Yamaha AV receivers are considered some of the best in the world when it comes to the big world of AV. It can be a real minefield for those of you looking to dip your toe in the water, ensuring you have all the correct components that are ready to receive the endless amounts of standards can seem quite a daunting task, but those friendly folk at Yamaha have addressed this issue and given us the Yamaha YHT1840.
It’s aimed at being a one box solution that takes the headaches out of surround sound. Take that term a bit loosely – the YHT1840 is a full 5.1 ready surround sound speaker package and amplifier crammed into one large cardboard box… no “virtual surround”, or sound bars here, this is the real deal.
Open the (very large) box and inside we have the AV receiver itself – the brains of this whole operation – two front left and right speakers, a centre speaker which handles dialogue, 2 rear FX speakers which are responsible for giving that feeling of physical surround sound and finally our “. 1” the subwoofer, which is responsible for giving that stomach-churning rumble you get in the cinema which can be located anywhere (provided the cable is long enough).
Now a quick rundown of what you’re actually getting in terms of performance and specification: the amplifier is capable of turning out a huge 135 Watts at 6ohm and has 4 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output all of which are HDMI 2.0 HDCP 2.2 ready as well as BT.2020, and of course feature full HDR (High Dynamic Range) and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) support. To sum that up for those of you who might be new to this: it’s about as locked and loaded as it needs to be. The amp also features a Virtual Cinema Front, allowing all five speakers to be placed at the front of the room using the four walls around you to bounce the sound around creating the illusion of surround sound, but I strongly recommend a more traditional set up to get the most out of this package.
Using a very straightforward user interface you can easily switch between any one of your four sources. This could be a Sky box, a games console, Blu-ray player… whatever you fancy, the Yamaha is ready. For those of you interested in the musical side of things, inside is a Burr Brown DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) which adds fantastic warmth and musicality to your beloved music library. The speakers included are a traditional Yamaha design, which looks very sleek and elegant and will fit into most home environments, but of course, can be easily upgraded at any point should you feel the need.
Once set up, the package offered a very immersive experience and a brilliant soundstage, really filling our demo room with sound. While I was a bit skeptical of the speakers at first, they did a fantastic job once up and running. My only qualms are that they don’t offer a Dolby Atmos option for this package, and a lack of any networkable audio, although I believe these features excluded to keep the price at an accessible level that anyone could get into.
If you’d like to check out this great package from Yamaha, or have a chat about building your own bespoke home cinema system, pop in to your local Richer Sounds and one of our in-store colleagues will be happy to share their knowledge and help you get the experience of the cinema at home.
Click here to learn more about the YHT1840 5.1 speaker package from Yamaha
Author: Garrett, Plymouth store
