5.1channel sound from one source
Every once in a while something comes along where you just know things are going to be very different from here on out when you see it . Or in this case hear it. Yamaha has some new technology that does for sound systems what plasma systems did for display technology. It changes the whole game.
As mentioned I set this room up for a home theater experience and prewired it for a full 5 channel sound system. I pulled wire in the framing stage for the rears channels and fully expected to run a five speaker system with a sub to get the sound to go with the image I now have. I was dreading having to find speakers my jaded ears and wimpy pocket book could stand. Five well-matched quality speakers and a subwoofer are not cheap. And you must physically hook them all up and then tune them to the space. In my case as in almost every room I have been in, the space is not ideal. Far from it as I have no window coverings or soft surfaces other than the couch and carpet to absorb dreaded reflected sound. I figured we could get by with our old crappy cheapo speakers till I can come up with the budget for the good stuff and full-length curtains over all the windows. Maybe in 2008 I might be able to pull that off.
That was until I talked to my buddy Brad Wells http://bradfordwells.com/Tour_MJ.htm
who just happens to be one of the best A/V guys in the business. He told me about a system that from one speaker and a small support subwoofer you could achieve full surround sound in any environment that rivals anything but the very best true five speaker setups he has done. Uhhh…. Yeah sure! He goes on to explain the technology of beaming focused sound originally developed for military purposes has been refined into one of the coolest products to come along since flat screen TV. From one speaker the size of a large skinny center channel you will hear full surround sound that will defy comprehension. Uhhh…. Yeah sure again! And not only that, it is self-calibrating to optimize any space it is in. It also retails for about one third of what the starting price for what I would consider good set of speakers to cost. And ….the best part is, all the lousy hard surfaces and parallel walls that give us fits in home theater environments actually make the thing work better. Ok this guy is whacked cause if it’s true we just found the Holy Grail of sound systems. But I know he’s not because I have done several projects with the Bradman and he does not blow smoke about equipment. Long story short I demoed the unit at Shelley’s and got hold of one for myself right after I heard it.
As mentioned early in the blog I was in a quandary about placement of the center channel speaker. I decided to run it above the screen on the shelf with left and right speakers on shelves like in the drawing. This unit goes in the same space as the center channel speaker but there is no need for speakers on the side or in the back of the room. Brad hooked me up with a small high-powered subwoofer that I placed on the left side of the room visually hidden beside a nice old toy box we have there. The YSP 1000 is actually the system amplifier so you hook up your equipment directly to it. I had Bryce do all that and then run the calibration program. That involves placing an included microphone in the seating position then getting out of the way while the unit sends out sound beams then adjusts itself to optimum sound for your environment.
With that all done, we got to demo the system. Amazing is all I have to say. Hearing crickets in Xbox 360 games five feet out and six feet over to the side from one speaker in the middle of the unit is downright… amazing. And movies!!! sound fills the whole room as well if not better than anything I have heard. You can also run this unit in several other modes like conventional two channel stereo with several different recreated sound environments like a jazz club. I am loving that I just had to hook up a couple of wires then run a simple calibration so there is absolutely no guesswork on setup. Thanks Yamaha for the new A/V Holy Grail. This unit will change how I design systems at least as much as the flat panel displays have changed things as explained in my recent Fine Woodworking article. I am looking forward to being able to simplify my designs even further and the possibilities that this new technology will present.
Yamaha YSP1000
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/YSP1/idx_ysp1000.htm
Another review
http://www.i4u.com/section-viewarticle-117.html
