Yamaha S1500 User Manual

Yamaha DVD-S1500 DVD Player

Manufacturer: Yamaha Electronics Corporation, 6660
Orangethorpe Avenue, Buena Park, CA 90620; 800/
492-6242

Price: $450
Source: Manufacturer Loan
Reviewer: Howard Ferstler.

This review is a bit longer than usual (even for
me), because it will deal not only with an SACD/DVD­A player but will also discuss the viability of those
two technologies in general. Consider it as a
combination player review and one of my regular
Skeptimania columns lumped together. In addition, Dr.
David Rich will offer up a tutorial on DAC design,
including comments about the converter in this player.

A number of my upcoming Scoping Software
recording review columns will deal with specific
SACD releases and will involve the use of the player
being reviewed here. Some of those will also critique
the technology in general.

I reviewed the Yamaha DVD-S795 DVD player
back in issue 80 and reviewed the more upscale DVD-

also play Video CD, Super Video CD, CD-R and CD­RW (MP3 and JPEG supported), DVD+R, DVD+RW,
DVD-R and DVD-RW materials that have been
finalized. What’s more, it can play back European PAL
video DVD source material, in addition to standard,
US source NTSC releases. Admittedly, the Euro-disc
ability is something that would only matter to a
handful of enthusiasts – and probably to only a very
small handful indeed when it comes to those who
would be reading this magazine.

The player is notable for its very low profile, being
only 2.25 inches high. It is a standard 17 inches wide
and is a bit more than 12 inches deep, and weighs in at
a modest 7 pounds. This is in considerable contrast to
the almost elephantine, but still very fine performing,
Onkyo DV-S939 player that I reviewed in issue 86. The
DVD-S1500 has a big edge even over the earlier
Yamaha models when it comes to space/weight issues.

The small front panel is sparse and includes an
on/off button and the usual stop, pause, and play
buttons. However, it has no scan or skip buttons and
leaves it up to the remote control to deal with those
and other more esoteric functions. There are also
several mode indicators, including one that shows that

S1200 in issue 90. I liked them both, although I did
point out that one could at that time get video and
audio performance from lower-priced versions that
was about as good as what they each offered. The
Yamaha units had some notable features that set them
apart from lower-priced models from the competition
available at the time, however.

OK, now we have still another player from the
company and one difference between those earlier
Yamaha players and this new one involves price. The
DVD-S1500 costs considerably less than both of the
others, while at the same time delivering everything
that they could and more in terms of picture quality
and sound. It still is not dirt-cheap, but the price is in
line with what serious audio enthusiasts who would
be reading this “get sensible” magazine might care to
pay for a good machine.

In addition, the DVD-S1500 can do something that
neither of the earlier Yamaha players could do: deliver
SACD and DVD-A playback. Its versatility goes well
beyond these audio formats, however, because it can

the “audio-direct” feature punched in via the remote
has been activated. (This function, which the Onkyo
player also had, disengages the video circuitry to
possibly enhance the sound with audio-only source
material.) Other front-panel indicators include those
that tell you that a multi-channel source is playing or
that you are playing a disc that allows auto down­mixing from multi-channel sources. In addition, there
is a special indicator that lets you know when a DVD­A or SACD release is being played, as well as an
indicator that tells you when the unit enters the
progressive-scan video mode.

The rear panel is a bit more expansive than the
front. In addition to a detachable power-cable hookup,
it includes the usual composite-video and S-Video
outputs and also includes the now common, three-jack
component-video hookups. There is also a “scan
mode” switch back there that would be used if one
had an HDTV monitor that accepted progressive-scan
inputs. Optical and coaxial outputs for digital signals
are also included (for Dolby Digital, DTS, or PCM), as

are two-channel analog outputs for a standard audio
hookup to a CD player input and a separate six-jack
bank of connectors for multi-channel audio outputs.
These output left, center, right, left-surround, right­surround, and subwoofer signals.

The latter should be hooked up to the six-jack
analog inputs of a suitable processor or receiver and
normally they would carry the player’s decoded-to­analog SACD or DVD-A program material. These six
jacks can also output player-decoded-to-analog Dolby
Digital, DTS, and even MPEG signals, mostly from
movies. And very interesting indeed, they also are able
to output Dolby Pro Logic II decoded signals derived
from two-channel programs, at least if the sampling
frequency of any SACD or PCM sources is below 88.2
kHz.

This is something to take seriously if one has a
DVD-S1500, because it allows those with older
processors or receivers that lack DPL II decoding, but
which still have six-channel analog inputs, to now have
DPL II playback decoding from their CD and other
two-channel source materials.
The Yamaha DSP-A1 processor/
amp I reviewed in issue 72, and
which I still have installed in my
middle system is this way, as are
a number of other receivers and
processors I have reviewed. I
consider this feature the DVD­S1500 offers to be a fairly big deal.

Yep, why opt for two­channels only with CD sources
when you can get surround sound from them this
easy? DPL II surround synthesizing is nearly always
superior to standard two-channel playback, unless the
center-channel speaker quality or the position of that
center speaker stinks. With a player like this, one
would hook up the device thusly to get optimum
flexibility:

1) Connect the player’s two-channel analog
outputs to the CD input of their receiver for “pure”
two-channel playback from compact discs. One could
also use any DSP surround-synthesis modes their
receiver offers for a faux surround effect.

2) Connect the optical- or coaxial-digital output
to the receiver’s digital input, primarily for DD or DTS
playback. This would mostly be used for movie sound,
although nearly all DVD-A music discs also have DD
and DTS alternate sound tracks. This hookup could
also be used for CD sources, of course.

3) Connect the six-channel analog outputs to the

5.1 analog inputs of the receiver for SACD, DVD-A,
and DPL II playback, or for DD and DTS playback if
an older receiver does not have those decoding
functions via a digital input.

It is hard to imagine a better hookup arrangement,

particularly if that older-model receiver lacks on-board

DPL II decoding. The only fly in the ointment is that
the DVD-S1500’s on-board DPL II processing is factory
set and does not offer the fine tuning the technology
included in some upscale receivers. Still, it works well
and was superior to standard two-channel playback
with all of the source material I tried.

The DVD-S1500’s remote is pretty basic. It includes
some cool special-function buttons: audio direct, page
turning for DVD-A still pictures, subtitle, angle, zoom,
on-screen and front-panel status, shuffle, and an auto­scan feature to check out the first ten seconds of each
track. And of course it offers the usual group of
standard controls that must be included for decent
control of the player: play, pause, skip, menu, etc.

However, there is one exception: there are no slow
or fast “scan” buttons on the remote. Instead, if one
wants to scan forward or backward they have to hold
down the “skip” button for two seconds and then the
skip feature is bypassed and scanning takes place. (The
manual mentions this fast-scan feature on the remote
control’s description page, but indicated that it only

works in the forward
direction. Nope, it can work
backwards, too.) Hitting
“play” stops the scanning
and returns the speed to
normal. Unfortunately, there
is no way to easily control the
scanning speed. To do this
one has to access the on­screen menu and awkwardly
make the changes.

The minimalist front-panel readout is one of two
things that bothered me about the player. For example,
if one plays a compact disc the player’s readout will
briefly indicate which track is playing right after it is
selected and then delete that information and present
a continuous time-play readout. To check the track
being played one has to press the “status” button on
the remote. If one wants a continuous view of what is
going on with any kind of source material (track that
is playing, track-time readout, and total time of the
disc) they have to turn on the TV set and read the
information on the screen. The menu was at first
awkward to navigate (the way the icons shift around
is odd), no matter what kind of source material was
involved, although after a while I got the hang of it.
Still, it was anything but intuitive.

The second sore spot with me involved the
player’s cue-up time. No matter the source material,
it took the device quite some time to access the data
and begin playing.

One is normally used to this with movies and
SACD and DVD-A sources, but the player was also
very slow when initially dealing with compact discs. I
mean, when typically accessing a CD after closing the
tray the unit whirred and clicked and went on and on

like this for a full 20 seconds before the music started.
I got similar results with SACD material and DVD-A
sources often took even longer. One, Big Phat Band’s
Swingin’ for the Fences (Silverline DVD-A 82002) took
a full 35 seconds, because the player actually had to
access two menus (automatically bypassing the first
after pulling it up) before the disc started to play. It is
not a great big deal, and probably involves the player’s
ability to deal with so many different kinds of
recordings. However, some users might wonder if the
player is having some kind of initial hang-up problem
when playing CDs or any other audio-only source
materials.

In addition, after installing a disc most CD players
and other DVD players give a total-time readout on
their front panels and then go into a hold mode and
wait for the operator to press play. In contrast, when a
CD is first installed in the DVD-S1500 no total-time
readout appears and the player begins playing after
the lengthy cue-up procedure. This is not all that
critical (unless you are a reviewer wanting to put total­play-time information into his review and it is not
included on the CD box information package), but it
might bother some users. Sure, I can turn on the TV to
get the on-screen menu info, but who wants to turn
on a big-screen TV monitor just to get total-time info
about a CD?

Player idiosyncrasies aside, for most of us audio
nerds the big deal with this player will be SACD and
DVD-A performance. Unfortunately, both of those
formats are nearly stalled when it comes to marketing,
and it is quite possible that they will never amount to
much more than niche formats. It is also possible that
they both may end up being involved in a long and
drawn out DOA situation, at least when compared to
hotshot technologies like the CD, DVD-video, and
MP3.

If we are going to discuss DVD-A and SACD
as practical technologies instead of their sales successes
or failures, we first need to come to grips with the bass
management and distance compensation issues that
involve the DVD-S1500. This can be important, because
most surround processors and receivers do not offer
these emendations with their 6-channel analog inputs.
The signals are passed through unaltered.

With the DVD-S1500 you get full bass
management from the six-channel (5.1) analog outputs
with SACD source material. The subwoofer crossover
points and slopes are user selectable: 60, 80, 100, and
120 Hz, with slopes of 12, 18, and 24 dB per octave.
This is a great feature for those with sub/sat systems
that have smallish satellite speakers. For those with
full-range satellite speakers in combination with a
subwoofer, the player offers an SACD “direct” mode
that automatically bypasses all bass-management
settings from the six-channel outputs. I really like these
options.

Unfortunately, there is no bass management with
DVD-A source material, no matter what speaker-size
settings you choose from the player’s menu, meaning
that if you use the above-noted (and typical) small­satellite sub/sat system the small satellites will be
getting full-bandwidth bass right along with the
subwoofer. Strangely enough, there is also no bass
management with CD source material when using the
six-channel output’s stereo-only mode, although the
DPL II mode, which is a more viable option in every
way I can think of, does manage the bass.

Fortunately, full-bandwidth signals from the
player’s standard two-channel outputs from CD
sources also allow one’s receiver to apply bass
management in the usual manner. Interestingly, with
the six-channel outputs playing CD and DVD source
material you do get the ability to independently
balance the volume levels on each channel. However,
you do not get this with SACD sources.

While DVD-A is shortchanged when it comes to
bass management, it is SACD that is shortchanged with
distance compensation. DVD-A gets the ability to
adjust for different speaker distances to the listening
position and full compensation abilities are also
provided for DD and DTS sources. SACD gets no
compensation at all. For it to work at its best with
SACD, the five satellite speakers all need to be similar
distances from the prime listening location. This is a
weird situation and is probably related to the political
machinations that occurred when the parameters for
these new technologies were being worked out.

I mentioned above that most processors or
receivers do not offer bass management or distance
compensation with their six-channel analog inputs.
Even the Yamaha RX-Z1 receiver I reviewed in issue
93 lacks these features, because it does its bass
management in the digital domain, independently
from the six-channel analog inputs. It manages bass
from standard, two-channel analog inputs, because
those are digitized prior to being run through the
amplification and any DSP surround functions.
However, the six-channel analog inputs are run
directly to the amp sections via the volume-control
circuits.

One exception to the bass-management situation
with receivers and processors (there are more
exceptions, I am sure, but I have no experience with
them) is the above-mentioned Yamaha DSP-A1
integrated amp that I use in my middle system. That
unit does its bass managing in the analog domain, after
digitizing and DSP operations are completed and the
signals converted back to analog prior to basic
amplification. When you set up the DSP-A1 to bass
manage digitally connected DD and DTS sources after
they are converted back to analog for amplification it
also applies the same manipulations with the six­channel analog inputs.