Yamaha YSP-4000

The Yamaha YSP-4000 Digital Sound Projector is a one-piece sound bar home theater speaker system that uses sound-projection technology. It does a much better job than most sound bars in creating a surround-sound field. However, room characteristics, seating position and even the amount and placement of furniture can play a big role in just how convincing the surround field sounds. Reviews say that audio quality overall is excellent, and can be made even better if you add a subwoofer (at extra cost). The Yamaha sound bar is feature-rich, and it includes an FM tuner, XM satellite radio and iPod compatibility, HDMI outputs, an automatic speaker setup function and more.

The Yamaha sound bar isn't compatible with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio -- the high-definition audio formats that provide the very best sound from Blu-ray Discs. But the big drawback is this unit's cost, which might be more than you paid for your television. Although it's not in the same league in terms of surround-sound realism and audio quality, the Sony HT-CT100 (*Est. $250) is an exceptional bargain and sounds pretty good in its own right. As a bonus, it can play back high-definition audio tracks from Blu-ray players that have their own decoders.

The Yamaha Digital Sound Projector YSP-4000 sound bar has been widely reviewed. It is included in a seven-model faceoff at Sound & Vision magazine, and is also covered in depth by CNET. Audioholics.com puts the Yamaha sound bar through some testing that truly strains its surround-sound-generating capabilities. The testing at Home Theater magazine is equally complete. Wired magazine's report is less thorough, but the accompanying video is interesting. User reviews aren't terribly extensive, but you can see a handful at Amazon.com.