Yamaha SR-C30A review: A compact amplifier limited by its subwoofer

The SR-C30A is a soundbar with two 4.6mm drivers that deliver stereo presentation. It is accompanied by a wireless subwoofer and integrates technologyupmix Dolby Surround. If the tape didn’t come out too bad thanks to the well-balanced sound and surround sound effects, the set struggled to impress us entirely due to a certain lack of fidelity in the treble and an ineffective subwoofer.

Let’s first look at the pure performance of the tape. The SR-C30A delivers a smooth and balanced display, allowing you to enjoy music and cinematic content. The vocals are crystal clear and naturally stand out from the rest of the instrumentals or movie soundtracks. The treble notes are a bit extreme, however, allowing for an extended sonic stage, which transcends the physical confines of the bar, but further highlights accuracy concerns in this area: cymbals are brittle and higher-pitched instruments “sparkle”. These accuracy issues also get worse as the size increases. Therefore it is necessary to be careful to remain judicious about the level of production of the whole. A more unfortunate concern is that the power doesn’t ramp up dramatically in the corners and remains relatively reasonable.

The subwoofer provides a significant foundation in the bass and adds warmth and roundness to the sound reproduction. However, the transition between box and tape is abrupt and thus creates a lack of coherence and homogeneity in the sound reproduction. Plus, the box has a hard time keeping up: Once you get past a certain volume level (sustained, but not delirious), the speaker saturates and clicks annoyingly. Again, be careful not to push the volume beyond its limits, or your listening experience will be completely ruined.

The tape has four listening modes. The first, called Stereo, disables all file processingupmix Surround to deliver a classic stereo presentation well suited for music and classic TV content (TV news, programs, etc.). Bass EXT mode should also be deactivated so you don’t suffer from excessively invasive bass.

Standard Movie, 3D Movie, and Game modes are reserved for cinematic content, as they greatly expand the sound range, while applying a small reverb effect that is not particularly suitable for music content. In these three modes, the sound area is specially enveloped, which is surprising given the size of the bar. It even manages to recreate some background surround effects that very few tapes, even at the top of the range, manage to replicate. However, all this is valid in nice place Very limited, in front of the bar and about 2m away. In other cases, the peripheral effects are chaotic and no longer of any interest.