Best Buys – Audio & AV – July 2019

65

AUDIO-VISUAL

Y

amaha was one of the earliest and most
successful players in the soundbar market,
a category which has exploded over the
last decade, with a myriad new models
and brands trying their hand. One particular area
of success has been with soundbars which link
into a wireless multiroom ecosystem, such as,
in Yamaha’s case, MusicCast. MusicCast brings
streaming music and multiroom operation to any
number of Yamaha products, including a number
of its soundbars. But this Bar 400 adds an
additional development, called ‘MusicCast
Surround’, using other wireless speakers such as the
pair pictured in the image above. Let’s hear how it
all comes together.

EQUIPMENT
What a bemusing collection of logos adorn the
modern soundbar! So many technologies. But let’s
deal with the physicalities first. Yamaha’s Bar 400
comprises the main soundbar to sit in front of or

below your TV, together with a wireless subwoofer

to place wherever is convenient. The main bar is

98cm wide, but the more important dimension is

its height, just 6cm, low enough to avoid covering

either the screen or the infrared receiver of many

TVs. And if your TV is wall-mounted it could

sit on cabinetry below, or can itself be wall-

mounted (although “some knowledge of building

construction is required for safe installation”,

suggests Yamaha, sensibly).

The HDMI connections are reasonably

straightforward, as most sound will come to the

soundbar from the TV, down the Audio Return

Channel of the HDMI cable you use to link the

soundbar to your TV. There are also optical and

analogue minijack audio inputs as fall-back inputs

for anyone without ARC on their TV.

You can also plug one HDMI source directly

into the bar itself, and you should pick the source

from which you’re most interested in getting the

best surround effect, perhaps your Blu-ray player

or games console. The Bar 400 is not a true

surround device — it delivers 2.1 channels, so

stereo plus the subwoofer — it can however decode

5.1-channel audio arriving via it HDMI or optical

input, and has DTS Virtual:X on board which

promises ‘3D surround’ playback with “sound

not only from horizontal directions, but also from

varying heights”. Interestingly there is also a plain

non-3D ‘surround’ playback mode, in addition

to plain stereo performance. But further, there is

now MusicCast Surround (see panel), which offers

the ability to add additional rear speakers for true

surround, with the Bar decoding 5.1 signals and

sending the rear information wirelessly to the rears.

You’ll also want to

network the Bar 400 to

activate the abilities of

the MusicCast wireless

multiroom platform

which is built-in. This

you can do by giving

it a wired Ethernet

connection to your

network, or by using

the iOS/Android

MusicCast apps to

connect it with your

home Wi-Fi.

Once networked,

MusicCast can

deliver a wide range

of online streaming

services (right) such as

Tidal, Deezer, Spotify

(including free Spotify

SOUNDBAR + SUBWOOFER

YAMAHA

MUSICCAST BAR 400

The magic word here is ‘MusicCast’, the wireless and multiroom

platform that turns this soundbar and wireless subwoofer into a

streaming and expandable part of your home music network.

Best Buys Audio & AV 2019-#2