Howdy! Not sure of the exact frequency range of our DAB+ band but I know you'll find it if you were to look between 130-300MHZ, it occupies some of the space used by our old Analogue TV signals.
I didn't think such high frequency bands had the problems you explained but I'm sure you're right, all the DAB+ sets I have suffer from this problem to a degree but the Yamaha is by far the worst affected. I'm sure you're right about the cut of the antenna too, the Yamaha Hi-Fi tuner I have has 3 antenna connections, 1 for DAB+, 1 for FM and 1 for AM which makes a great deal more sense but then again the Yamaha tuner on its own was worth more than the Yamaha systems were' talking about. As I understand it, the Yamaha sorts by numbers in a track name, I wasn't aware that the Yamaha even supported playlists, your model may do but I'm not sure mine does. Mine certainly doesn't support the syncing of an iPhone or iPod. On 26/11/2011, at 2:44 AM, Gordon Smith wrote: > Hi Dane and all > > I'm going to do this in Lynne style, as it'll make things easier. > > On 25 Nov 2011, at 14:23, Dane Trethowan wrote: > > • Howdy and good to see you round again. > > It's great to be back in the land of the living. > > • I have the model of Yamaha below yours and would like to comment on your > observations. > > Feel free > > • Not being picky but as I understand it Yamaha call these systems "Desktop > Systems", "Micro Systems" are different, they usually have a centre piece > that contains the amp and all the other bits and pieces with a speaker on the > left and right whereas - as you've noted - the Yamaha has everything > including speakers in the one neat box. > > The description on the Yamaha UK website of this model is that it is a "Micro > System", and it also describes it as "Desktop" audio. > > • So, it seems that Yamaha have cheapened the construction of the TSX-140? My > TSX-130 has actually got a wooden teak top with a plastic bottom and you can > verify this easily enough. > > > I was wrong about that. Lynne and I had a good look at it and it's actually > wood, not plastic. It isn't teak though, it looks more like chipboard type > material to me. But I was wrong about it being plastic, that's for sure. > > At the rear of the wooden top each side are a series of wholes in the case > which make up bass reflex ports, put your finger into one of these and you > can feel where the wood hasn't been polished so that's how I know with mine. > > Nothing like that on mine. > > • You'll also note that the speakers themselves are in separate cabinets, > that is to say if you took the top of your Yamaha you'd see 2 boxes either > side of the cabinet, these sealed boxes contain the speaker drivers and > possibly other components, according to the review I read more than 12 months > ago which prompted me to buy my unit, these boxes also contain acoustic echo > chambers which help - so the review says - give the Yamaha its amazing sound. > > Yes, I noticed that. They are two-way speakers in acoustic chambers as you > say, and actually the construction is extremely well thought out. You can > definitely hear the difference in audio in comparison to, for instance, > Lynne's brother Steve's Sharp micro system which sounds positively dull by > comparison. Steve will be impressed i think when he comes over to see this. > > • Absolutely right about the sensitivity of the FM tuner in fact I'd go so > far as to say that the FM tuner is next to useless where I am, I reckon you'd > have to be sitting right next door to a transmitter. > > I am sure that's mostly due to the antenna, to be honest. And that is my only > major quibble about this unit. Why on earth Yamaha opted to use a common > antenna system for FM and DAB when even in your country, although the > frequencies are different, the FM band is from 88 to about 108 MHZ. As I > understand it, your DAB+ broadcasts are using the 1.6 to 2.0 MHZ frequency > band, (correct me if I'm wrong), because I'm not entirely sure about that. > > Ours use much higher frequencies, (I'd have to check those to be sure because > I can't quite remember). But I seem to remember reading that it's about 5.8 > GHZ. But my point here is how on earth can you expect a common antenna to > resonate at two such very different frequency bands, regardless of whether > it's over in Australia or over here. > > The antenna provided is nothing but a wire dipole and looking at it, it's cut > for the digital bands in the UK. > > FM, being at a far lower frequency band, needs a far larger antenna to be > resonant and I think that the reason FM is so very very deaf is is because > the antenna isn't cut for that band. > > Therefore, Yamaha should have used twin antenna inputs, one for FM and one > for DAB. I'm not a designer, and I'm not sure how they've designed the > receivers themselves. But it sounds to me as though the FM receiver is only a > single heterodyne receiver which, in itself, is a disadvantage. So all in > all I'd say that the tuner is the weakest part of this system. > > I haven't yet tried any other mode than the iPod dock, and I didn't sync the > material. I'll do that. But on our model, when you sync the iPod or a > computer running iTunes, I'm not sure how that works actually. Does it store > the content onboard the Yamaha, or what? If not, where's the point in > synchronisation? > > Also, on ours there's what looks like a HDMI socket on the back. But it > isn't marked in the book and the socket itself isn't marked. Any idea what > that's for? can't believe it's HDMI unless you can connect this thing to a > surround sound receiver. > > • DAB+ is a little on the deaf side and it took me forever to find a > satisfactory angle for the antenna, on hot days the Yamaha DAB+ receiver has > trouble pulling in DAB+ signals, don't ask me why but it does whereas my > Roberts Ecologic 4 portable doesn't have a problem in the world when it comes > to DAB+. > > I can explain that for you. The reason your receiver is having trouble like > that is due to propagation. At the lower frequency bands, atmospherics play > a very large roll in the reception of radio and TV signals. The lower > frequency signals are far more prone to atmospherics than the higher > frequency bands are. I totally understand why lower frequency bands are in > use over there, your proximity is far greater from the transmitter than ours > is. There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems actually. > > Creating MP3 CD'S is easy enough as is putting MP3 files on a USB drive, just > organise them as you would on a computer, say 1 folder per album and you'll > be able to navigate these on the Yamaha easily enough, pity there's no speech > but if you know what you've put on a CD or drive then you have some idea what > you're navigating <smile>. > > How does it handle track numbering? Does it use the iTunes format? Lynne said > something about it organising playlists in alphabetical order which seems > crazy. Album tracks are rarely organised in alphabetical sequence. :) > > • Yeah! your bedside sounds exactly like mine, Squeezebox Boom and Yamaha > have pride of place and each gets used often. > > I'm certainly not going to ditch the Boom. Actually the audio that comes out > of that thing has to be heard to be believed. In the context of it being > Internet audio I mean, but the audio sounds almost CD quality and, in fact, > in comparison to some CD's I've heard, it's better quality. > > Gordon > > > ======================================= > > The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus > and worm-free > > To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web > pages located at > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at > either of the following websites: > > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html > > Or: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> > you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. 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