Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400 Preview

See the complete review for the Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400.

My first amp was a Yamaha, and it served me well for many years, so I was happy to be offered their new 2.1 MusicCast BAR 400. Sound bars are everywhere nowadays, they are a good option if you have limited space and limited budget but want better sound than a flat screen can muster.

Yamaha has packed a lot of functionality into the MusicCast 400 making it a versatile and functional piece of equipment. It features a wireless subwoofer with adjustable levels, Bluetooth, airplay and multi-room streaming and is also Amazon Alexa compatible. On top of this you get: 3D Surround sound with DTS Virtual:X, the ability to add wireless surround speakers and all (or most) of the popular streaming services built right in. Multi-room streaming is something Yamaha is really pushing in their consumer products. Providing you have other MusicCast enabled products from Yamaha’s eco-system you can simply connect the devices via your home network.

The MusicCast BAR 400 is a plasticky, all black affair and weighs only 6 pounds. At 2 3/8” tall, you can have it all-but-disappear atop your tv stand though if the 38 5/8” width is too wide, it’s light enough to mount on the wall below your flat screen. Should you choose to mount it, Yamaha supplies a handy wall mounting template to help get an accurate placement.

The driver array consists of four 1 3/4” woofers and two 1” tweeters. The slim-line wireless subwoofer houses a 6 1/2” cone woofer and weighs 21 pounds. The claimed power is 100W each from the bar and sub.

Man, you truly get a whole lot for $499.95 USD. Once unpacked, set up was dead simple and I was onto watching movie trailers in no time. In my early listening, I found the sound to be clear and crisp and the subwoofer had good punch and weight. Control of the system is intuitive and makes reviewing a painless endeavor.

Speaking of which you’ll have to stay tuned as I must get back to listening. I’ll have a full review of my findings up shortly. Back soon!

See the complete review for the Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400.