Sound quality: In the Stereo sound mode Yamaha's YAS-706 delivers sound quality that falls in the good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. The bass has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is a somewhat boomy. The midrange is fairly even but is somewhat hazy and grainy, and a bit echoey. The treble is fairly extended; the lower and mid treble sounds subdued and the upper treble sounds smeared. The overall sound is somewhat congested, and while this model does a decent job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), that ambience is a bit obscured by the slightly echoey quality of the midrange. When playing two-channel program material in the Stereo sound mode the sound field has decent height and extends somewhat beyond the width of the soundbar. The various Surround modes made the sound field higher and wider, and the overall sound louder, more diffuse, and in most cases echoey and metallic. The Clear Voice mode makes midrange sounds (like voices and horns) louder and harsher. With 5.1 channel program material the various Surround modes loose the echoey and metallic character and the Clear voice mode looses its harshness. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the HDMI, optical, coaxial, analog, Bluetooth, and WiFi inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very good overall. Setup: HDMI CEC setup is quick and straight forward, but you'll need to refer to the instructions provided with unit on a CD-ROM which can also be found on-line. The soundbar comes with an optical cable for TV connection, HDMI digital audio/video, coaxial digital audio, or stereo analog cables must be purchased separately if any of those are needed for TV connection. Ease of Use: This model can be set to respond to the volume and mute remote control commands of HDMI CEC compatible TVs when connected via the HDMI ARC ports with and HDMI cable. Its own physical remote's controls are well labeled and generally well laid out, but the volume buttons look the same as the subwoofer level buttons and can be confused if not for the labeling. App remotes that operate via WiFi can also be downloaded onto Apple and Android mobile devices; we found the general use section of these app remotes (used to control the soundbar for TV use like a physical remote) to be easy to use and glitch-free. The soundbar's console has power, source, and volume, and mute controls that are well marked, but the positon of the controls change orientation depending on how the soundbar is placed for use. When placed vertically (wall mounted) the controls are on top and are easy to see and access, but when placed horizontally (used on a TV stand or shelf) the controls are on the back and are hard to see and access. The console has a power indicator, and labeled source and DSP status indicator lights that are readable from arms length; although some of the indicator lights are color coded, their meaning is easily understood. The console also has a mute indicator and momentary graphical volume display with very rough increments that can be seen from the typical listening position if the soundbar is wall mounted (vertically positioned), but may only be visible from arms length when table mounted (horizontally positioned). The console display provides device status info by itself, or can be used in conjunction with app remote screens.
Features setup and ease of use: Very good overall. Setup: The console has inputs for HDMI ARC digital video/audio and optical digital audio connections. The optical input is provided as an alternate connection for TVs that lack HDMI ARC, not as a separate connection for another device. These two inputs are covered under one source and the soundbar uses on or the other depending on what's connected. If both are connected the HDMI ARC TV connection takes priority. Although connecting the soundbar to a WiFi network can be done with or without an app download to an Apple or Android mobile device, it is most easily done with a mobile device. Setup with an Android mobile device is slightly easier then with an Apple mobile device but both are straight forward. Connecting via a LAN cable can also be done via app and would be easy except the setup instructions in the apps are ambiguous and are missing in the user manual so it takes a savvy user to figure out what to do, and no LAN cable is provided. Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated the unit is automatically in pairing mode once it has been switched to the Bluetooth input. Ease of Use: The soundbar's physical remote's controls are well labeled and generally well laid out, but the volume buttons look the same as the subwoofer level buttons and can be confused if not for the labeling. App remotes that operate via WiFi can also be downloaded onto Apple and Android mobile devices. We found both the general sections (used to control the soundbar like a typical physical remote) and the streaming content player sections (used to play audio streamed from the Internet, the mobile device, or from a computer on your home network) of these app remotes to be easy to navigate, well marked, well organized, and glitch-free. The soundbar's console has power, source, and volume, and mute controls that are well marked, but the positon of the controls change orientation depending on how the soundbar is placed for use. When placed vertically (wall mounted) the controls are on top and are easy to see and access, but when placed horizontally (used on a TV stand or shelf) the controls are on the back and are hard to see and access. The console has a power indicator, and labeled source and DSP status indicator lights that are readable from arms length; although some of the indicator lights are color coded, their meaning is easily understood. The console also has a mute indicator and momentary graphical volume display with very rough increments that can be seen from the typical listening position if the soundbar is wall mounted (vertically positioned), but may only be visible from arms length when table mounted (horizontally positioned). The console display provides device status info by itself, or can be used in conjunction with app remote screens.
