Soundbars have been one of the audio category’s shining stars over the past few years. The popularity of these products has been soaring as consumers seek affordable upgrades that don’t take up a lot space to augment their A/V systems.
Long before soundbars were trendy, Yamaha was advocating the benefits of these solutions. The large company is still promoting them through new product releases like its YAS-103 soundbar. Yamaha’s latest soundbar builds upon the feature set of its popular YAS-101 soundbar, including its built-in dual subwoofers by adding features like streaming Bluetooth for wireless audio connectivity and additional control capabilities through its Home Theater Controller app available to Apple iOS and Android users.
“We found that many soundbar shoppers want deep, rich bass to add impact to TV and movie viewing, but they just don’t want the clutter of a separate subwoofer in the room,” says Bob Goedken, general manager, AV products, Yamaha Corporation of America. “The single-body design of the YAS-103 is equipped with two built-in subwoofers for a cleaner, more elegant solution. Now with the addition of Bluetooth audio streaming, we provide an easy way to fill your home with music from mobile devices.”
The single enclosure YAS-103 utilizes a similar industrial design to its predecessor. Internally it incorporates two full-range drivers, two down-firing subwoofer and a bass-reflex port. To maximize the YAS-103’s performance capabilities, Yamaha implements its Air Surround Xtreme surround sound technology to support the playback of Dolby Digital and DTS content. It also augments the soundbar’s low frequency abilities with its Advanced Bass Extension Processing (in surround mode) that adds an increased level of bass response.
Other features bundled into the soundbar include built-in IR repeaters, Yamaha’s UniVolume function that eliminates the volume spikes that occur with some commercials, and a choice of digital and analog inputs.
