Customer Reviews

Yamaha YSP-5100BL Digital Sound Projector(Black)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I chose the Yamaha Sound Projector to provide top quality sound without all the wires and speakers that come with typical home theater systems. I had heard sound bars before and really wasn't all that impressed so I took a chance and ordered the Yamaha YSP for its claimed ability to provide surround sound without all the set up and install headaches.

First at nearly 9 inches tall and loaded with countless speakers this unit is physically very impressive. Installing it was a breeze and quite frankly is the reason I purchased it. Simply position it near your TV hook up your home theater components and away you go. No troublesome wiring, and decisions on where to place your satellite speakers. The 5100 comes with wireless controllers for both a subwoofer and an iPod and these I both use and found to work as advertised. Additionally, the system comes with a tuning mic that you can use to set up the system to recreate the surround sound effects. Again this works as advertised and was very simple to complete. Since the unit relies on reflecting sound off of objects like walls to create the surround sound effect placement of your TV and where you sit do have implications, but no more than any other home theater system. There will always be a sweet spot for listening, but I found the YSP provided a solid listening experience in and around that sweet spot.

The sound quality you get from this unit is superb. Leagues better than any sound bar I have ever heard. Adding the subwoofer as an option makes the system top flight. The best part about this system is that it adapts so well to music, movies, news programs, and sports. I have heard some sound systems that do not adapt very well and make certain types of content sound strange. Not so with the YSP. It has a strong central speaker sound that provides what I believe is good orientation when listening to various types of content. The surround capabilities when matched with content that can take advantage of it is as good as any theater experience I have had and that says a lot.

I wanted a home theater system that provided top shelf sound without all the hassle and distraction of setting up multiple speakers and I can say that I found it in the YSP. As far as I am concerned this is the flagship that all home theater systems should be compared against.

I teamed the Yamaha YSP-5100 with a Mitsubishi 82" TV and Bic America F-12" sub. Just watched The Pacific on HBO. Awesome !!!It sounded like I had speakers in my bathroom and air conditioner.THE 5100 even set the volume for my sub.Shop around- paid $1288 delivered.

Okay I'll be the first!
With LCD TV prices dropping, I just had to get the Sony 65" Bravia and needed something to make it sound better. It's a lazy way to try and get 7.1-speaker system with out all the mess.
Set-up was clean and easy.
It has an IntelliBeam microphone that makes setting up the sound adjustment for you very simple.
The Wireless set up for subwoofers is a nice feature.
It also comes with a wireless setup for your iPod.
From 1 to 10 the TV speaker sound was about a 4.
With the YSP-5100 I now give it a 7
But if your watching a Blu-Ray movie it jumps to an 8 1/2.
The wireless transmitter for the iPod was broken. The box arrived in good shape, but Yamaha did not do such a good job on packing. It was crush and not useable.
I called customer service and after only a couple of minutes I got to speak to someone with an attitude. I Fed-Ex the broken parts back to Yamaha and now waiting for the results.
I've spent allot of time trying to set it up with my Logitech Harmony 1100.
The YSP-5100 comes with 5 HDMI connections, Logitech advises you to plug all your devices into the YSP. I'm clad I have an extended warranty with my Harmony, because I'm still not up and running with the remote, and Logitech customer support is hearing from me often.
The YSP-5100 comes with a terrific remote. So I would check it out before spending 300.00 on a universal one. There is a good chance I could be putting my Harmony 1100 on EBay.
If I were you I would wait for the price to drop. You'll need a subwoofer and probably the mounting rack ....so tack on another 3 to 400.00.----PART 2 The Univolume never has work. But now that Congress has passed the commerial volume act it won't bother me as much. Also I have been fighting with Yamaha for a while now because I have NEVER seen the 7.1 indicater lights come on, 5.1 YES 7.1 NO. It comes with a Demo disk but it does not have 7.1 capability. No TV show's are in 7.1 but there are more and more 7.1 Blu-Ray movies, and the YSP-5100 will not play in 7.1 mode. After spending many hours on the phone with Tech. Supt. I now get the feeling they know they have a major flaw with the 5100. Save some money and get the 4100.

Let's start with honesty: truly convicing surround cannot be achieved (yet?) with a single unit placed on one side of the room. But this unit does prevent me wiring and rewiring when I move my furniture and does a respectable job at creating a broader audio experience than a single, center speaker alone. Bass response is good for community dwellings, and the night volume control feature is a life saver if you have pesky neighbors who can hear a mouse's heartbeat three miles away.

I love the iPod connector, which allows me to play my iPod wirelessly through the speaker. Though reception is sometimes a problem at longer distances, such is life in a community dwelling. All wireless devices are so plagued when there are so many other sources in the area.

In short, it is brilliant and I would buy it again without hesitation. But if I move to a stand-alone home, I would still upgrade to a full and proper surround system for the better experience that clever reflection of sound will never accurately recreate.

The good:
Simple to install
Amazing sound
Does make you feel like you are sitting the the middle of the cinema
The functionality has anything I wanted and more

The downside:
no sub woofer (but I already owned one)
a bit expensive
terrible user manual

I really like having a "single speaker system" and this one is well designed. However, I have a couple problems with it. The sound cuts out for a split second every once in a while (perhaps once an hour). This is very annoying. Also, it comes with the Yamaha SWK-W10 (subwoofer wireless receiver) but the subwoofer is extra. This should be included in the cost.

Support is responsive and quick. One night I created a ticket asking how to connect my Wii and had a response the next morning.

Get a much cleaner looking room without sacrificing any loss of surround sound, both in terms of fidelity and clean and open sound fields that wrap around your viewing as well as any surround speaker systems costing tons more.

After finally ordering the sound projector it simply failes to deliver as promised. While the sound uality is rich it does not even come close to projecting 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound at even a basic level, If that's what your looking for then stick with the traditional tuners and wire speaker solutions. Very very disappointed !!