3. Yamaha Digital Sound Projector YSP-4000
Editors' rating: 8.3
The good: Single-speaker surround system with 40 1.5-inch "beam" drivers and two 4.25-inch woofers; built-in digital amplifiers, Dolby Digital, DTS, Neural, and proprietary surround processing; eliminates the need for an AV receiver; HDMI connectivity with analog video upscaling to 1080i; XM satellite radio-ready and FM tuner; autosetup with the supplied microphone.
The bad: Expensive, lacks the dynamic muscle of an equivalently priced 5.1 channel system; no Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding; no S-Video inputs or outputs; setting up multiple sources is likely to confuse and frustrate most users; most listeners will want to invest in a subwoofer for additional bass.
The bottom line: The addition of enhanced video connectivity options cements Yamaha's already excellent Digital Sound Projector technology as the go-to choice for single-speaker surround sound.
Read CNET's full review
Price range: $1,090-$1,600
Photo by Yamaha
