Yamaha SRT-1500

Great but not premium.Cons- (1) The front panel (the display) isn't very user friendly. It's hard to be precise while turning up the volume. Everything including the volume is represented by a bunch of green dots. A lot of memorization comes in to play and I had to constantly look at the manual in the beginning to understand why a particular dot on it was green.(2) It isn't extremely loud, I have a small bedroom and to completely fill up my room with sound I have to crank the volume up to about 70%. You will most likely always have to crank up the volume and then confusion sets in as you start to wonder exactly how much louder can you actually go because the display is so hard to be precise with. No numbers just dots! To have a decent cinema experience you will always be in the 70-100% max volume range.(3) I'm not sure if it supports HDR10. But since it does support the latest HDMI standards it's possible that it can receive support for this in a firmware update.Okay now it's time for pros, some of these pros can actually be cons but the reason why I'm listing them as pros is because these features made me satisfied with the device.(1) It isn't very loud like I said but when you actually do crank up the volume on this thing it sounds great! You're fully immersed, the highs and lows are great. Dialogue is very easy to understand. The built in sub also gets the job done.(2) True 5.1 experience if you put this thing in the right environment. You also can adjust the volume of each channel and the sub in the settings with remote, which is great. Do not buy this thing if your space isn't right for the surround sound technology built into it ! It only leads to frustration and questioning. My room wasn't but I realized that I cannot blame the device, it actually was my space.(3) Its somewhat future proof, it supports the latest HDMI standards with a possible future firmware update for HDR10. So at the moment it only supports 4K 60fps pass through. It has a Dolby Digital and DTS encoder built in. Which isn't all that great because these are 5.1 lossy formats but you'll still be able to watch blu rays and broadcast tv for years to come because Dolby and DTS's new formats are required to work with these old lossy formats and broadcast tv in Dolby Digital isn't going anywhere lol. This can also be listed as a pro or a con. Especially for the people out there looking for DTS-MA, DTS-X , Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos. It does have a hdmi input which means it is capable of supporting these formats. It just means Yamaha didn't use their brains and go the extra mile to give us the latest technology.(4) The mobile app is solid. It makes up for the fact that the front panel sucks. You can use it to precisely adjust the volume, it also gives you the opportunity to adjust the dimensions of your room so the speaker base knows exactly how to reflect sounds suited for your space.Should you buy this ? If you want simplicity and a solid speaker-base then yes. If you don't mind watching Blu RaysIn a 5.1 lossy format then yes. Like I said it is future proof and this could last you about 10-15 years but it's not premium. It's probably the best speaker base out right now but if you want to watch 4K Blu Rays in lossless formats with HDR then I would say no. My recommendation to you would be to just buy a 2,000 soundbar or a receiver with a 5.1 or 7.1 setup because at the moment there isn't any speaker base on the market that supports this technology. The SRT 1500 had the capability of being premium at a decent price but it fell short. Eventually I returned it, I realized that nothing beats a amp and some speakers. That's all folks!

I'm finicky when it comes to audio. I found it was time to get something to supplement my component music system - because it was really tuned for music audio, and never really did well for movies and was horrible for news and sports.I have tried a number of speaker base units - Bose, Yamaha, and Sony.The SRT-1500 is on a different planet from the other devices in the same price range. The simulated surround sound is stunning - so much so that I regularly look around the room to see what's happening behind me. Voices are crystal clear. Sound effects are very natural. Surround is stunning.This comes at a price. Music performance is poor. No. worse than poor. Whether set on Music or Stereo mode, the sound is just anemic. If there was a way to adjust the tones - esp the midrange - it would be helpful. Perhaps in a future version of the firmware this will be possible.The AirPlay and Bluetooth connections are helpful and good. Has an appropriate number of ports. The subwoofer response is very good. The software/setup was very cumbersome. However, I do not sing the device for that, as the latest version of the firmware resolved all the setup issues I experienced. The setup app tunes the system for your room size and does a great job.Ultimately, if you're looking for one device - and you need it to play music - this is not your device. The Bose 3xx sounds much better for music. But it has one port and does not do anything for surround. If you just need something for your television - which does surround and sound effects - this is your device.(Note: not using their sonos-esque music cast feature to connect to other devices.)

I got it to replace a pair of stereo speakers connected to an older AV unit, wanting to have more of a "surround" sound (there is no practical way for me to install a proper, multi speaker setup in our living room). While impressed by the spatial 3D sound effect, I was utterly disappointed by its sound quality. Very narrow dynamic range, no matter what setting you change. The settings by the way, don't change anything. The only noticeable difference is when switching from the various "Surround" modes (which are no different from each other) to plain "Stereo".In addition, the user interface was very poorly made, with no controls whatsoever for adjusting anything beyond the basics. There is supposedly an iOS app for controlling/setting it up (HOME THEATER CONTROLLER [WLAN]) but I could not find it (I guess they never heard of QR codes). The only app I found (MusicCast App) only allowed playing music from the app itself or from Internet radios, which promptly crashed the unit (not the app), having to reboot it each time it crashed. Updating its firmware to the current version (2.24) had no effect (or noticeable difference in its UI).Interesting that after reading all the reviews, I can only assume either people have a lot lower expectations for sound quality or the reviews themselves are rather suspect.Returning it.

Very good sound. Easy to pair. Only knock is not being able to see prompts or volume indication on my TV. Flying blind so to speak.

I realize that making a purchase like this is difficult because audio equipment is so subjective. However, I would say that the Yamaha SRT 1500 falls tremendously short of my expectations. Separation is adequate, however, the music lacks any degree of depth. The bass seems muddled. I have listened to several genres that included classical, rock, alternative and country. Using it strictly with the television was okay, but in my opinion it does not justify the price point.I have been using the Yamaha SRT 1500 for approximately 6 weeks now and I have grown even more dissatisfied with its performance. The quality of audio or lack thereof is very disappointing.

Very good product, i like it so much