... it isn't receiving signals from the Yamaha).
The main receiver is quite big also (about 6" high), and looks a little out of place with the slimline DVD and Sky+ boxes. It provides various setup menus that you can navigate with the remote, but fear not - the default settings are fine for ... Read review
Advantages: Great cinema sound at a decent price; easy to set up Disadvantages: Large
.../>
The back of the Yamaha receiver has plenty of connections for devices such as CD players, DVD, satellite, etc, etc, and three digital connections (two optical and one coax). There's also a whole host of "video" inputs and outputs - I haven't used these, and it's a little unclear from the manual why an audio system would have these.
The FM radio has plenty of features including RDS (like in your card), but the ariel is ... ...movie.
The Yamaha also cleverly automatically detects what signals are being sent to it, so when you switch over to a movie channel on Sky, the box will switch into Dolby Digital mode (and tell you on its display), and will then utilise the best surround effects that DD provides.
Overall it's very easy to use. The remote is quite compact, and I've found that I only need to use the volume up/down, and the surround program ... more
Well, the box only arrived the other day - it was huge, and I struggled to lift it myself (and I'm a strapping 6'6" tall)! I packed my wife and young baby off for the afternoon to set it up and have a play...
The box consists of the following:-
4 small speakers - two for either side of the TV, and two "surround" speakers to go at the back of the room
a wide "centre" speaker that is meant to sit on top of, or just under, the TV
the "subwoofer" that generates the house-shaking bass in music and action films - explosions, etc.
all the cables you need, unless you have a very large room
the main "receiver" (a surround sound amplifier and RDS fm radio)
Setup was fairly straightforward - position the speakers and wire them in. Even the cables were already labelled so there was no chance of getting them mixed up. The subwoofer is quite big so that's had to go behind the sofa out of sight. This needs its own power supply by the way, but it also has a clever power-save mode and will switch on and off when it's not needed (i.e. it isn't receiving signals from the Yamaha).
The main receiver is quite big also (about 6" high), and looks a little out of place with the slimline DVD and Sky+ boxes. It provides various setup menus that you can navigate with the remote, but fear not - the default settings are fine for all but the most hardened hi-fi fanatics. I'm fairly "au fait" with technology and audio, but haven't had to change any of the settings.
The only other step was to wire up the Sky+ box and DVD player to the receiver, so that the sound comes out of the new system (having remembered to switch off the TV's own speakers). If you have Sky+ for best results get a digital optical "tos link" cable from eBay - about £4-£5. When you watch a movie on Sky you'll get the full benefit of Dolby Digital surround. Similarly, when you connect the DVD player, use a digital optical or digital coaxial cable if you can.
The back of the Yamaha receiver has plenty of connections for devices such as CD players, DVD, satellite, etc, etc, and three digital connections (two optical and one coax). There's also a whole host of "video" inputs and outputs - I haven't used these, and it's a little unclear from the manual why an audio system would have these.
The FM radio has plenty of features including RDS (like in your card), but the ariel is a little piece of wire (like you get on clock-radios), so reception is next to useless.
Now the fun part - after getting it all up and running, you can use the remote to select from around 12 different surround settings such as "movie dramatic", "movie spacious", "concert hall", "sports stadium" and so on. The manual tells you to choose a setting that sounds right, not one that you like the name of. Although "movie dramatic" sounds, well, dramatic, it can be a little off-putting when watching a normal TV programme as it introduces a slight echo as though you are in a cinema, but is great when watching a movie.
The Yamaha also cleverly automatically detects what signals are being sent to it, so when you switch over to a movie channel on Sky, the box will switch into Dolby Digital mode (and tell you on its display), and will then utilise the best surround effects that DD provides.
Overall it's very easy to use. The remote is quite compact, and I've found that I only need to use the volume up/down, and the surround program selection buttons. I've been very impressed with the sound quality - having bumped up the volume when my wife and baby were out at the weekend. It's great! Just a shame the main receiver is a little large - some may find it a bit unsightly, while others will show it off as a "look at the size of my surround system"!
