Yamaha wants to be your source of endless entertainment. To provide the goodies, the company is cranking out a slew of new home-theater-in-a-box (HTiB) systems.
Now, above we said that Yamaha has four new networked systems. Those are the YHT-899U, the YHT-799U, the YHT-699U and the YHT-599U. If you want to get technical, the company is actually introducing five HTiB products, but the YHT-399U doesn’t have any sort of networking features.
The other four offer all sorts of web-based options, including Pandora and vTuner Internet radio, as well as AirPlay support. Each one also has Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL), a new technology that enables full HD video and audio playback from MHL-compatible mobile phones and portable devices.
Each system also has support for 4K and 3D video pass-through with Audio Return Channel, front-panel USB ports, YPAO system calibration, and Yamaha’s own CINEMA DSP 3D with 17 DSP programs. (The YHT-399U has its own CINEMA DSP features.) The systems also have four SCENE buttons so users can make simple adjustments based on content. It’s also possible to WiFi into this mix via the company’s YWA-10 Wi-Fi adapter ($99.95). Bluetooth is also an option with the YBA-11 Bluetooth wireless ($69.95) add-on.
On the audio side, the systems come packing five speakers and a 100-watt subwoofer, as well as HD Audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio. However, each system does have its own audio perks:
- YHT-899U: 5-channel wood construction speaker package with two tower front-channel speakers, a compact center channel and two bookshelf/wall-mountable rear speakers.
- YHT-799U: 5-channel wood construction speaker package with five trapezoidal-shaped, equal voice-matched speakers.
- YHT-699U: 5-channel speaker package with two tower speakers, a compact center channel and two bookshelf/wall-mountable rear speakers, all in a black gloss finish.
- YHT-599U: 5-channel speaker package with bookshelf/wall-mountable front- and rear-channel speakers, all in a black gloss finish.
- YHT-399U: 5-channel ultra-compact speaker package with small center channel and four bookshelf/wall-mountable front and rear speakers.
All four of the new networked systems are also compatible with the free Yamaha AV Controller App for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire devices.
Yamaha plans to start shipping the YHT-899U, the YHT-799U, the YHT-699U, the YHT-599U and the YHT-399U sometime this April. The company has priced the products at $849.95, $799.95, $749.95, $649.95 and $449.95, respectively.