Yamaha YSP-4100

Yamaha YSP-4100

More than any other sound bars available today, the Yamaha's high-end Digital Sound Projectors deliver a single-speaker home theater solution without making too many compromises. The Yamaha YSP-4100 is one of the few sound bars that actually does a credible job of creating virtual surround-sound effects, and it has almost as many features (four HDMI inputs, analog video upconversion, automatic speaker calibration) as a standard AV receiver. It's also a powered unit, so while it may be bulky, it takes a more simplified approach than unpowered sound bars that require a separate AV receiver. The YSP-4100 packs a ton of features and performance into a single speaker cabinet, but you'll have to pay for it. It's currently selling for about $1,700, which is much more than its competitors and doesn't include the price of a separate subwoofer--which many competing systems include. On the other hand, it's a better choice than the step-up YSP-5100, as we found very little sonic difference between the two models. Yamaha's high-end digital sound projectors are excellent products for the niche they serve, but the YSP-4100's high price will keep that niche relatively small.