Yamaha YSP-4000 (black)

Pros: No need to run all those cables. Sound quality is excellent.

Cons: The OSD needs a separate video cable (provided) going to the TV. It would have been nice if they could send the OSD over the single HDMI that goes to your TV.

Summary: We have a small 250 sft living room space with hardwood floors. Running cables along the walls was just not an option my wife would agree to. After doing research online I decided to check out the YSP-4000 and headed to the local Fry's for a demo in their theater. My wife and I were completely surprised by the surround sound coming out of this one very long speaker and the clean lines and finish were something that she really liked. Also, I wanted something that would be able to take inputs from my Comcast HD-DVR, Wii and DVD player. The YSP gives you plenty of inputs for a simple home theater setup.

After reading several reviews here and elsewhere, I was preparing myself for a long evening trying to setup this box. But, I didn't find that to be the case. I simply followed the directions in the owner's manual and had no problems or confusion at all in making all the connections. I was glad that the box comes with some cables that prevented a re-run to Fry's. For example, an optical cable is provided which I used to connect my cable box. It also comes with an OSD video cable, an audio pin cable, a digital coaxial audio cable and an indoor FM antenna.

The auto-setup was a breeze. They give you this cardboard stand that you use to place the provided microphone for calibration. within two minutes the calibration was completed and I was ready for a brand new home theater experience.

I immediately tuned to the HD channels on cable tv to test the surround sound. Dreamgirls was playing on one of the channels and we were totally impressed by the quality of the sound. The vocals were well defined and the music was crisp. Next we watched Bad Boys II and the action sequences sounded great. The surround sound was excellent bringing different sounds from different sides...exploding cars, flying bullets etc.

Bottom Line: Excellent system! Must buy if you don't want to run wires all over the room but still want good quality surround sound.