Yamaha YAS-101

thanks for the info...i think this is the FIRST TIME yamaha has produced an affordable soundbar !! incredible ! But at 299$ and 2.1 with subwoffer inside the bar and no HDMI.
I really don't think it'll be that good

Of course in Europe as always.....its much more expensive @ 350 euros !

i highly doubt the sorround capabilities of this but i guess it'll be better than the speakers.

@nenito
its going to lot cheaper on ebay and amazon.

FYI most stores have them on sale now for $250. Most say backordered, although Newegg says in stock. So they seem to be arriving at stores now. There are some pretty bold claims in their ads, so I'd love to hear how great this can be (seems to good to be true).

Just search google shopping. For example ABT electronics, PC Richards, Newegg, Fry's, Amazon itself all have it listed.

So I havent had as much time to test it out. But the overall feelings thus far...
Got it from futureshop Canada (I'm a canuck) I am by no means an audio afficionado so maybe someone else can do a better job of testing it all out but I can tell you my experiences so far.. The bar cost 349.00 cdn (we are almost on par..again.. with you guys down there) so it was kinda pricey but within range of other entry level soundbars. Add the 50 bucks tax plus the $1.40 electronic surcharge which is more like a kick to the balls then a cash grab. and the total cost was almost 400 bucks.

The bar itself comes in a lightweight package.. Its not too shabby. to get all setup.. anyhow the good stuff.. the sound is pretty good. I like the surround but it does not encompass you completely its more like if you close your eyes you can sorta get the feeling (so long as you are front and center) that its all around you with that delicious 7.1 feeling but its not quite. and again the feeling evaporates when you open your eyes. The sub is not boomy..does help with those low notes so you can hear the notes without the boom. when I think of bass I think of vibrations that I can feel..You will not get that with just the soundbar. However it does allow for an external sub connect so hey if you wanna drop another 200-400 bucks on a sub go for it. I want to!

It does sound clear and hits every note that I am capable of hearing nicely. so its crisp and does do a decent job on 'surround' sound. just not like having the 5/6 speakers surrounding you. Probably could have spent another hundred and gotten those additional speakers with another system.. but my problem with that was wiring (I could do without the additional wire clutter and running wires through or around the floor boards.. I got no skills or patience to do a good job of it.) and setup.. this was a 5-10 minute setup no mess no fuss.

So its good. Could have been a cheaper purchase but it did come with an optical fibre cable so no additional out of pocket expenses. the remote control nothing fancy. You can program the soundbar to accept a remotes buttons. any buttons. which is kinda cool. do not necessarily have to use volume buttons on the remote if its going to cause conflict with another device (if thats possible..for me I am using a universal remote but people i live with are not the brightest.. they want to press volume buttons without pressing the device button so I just use the default device and programmed the soundbar to accept the volume buttons for the other device) In this case the tv volume does not control output volume to the bar.. (which is strange but I guess is usual with an optical hookup?) Digital audio output works best on auto instead of 'force pcm' (sound bar connected to tv's digital output)
and the settings on the bar (that are always on) are surround, univolume and full bass.

Also has a delay sound option in case theres a delay between visual rendering and audio. Which I could see coming in handy on certain movies.

Not sure if I have done the best job of being descriptive or giving this thing a review worthy of your time reading but hey I tried!

Now that I got the sound.. time to get the visuals.. 47LW5600 (lg's new tv passive 3d 47") would be awesome.

Thanks for the review. Does it turn on an off automatically when it no longer receives sound from an input and then on again when it does?

Good question will get a definitive answer for you later this evening. I did at one point have a hdmi connection between tv and laptop and the optical out to the bar from the tv. and there was a lengthy period of time where there was no audio.. all the lights on the bar did stay on throughout. but will have to check on that. at this time my guess would be, no.(no standby lights on bar either their on or off and I am guessing off means its off)

Was zeroing on Sony HTCT-150 but yesterday show pile of Yamaha AST-1010(aka YAS-101) soundbar in Costco ($190) and just decided to try it out. Hooked up to 55" LG tv, sound is loud, clear and crisp for average size room. I never had any soundbar before so cannot compare with old one. Bass will not overwhelm you but good enough for everyday tv watching. Only optical/coaxial inputs but one subwoofer output so you have option to add sub if you would prefer to rattle you room. The build quality and look seems excellent. I have full speaker sound system and large sub so I might try soundbar with external sub over the weekend. I am still intrested to read about comparison between yas-101 and sony htct-150.

Hello raka1212,

I've been wanting to hear (and see) the YAS-101 but can't find a dealer in SW Florida who carries it.

You said Costco has model AST-1010 and you indicated it's the same as the YAS-101. I googled and couldn't find any reference at all to AST-1010. Can you tell us more about it....and where the Costco store is located?

EDIT: oops, just noticed you're in NJ. Thanks for showing that info. I'll stop by a SW Florida Costo tomorrow and see if they have it.

Thanks...cheers

I saw a pallet of AST-1010 boxes at the Costco located off of Airport in Naples on 10/22/11.

lenacon1990,

Thanks for the info. The Ft Myers store has the AST-1010 too. I purchased one on Sunday but haven't had time to even open the box yet.

Cheers.

You are welcome.

The Yamaha website now has specs for the ATS-1010 and the YAS-101. The specs are identical and the MSRP for each is $299. The Costco price for the ATS-1010 is $190. I'll buy a ATS-1010 and give it a try. There are times when I don't want to fire up a 1,000 watt AVR and two 500 watt subs; my wife likes simple, thus the interest in the ATS-1010.

I unboxed the ATS-1010 and set it up yesterday. I wanted to try a soundbar because I think (similar to what lenacon1990 said) simplicity is better in some situations rather than using the Denon AVR, sub, towers, etc.

I've had very little previous experience with soundbars but much experience with audio, both in consumer electronics going back farther than I care to mention and as a profession in the commercial audio/video systems integration design field.

I'm not overwhelmed by the ATS-1010 but I didn't actually expect to be since, at $190, it's at the low end of the price spectrum. And, unfortunately, I'm perhaps a bit underwhelmed. For example, sometimes it's difficult to tell whether the voice is more intelligible with the Clear Voice function on or when it's off. (By the way, the Clear Voice function was one of the primary reasons I decided to try this SB. My wife and I watch a lot of BBC productions like Masterpiece Theatre and their Mystery series. The dialogue can be a bit muddy, perhaps because they're originally film productions and/or perhaps because they're also converted from one video format to another.) Also, the effectiveness of the Clear Voice seems to depend sometimes on whether the Surround mode or the Stereo mode is selected, but I haven't been able to conclude consistently which one is better.

Also, after watching one show last night and then switching to a different channel, the volume suddenly began to increase on it's own without touching the ATS-1010 remote control. The Uni Volume function was on at the time, so it seems it did quite the opposite of what it's supposed to do - it went berserk.

I'll be interested to hear lenacon1990's evaluation of the unit.

On a separate note, about a month ago I tried a ZVOX 580 which I was drawn to because ZVOX added a Dialog Emphasis function to their 2 new models. For the short time (very short) that it worked, it did seem that the DE function made an improvement to voice clarity. Unfortunately after about an hour, both digital inputs quit working so I packed it up and shipped it back to ZVOX.

Cheers.

Finally had the time to set up the ATS-1010. My wife is happy with the simplicity of the ATS-1010 so we are keeping it but if I am home, we will use the Denon AVR.

I have two deal breaker issues with the ATS-1010. The Uni Volume does not work on the local OTA PBS station. When changing from channel 30.1 to 30.2, the volume increases by 10 dB without touching the remote. The issue does not occur when the Uni Volume is off.

The second issue is I can not program the ATS-1010 to respond to a Samsung or Logitech remote. The manual says "some TV remotes controls may not control these functions". If the ATS-1010 can not be controlled (volume up, volume down and Off) by either of two very common remotes, that is a problem.

I purchased this unit at Costco for $179. I really like it, it is not a huge sound but it is very smooth and great for our living room, I don't have room for a separate subwoofer. I like Yamaha products in general though, so I am a little biased .
I am using it with a Logitech Harmony 650 remote and it is able to control all the functions.

That's a heck of a price. I thought mine was a good deal at $229!

Has anyone seen the ATS-1010 in a west coast Costco, specifically SF Bay area? I phoned my local Costco, but they didn't see ATS-1010 in their system.

Also considering this model. Reading the reviews here, it sounds like this would be a better option than any of the current Samsung models.

Can anyone tell me how far apart the feet are? or more importantly how wide the cabinet underneath would have to be for the feet to fit on it? Other options could be to add a longer piece under the Bar, or mount it on the front of the cabinet (but I guess it's good to have a base under the Bar to help with the Bass?).

We have a narrow cabinet (on wheels) in the corner of our room (in front of two large windows) with our Samsung 46" LCD on.

I like the fact this has a built-in sub which I am aware will not be impressive but a step up from a bar without and maybe on par with the 'weak' samsung one's (from what I have read).

I have a separate Cinema room so this is to just improve the sound for watching TV particularly the dialogue.

Thanks.

Width from one foot to another is 30" outside of one to outside of other.By the way my 101 continues to impress. TV and non bluray DVD player with movies are awesome! I have a Yamaha subwoofer coming but the more I play the 101 the better it sounds esp the bass! Jurassic Park 3 where the dinosaurs fight is unbelievable! I switched my DVD player to the virtual surround sound setting and it is even better! Can't imagine what it will sound like with an external sub. Everything is hooked up to the Samsung TV and the TV is hooked optically to the 101.

Great thanks will be looking for the best price asap

Just measure our small cabinet and it's 30.5 inches so the Yamaha bars feet will just fit (someone else posted they are 30" apart). Maybe will add a mounting system in case it gets knocked (the cabinet is on wheels and gets moved around often).

I have ordered this yesterday and hope to have this by the end of the week. Not as cheap as the US prices I've read about, but hopefully still worth it. WIll post my thoughts once I've tried it out.

I received my Yamaha YST SW216 subwoofer yesterday and hooked it up today and must say all I had to do was hook it up via the Subwoofer out jack on the 101 to the Mono jack on the subwoofer and follow the 101 manual directions to turn off the internal subs and voila the bass depth was good before but really deep now. And the best part is I can still control the bass volume via the 101 remote!! I was not aware that I would be able to do that. Very impressive Yamaha!!

The Yamaha YAS-101 is currently on sale for $149 at DailySteals.com. It's only good for one day. http://www.dailysteals.com/?ad=woot

Can anyone comment on the actual performance of this unit? Can it fill a medium sized room? How does it compare to the Sony CT150 or CT500 units? Any comments would be appreciated.

I actually just ordered it from that DailySteals site that was just linked to -- was looking for a good deal on it. I'll write up my thoughts once I get it.