Yamaha BDX-610

Well known for its amps, sound bars and musical instruments, Yamaha also includes a number of 5.1 kits in its catalogue and announced the BDX-610 at the last IFA.

Hardware and design: a sober look

The BDX-610 design is very much in keeping with the standard codes of modern hi-fi equipment. The built-in amp, though smaller than standard models, mixes layers of matte and glossy black to give a nice elegant finish. The speakers are disappointing however. Their glossy plastic shell is of average quality and the material covering the speakers isn’t particularly smart either.

The connectivity ticks most of the boxes but brings little new to the table. There’s only one HDMI out, which is ARC compatible, but you'll have to link other sources up to the television to enjoy it on this audio system, which isn’t necessarily all that practical. The line ins include a double RCA, an optical S/P DIF and coaxial and composite connectors. There’s a USB port at the front and the BDX-610 is iPhone/iPod compatible and has a headphones socket.

The amp connectivity from the back

The speaker wiring all has to be done by hand, meaning there aren't any particular connectors. Newbies will no doubt be a bit lost but at least the system is scalable. All you’ll require are standard cables.

The software configuration could do with a bit more work. The engineer style interface isn’t particularly user-friendly but the menus are functional and it does at least allow you to configure the system to your own liking.

The remote covers all the bases but isn’t much to look at and, again, if you’ve never used an amp remote before, you may have some trouble finding your way around it.

Multimedia: 3D on hand

The built-in Blu-ray is 3D compatible and doesn’t pose any particular usage problems. It starts up relatively quickly and the colours seem fine.

DLNA compatible, the BDX-610 can source and broadcast audio/video sources available on the network, whether from a computer, an NAS or a telephone (as long as these devices are themselves DLNA compatible). The Internet can also be used to source content (see inset) as well as any updates that Yamaha provides. The BDX-610 is however a little behind on the most advanced solutions.

Audio: could have been a good deal worse

The problem with entry level products is that the quality they give can vary a great deal depending on how perfectionist manufacturers (and clients!) are. Here it looks as if Yamaha has been pretty severe: the BDX-610 does really very well!

First of all, the low end is very good indeed, in spite of the fact that the subwoofer is fairly small. Note, it doesn't have its own amp but also runs on the speaker amp, which is why, among other things, the speaker volume isn’t very high. If this choice isn’t to your liking, you’ll have to go for the next model up. There is however a pre-amp out to allow the user to develop the kit.

The speakers also give pretty good results. The mediums are a little bit too much in the background compared to the top end which is powerful and sometimes too aggressive. In spite of this, this kit is among the best in its class and it would be a fine thing if all the competition managed to do as well.

It’s pretty good too, when it comes to spatialisation and detail. We didn’t have any particular issues with the placement of instruments nor in the reproduction of surround effects.

Our readings

Frequency response of satellites, without subwoofer

The peak around 3K is noticeable but this does add intelligibility to the vocals even if we would have liked to see the curve drop off more rapidly.



For a small subwoofer these results aren’t bad. Things could have been a good deal worse. There are plenty of incidents when it comes to distortion, but actually only in very particular areas. The saturation we noted at the high-end is again visible and Yamaha could have been a little more conscientious here.