Yamaha YSP-1600-R MusicCast Sound Bar

I just want to say that I’ve been a big fan of Yamaha products for years, and I’ve purchased this sound bar based on my personal experience, it’s reputation, and some of the positive reviews. POSITIVES: The YSP-1600 has a lot of features for the price, including 5 ways to listen to audio (Optical input, HDMI, Mini Jack, Bluetooth, and WI-FI, via it’s MusicCast App), 6 sound modes (Movie, Music, Sports, Game, TV Program, and Stereo) Clear Voice dialog enhancement, 4K passthrough, and subwoofer level level adjustment. The YSP-1600 doesn’t come with a sub, but it is one of the few sound bars with a dedicated subwoofer output, so you can add the sub that you really want instead of something that it just tacked on to it. I use an Infinity sub with a 12” driver, so it sounds awesome with it. It has two built-in mini-subs, but they would hardly measure up to a true, dedicated sub. Other customizations includes “position” buttons, that let you taylor the sound beams to where the speaker is positioned in the room (Left, Center, and Right), and channel level adjustment, allowing you to maximize or reduce the volume in any of the 5 channels. It’s MusicCast function is pretty easy to set up. I’ve downloaded the app to my phone from Google Play and registered within 2 minutes. From there, you can set up your Net Radio, Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius XM, AirPlay, music from your server, or your phone itself. You can also control any Yamaha speaker from any other room, as long as they also have MusicCast. Of course, they would just have to be on the wi-fi. Speaking of the wi-fi, both it and the bluetooth functions are very easy to set up. I’ve streamed music from my phone to the bar and it sounds flawless. NEGATIVES Welp, anything with a lot of good is bound to have a catch, right? It’s already a given that any sound bar will not come close to a true 5 or 7.1 system, so I won’t bother to list this. Most of these negatives are nit-picky, but…….here they are in particular order: * One of the positives is also a negative. The fact that it DOESN’T come with a sub means you’ll have to purchase one….a decent one is likely to be $250 and up. If you don’t add a sub to it, I would not recommend purchasing this. It sounds OK without one, but not good enough. * To get the best sound, it’s best to sit in front of it. It uses sound beam technology to bounce sound off of walls to get the best surround sound effect. This is not to say that it doesn’t sound great if you don’t (I don’t because of the configuration of my living room), but it’s best to do so. * Another positive can also be a negative. The fact that there are a lot of customizations means that it could be viewed as having too many moving parts. They’re easy to set, but I’m finding that each function has a different sound that you’ll have to keep adjusting. Music from my phone sounds best with “stereo”, while music/concerts on the TV sounds better under “Music” or “Movie”, sometimes having to add the “clear voice” enhancement, sometimes not. Some movies you’ll have to crank the sound to enjoy the dialog, but if you do this, there could be a loud sound effect like a car crash that will bust your ear drums. My dog didn’t appreciate it. * The final negative is that I wish that Yamaha added a digital volume and and sub level indicator on the front of the unit. As it is, the lights will light up in sequence if you turn the volume up or down, but you still will not know what level it’s on. Once you get used to all of the adjustments, it sounds great! Are there better sound bars out there? Probably, but you will end up paying hundreds more. The Sonos sounds a little better, but that bar along with it’s wireless sub will cost you $1,300 +. Overall, I highly recommend this. I’m even considering purchasing one for my game room.