Customer Reviews:
 Mid-grade home theater in a box, just add amp and subs. January 6, 2010
R. L. Olive (Apex, NC)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
What a great deal! Three pair of in-ceiling speakers for the price of one high-end in-wall speaker!
Lest you think these Yamaha speakers must sound like a bad office speaker playing elevator music at that price, let me remind you of its decent stats:
* 3-way speakers, 6.5" round woofer, 2 tweeters (one mid-high, one high)
* two built-in crossovers at 6kHz and 9kHz
* 12° pre-tilted woofer, swivel tweeters
* crisp highs up to 28kHz (key for home theater)
* template was perfect for hole-cutting
* swivel screw clamps hold firm to the drywall
* clean finished look
* handles 80W amp comfortably
When I hooked up just one sitting on the floor, I was worried that I made a mistake, but after I got them secure in the ceiling and all working together, the room filled with sound, thanks to my Onkyo 7.1 home theater 80W amp. I am using five for the standard speaker locations: front L/C/R, surround L/R. I have one speaker left over, so I might hook it up as a mono rear surround.
I chose these speakers over the similarly priced Polk Audio speakers because the Polks can't go higher than 20kHz unless you pay $200+ per speaker. If you want to hear glass shatter or steam hissing properly, you need more headroom than 20kHz. These Yamahas go to 28kHz.
You might be wondering about the bottom end of the audio spectrum, below 100Hz. These woofers fall off at 65Hz, and if this were just a small office music system maybe that would be fine, but not good enough for my family room. I filled out the bottom end with two Polk Audio PSW10 subs at half-volume that cover up to 150Hz. My total investment in speakers sounds amazing for under $500. The Onkyo Audyssey auto-EQ and auto-level makes this setup sing. (BTW, never judge a speaker set-up until it's been properly EQ'd and balanced).
This setup is not good enough for a true high-end home theater, where you will need to spend $2500 on speakers, but for my family room...? Yeah, baby. Movies sounds awesome in Dolby Digital and music sounds great in "All Stereo" mode! I rarely am pumping more than 50W per channel anyway, so this was the sweet spot for this room. This beats the pants off any of those all-in-one home theater speaker kits with tiny speakers all around -- if the woofer in each speaker is not bigger than a CD, then forget it.
Best of all, my wife does not "hate those ugly speakers" like she did my previous setup. These things just disappear into the ceiling and go unnoticed until you point them out to guests. And if you have to remove them, just use a couple of paper clips to hook the grill, pull it off and access the screws that loosen the drywall clamps. Easy.
Only thing I might would have done differently would be to put some insulation up in there to catch the stray sound bouncing around beneath the upstairs floor. And I still may do that.
Shipping was quick and the 3 boxes were secure inside one larger box.
Would recommend these for any friend who wants to have a mid-grade home theater setup within a budget. Just don't forget the 10" sub.
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