Yamaha SR-B20A Sound Bar
The Yamaha SR-B20A Sound Bar offers immersive sound in a modest package.
Yamaha has plenty of expertise where soundbars are concerned, and in updating its entry-level models it’s reasserted its proficiency. Here’s a tidily proportioned, expertly finished soundbar that’s able to put a rocket up the sound quality most mainstream TVs are capable of.
Wired and wireless inputs are available, and the Yamaha
SR-B20A Sound Bar is able to deliver DTS Virtual:X soundtracks, which is a definite step towards the sort of ‘3D’ surround sound that’s all the rage among more expensive soundbars at the moment. It’s also configured to be equally happy sitting flat on a TV stand or hanging on the wall beneath a television.
The Yamaha is able to work in either orientation because of its driver layout. Viewed in its wall-mounted position, the top of the soundbar features a pair of 75mm bass drivers and two 55mm midrange drivers, one of each towards either end of the ‘bar. There are also two 25mm tweeters, facing downwards. Obviously if the SR-B20A is sitting on its feet, those tweeters face forwards and the other four drivers upwards.
If all you want from your reasonably compact, reasonably affordable soundbar is to put the native sound of your TV to shame, you’ve come to the right place. Attached via HDMI cable to the
ARC output of a very decent Panasonic 4K HDR LED TV from 2019, the SR-B20A needs next-tono time to make the Panasonic sound thin and feeble.
Listen to a movie soundtrack using the ‘standard’ EQ preset and there’s altogether greater focus, balance and poise to the overall sound: low frequencies, unsurprisingly, are much more assertive, while there’s a stack more detail and nuance available through the midrange, too.
The general sound is more dynamic, more open and comes far closer to matching the quality of the images the Panasonic is serving up.
The ‘movie’ preset delivers a more expansive, but less rigorously focused sound - but it’s with the ‘3D surround’ setting engaged that the Yamaha really sounds like its money’s-worth. It’s not a substitute for a (naturally more expensive) Dolby Atmos soundbar, but the SR-B20A is capable of a taller, deeper and wider sonic presentation that seems feasible. Everything that happens is happening in front of you, of course, but there’s considerable width and height to the sound the Yamaha delivers.
In terms of tonality, though, it’s a slightly more qualified success. Detail levels in the midrange help make dialogue distinct and characterful, while the top end has enough substance to prevent treble sounds becoming spiky.