A Satelliteguys Exclusive!
Yambeka 5 Speaker Home Theater System- First Look
The new Budget Champion!
I'm upset. No, I'm mad. No, I'm pissed! Why? I'll get to that later. Those of you that know me for the last six years as a tech reviewer know that I don't pull any punches, I'll tell it like it is, (see my Humax review) and I'm a man of my word. (Witness the recent bet that I lost!) I found a speaker company in that hotbed of audio technology, Columbus Ohio, (HA!) named Yambeka Audio.
Yambeka is a company established in 2004 that specialises in budget home theater speakers, and does it in spades.
The speaker system is comprised of a center, 2 towers, and 2 satellites. They are all black and are manufacturered in the same plant as some of Polk and Fluance's speakers.
The specifications are as follows.
The front speakers are wooden towers and features a 3-way bass reflex system: 2.5cm (1") tweeter, 13cm (5.25") driver x 2 and 20cm (8") woofer x 8 ohms impedance 120W RMS input; maximum input power is 240W 89db + 2dB sensitivity 40Hz-20kHz frequency response 3kHz crossover frequency.
Centre Speaker features a two-way bass reflex design. Magnetically shielded for use near your TV. 2.5cm (1") tweeter, 10cm (4") x 2, Driver 10cm (4") x 2 8 ohms impedance 100W RMS input power; maximum 200W input power 87dB + 2dB sensitivity 50Hz - 20kHz frequency response 3.5kHz crossover frequency.
The rear surround speakers are 2-way bass reflex speakers 2.5cm (1") tweeter, 10cm (4") driver x 1 8 ohms impedance 80W RMS input power; maximum input power is 160W 88dB + 2dB sensitivity 58Hz-20kHz frequency response 4kHz crossover frequency.
Finish is Black Ash, and the speakers come with a simple yet effective setup guide in english, no chinglish writing anywhere! It also includes the warranty coverage.
The speaker connections on the front speakers are standard posts while the connections on the center and rears are the cheaper clip style.
These are similar (but better specs) to the Fluance AV-HTB+ speaker system that retails for $199 + shipping.
Following are pictures.
The box they come in.
The box opened
The Center Channel views
The Center
Minus Grill
Rear View
The Tower Views
Tower view so you can see the side firing 8" Woofer
Tower without Grill
I dropped the camera!
Rear View
The Surround views
Without Grill
Rear View
The test system consists of Energy E:xl26 Fronts, Energy AC100 Center, and Energy E:xl-R surrounds driven by an Onkyo TX-DS989 Ver.2 THX Ultra 2 Surround receiver, Panasonic CP-72 DVD/DVD-A player, and a 15 inch powered subwoofer.
For the initial look I invited my friend who is a music teacher over and asked her to bring some reference material. She played in the OSU band in the 80's and traveled to Japan to play a symphony concert in the 80's. The music we listened to was a recording from the seesion in Japan and the Beatles Abby Road CD.
First we listened to the Energy reference setup first. When prompted about the performance she stated that it was very nice and realistic. We then changed over to the Yambeka speakers and things got interesting!
The theater room is 30'x15', or 450 sq ft. It's a sizable room. Her first comments were, "Wow, these really fill the room"! The highs were crisp and the mids weren't muddy at all.
She kept on about the wide soundstage and how the Yambeka's really opened up the sound. She commented on how she could easily discern all the instruments and how clear it was. They also sounded much "brighter" than the energys. We then went on to movies, watching scenes from The Fifth Element and Star Wars IV A New Hope.
On The Fifth Element the Diva sounded fantastic, and the scene where Bruce Willis emerges from the theater shooting up everything in sight sounded very good. Star Wars John Williams score was also impressive, although you could tell it was a 30 yr old analog recording that hes been digitally remastered. We then watched the same scenes with out the sub. To borrow a line from Borat- The highs and mids had sexy curves, the lows, not so much! While the lows were respectable and enough for someone without a sub, the system really benefits from the addition of a subwoofer, the 8" woofers nonwithstanding.
Remember the beginning where I said I was pissed? That's because I thought the Energy speakers would blow the Yambekas away. That didn't happen! Not only did the Yambekas do more than hold a candle to the Energy speakers, they compared favoribly in a couple of settings! The hell of it is that the Yambeka speakers are $159 for the set! Yes, One Hundred and Fifty Nine Dollars! Shipping in the contiguous 48 states is $35. (They will deliver then to your door in Columbus for $159!!) For $184 you get a set of speakers that will blow away many, many, more expensive speakers. You can buy 5 sets of these for the price of 1 set of totally inferior set of Bose speakers.
Thinking of a HTIB? Forget it! These will blow away any HTIB I've ever heard.
Yambeka includes a 5 year warranty on all the internals and a 2 year warranty on the cabinets. You must keep the original packaging (that's what attics are for) and receipt. With the mind blowingly low price, if you need warranty service the return shipping is on you.
Yambeka's website is down for redesign but should be back up within the week. In the mean time you may contact Yambeka at 614-312-9239.
What should you expect from a $159 set of Home Theater Speakers, not much you say? Well The Yambeka speakers are one hell of a value, the best bang for your buck I've ever heard.
Therefore I am crowning the Yambeka home theater speakers THE KING OF BUDGET HOME THEATER SPEAKERS! Even without a sub you have more than an entry level set, add a sub and you are securely in the mid-range HT market.
I give Yambeka 5 of 5 Satellite Dishes for giving you $700 worth of performance for less than $184 shipped!
Digital Dude out for now!
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