Yamaha YSP-600 Home Cinema Digital Sound Projector – Black
Posted by Notcot on May 5, 2010 in Home Cinema & Video |
Product Description
The Yamaha YSP-600 Digital Sound Projector is a compact and tidy soundbar speaker. Supporting Dolby Digital, Pro-Logic II and DTS audio and HD 1080p video pass-through via HDMI, the YSP600 sits under your television and produces impressive surround sound.
- Digital amplifier built-in
- 1080p-compatible HDMI(2 in/1 out)
- IntelliBeam system calibration
- VIERA-Link compatibility
- Can be placed on a shelf or rack
I purchased a YSP 600 as a compromise between the standard TV speakers and speakers all around the room (and hence the bit that nobody mentions- all the cabling!). In fact I’ve found the unit to barely be a compromise at all- it definitely sounds better than the TV and in fact isn’t far removed from a room full of speakers. The projector itself is quite small- narrower than our TV. Placed on the shelf beneath, it doesn’t draw attention to itself and looks neat and tidy. Setup was easy- place the projector where you want it and attach the little microphone and place it where you want to sit. Once you have done this, you start the auto setup program and the projector makes some strange noises (the cat wasn’t impressed!) and after a few minutes it is all set up and ready to go.
The best bit about the unit is that you really do get sound behind you from a box in front of you- films with lots of effects happen around you rather than just in front. Even normal TV from our Sky box has some decent surround effects. There are various settings for directing sound at one point or just working in front of you but the normal setting works well enough most of the time. I am really happy with my decision and would encourage anybody looking for a mess free surround system to have a look at this box of tricks.
Rating: 5 / 5
I used to have difficulty hearing the voices, especially on films. The T.V. sound being turned to the full. Since I installed the Yamaha sound surround system I find I need to turn down the sound button. Every sound is heard now. This is a wonderful device which I would not want to be without.
Rating: 5 / 5
The Yamaha does create surround sound effects with movies when used on the 5-beam, 3-beam or my surround mode. Even if your room configuration is not ideal the “my surround” mode will work. For normal TV viewing I found little difference between the TV speaker(Sony LCD) and the Yamaha which is to be expected. The Yamaha can also be used with music sources. I have a Squeezebox Duet connected to the unit via optical.
Music sounds better on Stereo than on the beam modes but “my surround” also works and creates a wider sound-field. I didn’t find the music performance to be particularly thrilling however.
The YSP has very good connectivity, 2HDMI in , 1 out( so you can pass your Blu-ray or sky-hd signal to the YSP first and then output the video part via HDMI again to your TV. This will free 1 hdmi input on your TV and may simplify things a little bit. For instance, if you also own a projector you only need to switch the HDMI output to the projector instead. It also has optical, coaxial and stereo inputs. Thus it serves as an A/V receiver/amplifier.
The main problem I face with the YSP is that the sound distorts and strange noises appear at medium/high volume, especially with the surround modes. Most likely my unit is defective so perhaps this shouldn’t deter you from getting that sound projector. I also found that it’s not loud enough and that the sound clarity is not superb. I did not think that the YSP lacks bass as other reviewers have reported but perhaps the overall quality would improve with the addition of a sub-woofer. In retrospect I had rather gone for the more expensive YSP-30D that is possibly louder and has better quality speakers.
I also find the black box style of the Yamaha to be particularly attractive.
Rating: 3 / 5
Bought the YSP600 and a Yamaha YST FSW050 subwoofer – they both fit under the TV on the stand so it’s all in one place with no speakers around the room. At first it took a day or so to get used to the slight shift in the sound source as it is now fired from under the TV from the YSP rather than from the TV speakers, but now it seems totally normal. I use it in stereo for standard over the air TV watching and 5.1 mode for DVDs.
The YSP600 provides a good alternative to a ‘proper’ surround sound system. It gives a wide sound stage in surround sound mode, although the amount of ‘rear sound’ will depend upon the layout and shape of your room and will never be able to fully match that of rear speakers. But if you don’t want speakers all round the room, but do want a great sound sound that will knock spots off normal TV speaker sound then this is a great package for the price -although I do recommend getting a subwoofer too, as it really helps the bass which is otherwise lacking a bit of oomph from the YSPs speakers. The Panasonic Viera link is also a neat feature as it lets me control the whole speaker system via the TV sound controls. Spinning a few CDs, or playing MP3 tracks through the YSP + subwoofer gives a perfectly acceptable sound (make sure you use the stereo setting) so if you have a budget hifi system you might find you can get rid of that too!
Rating: 5 / 5
We bought this item to go with our 42″ plasma as we found the tv sound would vary so much between analogue, sat and dvd, and the sound was very flat and dialogue could swallowed up by background music.
The yamaha sound projector has been a revelation. If you have equipment with HDMI outputs they can be routed through the unit. Just plug them in, press the appropriate button on the handset (TV, SAT, DVD and AUX etc) and switch your tv to the channel used for HDMI connections or if you do not have hdmi there are two composite connections. One unexpected bonus was that we no longer experience the HDCP problems we had encountered previously which is great.
Very easy to set up and to use. Can certainly hear all the dialogue we previously missed and sound does appear to come at you from all directions. We can now hear every word of the dialogue.
Our lounge is about 15ft square and this system works very well, certainly a lot better than having speakers and cables trailing all over the place and having had a 5.1 home cinema system in the past I would say that this compares very well. Especially good if you are watching in HD as the sound really comes alive.
I expect purists would say it is no where as good as a fully fledged 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system, however, we are more than pleased with it and it has enhanced our tv viewing. We have connected it up to our Sky HD box and to a samsung h1080 dvd player which upgrades dvds to full HD. As a whole this has made watching dvds a pleasure and will certainly be rewatching a lot of them.
Rating: 5 / 5