before you read this beare that im NOT any kind of hifi expert or anything, im just a happy amateur movie/game buff who wants good sound and as few wires as possible in my home.
this is the version i have, its in the mid-range and there are both more expensive and cheaper models available, ive only tried the 1100.
for reference my previous system was a halfway decent 5.1 system with an ok reciever by LG, spent about $1500 on it some 5-6years ago and it has served me well, was never dissapointed with it (other than all the fucking wires ofcourse).
now my manual for the YSP is all in japanese so i can proboably fine-tune the system alot more but DAMN does it sound good, im testing it with resident evil and lord of the rings, two movies i always concidered to have great surround soundtracks (try not to flame me if you think the movies suck, i dont care).
im running the movies straight via optical cable from my PS2 (sorry i havent gotten around to getting a new good DVD player since my last died) and just using the speakers internal amp.
the surround sound is fantastic!, it sounds just as good if not better than my old system.
the way this thing works is it shoots out a concentrated sound beam which ripples as soon as it hits a solid surface, i can imagine if you have a very small room or an extremely oddly shaped one there might be problems with getting the proper sound.
you also have to be somewhat centered in the room with the speaker fairly straight in front of you, if youre sitting at a very odd angle or even with your back to one of the walls the surround sound from that side will just not work.
the built in subwoofers are completely fine for watching movies (there is no problem connecting an external one if you wish) and in my livingroom which is about 40m2 i can turn the sound up to deafening without loosing any soundquality.
music is another ballpark tho, as you know a good home cinema and home stereo are just not combineable, this speaker is no exception.
there just isnt enough base in the subwoofers alone and if you want to use this for your music stereo i highly recommend atleast a good base speaker to go with it, altho i wouldnt recommend this speaker for that purpouse at all. (for music nothing beats a good 'ol analouge amp with two fine stereo speakers, final!).
the final verdict is this is a great value speaker allright!, looking at a equally worthy reciever with 5 wireless speakers will proboably run you atleast double of what this costs, not to mention all the space you will have to sacrifice and what 5 speakers will do to the decoration of your room.
if youre a gamer/movie buff without a stick in your anus you wont be dissapointed with this system at all!
if youll settle for nothing but the best no matter the cost you might want to look into the more expensive models, or atleast go somewhere and try em out before you buy, i dont know how different they really are but a general rule in the world of Hi-Fi is you get what you pay for.
this thing also works as a video switch for a couple of your systems if you wish, there are ins for a few component/VGA and other sources, it does however NOT do HDMI nor upscale the image and you will need a more expensive system for that.
