Yamaha YSP-4100

The basics

The YSP-4100 has 40 beam drivers, two woofers and digital amplifiers to deliver multi-channel sound from digital sources such as Blu-ray players, with audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio without the need for extra speakers. Sleekly designed, it can be wall mounted or placed on a shelf of cabinet. It's iPod compatible too, and has an FM tuner.

The good

You might think setting up a device like the Yamaha YSP-4100 would be tricky, but thankfully that’s not the case: IntelliBeam automatic calibration takes care of everything on its own, working out the best angles and volumes for sound beams in your room in a matter of seconds. And what’s more, it works brilliantly. While we’ve never come across a soundbar that can rival a proper set of 5.1 speakers for creating convincing surround sound, this comes closest: there’s a real distinction between the various channels, both across the front and also from the sides and rear – it really sticks you on the middle of the action with movies, games and TV shows. It also offers a variety of modes including stereo, 5.1 and seven-channel surround sound.

The bad

There’s not much to pick at here, but we will say that the YSP-4100’s delivery might lack a little in the bass department for those of you with larger rooms. If this is the case, you can add an external subwoofer to boost the low-end performance, but obviously this will cost extra – and unless you opt for Yamaha’s £150 wireless transmission kit, it’ll mean more wires messing up your nice neat living room.

The bottom line

If a set of standard surround sound speakers isn’t an option, this delivers about as a good a surround sound experience as you can get from a single speaker bar. Tons of features and a user-friendly design round off a great product.