Yamaha YSP-2500 Sound Bar with Bluetooth and Wireless Subwoofer

I was in the market for a soundbar with multi-HDMI inputs (for it's HMDI control and DTS/TrueHD advantage), and I narrowed it down to the Sony HT-NT3, Sony HT-ST9 (Flagship), JBL SB400, and this Yamaha-YSP-2500.Soundstage: The YSP-2500 has the broadest and most encompassing soundstage of all of them. The sound was the most immersive and amazingly reproduced the surround sound better than the rest. Of course none of the soundbars could actually create true surround compared to actual 5.1/7.1 speakers, but the YSP-2500 came the closest. This can defineitly be attributed to the 16 distinct speakers drivers on the YSP-2500 to simulate 5.1/7.1 channels using sound projections (called "beams"). The JBL and ST9 also had a wide soundstage, but not nearly as immersive and the sound imaging wasn't nearly as good as the YSP, as tested with Blu-Ray "Avatar", "Terminator - Genisys," and "The Dark Knight." WIth these 3 movies, I could localize the bullets and planes as they flew by what seemed to be different areas in my room. Again, is this as good as my 5.1 speakers? No, not even close, but pretty impressive for a sound bar.Sound Quality: I had a harder time discerning the soundbar with the best sound quality, but in the end, it was the Yamaha YSP-2500 that won. The Sony NT3 and JBL SB400 had a most "booming" bass, but almost at the expense of the mids and highs. Luckily, the frequency repsonse on the JBL Subs could be adjusted to give you just the right balance of bass to compliment the rest of the sound spectrum. In fact, the JBL and Yamaha both had the best natural, balanced, and tonally accurate sound of all the soundbars with some initial adjustments. The Sony ST9s had slightly crisper highs compared to the rest, but the mids and low-mids for both the Sonys were very flat and virtually non-existent to the point where dialogues seemed a bit tinny and artificial-- with little depth. This is where the Yamaha YSP-2500 surpassed the rest. Dialogues were distinct and well-balanced, integrated very nicely with detailed highs and good lows. The Yamaha's had the best sound quality, the JBL's came a close second (despite only being a 2.1 channel system), then the Sony's ST9, and then Sony NT3.Features and Customizations: All of the soundbars had your basic features: HDMI controls, Dolby Digital Decoders, Color Processing, 4K passthrough, at least 3 HDMIs and one HDMI-ARC, one optical, one coaxial, and Aux, Sub volume; But the YSP-2500 had the most customization-- individual treble/bass levels, individual speaker channel volume levels, image localization with adjustable angles, Voice anhencments, an array of Digital Surround Processor (DSPs), and a very cool array of sound projections configurations (3 beams, 5 beams, ST + 3 beams, etc.). It's these "beams" that effectively simulate the surround stage that the other soundbars cannot duplicate. The YSP-2500 was the only one with a Mic Setup, which is used to perform the initial setup for Sound Optimization and Beams to properly have the system detect and adjust the Beams/Sound Levels based on the physical configuration of your room.Of all the soundbars, the JBLs were the only one that adjustable crossover frequency for the Subs. Note: The Yamaha YSP-2500 Subs crossover frequency was set a bit higher than the rest -- at 500Hz; so you will be able to localize some higher sounds coming from the Sub. That being so, the placement of the Sub is more limited to the front near the soundbar to get best results.Lastly, I really wanted the Bluetooth TRANSMITTER capabilities so I could listen to BT Headphones without distrubing others at night, but the Sonys were the only ones that had built in BT Receiver AND Transmitter. Luckily, the YSP-2500 did have an 3.5mm Headphone output jack, which I used with a separate BT Transmitter (Avantree Priva 2), and it works very well with my BT headphones (similar to the Sonys).Overall, I really recommend checking out the Yamaha YSP-2500. I've read that the room configuration makes a big difference in the sound stage and quality, and it works best with a room with four walls to reflect the effectively, but I'm using it on one side of a rather long rectangular bedroom with one side open, and the sound is still amazing. Your miles may vary.Hope this helps.Update: 7/06/19 - finally after 4 years, started to notice some issues with the YSP Sound Bar. Wireless Subwoofer started to lose wireless connectivity, so had to get a subwoofer cable on Amazon. Works great again. Sounds also gets real tinny and soft on rare occasion, but only happened a few times, and restarting sound bar/TV fixes it. However, also started to notice some glitches where sound bar would go on mute randomly. Have to click off mute using remote. Only happened once every 2 weeks or so, but still have to determined cause. May be issue with Sony TV or DirecTV box sending glitchy signal, but have yet to determine. Downgraded to 2 stars since had stellar performance for last 4 years, but for this price point for a sound bar, should last longer.Update 12/30/19 - Sound bar went out three times in last month. Video passthrough still works, but no audio. Tested it with different HDMI cables And different input/output sources. Finally determined issue was with this sound bar, and only way to fix was to completely unplug sound bar and restart sound bar. Not worth the price point if only lasted 4 years.

I own the YSP 2200 and have for almost a year. Since I bought a 4k TV I needed to update the sound bar since the 2200 doesn't support it, So I decided to give the 2500 a shot, since I was happy with the 2200. Big, Huge mistake! The first one arrived and had a few minor issue that had me return it. The first one, the sub paired and worked perfect but it would lose audio with recorded TV programs streamed from Dish Tv. It was ok with streaming video and live tv though. Then all of a sudden it would lose beams and become center channel only even though it was feed 5.1 and still showed 5 beam. During this time it would lose sub for 5 second and be center only. So ordered a replacement. Wow what a big mistake. I realize the 2500 is new and feature blue tooth and wireless sub but wow, its sure buggy,The second one I remove from box and hook up to same equipment, PS4, Dish Tv and Sony 6200 blu ray player. This time the sub is blinking red and non functional. I click pairing button on remote and then push the sunk in pairing switch on back of sub. This took 5 try's to even work. This sub is gut less, acts like one of the two 4 inch woofers isn't working. Then it wont hold connection and I constantly have to shut and restart the sound bar and hope it reactivates sub. The light on sub is still green and pair but its internal amp isn't getting the signal to do bass. This one will after playing tv or a source for 3 hours suddenly go to center channel only sound with no bass. Yamaha where is the quality control and proper testing. If you cant keep a connection and you know its an issue since say to run rca and then a male/ male earplug type wire from bar to sub, You could at least give us these items for when your sub issue acts up and refuses to work. This second unit is a paperweight compare to first unit. it makes the 5 second audio drop enjoyable compared to loss of sub and surrounds. Then it also wants to switch to inputs not on! So sadly I have to return two and find something that isn't so buggy.One sure positive with the ysp unit, you run the set up program with mic and you get the wide 7 channel audio that bounces off walls and simulates 5.1. Sonys Hts 7 blew it by not giving owner a set up mic option. Heck even Bose cinemate 520 and 130 give you the mic top adjust sound. Yamaha if you cant stop sub drop out please make your subs hard wired like the 2200. My sub is 4 feet below the sound bar and 6 inches to its right with nothing obstructing it. Same place I had the sony hts7 sub that worked perfect.

I've used this product for 6 years, but it started giving me problems within a year. It will work fine for awhile and then the sound would drop out changing to a tinny sound, as if I am listening to real crappy speakers found on a cheap phone. After some time (up to 15 seconds), it goes back to where it was. The issue started to increase in frequency and then eventually got better- happens only about once a month now. Happens usually when I am watching TV through HDMI; however, it has happened with other sound inputs so I don't think it is that.I also have annoying problem for the last 4+ years in which it asks me to setup the audio. I setup the audio with the microphone when I first got it and have now tried setting up the audio 3 or 4 other times- I even bought a second mic in case that was the problem- that was $20+ wasted. After setting up the audio it will ask me again to setup audio after the next power on. Very annoying.

Very good sound quality, yet surround sound is not the best as (it's just a bar). But stereo sound is excellent.Other think - it's not as loud as you would expect even for a small room.The bigger problem is when it goes to sleep, after waking up, amazon stick just shows a blank screen(sound is present), my HTPC has a pink screen (all the wires were good and verified), only solution for that is to unplug bar's power cable and plug back in, and everything is good for another 24hrs.

Absolutely love it in spite of one little irritation. The bass will sometimes 'fall out' whether listening to music, watching DVDs or TV. I have to turn off the YSP-2500, wait 10 seconds or so and then turn the unit back on. The bass will usually kick back in about 5 seconds after re-powering. Otherwise I would without hesitation award 5 Stars to the Yamaha YSP-2500.

This worked fine for awhile and then it started dropping out. Sound changes to a tinny sound, as if I am listening to the crappy speakers found on a cheap TV. After some time (up to 15 seconds), it goes back to where it was. This issue is increasing in frequency. I have had this happen whether the sub woofer is connected wirelessly or wired as shown in the manual. Today I was attempting to narrow down the issue and now the sub woofer is not responding at all. I have had item less than a year. I searched for support through Yamaha.com for help.Found nothing helpful.I reached out to the seller through AMAZON, will update based on their response.At this price point I expected much higher quality

I thought that I finally hit a home run when I found this soundbar only to find out a couple months later when I'm trying to stream 4K from Amazon to my TV that the YSP-2500 does not support HDCP2.2. I am really ticked off that my only other YSP option is a $2000 upgrade to YSP-2700. Save your money on the YSP-2500 it does not support HDCP 2.2 pass through. If you have spent a lot of money on a TV to watch actual 4K then the 2500 will be a waste of money. If you just want to watch 1080p then this is an AWESOME soundbar and I'll be happy to sell you mine.

Near the top end of my budget, but a great addition to my man cave that I didn't want to ruin with a 5.1 or 7.1 surround system with outlets and wires everywhere. Yes the bluetooth is a little weak, but as far as performance and sound quality, I love it. My basement is quite large and irregularly shaped, but I can still hear the surround. I've seen other people say it doesn't perform as well at high volume, but that is precisely where I think it performs best. At least for me.