Yamaha NS-SP7800PN

While your budding audiophile may be worried about performance to the exclusion of everything else, many others have other concerns. Aesthetics is probably one of the bigger concerns with first adopters. Some people just can understand why you'd want to place big wooden boxes in front of their flat panel display - regardless of how it sounds. The designers over at Yamaha have gotten together and addressed his concern with their NS-SP7800PN home theater speaker system.

Each of the speakers in the system has 2, 2.25 inch drivers and a 3/4 inch silk dome tweeter (almost unheard of at this price point). The tower front speakers make placement extremely easy and their round base keeps the feng shui of the speaker intact. The surround speakers have threaded inserts for wall mounting and spring clips. The high gloss finish on the speakers absolutely sparkles - and is sure to be a magnet for fingerprints as your family and friends fawn over the speakers. The tower speakers have a port near the floor which is fairly unobtrusive but it does tune the speaker lower than we'd like. The matching sub has a super slim design to compliment the speakers as well as the same high gloss finish (though it does sort of resemble a Dell computer).

At $650, Yamaha gives you a lot for your buck with a system that is well balanced and blended. The sound was open and clear and the sub provided surprising impact for it size. You could easily spend twice as much on a system with half the performance. Still, physics is a cruel mistress and she can't be denied. Small enclosures plus small drivers means you're going to want to place these in a smallish room or lower your performance expectations. Unfortunately, I can see these inhabiting the Great Room of many a suburban home which will likely tax the speakers to their limits and beyond.

When you are as worried about aesthetics as sound, Yamaha's NS-SP7800PN may fit the bill nicely for you. You'll get decent sound with surprising bass, a fantastic looking set of speakers that won't detract from your décor (it may even add to it), and it doesn't break the bank while doing so. While your friends fawn over your "high end" speakers you can smile knowing how little you spent.

For more information, please visit www.yamaha.com/yec.

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