Yamaha YSP-1100 review

As you might expect, it's larger in every dimension than the YSP-900 model, and is designed for use with screens of up to 42in. The technology is exactly the same, as is the range of connections and even the IntelliBeam automatic set-up system.

Larger bass drive units give a wider spread of sound
The YSP-1100 uses larger bass drive units than the junior model – a pair of 11cm woofers in place of a brace of 10cms – and lots more of those little 4cm drive units, each with its own digital amplification.

In the YSP-900, you get 21 drive units, under the control of all that digital signal processing and each driven by a 2w digital amp; here the driver count goes up to no fewer than 40 ‘sound beam' units, allowing a wider spread of sound and more drivers on each channel.

Like the YSP-900, this larger model can be wall-mounted under your TV screen, or used on a stand: Yamaha makes a pair of steel and glass stands – YEF-ST1 for this model, YEF-ST2 for the smaller one – to hold the unit, a TV screen and several source components.

And if you have the space, the larger YSP-1100 shows its advantages over the smaller model. There's more openness to dialogue, and more power, and the extra drivers give the bigger model clearer surround effects with greater space.

As with the smaller YSP-900, this is no substitute for conventional speaker set-ups if you have the space, but for what it does, the bigger Yamaha is one impressive piece of kit.