Event Coverage

Sound & Sight Exhibition 2011 - Yamaha Flaunts New Aventage Series

By Andy Sim & Vijay Anand - 3 Dec 2011

The Restio & Meet The Members Session

Restio ISX-800: Clean & Bold

Yamaha may have branded the Restio ISX-800 as a piece of desktop equipment, but to us it is anything but. Essentially, the Restio is a conventional CD player with unconventional looks. In fact, it is a beautiful creation from Yamaha with credit to the player's squarish form factor and angular good looks. The four-way speakers are veiled by a metallic grille, augmented by printed stripes below to convey a sense of depth. To mount the player, you can either position the Restio on its "half-moon" stand or mount it to the wall with an optional bracket. This bracket (AT-800) is sold separately. You'll find a dock at the left end of the panel which supports various iterations of the iPhone and iPod. Playback via a USB drive is possible, although formats are limited to MP3 and WMA. We noticed that its LED display also doubles up as a handsome digital clock. Priced at S$999, the Restio ISX-800 will arrive in Singapore in the latter half of December. 

 Yamaha isn't always about hardcore hi-fi components. The Restio ISX-800 makes a beautiful showpiece which requires minimal frills to get it up to speed. It will also appeal to those who desire a minimalist CD player with iPod/iPhone docking benefits.

The ISX-800 features a slot-loading CD deck and top-facing controls which makes for convenient access. Two soft-dome tweeters and dual woofers are responsible for its sterile sound quality. The Restio will be available in Purple, Black, Green or White.

 

Yamaha Gives Our Readers Some AV Tips

With more home/room AV discussions sprouting in our Home Theatre & Audiophiles forum, Yamaha has recently partnered with HardwareZone to keep our audience informed of their latest developments, new products and offer members valuable assistance. To kick this relation up the next level, Yamaha took advantage of this exhibition as an ideal venue to arrange a get-together session to showcase their latest AV products and lend a helping hand in some of the most frequently asked questions such as what to consider in setting up a home theater system, what AV components are ideal for the novice users and what paths are available for those who already own an old home theater setup.

For example, one key marketing spec of an AV receiver would be its power output capability, but how many people can relate those numbers to actual audio output quality? Other than high-end audiophiles who splurge from one AV component to another, most people won't have the chance to get a hands-on experience of the impact of these specs. Well that's exactly what Alex Low from Yamaha's AV Marketing Department set out to showcase to our HardwareZone members to let them experience the difference in performance from two AV receivers that are specced differently. Similarly, other topics were also touched upon to educate and empower our members to better make a more informed purchasing decision in their future AV equipment upgrades.

As a bonus, our members also benefited from Panasonic spokesperson's briefing on their latest home theater projectors, one of which was used by Yamaha to demo their AV equipment as they ended off the get-together session with a highlight reel from the latest Transformers movie.

Just as we reported above, the get-together session arranged by Yamaha for our members was to give them tips on what to consider when embarking on a home theater setup.

A full house listening attentively to Yamaha's and Panasonic's presentations on their latest technologies and what to consider in purchasing their AV equipment. Importantly, the right spokespeople were around to help each of the members' queries as they mingled together after the main presentation.

Yamaha ensured they had the right equipment set up with multiple AV receivers and speakers to quickly switch around to demo various functions.

For further follow-ups and more candid photos of the event, you can check out the dedicated discussion thread in our forum.

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