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Inside Mac Games has posted a review of the Yamaha CAVIT RP-U200. What the heck is it? CAVIT stands for Convergence of Audio/Video and Information Technology, and is basically a stand-alone “external soundboard." The CAVIT line is intended to allow users to truly make their Macs (or PCs) the center of their home entertainment systems, adding home theater capabilities and a level of quality usually only found in high-end stereo.

Here's a snippet from our review by Michael Eilers:

Yamaha loaned me the RP-U200 model, and was kind enough to include a NS-P220 5.1 home theater speaker set. The primary difference between the RP-U200 and the other CAVIT models (DP-U50, AP-U70, RP-U100) is its ability to actually drive a five-channel set of speakers: a center speaker, two front speakers, two rear speakers and a subwoofer. Yes, that does add up to six speakers—the subwoofer counts as “0.1.”

Setup and installation couldn’t have been easier, and I have to say the RP-U200 was one of the most pleasant setup experiences I have ever had with external hardware. It fits the definition of “plug and play” perfectly—just plug the USB cable in, and boom! You are done. The Mac automatically switches to USB sound output on the fly (under both 9.x and OS X) and you get Dolby Prologic-quality audio pouring out in five channels of sound.

Attaching the 5.1 speaker system was very much like installing any other kind of audio component; the upright position of the CAVIT itself actually made this slightly easier than it is with a normal stereo receiver, because you could reach around the back easily and see what you are doing from both sides. The only thing left to do was install the software (an installer on the CD does this with a click) and I was ready.

IMG Review: Yamaha CAVIT RP-U200

CAVIT RP-U200

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