Review: Yamaha YSP4000 Digital Sound Projector

The Yamaha YSP4000 Digital Sound Projector is simplicity personified. For every person that ever said that a 5.1 surround system was too difficult to set up or took up too much space, this product was made for them.

Sound bars are nothing new, however, most only contain the front left, center, and right speaker array. For a complete 5.1 sound system you still need to add two rear channel speakers and have an A/V receiver. What makes the YSP4000 unique is all five speakers, amplification, and sound processing is built into the same enclosure. Moreover, it is no larger or significantly heavier than a 3-channel sound bar. The best use for the YSP4000 is with a flat-panel display, where you can place it underneath a cabinet, on a shelf, or on-wall using an optional bracket [SPM-K30 - $80].

The back panel is rather sparse compared to a full-featured A/V receiver; however, that is the point. The YSP4000 is meant for relatively basic systems, and designed for fast setup and easy operation. There are two HDMI inputs with a single HDMI output plus two component inputs along with a set of component outputs. There are also three composite inputs along with a single composite output. Surprisingly, there are no S-video connections, which would be more preferable than composite if you have older analog video devices. For digital audio Yamaha provided two optical and two coax inputs as well as two sets of analog audio inputs. There is also an LFE output for a separate subwoofer. I used my reference PSB SubSeries 5i, however, there are two models available from Yamaha that can be connected via an exclusive jack. Connections for an XM mini-tuner and iPod docks are also included.

The optional iPod dock [$199] allows access to the iPod’s menu via the on-screen display and is controlled with the YSP4000 remote. Other audio devices can be hooked into the YSP4000 using the 3.5mm mini-jack on the front panel.

Once you have your components hooked up, then you are ready to calibrate your system. Again, Yamaha makes it super simple by integrating their proprietary IntelliBeam technology. Using the supplied microphone and cardboard stand for placing the microphone at your main seating position, its as simple as one, two, that’s it. There is no three. Using the on-screen menu, select Auto Setup and the YSP4000 does the rest. It lets you know when it’s done and you can immediately start watching TV and DVDs. The auto calibration sets (virtual) speaker distances and levels. Additionally, it optimizes the equalization for your room based on several other measurements it takes during the calibration process. The whole process takes less than five minutes.

The YSP4000 does not use conventional speaker drivers, but is equipped with 40 individual beam drivers and two woofers. Each beam driver is precisely directed based on the auto calibration. The built-in amplifier delivers 2-watts per beam and an additional 20-watts per woofer for a system total of 120-watts. Using the multiple beam arrays to direct sound in specific directions, in addition to some fancy digital signal processing, the YSP4000 is capable of replicating a realistic 5.1 surround system from a single sound bar.

While the YSP4000 didn’t have the depth and power of my reference sound system, I thought it performed extremely well. What it might lack in maximum impact and performance it makes up for in design and function.