Yambeka Audio 7.0 Speaker System Review

[tweeksound]

Review by: Matthew Marcil
Product: Yambeka 7.0 speaker system
Experience: Audio Engineer (Tweek Sound and Mastering, WKXL1450 Concord NH Radio), audio engineering instructor (Audio Tools digital audio engineering course), acoustic consultant (Marcil Acoustic Consulting and design)
Gear used: Sherwood 7.1 Receiver, Akai DPS 24 – 2.0, - 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound digital console.
Room: acoustically treated and balanced 2.0, 2.1, 5.1, and 7.1 production studio control room.

Price: 7.0 System=$359.00 Shipped
Price: 5.0 System=$299.00 Shipped


First Impressions

The first impression that a set of speakers makes is often in their appearance.
One can’t help but judge (at least a little) a speaker’s ability to produce lush and big sound, by how lush and big they look.

However, a real home theater and audio enthusiast will always prefer sound quality over aesthetics. Have no fear; the new 5.0 and 7.0 line of speakers from Yambeka Audio has both in abundance. We’ll get into both sound and appearance shortly, but first thing’s first.

Company Background


yambekaaudio.com

Yambeka, means, “Blessed” in the language of Oshiwambo, spoken in the home country of company co-owner, Helvi Itenge, Namibia.

Itenge and her husband, Brian Wheeler of Cleveland Ohio, started Yambeka Audio in 2004 have since made budget home theater speakers that are a upgrade from home audio speakers, receive great user reviews, and rival system costing many times their price range.

Shipment and specs

When the 3 boxes containing the 7 speakers arrived at my door, I first noticed the condition the boxes were in. You could tell they had been thru somewhat of an ordeal.

There were a few holes here and there and the tops and bottoms of the boxes were rather worn. It’s was the Holiday Season so I didn’t expect the boxes to look like they just left the factory but I was a bit concerned about the condition of the speakers.

As I opened the first Main Speaker, broken pieces and crumbs of Styrofoam fell out onto the floor, but to my delight, the speaker was completely unscathed, at least in terms of appearance. It was the same story, second verse, with the second main speaker. But I was still a bit worried that whatever caused the damage to the box may have caused internal damage to the speaker cones or crossovers.

The box containing the center speaker and the 4 surround speakers was in better overall condition and the speakers were also in perfect visible condition.

Here are the specs
Main: H = 41.5”, W = 7 1/16”, D = 12.5”
Surround: H = 9.5”, W = 5 7/8”, D = 7.5”
Center: H = 5 15/16”, W = 17 11/16”, D = 7.5”

Max Power handling
Main: 80W
Center: 40W
Surround: 40W

Craftsmanship

Upon setting them up I observed that all 7 speakers showed great craftsmanship and build quality. There wasn’t a single flaw on any of them. I took the grills off and preferred the look without them, (it’s the audio engineer in me) but the grills as well exhibited great quality in build and assembly and the speakers looked great with or without them.

The Yambeka Audio emblem is on each grill (except the woofer grill) and looks very stylish. Very consistent and accurate placement and cool brush steel look.

…Which brings me to looks!

The mains have a fantastic piano finish that I must say looks smoother and more mirror-like than my $1,500 pair of Event ASP8 studio monitors.

The beveled fronts of the center and surrounds really make them look sharp. As well, both the tweeters and mid frequency drivers on the center and surrounds are screwed in place by shiny chrome hex head bolts. The grill pegs (rather than peg holes) are also chrome and equally shiny. The tweeter and drivers on the mains are nicely inset behind the smooth piano front. I love the white concave dome driver cones. The no dust cap design makes them look very streamlined and right at home in any modern or vintage décor.

What about the sound?

The what? Oh ya, the sound! After all, what is a 7 speaker set if it ain’t got good sound, but a matching set of doorstops and end tables?

The first thing I did with them (after snapping a few pics) was watch “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”.
I was pleasantly surprised by very balanced and movie theater like sound. Even without the sub woofer, the two towers (um… the main L&R speakers) put out a very full spectrum of frequency. The woofers really do their share of heavy lifting. They don’t go down as low as the sub but they certainly get down there and produce clear and defined bass that you can feel. This confirmed they fully survived the shipping!

As you’ve probably experienced, a lot of lower to mid priced speakers lack presence and can sound like a blanket is draped over the speaker. Since the whole point of surround sound it to enhance the presence of the sound, this dulling effect can really take away from the enjoyment of the medium. The Yambekas proved to be as bright and airy as speakers costing double or more their price.

The next test was some surround sound music I had personally recorded and thus was very familiar with. I chose a Shaw Brothers concert I had done in 7.1. I thought this might be an unfair test for any speaker system below the $1000 mark since I had mixed and mastered it on a system of studio monitors costing over 10 times that much.

All in all they held up quite well. Not nearly as 3 dimensional, lifelike, or present as when I mixed it, but not at all what you might expect from a budget system in this price range.

It was very respectful to the original and still a delight to listen to. It did some stuff to the mid range (especially the center speaker) that I wasn’t excited about, but it was still in the same ball park. A little bit of boxy character and mid and high frequency smearing is certainly to be expected and it really could have been a LOT worse.

I decided they were worthy to put to the ultimate test, so I set them up as my studio monitors and did some mixing of music and post production film audio.

This is the equivalent of attempting to tow a large house boat with a VW Beetle! So, I wasn’t expecting much.
I found it a little bit hard to hear the differences when EQ'ing and adding reverbs and effects, but I did find them comfortable to mix on overall. The levels were easy to find and fine tune and the tracks gelled together quite nicely across the 360 degrees of placement.

Upon listening back to the mix I had created on my studio monitors, I blessed my monitors but certainly didn’t curse the Yambekas. After a little adjusting in the level, reverbs, and mild boosting in the mid frequencies (mostly between 450 Hz and 850Hz) to accommodate for my compensation of those frequency boosts in the Yambekas, I was fairly happy with the mix!

Final Thoughts

Over the course of 2 weeks I watched all genres of movies and listened to all genres of music that I have and have not made on the Yambekas and have found them to be a great value for the money. I however, have not attempted to mix on them since!

[Sonnie]

Thanks for the review Matt...

These just might be the answer to my great room speakers. Wow! $299 for a 5.0 system seems very reasonable. Sounds like I won't even need a sub since I'm not looking for shakin' the walls down.

[Captain Crunch]

There ya go Sonnie!!!!!!!!! IF you do grab a pair of these let us know what you think!

Nice review, thank you Matt!

[tweeksound]

Sounds like I won't even need a sub since I'm not looking for shakin' the walls down.

Exactly, if you're not concerned with rumbling the house at 15 HZ, this is a great full frequency solution and a great value!

[TK1260]

I ordered a 5.0 set last week, I figured for the money how can you go wrong.

[Sonnie]

I ordered a 5.0 system for my brother. My wife has me planning a 7' high by 10' wide entertainment center, so I'm not sure what we will be able to do just yet, but probably only a bookshelf type speaker. Something inexpensive like these may work, but I'm not sure these towers will work.

[conchyjoe7]

Has anybody got these and actually got them up and running? I am so curious, because as we all know; this is one of those deals that seems too good to be true...and we know how most of those turn out. I hope for those that bought that it's working out well, but sure would like to hear an unbiased opinion...or from somebody who put out their hard earned bucks for a set.
Thanks and cheers,
Konky.

[skeelo58]

conchyjoe7 wrote:

Has anybody got these and actually got them up and running? I am so curious, because as we all know; this is one of those deals that seems too good to be true...and we know how most of those turn out. I hope for those that bought that it's working out well, but sure would like to hear an unbiased opinion...or from somebody who put out their hard earned bucks for a set.
Thanks and cheers,
Konky.

Hey, I joined this forum just so I could respond to your post

I actually have the 7.0 speaker set from Yambeka, and they are pretty good (especially for the money). The review that this guy made is pretty much spot on. The towers do have a reasonable amount of bass to them, obviously not as deep as a subwoofer, but then again, that is what subwoofers are designed for

The highs are fairly clean, and the mids are pretty good as well. I am not an expert when it comes to home audio (consider myself more well-versed in home video) but I still do know my way around a decent setup. I have my Yambeka's being powered by my Onkyo 605, and I couldn't be happier. Like the OP, I too took the grilles off the front of my speakers, as I like the high mirror black shine to them. It matches my TV .

bottom line is this...... if you are looking for a good 5.0 or 7.0 speaker set on a budget, the Yambeka's are VERY tough to beat (I might even go out on a limb and say they are the best 7.0 set for the money). Obviously they are basically a no-name brand, but we all know that name brand doesn't guarantee performance when it comes to speakers..... Look at Bose for example

Hopefully my "review" helped you a little bit. they don't come much more un-biased than me

[Mike P.]

Thanks for the review Nick. Good info for anyone considering the Yambeka's.

[allargon]

Sorry for the late reply--Google directed me here. Are there dual inputs for bi-wiring/bi-amping? (I know these are sub $1k speakers.) Do the surrounds have any wall mounting kits or hardware available? (Nothing on Yambeka's site about stands, etc.)

Thanks in advance.

[tweeksound]

allargon wrote:

Sorry for the late reply--Google directed me here. Are there dual inputs for bi-wiring/bi-amping? (I know these are sub $1k speakers.) Do the surrounds have any wall mounting kits or hardware available? (Nothing on Yambeka's site about stands, etc.)

Thanks in advance.

There are not dual inputs on the speakers. Just a + and -.
The surrounds have decent and sturdy picture frame type wall mounts. But of course with this style it's just flat against the wall mounting, no angles)

[eugovector]

Are there any published figures on these, Frequency response, etc?

[jackfish]

Yambeka Full Range Towers
SPECIFICATIONS:
Front Pair Speakers (2):
Wooden Tower W/GLOSSY PAINTING & PVC Vinyl
3-Way System in Bass Reflex
1x8" Woofer, 3x5-1/4" Drivers, and 1x1" Tweeter
Impedance 8 ohms
Power Handling: 80 Watts
Frequency Response 60-20KHz
Dimensions: 41.9" x 13.9" x 7.1"

Yambeka Center
SPECIFICATIONS:
2x4" Drivers and 1x1" Dome Tweeter
Impedance 8 ohms
Power Handling 40 Watts
Frequency Response 80-20KHz
Magnetic Shielded
Dimensions: 17.7" x 7.1" x 5.9"

Yambeka Surrounds
SPECIFICATIONS:
1x4" Driver and 1x1" Dome Tweeter
Impedance 8 ohms
Power Handling 40 Watts
Frequency Response 110-16KHz
Dimensions: 9.4" x 7.1" x 5.9"