review 02.01.08

Yamaha Soavo-1 Loudspeakers Review
Review by Clint DeBoer of Audioholics.com

Executive Overview

Considering Yamaha has such a good reputation with making fine instruments and some of the most reliable and accurate monitor speakers ever to hit the recording industry, its astounding that they arent equally appreciated for their home audio speakers. This past year Yamaha aimed to change that with the introduction of their new Soavo series loudspeakers. We were fortunate enough to get our hands on a pair of Soavo-1 towers - their flagship product and a magnificent-looking specimen to be sure. We got a sneak peek at these speakers during the 2007 CEDIA Expo, but now we actually get a chance to put them through their paces in one of our reference listening rooms.

Introduction

Yamaha isnt necessarily known for their amazing home theater speakers. This is a shame, since they have such a good reputation with making fine instruments and some of the most popular near-field speakers ever to hit the recording industry. Just try to find a studio without some flavor of Yamaha NS-10s - everyone uses them as the gold reference standard for midrange evaluation. When I unpacked the Soavo-1 speakers into my living room - I honestly had no idea what to expect, so I began at the beginning: with a clean slate, an open mind, and lots of good music.
Build Quality & Setup
Unpack the Soavo-1 speakers and youll instantly realize that Yamaha didnt skimp on the aesthetics or the build quality. The finish on these speakers was flawless, with tight corners and manicured lines. The front face has a beautiful bevel that sets apart the tweeter and gives the speaker an imposing look. I also loved the cast outriggers - which came pre-attached to each speaker and gave them an unshakable stance. The biampable binding posts are conveniently located on the back of the speaker at the bottom and are of the high-quality gold-plated variety. Each speaker weighs in at an impressive 59.5 lbs. I instantly wanted to disassemble these speakers - I almost couldnt help myself. As it turned out, a lot of this weight is due to
the almost ridiculously thick front baffle and the large magnets present on the twin bass drivers. Lets back up a bit, however and take a look at the components piece by piece. The tweeters are mounted to an 1/8-inch thick metal plate that is both as decorative as it is damped. The 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter is secured against this cast metal frame through the use of four machined screws. The cast frame itself is damped and is secured to the 1-inch thick front baffle of the Soavo-1 via four course thread screws. I couldnt believe the heft of this tweeter assembly when I held it in my hand. If

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you look at the pic, youll quickly see the overbuilt front baffle thickness which almost certainly allows no resonance from the drivers. Having removed all the drivers, I can tell you that it continues all the way down the speaker in the same thickness.
The 5-inch poly cone midrange driver showed off an indestructible-looking cast basket there is no allowance for the use of stamped aluminum in this system. While I would have expected to see a somewhat larger magnet structure on this driver, it is at least shielded so people with legacy CRTbased systems can place these speakers closer to the screen before they experience any negative effects. Given that most people buying speakers in this price range are likely to have flat panel displays, this is one area I would have love to see some cost-savings on the part of Yamaha. This could either have lowered the price of entry, or allowed for a more capable midrange driver. In my next adventure in disassembly, I pulled out the two bass drivers. These were monstrous things, which explained a lot of the capable low-end I heard later. The magnets on these drivers almost dwarf the cones, though half of the mass is simply video shielding. Hold them in your hands and youll realize youre holding a serious driver, not the wimpy drivers and stamped baskets found in lower cost products. The Soavo-1 speakers have ample depth, which is crucial for ensuring that these drivers have enough room to be installed correctly and provide enough box volume for the necessary frequency response.
I was able to sneak a peek at the crossover network which is mounted to the back of the cabinet towards the bottom. Yamaha chose to go with electrolytic caps - not the best choice in our opinion, but a budget consideration to be sure and one shared by many speaker manufacturers (both online and traditional). The issue is that typically these types of capacitors dont exhibit linear frequency response at high frequencies due to variations in impedance and a potential for higher distortion. Wed almost wish theyd upgrade the caps and dump the video shielding in future models. By placing the crossover near the bottom of the speakers and positioning them at the rear of the cabinet, Yamaha has kept the inductors away from the drivers. Some companies dont provide enough separation and thus negatively affect performance due to the interference of these systems. About the only thing youll need to concern yourself with during setup is removing the binding posts to get access to the plastic caps which cover the banana jack holes. If youre using banana plug terminations on your cables then this will affect you. These plastic covers are put on because the spacing of the banana jacks actually matches the Schuko-style power plugs in some European countries. As a

Manufacturer: Yamaha Electronics Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars Value Rating: 3/5 Stars MSRP: $1799.99/ea http://www.yamaha.com/yec/
Soavo-1 Loudspeakers Review Summary
Above par build quality Beautiful finish Plays low and smooth Magnetic grills Outriggers standard Biampable
Midrange could feature more detail Uses electrolytic caps Moderately narrow sweet spot

Specifications

Soavo-1 Loudspeakers
Enclosure Type: Veneer Options: Speaker Impedance: Video Shielded: Woofer Size: Woofer Type: Mid Size: Mid Type: Tweeter Size: Tweeter Type: Frequency Response: Power Handling: Sensitivity (1W/1m): Dimensions (HxWxD): Weight:
3-Way bass-reflex floor-standing Black, Dark Brown, Brown Birch 6-ohms Yes Dual 6-1/2" (16cm) Advanced PMD Cone 5" (13cm) Advanced PMD Cone 1" (3cm) Aluminum Dome Biampable 35 Hz - 50 kHz 200W 89 dB/2.83 V/1 m 41-3/8" x 13-3/4" x 19-3/16" 59.5 lbs
can make even good speakers sound bad, so if youre doing loudspeaker evaluations, be sure to know what youre putting into the system. CD: Yello The Eye The closer you are to these speakers the more you will want to toe them in for best imaging. They image incredibly well - its almost uncanny. Youll know you have it right when the speakers disappear, melting into your listening room. If youre sitting less than 9-10 feet away, go ahead and point these puppies almost straight at you. Though track 14 is titled Planet Dada (Flamboyant) I think the click and pop track describes it nicely. There is nothing analogue about this track and it lends itself to an incredible opportunity to hear some really wild and dynamic imaging. I now use this as one of the track to dial in any speakers I am reviewing. Near the end of this track a harsh digital phone ring sound pops out that actually made me jump and turn my head to look back into the other room! Now two things need to be said here. One, I knew that I was listening to a bunch of electronica music so I should have been prepared, and two I dont have a wireless phone that sounds anything remotely like this. And I still jumped and looked and had to actually think about it for a few seconds - it was that well imaged. The last minute of this track makes a good set of speakers, and Im now including the Soavo-1s in that designation, image in full 3D space. Sounds pop and sweep behind you as if you were listening to a full 5-speaker surround system. Take into account the ability of these speakers to play down incredibly low and I could upgrade that to 5.1. In track 5 Junior B harsh female vocals dominate, but they come across as though you are listening live, with a hot, breathy vocalist standing right in the room with you. There is a lot of powerful but smooth The finish on these speakers is flawless, with tight corners and manicured lines. Clint DeBoer

result, they dont want people using that connection type lest they accidentally plug a banana speaker cable into the wall outlet (certainly there is a Darwin Award for someone whos done this, no?). The speaker grills for the Soavo-1 speakers are magnetically attached. This makes them very easy to remove and ensures that youre not going to break off any little plastic protrusions - the likes of which can be found (most likely broken) on most loudspeakers these days. I never felt the grills interfered with the sound reproduction, though I did all my eventual listening tests with them off just to be sure. I actually preferred the grills on, simply because they offer some level of protection against dust build-up and they deter little inquisitive hands from pushing on things they shouldnt. The grill covers removed easily and seemed to lock in place once positioned correctly. It never felt as though they would damage the finish at any time, especially since the fastening point were the same screws that anchored the drivers into the cabinet. I pulled a few of my favorite reference material for this listening session. Overall the comments I would make include the fact that these speakers play very low and smooth. For music purposes, there is no reason you would need to add a subwoofer to get the most enjoyment out of your system. Additionally, I found that the Soavo1s tended to sound better toed-in a bit more than most speakers Ive listened to. The sweet spot wasnt excessively wide (about two seats held together well) when the speakers were toed in, but it wasnt like listening to as pair of electrostats either. If anything, this is where I felt the speakers could benefit from additional tweaking - the drivers require extra care in placement if you want them to sound just right. Beyond that I quickly realized that these speakers were extremely musical and sounded good with nearly all types of music, provided the dynamic range was intact. Compressed MP3s
bass in this track, including some nice sweeps that never once caused the Soavo-1 speakers to chuff or break a sweat. When they ran out of frequency below 35Hz, they simply bowed out gracefully. Given what I heard Id have a hard time wanting to add a subwoofer for music reproduction. Cranking the system up on this track there was plenty of tactile energy and it didnt sound artificial. If anything, adding a sub or two might simply help compensate for deficiencies in your room acoustics. CD: Steely Dan A Decade of Steely Dan Track 6: Hey Nineteen has long been a reference track of mine to hear how well a system recreates the feel of a wide studio recording. When the choral backing vocals came in, I found that the soundstage extended well into the room, making for a very pleasing and realistic sound. The snap on the kick drum was firm and you could almost feel the guitar being played - so clear was the string noise. Vocals were as clear as could be expected given the recessed nature of this mix and overall positioning of images within the soundstage was accurate and wide. I did note that the midrange sounded a tad thin during some of the more solo vocal lines, though I am a midrange snob and its tough to make me happy. Despite my comment about midrange, I noted that the tenor saxophone in FM was stunningly realistic and came though as if Pete Cristlieb were hanging out about 10 feet in front of me. I like having musicians play in my living room, so a good set of speakers is imperative for this experience. I felt that the Soavo-1s had a nice punchy midrange that didnt refrain from pushing out the parts of the music often lost by speakers that dont have enough cone area dedicated to this task. It certainly seemed as if the Soavo-1s dedicated 4-1/2" midrange was excelling at its given duties. CD The Riotous Brothers The Riotous Brothers This band was mastered by a friend of mine in Orlando Florida who was one of the Engineers on the Eagles Hotel California album. While a bit hot,

Listening Evaluation

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Conclusion

Yamaha has clearly put a lot of their musical instrumentmaking skills into these towers and it shows Clint DeBoer there are some awesome guitar and vocal tracks within this album that really show the detail in any speaker system. Track 1 Deja Voodoo features an accentuated guitar and some nice Hammond B3 organ as well as clear stage-mixed drums that sound authentic and live. The entire mix feels like the Brothers are quite literally playing on a stage in front of you. There are no excessively wide pans and the drums dont jump across the soundstage as if they were 30 feet wide. The guitar intro in track 2 Real Mother for Ya is one of the cleanest electrics youll ever hear. I love the texture of the snare in this track and it really came though clean, telltale ring and all. The male vocal had an edge to it that didnt break up or have any nasally sound. The rhythm guitar panned left had some very nice staccato picking sounds and you felt as if you could reach out and grab the medium plastic pick as if it were right there for the taking. The bass open of Strange Face of Love was smooth and clean, while the electric guitar and accompanying vocal both had this gritty sound that again had that absolutely live sound you her when checking out a band at a small, intimate pub. Being from England, this is probably the way you would most commonly experience The Riotous Brothers, so that was a good call on the part of the mix engineers. I dont recall hearing such a live album in a long time that wasnt compressed flat. The Soavo-1s really allowed this CD to emulate a late evening music performance that had me closing my eyes and feeling as if I had left my living room. What I loved best was getting the sound of a night club performance without all the smoke.
Yamaha has made some really nice speakers in the Soavo series. These towers are some of the nicest looking speakers Ive seen and the build quality of the Soavo-1s is enough to make me wonder if they arent slightly overbuilt (meaning they could probably cost a little less without sacrificing performance). They exhibit a very clean soundstage, though youll have to play a bit with the toe-in for best results. I found the low frequency extension of these speakers to be accurate and not boomy - important with a full-range system. There wasnt anything I threw at it that caused the

bottom end to waver or the ports to chuff - it simply plays back everything it can and does it reliably. I think that listeners with an ear for good sound and an eye for good aesthetics could do a lot worse than the Soavo-1s. Yamaha has clearly put a lot of their musical instrument-making skills into these towers and it shows. By Clint DeBoer Email - info@audioholics.com
Non-exclusive reprint rights have been provided to Yamaha Electronics Corporation to reprint and freely distribute this review. Any other uses or instances of this review by other parties or by Yamaha Electronics Corporation are prohibited without prior approvals from Audioholics. The original review can be viewed online at www.audioholics.com

Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to: Performance x Price Factor/Value = Rating Audioholics.com Note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.
Audioholics Ratings Scale:
Outstanding (reserved for features or areas that exceed market norms) Above Average Average Below average Very poor

Metric Metric
Build Quality Build Quality Ergonomics/User Interface Appearance Treble Extension Features Treble Smoothness Television Performance Midrange Accuracy Video Performance Bass Extension Overall Bass Accuracy Value Imaging StarStar Soundstage Dynamic Range Fit and Finish Performance Value

Rating

/2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2

About Yamaha

Yamaha Electronics Corporation (YEC), USA, based in Buena Park, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha. YEC offers Home Theater components and systems, featuring A/V Receivers, Amplifiers, DVD/CD, Speakers, Mini-Systems, Video Projection, as well as A/V & IT Convergence Products.
Yamaha Electronics Corporation 6660 Orangethorpe Avenue Buena Park, CA 90620 (714) 522-9105 http://www.yamaha.com/yec/

Soavo-1

Natural Sound Speaker System

NEW PRODUCT BULLETIN

Yamaha, with more than a century of experience in the field of music, has channeled its dedication to producing fine musical instruments into the creation of a speaker that allows people to enjoy life with music.
3-Way Bass-Reflex Tower Speaker System The Soavo-1 is offered with dark brown, brown birch, natural birch, or black finish.
Not all finishes are available in all areas.
Soavo Concept: A speaker that can reproduce music that offers the reality of Natural Sound. Drivers
Yamahas exclusive Advanced PMD diaphragm (woofers and midrange) Aluminum dome DC-Diaphragm tweeter Edge-wound ribbon wire voice coil Spider by Kurt Mller Neodymium midrange magnet Carved wooden port
Cabinet has non-parallel surfaces, with internal slanted partition and vertical bracing.
Three-way mitered construction
Aluminum diecast tweeter plate

Tweeter

Vertical ladder bracing

Midrange driver

Slanted partition

Cabinet

Non-parallel surfaces Three-way mitered construction Two-chamber cabinet (woofer and midrange separated by slanted partition) with vertical bracing Chamfered tweeter baffle and diecast aluminum tweeter plate Birch veneer cabinet with open-pore finish

Woofer

Carved wooden port

Networks

Independent direct crossover connection Highest quality parts including Solen capacitor
P10017836URTK-Soavo1@NPB Aluminum diecast anchor with spike
Soavo-1 Natural Sound Speaker System
Soavo Concept: Delivering Natural Sound Yamaha has utilized its vast expertise in music, acoustics and especially as the worlds leading manufacturer of musical instruments to develop a new high performance speaker: the Soavo-1. Yamaha has a half-century of experience in creating Natural Sound speakers and other audio components, and the Soavo-1 not only embodies but reenergizes the Natural Sound concept. Our primary goal was to achieve realistic reproduction of music. We accomplished this through a combination of advanced design technology, the selection of superior materials, and an extensive testing/tuning process. The Soavo-1 sound is characterized by: no coloration, so the sound is completely unembellished; high resolution, for good detail even at low levels; transparency, for a crisp, bracing feeling; and a deep stereo image with well balanced depth and width. DRIVERS A-PMD Woofer and Midrange Cones Yamahas exclusive A-PMD (Advanced Polymer-injected Mica Diaphragm) cones are extremely light, rigid and sturdy thanks to the use of a low specific gravity material called PMP (Poly-Methyl-Pentene) that is much lighter than either paper or polypropelene. It provides very fast response time (sound rise and fall), as well as excellent midrange clarity and bass response. Outstanding internal loss characteristics decrease unwanted resonances to achieve the smooth frequency response that results in natural sounding vocals. The base resin mix of mica and talc has been perfected by Yamaha over long years of development and testing, and also contributes to the beautiful quality of sounds in the vocal range. The midrange creates a feeling of presence as if someone is actually singing in the room. The dual woofer design delivers deep and tight bass. Aluminum Dome, DC-Diaphragm Tweeter The high-performance 1 (3cm) tweeter features a dome made of aluminum, with Yamahas DC-Diaphragm that integrates the diaphragm and voice coil. It is extremely light yet durable, and transmits large amounts of sound information (highly detailed sound) for a denser sound field. As a result, this tweeter delivers highs that are crisp and clear at all power levels.

the entire cabinet behaves as a single unit, providing tight bass reproduction. Tweeter Plate A diecast aluminum tweeter plate isolates the tweeter from cabinet vibration and provides a solid attachment for the tweeter unit, preventing unwanted movement, so the high range sound is clear and transparent, with no coloration.
The diecast aluminum tweeter plate is very effective in damping the vibrations that occur during high frequency output.
Without plate vs. with plate
Aluminum dome tweeter with diecast aluminum tweeter plate (left) and DC-Diaphragm (right)
Selected High Performance Parts The edgewise-wound ribbon wire voice coil contributes to high resolution, exceptional sound detail and excellent imaging. The spider is a high performance model made by Kurt Mller of Germany. The midrange driver is powered by a newly designed, compact and powerful neodymium magnet. Diecast aluminum baskets ensure solid support for high stiffness, improving sound image localization and depth reproduction. Carved Wooden Port The wooden port is carved from high quality wood, and has thick walls and a flared shape, for smooth sound flow, low port noise and a spacious and massive bass feel. CABINET Innovative Cabinet Design One of the keys to Soavos ability to deliver Natural Sound music reproduction is the cabinet design. While maximizing sound clarity and imaging, the designers strived to drastically reduce internal standing waves and produce an expansive sound with an exceptional feeling of depth. Their solution was to create a cabinet with non-parallel sides, divide the woofer and midrange sections by a slanted partition, and strengthen the interior with large, vertical ladder-type bracing. Three-Way Mitered-Joint Construction for a Rigid Body Yamahas excellence in woodworking is used to good advantage in the three-way mitered construction of the cabinet joints. This technique ensures extremely tight joints so
Birch Veneer Cabinet with Open-Pore Finish Birch is an acoustically excellent material that is used in Yamaha pianos. Yamahas long decades of woodworking expertise have confirmed the superior performance of birch veneer for speaker cabinets, particularly in the shading of bass sounds. The cabinet is given the same luxurious and environmentally friendly open-pore finish used on Yamahas finest wood-grain pianos. Diecast Aluminum Stands The Soavo-1 is equipped with diecast aluminum stands that provide the necessary solid floor contact for stability. NETWORKS Independent Direct Crossover Connections Yamahas scrupulous attention to the sound of Soavo-1 is seen in the design of the network circuit. It uses the highest quality parts, including Solen metalized polypropylene capacitors and large hollow center coils with carefully selected wire. Furthermore, these parts are connected by directly soldering each one individually, instead of using printed circuit boards. This contributes to the speakers rich and vivid sound.

Woofer crossover network (left), Solen metalized polypropylene capacitors (center) and large hollow center coils (right)
Main Specifications Type Woofers Midrange Driver Tweeter Frequency Response Sensitivity Maximum Input Power Nominal Input Power Crossover Frequencies Impedance Dimensions (W x H x D) Weight
Sound Pressure Distribution Inside the Midrange Driver
Left: Ordinary enclosure; Right: Non-parallel surfaces
Advanced PMD cone woofer (top) and Advanced PMD cone midrange driver (bottom)
The image on the left shows that there are standing waves. The non-parallel surfaces restrict standing waves, preventing degradation of midrange sound.
3-way bass-reflex design Dual 6-1/2-(16cm) Advanced PMD cone 5 (13cm) Advanced PMD cone 1 (3cm) aluminum dome 35 Hz50 kHz (-10 dB) 89 dB/2.83 V/1 m 200 W 50 W 500 Hz/5 kHz 6 ohms 13-3/4 x 41-3/8 x 19-3/16; 349 x 1,051 x 487 mm 59.5 lbs.; 27 kg
Product designs and specifications are subject to change without notice.