If you’re searching for a modest approach to upgrade your TV’s sound while adding Alexa to the blend, the Yamaha YAS-209 makes for an appealing choice.
Furnished with a remote subwoofer, a simple-to-utilize remote, and Alexa , the $350 YAS-209 conveys amazing sound given its cost, also the ability to control the soundbar’s volume and lining up tunes with voice commands.
The Yamaha YAS-209 soundbar woofer combination is excellent! And yes, the Alexa voice control really works well!
We used it now for several months and the “voice” sound setting is worth mentioning.Yamaha YAS-209 Specifications
| Voice Control | Yes (Alexa in-built) |
| Subwoofers | Yes (Wireless) |
| Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Connectivity | Yes |
| AirPlay 2 | No |
| Music Cast Surround | No |
| Dimension | 39 x 22 x 9 Inches |
| Weight | 20 Pounds |
| Batteries | 2AA Required |
| Customer Rating | 4.0 Out of 5.0 |
Design features
Table Of Content
The soundbar looks neat paired up with almost any TV, which is an added bonus.
The speakers have a fabric cover that looks really nice and premium to the touch. All the inputs and outputs, including the wall mount hinge, are located neatly at the back.
Overall, the speakers look decent and will fit your room ambiance, irrespective of the fact that you would like to put it on your TV cabinet or mount it on a wall.
The Yamaha YAS-209 is a magnificent budget soundbar that conveys a highly skilled performance. Yamaha knows the soundbar market well and this model is the product of that knowledge.
The units are modestly designed and completed in matte dark, thus not drawing notice to itself or reflecting what’s on the screen. Additionally, there is a powerful subwoofer for more profound bass.
Sound
Yamaha YAS-209 is a 2.1 soundbar, so you will get both sound channels that are delivered by two 1.75-inch drivers. Similarly, as a subwoofer for deep bass there is provision for sonorous low pitch sound. Since there are no surround speakers, the YAS-209 relies upon its own virtual surround modes dubbed as DTS Virtual:X to reproduce surround sounds.
The Yamaha YAS-209 is missing a center channel, which isn’t a huge deal. Keep in mind that a 2.1-channel setup is okay for soundbars at this price point. On the off chance that you need a soundbar with a devoted center channel, expect to pay at least a few hundred bucks more.
Measuring 36.6 x 4.3 x 2.5 inches, the soundbar unit can sit below or in front of your TV, otherwise, you can mount it on the wall with a pair of rear mounting holes and using the included mounting stand. The wireless 16.5 x 16 x 7.5 subwoofer can sit just about anywhere within the room; during our tests, we put it front and center on the TV cabinet.
Yamaha’s pricier soundbars support MULTI-ROOM MUSICCAST feature but it is not supported by the YAS 209, which implies you are not able to upgrade the system by connecting wireless surround speakers for your other rooms.
Input and Output
The YAS-209’s sources of inputs and outputs do the job well at a soundbar in this price range. In a nutshell, you get an HDMI input, an HDMI out with ARC (sound return channel), an optical Toslink, an ethernet port, and a USB administration port. Each of the five ports are situated at the back and left half of the soundbar.
Talking about the HDMI ports, the soundbar supports both 4K and HDR10 passthrough, additionally is also HDCP 2.3 compliance.
Sadly, there’s no eARC or MusicCast, which is presumably why we can conclude the price factor.
Installation and Setup
Setting up the YAS-209 was a relatively easy experience. Subsequent to putting the soundbar in front of our LG C9 OLED TV, we connected the soundbar’s HDMI output to one of our TV’s HDMI inputs and connected our Apple TV 4K’s output to the soundbar’s HDMI input.
You’ll have to supply your own HDMI cable as Yamaha does not include one inside the box.
If you need to interface multiple video sources to the YAS-209, your best bet is to connect them to your TV’s HDMI input and then connect the TV to the soundbar by means of your set’s HDMI ARC port.
The drawback of utilizing HDMI ARC or an optical link to append your video sources is that does not support sound like DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD; for that, you’d need both a TV and a soundbar that support HDMI eARC, the upgrade your HDMI ARC device to an HDMI eARC one.
In the next step you have to connect the subwoofers (wireless) to the soundbar. If for some reason, the soundbar and subwoofer don’t connect with each other, you can pair them by pressing and holding the subwoofer volume control on the remote.
Finally, you need to download the YAMAHA SOUNDBAR Application on your smartphone if you want to utilize Alexa. When the application is installed on your smartphone, it can find the YAS-209.
When we entered our Wi-Fi credentials in the app, the soundbar connected with our Wi-Fi system with no issues.
Remote Control
The remote control can be used for muting the microphone, adjusting the volume of the soundbar, switching the input, and for activating Alexa soundbar has a button on top. The last is handy if you don’t want Alexa listening in during a movie or chiming in whenever she thinks she hears her name.
The lightweight and small remote is not back-lit, yet the basic controls—to be specific subwoofer and soundbar volume and hence the 3-D and Clear Voice Surround modes are easy to find in dim lights. The remote likewise has buttons for the soundbar’s different inputs, sound modes, and bass-boosting mode, while an Alexa button on the upper left corner can be used to wake Alexa for your voice commands.
Performance
We never experienced any difficulty understanding what was being said during dialogues in movies or vocals in music.
The Yamaha YAS-209 is incredibly simple to set up – basically, wall-mount is used for the back screw openings and given layout or it can be placed under your TV box. Other than its absence of physical surround speakers or backing for wireless daisy-chaining, the 2.1-channel soundbar does not have a devoted center channel.
The performance is impressive with movies and music, excellent clarity and active delivery, making this effective soundbar deserve a recommendation.
Streaming Support
YAS-209 supports streaming for Amazon Music, Audible, Kindle, Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, Deezer, iHeart Radio and SiriusXM. What’s more, the YAS-209 permits you to stream from your smart devices utilizing Spotify Connect or Bluetooth.
YAS-209 does not support Alternative Amazon Echo, dropins, calling, messaging, Google assistant and Multi-room music features.
DTS Virtual:X Surround Sound
The YAS-209’s most noteworthy sonic draw (very close to the more affordable, Alexa-less YAS-207) is its DTS Virtual:X, a virtual surround sound that has clear surround effects on the sides and behind you.
Improve your TV, films, and games with Alexa voice control, DTS Virtual:X virtual 3D environment sound, wireless subwoofer, and Bluetooth streaming all in a straightforward, smooth setup.
We loved the sound of Yamaha’s DTS Virtual X 3D Surround mode. As we turned it on and played the Superman opening credits again, we were baffled. Without a doubt, surround impacts sounded clear and very directional with DTS Virtual X.
We saw a combination of scenes from films including DUN-DUN (2001), Star Wars Episode I and II Attack of the Clones, House of Flying Dagger, and Kraftwerk 3-D (2017), turning forward and backward between the standard Yamaha “Film” surround mode and the DTS Virtual X 3D Surround mode, and the impact on the sound was noticeable. From a stereo sound, the sound went wider and a tad bit thinner with the Virtual X 3D mode turned on.
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Conclusion
The Yamaha YAS-209 does a phenomenal job of updating the sound of your TV without drawing attention to itself. Covered up in the moderate frame is a better than average quality of speakers and with some amazing amplification. When you include the additional subwoofer, you have a total sonic experience that sounds huge and dives deep.
Overall, the YAS-209 is a competitively valued bar and sub combo that produces good 3-D surround sound while neatly blending in with your room ambiance.
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