Yamaha YSP-1100 Digital Sound Projector Review

• Seating areas that are very close to or against the back wall (3-Beam mode and Stereo modes will work as will My Beam mode)
• Corner-arranged rooms where one or more side walls include large openings
• Normal listening rooms where one or more side walls include large openings
• Rooms missing an entire wall
• Rooms with high levels of ambient noise (this goes for any speaker system)

OK, you've found your ideal location and eliminated the 4" thick first reflection acoustic materials you had custom designed for your listening room prior to purchasing the YSP-1100. Now what? Well, you can mount the YSP-1100 on top of or below the TV. A 42-inch flat panel is the perfect match, but to be honest it looks fabulous with anything up to 50-inches (I had it under a 47-inch LCD display). I tried a number of configurations, but my favorite was actually placing the unit on top of a StudioTech DP-2 RW flat panel/AV component stand and mounting the LCD display high enough for it to clear the Yamaha. If you have a wall-mounted display, then pick up the optional SPM-K1 wall hanging bracket and put the unit on the wall below (preferred) or above the set. If you are doing a corner mount, consider mounting the speaker above the TV in order to ensure that you get some additional clearance for the beams. In either case take a look around the room and see what might be getting in the way of good "beam steerage" (start throwing that terminology around at the office on Monday morning). Also remember that with a corner mount location the system will operate in Stereo + 3Beam mode with the front three channels coming directly out of the system (5Beam is disabled).

Connecting Your Gear
OK, now that the unit is positioned you'll want to make your physical connections. Fortunately, the YSP-1100 comes with a plethora (I still love that word) of inputs for the typical home theater user and certainly well targeted for a lifestyle product. Let's take a brief look at the back of this device:

As you should be able to see here, there are dual component inputs as well as three sets of composite inputs. Audio can be either analogue (2 inputs) or digital (3 inputs). The idea is that you would mate digital inputs for each of the component inputs and then mate analogue for each of the two composite inputs. That leaves another digital input and composite input which can either be utilized or retained for an option. A subwoofer output connection is present and should be connected to the mono line level input of your powered subwoofer. You don't necessarily need a subwoofer with the YSP-1100, but your system will sound much better with it. OK, I changed my mind- you do need a subwoofer. A single composite (for OSD or legacy devices) or component video output (best quality) sends video to your display.

Automatic setup isn't too difficult and involves a couple of easy steps, depending upon whether you are running a full setup or just applying the Sound Optimization to an existing Beam configuration. To run the Auto setup simply plug in the included optimizer microphone (the input is on the left side of the enclosure), place the mic on the included cardboard stand and position it at the listening position (try to ensure it is at ear height). At this point you can either press and hold the "Auto Setup" button on the remote for 5 seconds or enter the Auto setup using the on-screen menu system.

The Auto setup is not without its potential hang-ups, but as with all room optimizations systems, not every room configuration can be accounted for. For example, in one of my reference rooms I ran the Automatic Setup twice and both times it thought my corner-positioned YSP-1100 was set up for parallel installation. The end result worked, but I got a much better sound when I did a manual configuration and switched to a calibrated Stereo + 3Beam mode. Keep this in mind as you set up your own system and remember that you can set up the Beams manually and simply run the Sound Optimizer portion of the auto setup independently.

The Sound Optimizer portion of the Auto Setup configures the distance delay as well as the volume and EQ settings for each of the beams in order to correctly blend the level and tone of all channels.

The Manual Setup menu is composed of four main areas with corresponding submenus: Sound, Beam, Input, and Display menus mark the top level and, unlike some menu systems I've seen, are well-named for their functions. I'll point out some of the areas I think should be highlighted below.

The Sound menu is where you have access to Tone controls, Subwoofer settings, Mute level (either full or -20dB), and Audio Delay (0-160ms in 1ms steps). The Room EQ submenu also present here does not, as some will think on initial glance, provide automatic room EQ. Instead, it sets the mounting position of the YSP-1100 (shelf or wall) and whether the room is "Normal" or "High Echo". If you don't have much furniture and have wood floors, you may want to select "Hi Echo".

Editor's Note: Reflective Rooms
Many people aren't aware of whether their rooms are considered "reflective" or not. A quick and easy method for determining this would be to get into the listening position and clap your hands loudly. If it takes longer than 1 second for the decay of that sound to go away, you can pretty much assume that your room is a bit reflective. Items that contribute to this are: sparse furniture, wood floors, high flat ceilings and oversized rooms. If you can read this entire paragraph while the echo of the clap reverberates through your listening room, well then you better go get a throw rug and some drapes!

"You Will Always Win" is another acoustic piece (the basic and successful format for this album) that really came though with solid main vocals and well-blended backing harmonies. I flipped this disc into surround mode "I just couldn't resist" and settled back to hear the differences between authentic surround and the Stereo + 3Beam mode. Wow. Immediately I could hear the natural room reverb on my right and left. Jesse Siebenberg's backing vocals too, on a more open and airy sound and the mix suddenly felt "right". I felt as though the sound was now truly in three dimensions instead of two and the Yamaha seemed to really excel at bringing through this new type of "boundary-free"  surround sound.

Just a couple more songs- "Lowlands" is tied for my favorite track on this album and I have heard it now on several different loudspeaker systems in several different rooms- numerous times. The YSP-1100 put forth a very different experience, but one that again was convincing and completely without boundaries. Violins were in the room and vocals had good separation. The banjo had that solid fingering sound and the bass wasn't missing the lower midrange tonality that I experienced on other systems. If you want a more defined surround field then direct radiating speakers will deliver that to you, but the immersive feel of the Yamaha was something to behold.

High Resolution 96 kHz/24-bit PCM Stereo: Jonathan McEuen One Step Ahead (parallel placement)
Wow, with an immense soundstage this album really takes off. There seemed to be a slight mid-bass emphasis that is more noticeable without a sub than with one (and you really have to have a sub with this system- have we beaten that into your head yet?) "Two of Us" had a realistic guitar sound and vocals, while a tad bit sibilant, had a natural quality. If McIntosh can use a hundred and ten drivers in a single cabinet and charge $40k, I suppose it's possible for Yamaha to get $1,600 worth of excellent sound out of 42!

"Ocean" features acoustic bass and a gentle guitar intro with solid, heavily reverberant, vocals. As the reverb is natural and not an effects box, this was a good demonstration of the YSP-1100's best effort to fill my reference system with a nice, smooth and reverberant sound. It accomplished the goal and soundstaging was wide and open. Nothing seemed out pf place or forced by the system. Yamaha seems to have found a very natural method of steering the channel information where it needs to go. As with the other discs, a parallel setup was clearly superior to the corner placement- again due to the wider front soundstage which is hard to reproduce in Stereo + 3Beam mode.

DVD: Marillion Marbles on the Road (corner placement)
Marillion is cool. They just walk out onto stage when they play- no fanfare needed, just excellent performances and talented musicians. From the opening number, crowd noise filled the room- though it didn't quite make it behind me- likely due to the corner placement and room/wall issues. The 5.1 Dolby Digital track on this DVD is a "stage mix" where you are in the audience, so everything is pretty much up front with ambience and crowds in the "surrounds." For this type of music, the Yamaha seemed to do very well. Steve Hogarth's voice was clear and natural. Drums and cymbals came through with a nice edge and no audible distortion or lack of upper midrange. Guitars had a good clean and crisp top end and the synths seemed to exude a gentle reverb that leaked into the listening room along with the watery vocals of the first track, "The Invisible Man".

"You're Gone" is one of my favorite tunes and man did it sound good on the Yamaha. With the room full of Hogarth's lyrics and the melodic guitar line following through in crisp detail I thought this was one of the coolest ways I had yet experienced this disc. When the chorus kicked into its jazzy crescendo I felt the overall presence in the room step up a notch. The mix took on a fuller feel and the YSP-1100 reacted to the additional surround info and poured it into the listening environment.

DVD: Marillion Marbles on the Road (parallel placement)
On this disc the surrounds were not changed as much- crowd noise was still well-place and evident from the opening of the song through each interlude. The front imaging, again, was much more convincing and realistic. The 5Beam mode is clearly a winner here and it does amazing things with music DVDs. As Marillion's Steve Hogarth sings the opening track in his sultry voice, bass and synthesized guitar effects permeated the room and generated a very full mix. As I skipped to "You're Gone" I realized that I hadn't really checked out the DSP modes of the YSP-1100. I tried out the various Music modes and made some notes (you can switch back and forth from each mode and "Off" quite easily):

Concert Hall: Adds more front channel information into the surrounds and also adds a reverberant delay. The front vocal is a bit less "centered" with the DSP on and it seems to get sent, to a greater degree, into the left and right channels.

DVD: The Incredibles (corner placement)
I queued up Chapter 23 "100 Mile Dash" to see how well the corner configuration would work with the surround-heavy material in this section of the movie. Right off the bat my observations through the manual setup process were also discerned by the listening tests. The surround left channel was almost impeccable. Sounds coming from the rear were not nearly as impressive though the overall envelopment was excellent. As Dash runs across the water and enters the cavern the ambience correctly changes and you could almost "feel" it in the room (this happened again a short while later when Violet produces a bubble which saves them from the gunfire. In the ensuing family battle against the spinning ships, envelopment was almost total, with only a slight lack of presence on the right side due to my lack of a full side wall and corner placement. Keep in mind that in this first pass the system was operating in Stereo + 3Beam mode (the only option for surround sound with corner placement).

Overall the effect is a bit uncanny. Switching between stereo and Stereo + 3Beam really allows you to hear what the YSP-1100 is doing. It's a feeling of surround envelopment without point sources. Whereas dipole speakers attempt to diffuse surround fields, the Digital Sound Projector completely achieves this goal.

DVD: The Incredibles (parallel placement)
During the "100 Mile Dash" chapter the surrounds were engaged in overdrive. Environments were summersive and Dash frequently showed up in the surround tracks as did the flying vehicles. In the ending battle scene against the giant robot there was a lot of "off-screen" action which was well represented directionally by the YSP-1100. This scene in general is excellent testing material for surround effects and making sure you are correctly configured for 5.1. I would have to say that parallel placement won this round as well- the room simply did much better and having the option of 5Beam mode and Stereo + 3Beam was a plus. The difference in having the 5Beam mode was amazing. The front left and right channels were separated in a much wider soundstage- so much so that the system was able to position these channels at the extreme edges of my Stewart projector screen- that's about four feet outside of and the same amount higher than the edges of the YSP-1100. What's possibly more impressive was that the perception was that the sound was coming from behind the Yamaha, which was positioned in a temporary spot 1.5 feet in front of the screen.

DVD: Hero (corner placement)
On this DVD I wanted something a bit more epic that could allow me to hear more of a feature film mix of production audio and sound design. There are also some excellent scenes where surround sound is fantastically demonstrated. Chapter 7 "Advance Ten Paces" has a well-known scene where Jet Li's character takes out an entire room of bamboo in the blink of an eye. The YSP-1100 recreated this in an almost eerie manner. With no direct radiating speakers the effect was of being in the room itself. Instead of surround sound it was more of a "real" sound that literally came from all directions. The right side was still a bit weak due to my room, but I looked forward to re-evaluating the setup in the next room with a parallel installation and four solid walls to utilize the 5Beam system.

The following chapter "Flying Snow" was even more impressive, with falling wooden arrows that literally came down from everywhere. I found that if I leaned forward or back the imaging would change, but that is where configuring the system properly comes into play. Most of the sound was locate in front of the seating position slightly, but the effect was still immersive.

DVD: Hero (parallel placement)
This was a night and day difference. With the system set up in parallel mode in my first reference system (with all acoustical panels removed) the effects of the YSP-1100 were nothing short of breathtaking. To get this type of surround sound presence from a single box is absolutely astonishing. In Chapter 7, Jet Li floats around the room and the sound of the bamboo breaking is unmistakably real . In addition, the height adjustments made by the Auto Setup rendered the final sequence where he catches the cup on his sword perfect- the cup sounded as if it landed directly on the sword- in the middle of my 100-inch screen. Keep in mind that the Yamaha Digital Sound Projector is situated about 1.5 feet below the bottom of the projector screen.

During "Flying Snow" it sounded again as if the wooden arrows fell all around the room- however this time the soundstage was immense. In addition the sound extended to beyond the seated position, unlike in the other reference room with a corner install. Viewing this allowed me to realize that the system could be optimized in a myriad of rooms, however the more rectangular you can get it, the better your overall results will be (this corresponds to suggestions made within the user manual as well).

Making recommendations to a company like Yamaha is tough- they almost seem clairvoyant in their ability to provide new products with advanced features and bug-free performance. The Auto Setup is acceptable on this system, but users may have trouble with corner placement. It would be cool to have a "lock-down" mode whereby the type of setup (corner or parallel) is selected as part of the setup process. Then the system can calibrate from that fixed position and information.

Lastly, we'd like to see a flagship model with component video upconversion and an on-screen display that doesn't limit itself to the composite video outputs only. HDMI would be nice as well, but I don't see it as a necessity with this style of product- at least not right now. A backlit remote rounds out my suggestions and completes this short "shopping list" of suggestions.

If you're planning on using this in your room for home theater or more than just occasional casual listening, we recommend a subwoofer. The included TruBass feature is nice and it does add some lower frequency perception, but you can't beat a real subwoofer (or two). Adding a sub really completes this system and brings it to the next level- so make sure you add that to your list.

The Yamaha YSP-1100 is NOT a typical pseudo-surround system. This is a sophisticated device that literally does what it says. Taking just one physical box you are able to convincingly recreate a 5-speaker surround environment 舑 but that's not exactly true. While 5 speakers can give you surround sound, and inexpensive system is often localizable and highly directional. The Yamaha YSP-1100 almost envelopes you in a sound "bubble" and is an altogether different experience. If you think you've heard these "one speaker does all" systems before, take another look- the YSP-1100 is NOT like anything else I have ever encountered in the industry. This is breaking new ground and I like where it' s going. Perfect for consumers who are looking for lower profile system, the YSP-1100 replaces an AV receiver as well as a surround sound speaker system. Taking into account that there are a host of manufacturers who charge more for a simply combined flat panel LCR speaker, the YSP-1100 is a veritable steal and has earned its 5-star value rating.