" Panasonic plasma!
 
#16 ·
YSP 1000 is awesome

Hi all
I have a ysp 1000 installed in my family room.It sounds great with a subwoofer(yamaha slimline).The setup is easy as it is automatic.Produces phenomenal sound for DVD movies..It really sounds like music coming from behind you.

The room size and walls matter a lot.Optimal size (I think ) is 20 by 20 or less.
supports PL2 and neo6 encoding.

Not able to control the cinema audio settings with my denon 2910 player (still working on it).

Does not hdmi or dvi.

Regds
Kaly
 
#19 ·
The YSP 800 is great for rooms where the sound can bounce of the walls around you. As well, it will give you a much cleaner look for your home theatre as all you need is an optical cable running from your DVD player to the back of the YSP800. From the tests I have tried in a very open environment, the YSP800 did fairly well considering it really had no walls to bounce off when playing The Incredibles. There is a variety of setups you can do yourself such as adjusting the sound beams and how they are projected, as well as the very neat Target mode. Target mode will direct the sound only where you want it. IE, if you are standing on the right hand side of the room, you can project the sound to the right side, and the left side of the room cannot hear the sound well.

The PolkBar is also nice. However, you will need a receiver, dvd player and optical cables. It comes with a huge amount of speaker cable. It is a little bit different. The sound is projected around you, and designed to be used in a room where there are no walls. It has 5(?) speakers spaced out in the bar and wraps it around you. Again in an open environment it sounded OK.

My preference lies with the YSP800. That hurts me as I am a big fan of PolkAudio stuff. I like the no extra receiver and less remote control for the "Wife" factor.

You definately will want a subwoofer with either one of these. Yamaha sells a slim sub to match the speaker bar.
 
#20 ·
Wiring set-up for the YSP 1000 in an HDMI world!

Hello team

Just wondering how I would set-up a YSP 1000 with an HDMI LCD (with 2 inputs). The owners manual shows DVD and other boxes being routed through the YSP first, and then on to the TV via component cables, but obviously there's no HDMI out on the YSP. Whats the best setup to make use of the HDMI option? Can you backtrack the sound over coaxial or component to the YSP from the TV if the DVD/SKy digital box are connected directly to the TV??

Looking at using a non-HD DVD but with HDMI output/component output for he foreseable future.

Help!

Thanks....
 
#21 ·
Can you backtrack the sound over coaxial or component to the YSP from the TV
No, you cannot go "through" the TV, as most TVs do not passthrough the DD5.1 signal. You simply need to connect a digital audio connector (coaxial or optical) from the source directly to the YSP.

Component is video only, so obviously it carries no sound - see the Digital Home FAQ "Cables and Connections" (under help). Perhaps you meant Optical?
 
#22 ·
Toshiba 32-37" WLT66 & Yamaha YSP 1000 experiences

Thanks! Info much appreciated.

First delv into the world of decent self-own AV since I sold my 28"CRT 9 years ago and moved to London, so a bit rusty on cable tech. 28" used to be soooo big! How the times have chganged...

Anyone out there already running a YSP 1000 with there Toshiba 32 or 37WLT66? Any feedback on your set-up experiences appreciated. Or redirection to an approriate Tosh thread?

Cheers
 
#23 ·
I recently purchased a Yamaha YSP-800 to supply sound for a new NEC 50XR5 plasma. I had a proper 5.1 home theatre setup before with an older Mitsu RPTV, but we put the new plasma on a smaller wall, which made it difficult to use the front and centre channel speakers.

I am using my Mirage subwoofer to supplement the YSP-800. Motorola HD box and Sony NS-75H DVD player both feed to the YSP via Toslink optical cable.

My room is reasonably regular in shape. Overall sound is great. The rear speaker simulation is probaby not quite up to a true 5.1 speaker system, but the very small footprint, lack of cabling and wires everywhere is a large plus.

The YSP-800 also has built in DTS decoder (in addition to DD decoder), that my older Yamaha 5.1 receiver did not have.

If anyone chooses the YSP - just make sure to budget for a decent subwoofwer to get the full effect on 5.1 movies.
 
#24 ·
above or below the tv

for you guys with the YSP... did you install above or below the tv?

i am looking at getting one but it will end up being fairly high off the ground...

i can't say exactly how much because we are getting a custom cabinet and i'm still working our where everything will go, but it has to go above the tv or it will be blocked by some chairs that will be in front of the cabinet.

just wondering if there is a height limit above the listening position. i didn't see anything in the user manual.
 
#25 ·
The rule of thumb for speakers is generally as close to the height of your ears as possible. I have a YSP-1 sitting on top of a Hitachi RPTV and it works fine. You can manually adjust the up/down angle of the signals from the YSP as well as adjusting the horizontal angle of the "virtual" speakers. It's very "tweakable".
 
#26 ·
that's good to hear because i picked one up at Best Buy yesterday for $799.

it will be mounted in a cabinet above our plasma (don't ask why the plasma is in a cabinet!)

still not sure the exact height above the listening position since neither the house nor the cabinet are done yet :) but way less than the 1 meter allowed for when placing the mic off center for the auto setup!

now i just have to wait until aug 10 to get in the new place... our current tv room is too small for this unit and missing a wall on the left side...
 
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