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In my previous post I mentioned the Yamaha YSP-4000 soundbar. The Digital Experience phoned me the other day, and I have completed my sound-setup with the addition of the YST-FSW150 subwoofer from Yamaha:

The 130 watts subwoofer compliments the soundbar and produces rich sound (and fits perfectly into my TV-cabinet). Yamaha's Advanced Yamaha Active Servo Technology (Advanced YST) is a unique system in which the speaker and amplifier work together to cancel out impedance so as to achieve perfectly linear motion in the speaker unit. Advanced YST helps to ensure the highest levels of sound pressure and overall performance.

Yamaha engineers introduced two proprietary technologies (the Negative Impedance Converter and the Yamaha Air Woofer) which combine into one interdependent system in which speaker and amplifier are combined in a closed "Active Servo" loop.

The FSW150's imaging capabilities are incredible: Imagine sitting in the front row at the symphony. Close your eyes and visualize the placement of the members of the orchestra. The ability to reproduce this spacial quality of sound is known as imaging. Speaker size is one factor that can drastically contribute to imaging accuracy. Advanced YST speakers are small enough to have excellent imaging characteristics, yet still accurately reproduce tones from the very low bass of a pipe organ to the highs of a triangle and cymbals.

If you want to get all the technical details explained, read this article.

I hate cables and clutter - and this was reason enough in the past not to get a 5.x/7.x surround system - too many cables, speakers and clutter. Until I came across the Yamaha YSP-4000:

Yamaha rammed 40 1.5 inch beam-driver speakers that have individual and amps and two 4.25 inch midbass speakes into a 41-inch bar. The YSP-4000 also features HDMI pass-throughs and analog/720p/1080i upscaling to wonderful 1080p.

The speakers are all coordinated by a DSP, and by tweaking delay and volume, convincingly eliciting sweeping surround audio that seems to come from all 360 degrees, and then some. There are "seven Cinema DSP programs (three movie, three music and one sports)" and "Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS Neo:6," all of which are selectable via the remote and on screen display or LCD.

The YSP-4000 allows the input of 6 A/V sources and the upscaling into beautiful 1080p. My setup did not require this. I have my PS3 connected via HDMI directly to my Sony Bravia and the sound via optical pushed into the Yamaha. I tried to upscale DSTV to 1080p which was worse than watching it in native resolution (waiting for that HD-PVR), but connecting DSTV via optical produces cinema-like surround sound.

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