Promoted Immersive 3D Sound with the Yamaha YAS-109 Soundbar

Yamaha Home Audio UK

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IMMERSIVE 3D SOUND

Take your home cinema experience to new heights with sound that comes from above as well as all around you.

The YAS-109 features DTS Virtual:X – immersing the audience in exhilarating 3D surround sound from a single bar solution.

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ALEXA VOICE CONTROL

“Alexa*, play Jamie Cullum from Spotify.”

“Alexa*, play Taller by Jamie Cullum from Amazon Music.”

With Alexa voice control integration, all you have to do is ask. The YAS-109 offers built-in Alexa voice control for easy control of your sound bar, smart home devices, music from Amazon Music or Spotify and more.

Additionally, a Mute feature ensures your privacy when needed by muting Alexa.

*Availability of Amazon Alexa voice control varies by country.

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SEAMLESS MUSIC

Simply pair your Bluetooth® device with the YAS-109 and start streaming your favourite tunes or video sound wirelessly to your sound bar.

Seamless entertainment. No headaches.

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STREAM TIDAL USING THE SOUNDBAR CONTROLLER

Simply login to your Tidal account on the soundbar controller app to enjoy all of your favourites.

*Tidal not voice controllable.

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STREAM SPOTIFY AND AMAZON MUSIC DIRECTLY

Using Spotify Connect and Amazon’s Alexa Cast means you can access your music manually without having to ask Alexa.

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LEGENDARY YAMAHA SOUND MODES

Select your favourite sound mode from either the supplied remote or Soundbar Controller app.

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UPGRADEABLE

With a subwoofer output you can upgrade your listening experience when it suits you.

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SIMPLE CONTROL

CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) allows you to keep things simple by using your TV remote to control the YAS-109’s volume.

Want to see more? For more information or to shop now, click here.

Yamaha are also giving one lucky AVForums member the chance to Win a YAS-109 Soundbar worth £329 (ends 15/05/20) – click here to enter.
 
Hi All,
This is obviously an advert from Yamaha.
Asking real world people, is it any good?

Without being able to audition anywhere due to lockdown, soundbar reviews are a bit of a minefield. No real conclusive winners until you start spending serious money.

Don't want to spend more than £100, don't need a sub, not too keen on bass heavy, prefer a quality/balanced sound.

Need Optical In.

Thanks in advance to any genuine advice.
 
Hi All,
This is obviously an advert from Yamaha.
Asking real world people, is it any good?

Without being able to audition anywhere due to lockdown, soundbar reviews are a bit of a minefield. No real conclusive winners until you start spending serious money.

Don't want to spend more than £100, don't need a sub, not too keen on bass heavy, prefer a quality/balanced sound.

Need Optical In.

Thanks in advance to any genuine advice.

With £100 and the need for optical in... I'd definitely be looking at second hand. A lot of the older models have optical and you'll get better sound per pound.
 
Yamaha hasn't released 2020 range of Soundbars yet, the last mid to high end products were released several years ago.
 
i am almost at the point of buying this but have come across some reviews of the sub cutting out when low dialogue between people is detected. Anyone had experience of this, of have also read the reviews
 
i am almost at the point of buying this but have come across some reviews of the sub cutting out when low dialogue between people is detected. Anyone had experience of this, of have also read the reviews
109 does not have separate wireless sub, so not applicable here.
 
Can you upgrade it to include rear speakers though?
 
Just bought one. Struggled with just about every aspect of setting it up; TV to Soundbar ARC simply won't work. I added a KEF Kube 2 that I had laying around. That was dishing out 50Hz hum that took multiple re-cabling attempts to banish. Turns out it was a loose fuse in the original IEC1 cable I was using to power the sub.

Back to the 109...
Playing with ALL the options on both my Samsung TV and the soundbar failed to get the ARC working. I tried 3 different HDMI cables, but nope.
So I've reverted to the optical cable as a last resort.

Sounds... chesty and constrained. I'm moving it further and further from the rear wall to try and free up the sound a bit. Playing with the built in presets just makes it get into a sonic muddle. It seems to sound best in just straight stereo mode.

I can't understand how this unit is relatively highly regarded. Due to the ongoing restrictions, auditioning products is impossible, so I saved up, did some research, and purchased online.
I'm just hoping some more tinkering further down the line may ellicit a more balanced performance.

A Plug And Play solution it ain't.
Are all soundbars this fussy and over- complex?

Edit: Day 2.

Ok.. managed to address the chesty constrained Sound by turning down the internal "subs" using the "Subwoofer volume" key on the remote.
What we needed to know is that this has NO EFFECT on the level reaching the external Sub. This allowed me to re- balance the sound such that the bar was covering the treble, mid and upper-bass while the sub reproduces the very lowest frequencies only.

It transpires that my TV's ARC is controlled first by activating HDMI-CEC and then further adressed via the TV volume control, unlike the optical connection. Turning on HDMI-CEC and increasing the volume from 0 brought it to life.
Sound quality is tangibly better via HDMI than optical.

There's still one fly in the ointment, though. Tried a run- through of "The Empire Strikes Back", and the dialogue was a bit suppressed during noisier scenes. Conversely, the scenes that had bass- heavy effects were stupidly loud. I note that this unit has a dynamic range control (DRC) with off, low and high setting. It ships with DRC off by default, so my next step is to try DRC at the "low" setting.
My concern with this is the (negative?) effect it may have on music reproduction. Hopefully, "Low" will simply curb the worst excesses of bass- heavy film effects and leave the (already compressed) music alone.
 
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Sometimes my yas-306 sounds a little muddled in the mids , it maybe the movie or show your watching , you tried different channels etc ?
 
Sometimes my yas-306 sounds a little muddled in the mids , it maybe the movie or show your watching , you tried different channels etc ?

Thanks for the reply.
It does vary by source material, but the issues were still present via (directly HDMI-connected) Blu-Ray.
I'm working my way through the less- obvious combinations and permutations of device settings, cables and positioning and have gained some traction. I've edited my original post with my progress.
 
I watched a film the other week called " Annabelle comes home " and I used the same settings as I did for when I watched " the polar express " the other night , difference was night and day , speech on Annabelle was quiet so turned it up , then it was too loud and so that went on !! Polar Express speech was clear and needed to turn it down much less so I definitely think source material has a lot to do with it , I'll check DRC on mine
 
I've set the DRC to "standard" (the lowest ON setting)
Sounds a little less variable in terms of level from one piece of material to the next, and stops any sort of crazy excess from effects or close-miking.
Alas that powering up the Soundbar ahead of the TV screwed up the HDMI-CEC "handshake" between the two, so no ARC from TV to Soundbar at the moment.. back to optical for now!
 
Tried re-setting everything, but still can't recreate the exact circumstances that caused the TV to send audio to the soundbar via ARC.
HDMI-CEC powers both appliances at once. Volume is still controllable via the TV remote, even using the optical out.

I'm fed up and flummoxed (at least temporarily) with the fact that ARC has worked only once and no more, and that the sonic performance is extremely variable. It also seems like the Yamaha could use some sort of built-in EQ; bass/mid/treble would be a good start, even if just to subtly tweak the tonal balance.
 
I've set the DRC to "standard" (the lowest ON setting)
Sounds a little less variable in terms of level from one piece of material to the next, and stops any sort of crazy excess from effects or close-miking.
Alas that powering up the Soundbar ahead of the TV screwed up the HDMI-CEC "handshake" between the two, so no ARC from TV to Soundbar at the moment.. back to optical for now!
I don't have an auto volume that I can adjust on the 306 , basically says it's only used when I switch it on so it's not instantly loud , yeah the eq thing would be a great idea , all bars should have a built in eq that can be user adjusted , this is why I stream from Bluetooth, adjust my music on my phone using an eq , your arc issue seems a pain
 
I now think it's because I've got both the optical TOSLINK and HDMI ARC cables connected. I reckon it's confusing the soundbar as they (technically) address the same input.

Re: EQing Bluetooth audio for streaming to soundbars; There's a really good app (on 'droid, at least) called Neutralizer. IF "flat" is what you're looking for, it can achieve that. It plays test tones, and you adjust the value at each point until you can't hear it. This generates a curve that EQs the system so it sounds flat.
I use it with different devices to good effect.
It's free, and if you pay it gives you multiple presets for different devices.

PS. I've no affiliation to the app developer. I've just found it useful.
 
I use an equaliser called " poweramp equaliser " it's in final beta stage but works really well , I'd definitely remove toslink cable and see what happens
 
Bingo!

It seems that you should use only one connection per source device...🙄
 
Brilliant , sorted it then , let me know what you think of it now you have fixed your issue
 
I've been "successfully" using the 109 for all sorts of material.
Best I've had so far was Casino Royale on Blu-ray; that's connected directly to the 'bar, not back via ARC. I remain unconvinced by any "surround" or "3D surround" trappings. I just use "Stereo" as it sounds more even-handed.
Best thing I've done so far? Dug out some old Audioquest Sorbothane feet and used them to raise it about 12mm off the surface it sits on. Sounds much smoother, and its now only about 10mm below the bottom edge of the TV.
With much tweaking using an EQ app, music reproduction is OK.
I need to stick a CD (remember those?) into my Blu-ray player and give it a spin. I have a couple of DVD audio (5.1 lossless) somewhere. They might be interesting.
My one gripe is the lack of absolute SPL from some sources. The Blu-ray player sounds fine, but some sources (generally catch-up services) sounds flat and quiet. Premium streaming services are better.
Music is entirely dependent on the original source;
Spotify level match their stuff. Many MP3s sound fierce, but WAVs are generally quieter, especially if they're pre the loudness war.
 

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