Yamaha YSP-3050 Soundbar: Same as the YSP-3000 Plus HDMI Upscaling

The YSP line is my favorite soundbar because of the sonar-inspired tech it borrows from cold war subs. The YSP-3050 is a new 23-driver model, second best compared to the 42 driver YSP-4000. The upgrade from the 3000 now has a front mounted minijack in, and HDMI upscaling. Like the higher end models, these will provide glorious surround, but unless you wall mount, the speaker blocks a few inches of your TV. [Yamaha] More »

Onkyo HT-S5100 Home Theater in a Box: 7.1 Surround and Acoustic Room Calibration For $579

Onkyo's best new entry level HTiB setup has a 7.1 surround is notable for having room correction tech. I'm pretty sure its rare to find a low end system that can adjust gain and delay on all channels to calibrate itself to a room's acoustics. The receiver included is the DTS/Dolby capable HT-R560, with 3 HDMI inputs, 130 watts per channel, and is Sirius satellite ready. The set up also comes with an iPod dock and a 290-watt sub. Not bad for $579 from a solid company like Onkyo. There are two lesser models: More »

Yamaha YSP-500 the Littlest Sound Beam Surround System

I love the YSP series soundbars from Yamaha, but two points: their prices, and fact that you can't table mount em without blocking the bottom part of a flat panel. The Japan-only YSP-500 has only 18 individual sound beam drivers as opposed to 42 in the YSP-4000. It's also only 24-inches long, will fit easily under a TV and costs only $647. It support "Dolby digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS Neo:6" and as Paul Strauss notes, you need a sub to really get the most out of this soundbar. Unfortunately, there's no mention of HDMI inputs. If YSP wants to go mainstream, Yamaha should bring this setup here. [Technabob]

Ears-On Yamaha's Flagship YSP-4000 Surround Sound Bar (Verdict: Ultra-Discrete Sound Beams)

I've had the pleasure of testing out the fourth-generation Yamaha surround sound bar, the YSP-4000. You know, the box that sits under a TV and projects 5 discrete beams of audio using Cold War directional sonar steering from submarines. This generation has had its trapezoid- shaped array turned into a more of a hexagon, and the chassis is more rigid. There are HDMI inputs, and upscalers for analog content. And there are DSP modes for stereo music sources that did not exist before. Does the fake surround work? Hell yes, better than ever.
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Yamaha's YAS-70 Budget Soundbar Might Actually Fit Below Your TV

Yamaha's YSP line of soundbars are incredible for faux surround. One problem — they're generally too tall to fit below a TV, unless you wall mounted, which the majority of us don't. The YAS-70 budget soundbar could be their best one ever, if only because it is merely ~3 to 4 inches tall, fitting under any TV. The drawback is that this only has 6 individual beam drivers, so I'm not sure how great the surround will be compared to its predecessors. (But it should be way better than the budget-budget-hobo version Boston released today.) More »

Polk Audio SurroundBar50 Gives you Surround Sound in One Very Long Speaker

Polk Audio's latest HE audio system, the SurroundBar50, is 51 inches of speaker that gives you surround sound from just one speaker. The aluminum-covered unit contains nine mid/bass drivers with Neodymium magnets, three dome tweeters and a four-PC board crossover, and Polk's Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) technology on the left and right front channels. More »